Marketing To Needs and Knowing What Your Niche Needs

Let’s face it clever marketers know how to blur the otherwise clear understanding between what people need and what they want but marketing to needs builds business credibility and longevity.

Integrity isn’t a strong suit in the corporate world but thanks to the internet and immediate recognition those underhanded marketing shenanigans that used to fool the masses are now being exposed by millions of watch dog consumers.

Products and services without actual value have an ever shrinking market whereas products that offer true value do so because they meet real world needs.

Better and Better

The competition between quality products will usually produce improvements that go well beyond the actual need. Providing the price doesn’t become inflated with the additional enhancements those bells and whistles can be an added bonus to the campaign.

In terms of consumer electronics it’s easy to lose customers in the details. People are more apt to pull back from a decision because of information overload.

If you shop online you may have noticed that details, features or specifications are usually tucked behind a radio button the consumer needs to push. Only the immediate answer to a specific need is presented up front.

3 Things To Focus On

1.    Identify the need
2.    Answer the need
3.    Make the connection on an emotional level

Buying is basically an action driven by emotion. From the food at the supermarket to goods and services we attach emotions to every dime we spend.

Remorse is an emotion marketers seek to avoid and bringing home something that you don’t really need is the perfect recipe for buyer’s remorse.

Parents see this time and again in the mountain of toys their kids wanted but never used. Perhaps part of the guilt we feel over items we purchased but didn’t really need is carried over from our childhood experience.

It Slices and Dices

The multiple use item, or the item that meets multiple needs has a clear marketing advantage over something that meets a single need and a couple of wants.

Once again clever marketers know how to paint that second, third and fourth want as a need. The only person who can say whether or not it is a true need is the individual doing the shopping.

Marketing to needs within any niche is going to cover some grey area between end consumers. If you can honestly answer why a certain feature meets a need then your product and company integrity will remain intact.

Thanks in advance for sharing and if you have any questions about marketing to needs we’d love to help.

Direct Response Marketing and The Marketing Funnel

Every network marketer is continually looking to build networks within networks and direct response marketing is process for building them. This principle is logically sound because people are more productive working with people who share similar passions.

Whether those efforts are based on a new product release or a completely new business venture they’re reflected in a marketing funnel of any size and at any level.

At the top of our marketing funnel we’re looking for people who are interested in the online business world. That’s a broad niche but a niche nonetheless because everyone we find on the internet isn’t interested in doing business there.

Direct Response Marketing and Niche Marketing

Permission based marketing is accomplished when people choose to be courted as a lead or prospect. Direct response marketing begins before an individual first decides to be courted and continues until they sever the relationship.

The broadest niche is usually filled from responses to online content or ads at which point they become leads. Network marketing depends upon a steady flow of these leads even though many of them never buy or join your business.

The next response either through phone or email will determine if a lead becomes part of a smaller network or not. This process is the same if your lead list is 100 or 10,000 and continues as long as you have something new to offer (which in well developed funnels can be endless).

New Offers – Direct Response Marketing to your Existing Network

In the same way you would build a smaller network from a larger network, you would present new offers to appropriate networks. Sales and business building should always follow the response back to an offer and be directed to just those who welcome that courtship.

A gentleman used to ask permission from a lady’s parents and then the lady herself prior to courting her. Even if he’s the prince protocol must be maintained.

The quickest way to dissolve a network is to pitch them endlessly about every little thing you or some affiliate has available. Always asking permission at every stage of the marketing funnel engages the decision making process of your prospects; true leaders are also decision makers.

Teaching and Training – Direct Response Marketing and Leadership

Here’s another principle related to network marketing. Every network marketer leads a team of leaders.

Leadership is always a high priority for teaching and training. Everyone in the network knows how they arrived there and what is required of them provided they were engaged in the direct response marketing process.

Knowing why the process is important also helps preserve the integrity of the network. Learning how direct response marking works is far easier when you were a willing participant in that process, and easier to teach others as well.

Comments and questions are always encouraged. Thanks in advance for sharing.

Do Software Engineers Contribute To Technophobia?

September doesn’t just mean back to school for the kids, most of the professional world will be dealing with the learning curve and the technophobia introduced by computer programmers and web designers for the last quarter of the year.

While I understand the need for fresh looks and innovative ideas, finding an engineer that respects familiarity as it relates to practicality is a rarity. When you’re the middle man between non-technical folk and the engineers who seem to be reinventing the wheel you develop a deeper appreciation for why people are afraid of technology.

I’m tired of hearing all about Facebook from journalists who are busy quoting the users who’ve made that social network what it is today. If I want to know how disgusted people are with the changes all I have to do is log in.

Changes Require Training

In the professional world upgrades usually require training at some level. I’ve sat in many classes alongside the engineers responsible for administration listening to intelligent questions about the design.

From the top down unless changes are explained adequately the end result will be frustration. From the bottom up the average user looks at the situation with some degree of fear and with the right amount of education they’ll work their way up to frustration.

Consumer based applications for example may roll out upgrades every year or two and the manuals are usually just as big for each revision. Other products may include the tech guides along with the software or on a related website.

User Friendly Competition

While I still speak to people who yearn for the old days where everything was done with paper and pencil they don’t really have to think long about how impractical that would be to their job or business. As long as they can confidently manipulate the tools, technology will enhance their capability.

Computers and the software we use are primarily intended to allow us to do more than we should be capable of doing. Software engineers must balance how well their product performs a certain function and how easy or enjoyable users find it.

Technology has exploded the ‘How To’ industry and finding answers is faster than ever before thanks to the internet. The internet also introduces alternatives for business owners who are tired of fighting with an application that just doesn’t measure up to their expectations.

‘I’m Just Not Technical’

For tech support professionals that statement is a red flag meaning even if you go slow and avoid tech-speak they still won’t get it. Fear is one of the most debilitating emotions humans have to deal with and although it’s usually irrational, it’s always real.

My fear of indoor plumbing repair has more to do with my lack of desire than the expectation that things will go terribly wrong. People that are afraid of technology in all likelihood have had something go terribly wrong and justify their fears that it will happen again.

Professional plumbers laugh and tell stories about horrible experiences they’ve had. Tech support professionals post their horror stories online. When those experiences become common they lose the fear factor.

Taking Responsibility

While it’s easy to blame software engineers for making our lives miserable because we can’t do what we used to be able to do before the upgrade, they certainly don’t want to instill fear. Since productivity is so easily measured these days most companies that are producing software focus on the usability of their product.

It isn’t necessary to have group therapy for everyone suffering from technophobia, unless that therapy includes some practical training. Discovering how to overcome technophobia isn’t that complicated providing you maintain a teachable spirit.

If the tools you’re working with are bringing the level of success you expect, don’t try to fix it. If you must upgrade, educate yourself first to avoid technophobia. The monster in your computer isn’t scary when you know it before it gets there.

One of the primary reasons for creating FreeOnlineHomeBusinessTraining.com was to help people deal with Technophobia. We’re constantly reaching out to people at that site and on our Facebook Page. Please let us know where you’d like more help and we’ll get that information out as fast as possible because if you’re having trouble with it, others are as well.

What Local Business Owners Discover When Advertising Online

Old school advertising methods still work for some but increasingly we find advertising online has a much greater impact for local business owners. I’m always impressed when a local contractor not only recognizes the differences in ROI between print and online advertising, but also takes the time to track results.

I spend a lot of time with network marketers or web based business owners who basically drive the demand for improvements to tracking online results. From a marketing perspective it really doesn’t matter where you invest your advertising dollar as long as you know exactly how well your ad campaigns are performing.

The potential to drill down to a well defined niche target and not waste money speaking to an audience you can’t possibly serve is why internet marketing beats print or public media advertising for cost effectiveness.

Advertising Online with Social Media

I don’t expect seasoned plumbers or electricians to have the same working knowledge of social media advertising. As long as they’ve experienced the potential of an ‘Adwords’ campaign they’re essentially predisposed to jumping into the deep end.

For most small business owners who service a local clientele the social media campaign can be managed in just a few hours a week. A family member or administrator can spend about 15 to 20 minutes a day updating, responding and sharing.

While hiring a social media manager may not be obtainable for all small businesses, the skills can be mastered by anyone. Most people already know how spread news online and the menus for placing ads in social media are as friendly as the platform itself.

SEO vs. The Chamber of Commerce – or – Advertising Online vs. Print Ads

Depending upon the business you’re looking to attract, joining your local chamber may be a good idea.

Businesses typically trust chamber members but these days the local chamber can be full of competition. Everyone has the opportunity to place their ads in the chamber’s directory but anyone who wants more information is going to find it online.

SEO is important for your online business world as it relates to being found according to the relevance of your site or other online content. Advertising online through SEO is usually considered free, although there is work involved. For local businesses most of that SEO effort is focused on location.

Advertising Online as a Fully Branded Entity

Recognition and reputation go hand in hand. Comments, recommendations and reviews drive interest.

What people are saying about you on the street defines your brand in the real world. What they say about you online defines your brand in the online business world.

Advertising online isn’t just about making a connection between the person who clicks your ad and your local business. It’s also about sharing your brand with them in a way that allows them to share it with the rest of their online world.

If you’re a local or traditional business owner with results or insight you’d like to share about advertising online we welcome your input. For practical help with every aspect of doing business online please visit ‘Free Online Home Business Training’ to discover how to apply the techniques used by home business owners for your traditional business.

People You Don’t Know Are Beyond Your Control and Influence…

Expanding Your Influence

The people closest to you are those that are most easily influenced by you but it’s hard to imagine having any influence on people you don’t know.

There is a very common teaching that utilizes a simple diagram sometimes with circles to demonstrate the limitations of personal control, and influence. Specifically to illustrate that there are forces around us over which we have no control or influence.

I’ve seen this lesson in the context of spiritual, emotional, educational and professional environments but typically the focus is narrow and based upon the objective at hand. For the most part that area drawn to emphasize the people, situations and circumstances that we face over which we have no control or influence, is only used to help direct attention to what we can control and influence.

Setting The Stage

The purpose of this narrative is to examine that outer area, the one which the instructor warns us against trying to exercise control over. However, before we can go there we need to revisit what we can control and what we can influence.

Here’s the short list of what we can control:
1.    Our thoughts and words
2.    Our reactions
3.    Our attitudes
4.    Our decisions

This is the short list of what we can influence:
1.    People who look to us for direction (typically children)
2.    People who look to us for instruction (peers and subordinates)
3.    People who look to us for inspiration (remember this one!)
4.    Our personal comfort or sense of fulfillment

What Lies Beyond

The most common examples you face of that grey area over which you’re helpless to exercise your control or influence are (1) unforeseen circumstances and (2) people you don’t know.

From a practical application we are taught not to submit our emotions (something we control) to the outcome of unfortunate circumstances. Successful people look forward to these obstacles because they’ve already learned that personal growth is always accelerated by that which challenges us.

From an entrepreneurial perspective we become fascinated by the second example; people we don’t know. All business growth is hinged upon moving people from that area beyond our influence to where we can start the process of building a relationship.

Unraveling The Mysterious Patterns Around Us

True innovation continuously looks beyond what it presently reaches with a passion to touch more. In the example of Facebook, what struck the creator as a potential billion dollar business still hasn’t finished exploding.
Sometimes studying the patterns at work around us inspires an ad that will attract a small amount of interest. Sometimes new business ventures are simply overwhelmed by a seemingly innocuous phrase that goes viral.

The formula should look like this:
1.    Well defined need or solution our business can satisfy
2.    Who needs it most and where are they looking for it?
3.    Who would love to discover it seemingly by accident and…
4.    Where would they feel most comfortable doing so?

What Social Media Has Provided

Beyond the continuous blather of everything your friends did today, the voices in social media offer true insight to exactly what matters to people. The expansion of your social network exposes you to patterns that you may not have been exposed to normally.

In order to accomplish the same type of research by any other means is suddenly impractical both for the expense and time involved. Social media takes you directly into the heartbeat and emotional state of just about any experience you can imagine.

It becomes the passion of the social media manager to get in and get out after acquiring the answers they needed from a trustworthy and reliable source. Quietly unlocking the patterns allows you to reach into that mass of society, the people you don’t know and build a bridge into the online business world over which you do have influence.

The people you don’t know are vital to your business and while you can’t know and have a close personal relationship with everyone of them, you should develop a professional relationship with all of them. If you find this information helpful please share it with your friends and leave us your thoughts.

Why Customer Service Associates Ask If You Need More Help

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” (Literally means: “I have much more to offer and you matter to me.”)

That sentence is one of the cornerstones for customer service because a person may not need more help but they’re emotionally charged by another person’s willingness to serve them further. Developing a predisposition to ask if you can do more helps shape your attitude and motivation.

This concept is easy to demonstrate one on one, person to person. As printed or electronic media in the online business world this exchange is more difficult to accomplish.

Direct response marketing should begin with a clear uncomplicated offer to help. Every subsequent step in the marketing funnel should reiterate that same sentiment, “I’m still here and I want to help.”

Too Much Information

I don’t find it ‘Easy’ standing in front of a rack of merchandise with a dozen items that all have slight variations and different prices. Whether someone explains each item and the differences, or I just read the packaging, the process takes time and effort.

It’s much easier to find the electronics department because that sign is hung high from the ceiling and only contains one word. I start walking in that direction immediately.

The easiest part is finding the store. Even though the store contains more information than the department, or the rack of merchandise, the only important thing to know is where it is and when it opens.

Making The Details Comfortable

Your business probably offers many select products or specific services and marketing becomes a matter of presenting them so they’re easy to understand. Organization is a matter of practicality.

Unbridled creativity in the online business world can complicate the process instead of simplifying it. If you make someone uncomfortable and then ask to help them you can usually guarantee a, ‘No, thank you.’

A person may be interested in the details or ready to buy. In both cases we want the buy button already present, a click away and available with every page of detail.

The Process Begins

The decision to buy is either yes or no. The offer for more help follows both paths and the marketing funnel anticipates both responses.

Think of the new customer as already having entered the sales funnel. They are the VIP from that day forward and have access to everything you offer.

The other person is a potential customer who has entered your marketing funnel. They are also a VIP from that time forward and receive the same level of customer service offered to someone who already purchased from you; both of these VIP’s are going to need more help eventually.

If you want help with your sales funnel or marketing funnel we offer consulting to help you understand and develop your online funnel to offer the best possible customer service. We also continue to offer free online home business training in the form of articles and videos. Your comments are always welcome and we appreciate it when you share us with your friends. If there is every anything else we can help you with, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Controlling Yourself In Time – Learning To Do More With Less Time

Your financial situation may dictate that you do more with less. Budgeting your money teaches you to live within certain boundaries. Budgeting yourself in the time you have each day can help balance your productivity with the other personal goals you have.

Almost every task that occupies your time from the moment you wake until you go to bed has the potential of exceeding acceptable boundaries. Schedules can be made flexible but the principle of overextending a task is similar to overspending in your financial budget; reserves are limited.

One of the greatest challenges to working at home is the potential for distraction. The choice to work at home usually revolves around a commitment to family. Without clear boundaries you either end up never spending time with your family or sacrificing your business productivity at their expense.

Budgeting Personal Productivity – Do More With Less Time

Not every task needs to be performed every day but if the task is important enough to schedule on your weekly planner then consider the following:
1.    What is the best time of day for this task and will that vary?
2.    How long did you allow and how much time did it actually take?
3.    Is there a better place to do this particular task?

I like to write in the morning. Even before having a cup of coffee. I’ve tried writing later in the day and it takes almost twice as long to accomplish.

A budget is meant to be reviewed. You learn to do more with less by comparing your plan with the outcome. This is the first step in searching out better ways of accomplishing more, including changing when or where you actually perform different tasks.

Sequential Success

If you’ve ever seen a large movie production taking place it would be hard to watch the process and follow the story. The scenes aren’t usually recorded in order and both time and money are closely budgeted. The process takes far longer than the hour and fifty minutes that survive the editing room.

Your weekly schedule should always be a smaller part of a greater vision or mission just as each day is a smaller part of your goal for the week. The order in which you accomplish things isn’t nearly as important as the outcome.

Every step in your process is important and the overall plan may read like a story from beginning to end, but the steps should be numbered for optimum proficiency.

Productive Planning

Much like the schedule that is carefully reviewed, the master plan should be compared to your daily and weekly progress. Anticipating an event that is going to require more time than previously sanctioned is easier when you step back to see the bigger picture.

Working smarter will always increase productivity more than working faster or longer but working smarter requires careful examination. Assessing outcomes is what makes a business more profitable.

You can do more with less by consistently comparing expectations with results. Planning allows the mystery of what worked to reveal itself along with what didn’t work. When it comes to a fixed commodity like time, improving production depends on how we operate within that guideline.

If you have learned to do more with less… whether it be time, resources, education or anything else that presented itself as a challenge please share your experience so that others can find encouragement. Life is a continuous journey involving learning and growing. Share this with others who might be looking for ways to stay productive despite their apparent lack of time.

Do Self Centered Thoughts Prevent Growth?

The unfortunate result of a self centered mindset is that it cuts us off from the flow of social nourishment necessary for emotional and physical health. Fortunately the opposite is also true. Soul, body and spirit are strongest when our focus is on meeting the needs of others ahead of our own. Selfless behavior leads to an abundance of wealth, health and wisdom.

When truth is universal it can be found in various cultures, literature, religions and even within our families. Even without psychological definitions or formal training a mother knows how to encourage her child to share because harmony in relationships depends upon it.

There is no character trait inherent to us all which is so abhorrent when seen in others as pride. Unless we’re willing to acknowledge that this condition can ensnare us, the very thing we loathe to see in others will deceive and infect our minds. A lifestyle immersed in selfish pursuit is unsatisfying and antisocial.

Rewiring Our Minds

Unless we condition ourselves and consciously attach emotional significance to giving as the highest social order, we’ll continue to behave according to our natural inclinations. I don’t know who came up with the slogan, ‘Look out for number one’ but it wasn’t really necessary to train our minds to think this way; self centered thoughts are natural.

We naturally want, need, desire and seek to acquire but must be taught to provide, sacrifice and subjugate ourselves. There is no secret to learning how to be selfless and the reward is equal to the action; love.

Love can be defined as self sacrifice. We can deceive ourselves into thinking that the emotional reward for true selfless love is also self serving. In reality, even if the motivation isn’t pure, the action still produces the same positive effect.

Getting Out Of Your Own Way

Everything that is stopped, halted or hindered by a self centered mindset is instantly released when we change our minds. The conscious decision not to feed the greed allows us to put someone else in our place.

Transferring your energy toward meeting the needs of someone else can be called the personal growth fast track. That growth can be accelerated even more by learning to give just as generously to someone else, what you’d give to yourself.

Using positive and negative motivation at the same time for the same purpose brings a balance to our perspective. Trying to ignore our natural way of thinking, which is to put ourselves first, robs us of the keen insight that we usually have much more to give than we’re willing to admit.

Letting It Go

Some call it, ‘Paying forward’ because they expect something in return. Letting go of our expectation of reward allows us to reap the greatest outcome. Holding onto those expectations isn’t really letting it all go, it’s self centered.

As I mentioned before you may not have the right attitude or motivation but until you’ve made the decision to be giving, you won’t appreciate that attitude or understand the motivation. By practice your acts of giving will slowly bring clarity and if your mind is made up to continue being selfless, eventually your attitude toward others will change.

People everywhere are looking for a kind stranger, a compassionate person, a gracious gesture but they aren’t found by searching. Love is attracted to love and a self centered mindset prevents love from being expressed and received.

The Company That Cares Isn’t Self Centered

Why is it hard to find people who are completely satisfied with the company they work for? Why are broken relationships in real life and on TV depicted as both comedy and tragedy where everyone seems to want to get their way yet no one wins?

Leaders that start with a selfless worldview form those companies that people love to work for. The employees can’t do enough for the owners or the customers. The atmosphere is contagious and so is the behavior.

Customers and clients immediately sense the difference when an organization is infused with generosity and warmth. They can’t get enough, or say enough about how it makes them feel. The truly satisfied customers always come back.

Having A Bigger Vision

From childhood ‘self’ is only focused on immediate gratification. We may recognize how immature that type of behavior is, but changing it requires seeing more than the present view.

It’s amazing how easy it is to change your mindset when you get emotionally charged by a very clear vision. Growth for an individual, a family or a community requires both passion and vision.

A self centered mindset doesn’t see any potential other than what it can grasp. Even if that mindset leads to abundance it never finds pleasure because it always wants to grasp for more. Greatness in human development and achievement are the result of a mindset that clearly sees a grand vision and leads to passionate pursuit.

If you’re searching for an opportunity to work with some of the most successful, selfless people you’ve ever met while working at home this is your chance. If you’re surrounded by self centered people this is your opportunity to connect with a different crowd.

Social Media Manager: New Career for a New Industry

Whether the engineers behind the first online social networks ever imagined they’d be creating an industry or replacing one, social media has impacted how business owners communicate with the public so profoundly that the social media manager has become one of the most sought after roles in internet marketing.

Earned media is a relatively new term with an extensive history. The intention of every business is to grow and growing through word of mouth required a great deal of money in the age of paid advertising. The problem business owners face today is exactly the same problem social media answers; how to grow.

Once Upon A Time

From the perspective of the TV audience the explosion of cable and satellite service made staying home far more entertaining. Dozens of channels makes it easy to find something of interest to almost anyone at any time day or night and recording devices eliminate or allow viewers to skip commercials.

Although the price of commercial airtime has drastically reduced, one very interesting commercial that never aired before is worth noting. Stations now advertise the potential advantages of advertising with them. Why is that?

In truth the likelihood of catching your target audience at exactly the right time of day in the hopes that they won’t change the channel when your commercial is on are slim. The more obvious problem is that no one is waiting for a commercial on radio or TV before they decide to make a purchase.

Why People Buy

Why people buy is far more important than when they buy. We all have a deep emotional connection to why we buy anything from food to houses. We decide to finally make the purchase when we find what we’re looking for.

Failing to make the emotional connection first is why interruption marketing costs far more than it’s worth. Business owners are leaving this model in droves because regardless of how many millions of viewers they can dazzle with a commercial they have no way of first establishing an emotional connection.

Everyone loves watching the Superbowl commercials. They vote on favorites and have contests. What amazes me the most is when those really ambiguous spots run for millions of dollars and everyone in the room says, “What was that for?”

Social Media Is Emotional

Right out of the gate people are engaged emotionally because that’s what social sites are all about. Earned media is the initial step when launching a marketing campaign on a social network.

This isn’t a three pronged approach or a complicated scheme. You don’t have to select your audience or sell them anything. Simply enter the virtual world of people who share an emotional connection to your products and services.

The atmosphere breeds the sharing of experience and provided you continually offer a valuable or rewarding experience, more people will hear about you. From the small business on the corner of Main Street, to the global reseller who works from home the benefits of a well managed social media marketing campaign are worth far more than it ever costs.

Timeless and Continuous

Speaking strictly in terms of how Facebook works the links that lead potential customers directly to your website are never hard to find. Posts that are shared can start going viral immediately because every single friend in that person’s network has the ability to post to their respective network.

The like button affects far more than the compulsion for others to read what their friend likes, it begs an emotional response, “Click like to agree with me!”

At one time called ‘Business Pages’ then ‘Fan Pages’ now ‘Like Pages’ Facebook now brings it all back into the same context. You like many of the things, including a business page, that your friends like, and they like what you like. And those pages you like are remembered conveniently in the left hand column (for now).

Professional and Social

How about the businesses that are looking for professionals to network with both online and in person? Social media managers help arrange the details of corporate events while giving them the friendly flavor that makes work more enjoyable.

Expanding your client list through exclusive social media networks is far more practical than the old school method of mailing out invitations. While email invitations may be a practical step to reminding people of upcoming events the real kicker is:
1.    An online video presentation of the event
2.    A detailed layout of the location
3.    Links to the hotel or conference center
4.    Online registration and booking
5.    Details of the events agenda

Images of a golf course, spa or restaurant go a lot further toward engendering an emotional reaction to a business event than text copy on a folded piece of paper.

Integration of Social Media

For those of us who always looked at social media marketing as one of the important aspects of an overall marketing strategy, the social media specialists have become far more valuable of late. At one time the challenge was simply to fuse business websites and blogs with social sites.

Now the challenge involves mobile communications and e-commerce within the same social setting. If you have a customer who’s ready to make a purchase you don’t want to send them to another store, you want to close the deal.

The bigger sites also want the same thing which is why they want users to have the ability to find whatever they need, schmooze, make a purchase, learn something new, or watch a funny video while riding the train home from work at night; all on a single app.

Tying It All Together

In an effort to make it all manageable for the common mortal companies are now developing sites that attempt to roll it all into one place meaning you can post to multiple sites from one location. If the intent is just to make an announcement that would be fine but imagine having to carry on the same conversation in 20 different locations with hundreds of different responses. Suddenly it doesn’t sound so easy.

Not to knock these companies because they do answer many important needs except for needing someone to manage it all. The obvious advantage of being able to post content in one location and have it hit multiple sites means that you only have to post it once, but what happens to all the responses that go unanswered? Not only is that not a good thing from a business perspective, it isn’t very social.

I’ve been asked whether a company should have their own SEO specialist and the short answer is yes. SEO and social media aren’t necessarily exclusive but they’re both critical in the online business world. I wouldn’t hire an SEO specialist that isn’t aware of the valuable part social media plays anymore than I’d hire a social media manager that doesn’t understand SEO.

The Big Picture

Marketing includes every aspect and every department associated with business and I’ve said before that you construct a business model with your marketing plan. If the marketing plan includes commercial advertising that no longer provides an adequate ROI the business model falls apart.

Like a building that has been damaged it is necessary to remove part of that structure in order to save the building. If you’re tracking the ROI of your print ads, radio and TV spots and they’re still effective, great. If you can’t track them it might be necessary to weigh their importance based on growth over the last 5 years.

Any paid advertising campaign whether it’s social media or billboards along the highway should be measured against growth. Businesses don’t advertise to sustain the same results or keep the same client base.

Why It Works

We’ve established that social media allows businesses to integrate themselves into the framework of specified society. You don’t have to invest in reaching people that are not interested in what you offer.

You have an opportunity to introduce yourself, your brand, your product, your service and your vision where you can expect a warm welcome. If done correctly you become popular and everybody likes you.

Outsourcing or hiring an employee to handle this aspect of your business isn’t going to be a choice for long and for some businesses it isn’t a choice any longer. Many companies are handing this responsibility over to current members of their marketing department. While most of the work done by your social media manager will involve consistently engaging your ‘friends’ they’ll still face the challenge of keeping up with the changes and developments affecting how the process works.

Join the discussion and share with your friends… Social media users and business owners both benefit from knowing the potential of what can be done.

I Need More Family Time Also!

What Is The Secret?

Regardless of whether they’re married, have children, travel for business or have reached retirement, everyone has a burning desire for more family time. The secret to finding it is directly tied to personal freedom or the lack of it.

Bending the Rules

Mixing business with pleasure isn’t a substitute for a real family gathering but it does accent the fact that more businesses are realizing how important family recognition is to the health of the company.

Allowing mothers to keep small children with them in their office does solve the problem of separation anxiety not to mention the cost savings in childcare. For businesses that are able to allow this it enhances employee moral and presents the company favorably to the public.

The 12 hour work day shortens the work week by a day but in most cases the loss of time at home during those 4 days negates any benefit of having an extra day off. Unfortunately an employer will never adequately provide the personal freedom most people crave.

Breaking the Bank

Overcompensation costs families considerably especially when:
1.    they make long, expensive trips to spend short periods of time together
2.    try to overcome guilt from neglect with gifts (endless cycle)
3.    sacrifice income in order to spend time together (unpaid absence)
4.   they go over budget on vacation expenses because…

We have a deep relational need to attach positive emotions with the experiences our families share and unfortunately marketing professionals know that. “Just this once…” from the lips of a loved one is usually all it takes because our need to attach positive emotions is greater than our fear of debt.

The cycle that usually follows individuals who over extend themselves trying to secure quality and quantity time together with their families, is a widening budget gap that requires more of their time away from home.

The Secret

Those that enjoy the greatest amount of personal freedom aren’t only wealthy but have the ability to generate revenue without sacrificing 40 to 80 hours a week. The ultra wealthy have the most personal freedom even if they choose to spend their time in pursuit of more wealth.

Contentment can be elusive unless you’re able to decide exactly what your ideal situation would be. Simply saying you want to earn more money so that you can have more time isn’t exact; it isn’t even a plan.

The secret to finding more family time is partly in knowing how much time you want to spend working, and how much time you want to devout to them. The economy, your situation or any other circumstances aren’t a reason to keep you from having what you desire. The second part is in pursuing every opportunity you can find until you discover the one that will provide the solution; and persevering until the problem is solved.

If you’re still searching for we’d love to present you with an opportunity that is currently working for people all over the world. We’ll give you all the information and all the time you need to decide but you owe it to yourself to at least know what is possible.