Ethics In Marketing

I received the following question last week...

With all scams and unethical behaviour found online, what are some of the most effective ways to generate trust as a marketer?

Annette Andkjaer Vacations For Fun And Profit I'll Teach You How To Travel, Save Money... And Make A Profit!
http://www.ultravaluevacations.com/
mailto:Annette@UltraValueVacations.com
Good question Annette and thanks for firing it in ;o)

Ok, let's tackle this issue and give you some ideas on what you can do as business owners to show you are ethical.

I've said numerous times that people do business with people they; know, like and trust. The best way to gain that trust is to share what you know. People come online to get information, information that will help them make a more informed buying decision. Whether that information is about health and nutirition, pet care or, as in Annette's case, travel.

So what sort of information can you offer that will help build that trust?

Well, of course it depends upon the industry you are in. However, ummm if I were in the Health and Nutrition industry I would gather information about the products I was selling. For each product, I would write a little info piece about what the product does, the results I saw with using the product myself, perhaps a couple of testimonials from others who are using the very same product.

If I belonged to an affiliate program that sells leads, then again, I would write an info piece on what to look for when buying leads, the importance of tracking, the importance of a 2 step marketing plan, etc.

If my business was a mortgage consultant then I would again write and share my knowledge with respect to mortgages and things that people need to be aware of when mortgage shopping. I would offer an incentive - perhaps something along the lines of shopping for a mortgage on their behalf.

In EVERY case it is information that will help your potential customer. That speaks volumes to them.

If you are a member of an affiliate program and if you are just sending people to your affiliate page, well...you (and your prospects) are left to the reading of the ad copy that your program has written. Read these pages yourself and put yourself in the shoes of a prospect. How do you feel when you read the copy?

The copy written by your affiliate program is written to do one thing "SELL." There is nothing there to really build trust and rapport with your prospect. THAT'S WHY YOU NEED YOUR OWN SITE. Obviously I have written about this before and this is a subject of its own...but needless to say. If you want to show that YOU are ethical and someone to be trusted in, then do business right. Get a site of your own, a site where YOU OWN IT and therefore can add to it with the good quality information that people look for.

It makes doing buinsess easier for you.

Next....

Make yourself available to do business with. With the new FTC Guidelines now and the fact that we have to include an address and phone number, that of course helps a little for us. But, what I am talking about is what happens after a person contacts you initially. Someone takes the time to email you, asking for more information should set off a few triggers for you:

1st - they are interested in doing business with you, possibly, because they took the additional time to email you and ask more questions.

2nd - keep track of the email queries you do receive because these can also be added information that you can include on your site.

Ok, let me continue on here...

When someone emails you then you now have the opportunity to share your knowledge by answering their question, but, they also get to know you a little bit more. You are communicating and the words you use and the way you come across in your writing are important here. Know your business and that builds confidence not only in you, but confidence within your potential customer. If there is something you don't know or a question you can't answer, then say so. DON'T FLUFF your way out to save a sale, it will turn around and bite you in the butt. Instead, email back saying you don't have the answer to the question but are on it and will get an answer back to you as soon as I find out for you.

Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy...you won't lose a customer if you are honest...you'll gain their trust and respect ;o)

Treat people the way you want to be treated. Hmmm a golden rule that sounds so simplistic and easy but sometimes forgotten :o( I receive emails back after a person has purchased an info product from me wanting their money back. Not a problem, it happens. What I do is email the person back and ask them what it was that they were after or expecting from the product. From there is opens up a communicative process. NOT to rip their head off, but, to help my business...let me explain that further.

I had someone purchase Autopilot Income Streams which is an ebook that shows you how to create your own eCourse, gives you templates for your own course and of course gives you ideas and tips for marketing the course. They sent an email asking for a refund because the product wasn't what they thought it was. I emailed the person back and asked them to explain to me what they were looking for. Once I found out what it was then I fired an email back explaining to them where they could find what it was they were looking for.

I didn't do this looking to get anything out of it, other than to help this person. But, by taking the time to do that this person subscribed to ProfitSpace and has referred others to me. That of course was a huge bonus and it wouldn't have happened otherwise if I didn't treat them the way I wanted to be treated and took the time to communicate with them. Know that this bonus doesn't happen all the time, but when it does it certainly does give you the sign that you are doing business the right way. You will certainly come across others who are quite the opposite and that is ok as well. Just remember two wrongs don't make a right. If they want to be rude, let them, just ensure you remain totally professional and deal with them accordingly ;o)

There are false claims out there and of course there are those who are unethical and it makes it harder for those of us who are. You can't reach everyone obviously, but the idea here is to really shine through ethically for those you do come into contact with. People talk about good service and ethics or bad. Plant the seed by always being ethical and that seed will spread through many networks...it really does ;o)

I wrote an article "How To Show the Honesty and Build The Trust and Make Your Business More Believable???" It will give you more ideas on the subject of ethics, http://www.profitspace.com/belief.html

About the author: Denise Ryder is a Marketing Coach writing from her home office in Northern Ontario (Canada). Hey...are you a do-it yourself marketer? Are you struggling a little? Need just a little help??? Can you imagine how far your business could grow with a Marketing Coach in your pocket??? Take a no cost Test Drive TODAY!! http://www.profitspace.com/coach I received the following question last week...
source: http://www.getmyarticles.com/articles/Marketing/Ethics_In_Marketing_55782.html

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Just what is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is undoubtedly the fastest growing industry on the internet today. It can also be said that internet marketing is one of the most creative and fastest ways to earn extra money and have a career on the internet.

To make it simple, affiliate marketing is just selling product on the interent for a commission. You have a business which sells products of advertises for other companies. It doesn't matter weather or not you have a product of your own.

The most important things for a successful affiliate marketer to have are:

1. Your website is th starting point for your affiliate activities. So, the first thing in being a successful affiliate marketer is to build a good, credibel and professional looking website. Your website must be user friendly. This will attract your prospects and motivate them to click on your links to the services and products which you are promoting and hopefully make a purchase. There are some very credible business that build websites for you, and you can hire one of these if you don't know how yourself.

2. You must research your products or services to sell. You must determine if there is a need or demand for your product and if people are actually buying this particular product. You may do this with a product of your own or you may chose a product made by another company.

3. You must become a professional advertiser and be able to determine whether the advertising you are paying for is producing more income than the advertising is costing you.

4. It is very important that you have good accounting skills. You must track all of your sales and determine the profit and loss of your efforts. You must also see to it that your suppliers are paid promptly.

5. Last but not least, you must have the full support of your family. Affiliate marketing takes quite a bit of time in research, testing and tracking. But, when done correctly, the financial rewards can be simply amazing. This is why affiliate marketing is the single fastest growing industry on the internet today, period.

About the Author
David Tupica has been an network marketer for 15 years. He now spends much of his time researching new avenues of income to share with his associates. To see if he can help you, go to: http://www.tycoonwealthacademy.com/rep/dtupica.html
source: http://www.getmyarticles.com/articles/Marketing/What_is_Affiliate_Marketing_118597.html

Testing - The Secret to Internet Marketing Success

Testing is the cornerstone of successful online marketing. All of the world's greatest marketers achieve the results they do because they understand the power of testing and they test everything.

Some of the greatest advertising and marketing books, such as 'Tested Advertising Methods' by John Caples and 'Scientific Advertising' by Claude Hopkins, spend much of the book explaining the importance testing plays in achieving maximum response from any advertising spend.

Scientific Advertising was first written in 1923, yet the testing methods described in the book are still not only relevant, but critical to ongoing success in increasingly competitive arenas.

What is testing?
An effective landing page, or web page, is made up of various factors including: - Headline- Sub--- headline
- Body copy
- Testimonials
- Images
- Call To Action
- And more...

The key to a successful landing page is how well it converts website visitors to sales, called the conversion rate.

But how do you know which combination of factors produce the best conversion rate?
The answer is... with testing!

With testing you can test one headline against another.
With testing you can test one image against another...
With testing you can test one offer against another...
With testing you remove any assumptions on what produces the best results.

How Does It Work...

When you do a test (also known as a split-test) you are splitting the traffic you receive between two separate pages (Page A and Page B), which both look exactly the same but with one difference... it might be a different headline, different images, a different call to action, or anything else.

If a visitor comes to Page A and takes an action, that action is recorded as a conversion for that page. If a visitor takes action on Page B, it is counted as a conversion to Page B. The test is considered successful when enough conversions have been made to make an assumption on which version is the best.

With this new statistical information you now know which of the headlines (or factors) produce the greatest results. You now make this headline the default and then test another factor on the site.

By testing every single factor on your landing pages you take away any guesswork on what to say, how to say it, what images to include and everything else. And within weeks or months you can dramatically increase the conversion rate of your website and massively increase your sales from the same advertising spend.
Testing is the secret of all the most successful marketers (both online and off).

About the Author
Web Profits is a full service online marketing agency helping businesses generate profits from the Internet. For a free online marketing report titled 'Secrets of Online Marketing for Offline Businesses' ($197 value) please visit Search Engine Optimisation
source:http://www.getmyarticles.com/articles/Marketing/Testing___The_Secret_to_Internet_Marketing_Success_107546.html

Affiliate Marketing Strategy That Will Help You Make Money With Any Home Business

When you have an internet business you know that there are a lot of things that you will have to do in order to be successful with it. One thing you will need to do is to come up with an internet marketing strategy that works for you. There are a lot of different internet marketing strategies that you can use. Here are some of the marketing strategies that you will want to use for an effective strategy.

One: Start your own blog – Blogs are free to start and they are a great way to market any business. Search engines love blogs because they are always filled with unique and fresh content.
Two: Search engines – This is one strategy that you will want to implement right away in your internet marketing strategy. It will take time to get search engine traffic so start right away. You can write articles and submit them to directories, blogs will also help you get search engine recognition.

Three: Viral Marketing – This is where you write an article or an eBook that gets spread all over the internet by other people telling their friends, family and business customers about it. The more you write and put out on directories the more effective this internet marketing strategy will be.

Four: Traffic exchanges – This internet marketing strategy is free to use and can be very effective if you learn how to use it right. There are many different exchanges that you can use to promote your business but you want to educate yourself on how to do it first.

Five: RSS feeds are a great internet marketing strategy that you want to use for your internet business. This will allow others to link to your blog so they can pick up any new articles or posts that you put on your blog.

Six: Newsletter or list – This is one internet marketing strategy that is a must. You will be able to build your business faster, see results faster and always have customers to contact. You may have heard that the money is in the list, this is true in so many ways. So you want to make sure you definitely use this strategy for your business.

These are just a few of the many strategies that you want to implement into your business marketing. You want to make sure you master one internet marketing strategy at a time so you don’t become confused and frustrated. Once you have mastered one way that is working for you, you want to add another until you have 5 to 7 different methods working at all times.

Jason Fulton is a successful internet marketer and home business mentor. Visit the Legitimate Work From Home Opportunity that combines a website, support and multiple streams of income into one great turn-key business and also take a look at his legitimate home based business website found here

soyrcehttp://www.onlinemoneymakin.com
source:http://www.getmyarticles.com/articles/Marketing/Affiliate_Marketing_Strategy_That_Will_Help_You_Make_Money_With_Any_Home_Business_123311.html

The Differences: Field Marketing Vs. Experiential Marketing

Field Marketing Vs. Experiential Marketing According to Blazinstar Experiential Marketing Director Shaz Smilansky there is a big confusion about live marketing. For more about experiential marketing log onto www.blazinstar.co.uk Field Marketing is a traditional discipline in FMCG marketing; it involves people distributing, auditing, selling or sampling promotions executed on the ‘field'. Currently there is a huge buzz in the industry about experiential marketing, while field marketing is considered ‘old news'. Some people, however, remain confused and think that the two methods are one and the same.

Field marketing is a one-way communication tool. The brand's message is delivered from promotional personnel to the consumer whether through the medium of a sample, a piece of merchandise or literature. Experiential marketing on the other hand is about creating two-way interactive communication, allowing a consumer to develop a real relationship with a brand; a sampling campaign without any interaction is not experiential marketing. Compared to other methods such as digital and ATL channels, field marketing is a relatively expensive way of generating brand awareness and sales.

Experiential marketing can be leveraged and amplified to generate PR and media coverage where field marketing cannot, making experiential marketing a far more cost-effective solution with broader reach. The execution of field marketing campaigns aims to meet sales promotion objectives such as product trial or sales uplift. Experiential marketing can achieve these objectives with an interactive process that is engaging and effective. Imagine a supermarket with two lacklustre employees handing out cheese on sticks. The promotion they are running is part of a ‘creamier cheddar' launch. This is an example of field marketing that has been done for years. As a result, it is not engaging and does not leave the consumer with a memorable experience.

The same cheese brand could create a sensational experiential marketing campaign instore. If they created a cheese-tasting zone where consumers use blind folds and take the ‘taste test', they would be incentivised to guess the cheese with the creamiest flavour. This would leave the consumer with a fun and exciting experience and lead them to associate delicious, creamy flavours with the brand. Experiential marketing is about allowing the consumer to participate in an activity or event that genuinely represents the brand's personality. It is about bringing the brand to life.

Experiential marketing provides marketers with a solution to meet the objectives they would love to achieve: it engages consumers, builds relationships, creates brand advocacy, generates word-of-mouth and encourages brand loyalty. (as described on www.blazinstar.co.uk) The difference between the two applications is of vital importance to the modern market.

We need to address the evolution from field to experiential marketing because only then can we understand the most effective tool in the mix and one of the fastest growing marketing channels in the industry.

source:http://www.getmyarticles.com/articles/Marketing/The_Differences__Field_Marketing_Vs._Experiential_Marketing_123521.html

nternet Marketing in the Flat World of Globalization

If you want to do effective marketing in this century the only effective way to go is leveraging the users participating in cyberspace. Those, who have the purchasing power marketers want to reach are online: One billion today, two billion tomorrow, three billion the day after tomorrow.

Whether you want to reach people in America, China, across Europe or in Japan, the purchasing power owners are all online. Well, what matters the most over all is that marketing executives need to understand that in the flat world of globalization Internet marketing - as supposed to conventional marketing - does not need to be country specific. Location and related demographics are only one element in targeting. More importantly, the people hook up on the Internet with their interests and hunger for relevant information. The like-mindedness of the Internet users is demonstrated every day on more or less all sites as every site gets traffic from allover the globe. In a more visualized way to express this happening you could also picture global tribal structures that connect from various locations.

Actually, there is an awesome book on this subject called 8W8 - Global Space Tribes. It may not really a business book, but it envisions this in a great way. If you are interested in this also www.8w8.com is the site and this is the blog if you want to express your opinion 8w8-globalspacetribes.blogspot.com You could also consider it as a manual for marketing in the digital age. One thing also worth mentioning is that we are also entering the mobile age. 600 million mobile phones in China by the end of this year does not mean that all are going online with their devices, but at one stage they will. There are more mobile phones in the world then Internet users, which is another catalyst for Internet marketing to come. In short, want to do marketing in this century: understand and target the global space tribes and you are all set.

source:http://www.getmyarticles.com/articles/Marketing/Internet_Marketing_in_the_Flat_World_of_Globalization

Learn Marketing

What is Marketing?

The term marketing has changed and evolved over a period of time, today marketing is based around providing continual benefits to the customer, these benefits will be provided and a transactional exchange will take place.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing define marketing as ‘The management process responsible for identifying , anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitability’
If we look at this definition in more detail Marketing is a management responsibility and should not be solely left to junior members of staff. Marketing requires co-ordination, planning, implementation of campaigns and a competent manager(s) with the appropriate skills to ensure success.

Marketing objectives, goals and targets have to be monitored and met, competitor strategies analysed, anticipated and exceeded. Through effective use of market and marketing research an organisation should be able to identify the needs and wants of the customer and try to delivers benefits that will enhance or add to the customers lifestyle, while at the same time ensuring that the satisfaction of these needs results in a healthy turnover for the organisation.

Philip Kotler defines marketing as ‘satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process’
Within this exchange transaction customers will only exchange what they value (money) if they feel that their needs are being fully satisfied, clearly the greater the benefit provided the higher transactional value an organisation can charge.

P.Tailor of www.learnmarketing.net suggests that 'Marketing is not about providing products or services it is essentially about providing changing benefits to the changing needs and demands of the customer’ (P.Tailor 7/00)'

Concepts of Marketing:

sourcehttp://learnmarketing.net/images.htmhttp://learnmarketing.net/marketing.htm

http://emarketingways.blogspot.com/