The Fiercely Strategic Marketer

7 Pricing Strategies to Move the Needle on Sales

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:26:00 +0000

By Viqi French

Price. It’s likely the most important component of any entrepreneurial or small business marketing effort. When times are good, setting prices that resonate with targeted consumers is tricky. So in recessionary times, testing for optimal pricing, price reductions, and new pricing strategies becomes a marketing matter requiring urgent attention.

If you feel you’ve reduced your prices beyond what seems reasonable and still sales are slow, you probably wonder what on Earth to do next?

According to this free report by Accenture, a weak economy means it’s time to outperform our rivals, not simply drop your prices to the floor. The way to do this is by honing your strategic focus. Look at your business and answer these questions:

• Where in my service/product portfolio do I offer a differentiated advantage?
• Which of my services/products will continue to be essential to customers past the economic downturn?
• Which services/products will most easily lead to sales of other goods or services?

To manage the recession, focus on these products and the opportunities they provide. Also, do whatever you must to minimize costs associated with emphasizing this product or service group. And then, says Accenture, price strategically around these products or services.

I like how the niche marketing coaches express this way of operating your business. They advise marketers to focus an inch wide and a mile deep.

From there, consider a new pricing strategy – perhaps one of these:

1. Prestige in Pricing: Are you price positioned at the Starbucks end of your category or the new McCafe model? The Lamborghini or the Chevy? Higher prices, of course, imply higher quality. The world’s most coveted luxury brands are fine paradigms of the prestige pricing strategy. And speaking of brands and elements that comprise yours, sometimes just altering the appearance, packaging, method of delivery or statement of promise can justify charging – and getting – a higher price. Work differently to find and cultivate the Lamborghini wanters among your market. Once you get them, treat them royally and incentivize them to become repeat customers.

2. The Numbers Game: Do you know that most people tend to associate the number 9 with value and a zero with quality? Consider the difference in pricing styles between upscale restaurants and fast food joints. A meal at a high-end establishment may set you back a nice, round $30. But grabbing a burger on-the-run may only cost you $3.99 – a penny less than a big, round number that might push your budget over the edge. So, do the prices of your products or services convey Quality or Value? Interestingly, there’s lots of talk these days about prices ending in lucky number 7, too. It’s all called Psychological Pricing, a strategy to use when you want customers to respond on an emotional, rather than a rational, basis.

3. Recurring Payments Encourage Satisfaction. Customers who pay more frequently for a product or service tend to use it more often. Therefore, they perceive they’re more satisfied with the purchase. A perfect example of this pricing model is the gym or country club membership. If you only paid one time for membership, at some point, you’re likely to view it almost as “free” and not use the facility very often. However, if you’re charged for the membership on a monthly basis, you’ll be more likely to keep using what you keep paying for, and value the frequent benefits you derive.

4. Promotional Pricing: Are you “Lovin’ It” when McDonald’s runs a 2 for $2 special? Well, so is McDonald’s. That’s because when they suggest how many Egg McMuffins you want, you’re often likely to agree. This type of pricing to promote a product or service is quite common and comes in many other flavors, too. For example, the good old Buy One Get One Free (aka pronounced “BOGO”).

5. Bundle Pricing: There’s also the class of promotional offers where products seem to multiply like bunnies. It’s called bundling, and it conveys super value. This is the “But wait: There’s more!” pricing strategy. For the price of one product or service, you’re going to actually receive two, three or even 10 related add-ons. We see this a lot among TV informercials. Online, we’ve seen an explosion of this technique among ebook marketers. Product bundle pricing also is a popular way to move old stock.

6. Incremental Payments are a Smart Plan: This pricing structure offers a customer multiple, bite-sized payments to eventually reach the unit total. TV shopping channel QVC is masterful at this, offering customers a plan to make four easy payments of, say, $19.99 each. This certainly seems more digestible than the $79.96 price tag.

7. Attention Bargain Shoppers: Dropping prices to rock-bottom levels can definitely increase sales volume. Two pricing strategies fit under this umbrella:

a) Penetration Pricing, where you temporarily set prices artificially low to increase market share, and

b) Economy Pricing, which is no-frills low pricing because there are little to no overhead expenses associated with manufacturing or marketing.

In either case, it's important to point out to prospects how much less your price is or how much more they will save. Value Pricing like this becomes a popular strategy when factors such as increased competition or a recession are forcing you to act radically to keep or increase sales momentum.

It’s never easy to target just the right set of potential customers with just the right offer, value proposition, and price. These days, thanks to the Internet, customers have more information, more choices, and higher expectations than ever. But to keep pace with the intensifying challenges, businesses must continually refine elements of the marketing mix, and that includes price.

Price testing and restructuring is an essential part of growing a business. Beyond that, stay at the top of the heap in terms of quality, and get your offer in front of more of the right audiences. It won't be long before your sales take a nice bounce higher.

For website marketing copy, e-book creation, sales letters, report writers, and press releases, visit: SEO Copywriting Services @ CopyClique.com.

Are You Leaving Money on the Table With These Two Common Mistakes?

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:21:00 +0000

By Veronica Lim (Guest Blogger)

Are you getting enough income? Do you wonder how it is that other entrepreneurs seem to be able to get all the business they want while you struggle in relative terms?

When the economy is in a downturn, people are more careful about how and where they spend their money. Therefore, the rules of the game in our economy as we have it today are different.

But here's the thing. Whether we're in a buoyant time or a downturn, the fact is, people still love to buy. And as entrepreneurs, it's up to us to help them buy from us, if what we have resonates with them. But many entrepreneurs make two common mistakes that leave money on the table.

(1) Are you giving your clients something to buy at all?
For many coaches, consultants and service professionals, there is only one offering - the one-on-one service. That's it. When a client feels complete with one-on-one coaching, as an example, there is no other option available to them. Either they have personal individual coaching or nothing.

Some years ago, I offered a workshop. At the end of the series, the participants asked if there was another course that they could do. They were hungry for more! They were itching to pay me, to buy from me, and I had nothing.

By contrast, if, at the end of the first workshop series, I had been able to say, "A great follow-on to this workshop is..." How easy would it have been to get participants for that follow-on workshop? Effortless! They were already asking for it. Yet, I made life more challenging for myself by not offering the "obvious next step."

That is a mistake that many solo-entrepreneurs make - not having something else that people can buy from them. People like variety and when they find someone with whom they resonate, they will buy many things that are available from that same person.

It's the same as when we like a particular author. We buy the first book and enjoy it and then we buy the next one and the next one. Or a brand of shoes or from a particular shop that stocks goods that is to our taste. We just keep going back for more because we like to buy.

So give your clients several options, not just one. Perhaps you'll offer a 3-month coaching package as well as a 6-month coaching package, or you might have a group coaching program instead, or a home study version of topics you'll cover with them. This gives them more than just a single option which forces them to either take it or leave it.

As an example, take a look at my website. You'll find VIP Coaching, the Business Success Circle which provides some small group coaching, and you'll also find e-books.Clients often want something, if only you provided it.

(2) Are you giving them what they want?
Often, we get an idea about something that we think is great! So we create a product and put it out to the market. We fall in love with our own idea or product. Then we're disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm that comes back. What happened?

It could be that we didn't package it right. Or it could be that no one wants what we have to offer.

To get around making this mistake, ask. It's as simple as that. Ask your customer or client what it is that they want. What is it that would be the answer to their burning question right now?

Then ask them how they want it packaged. Perhaps they want it in book form, or audio, or video, or e-course, or a teleclass, or a workshop, or some combination of those.

Before you create your offering, do some market research by asking the people already on your list what they want and how they want it. Then create your offering to give them exactly what they say they want. It's a foolproof way to make sure you get it right! And there are even free tools to help you do your survey, like surveymonkey.com

YOUR TURN
People love to buy. Do you have anything else on offer that you can have them buy from you? And if you do, is it what they want and they most want it packaged? Ask them, listen and then deliver it in the unique way that only you can.

And by the way, remember to tell them what you have on offer too. This is often referred to as "marketing" (wink)... don't shy away from it.

© 2009 Veronica Lim

Business coach Veronica Lim publishes the "New Consciousness Entrepreneur Newsletter" every other Friday. If you are ready to make a living doing what you love, to grow yourself and your business and live the life you dream, get your FREE newsletter now at www.veronicalim.com.

For website marketing copy, e-book creation, sales letters, report writers, and press releases, visit: SEO Copywriting Services @ CopyClique.com.

Niche Marketing & Membership Sites: A Dynamic Duo Whose Time Has Come?

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:45:00 +0000

The E-book writing and website copywriting business offers more rewards than you might imagine. Not only is business online thriving for many of us, we're typically exposed to enormous amounts of new information. Much of it is stuff we can actually use. You might find some of it useful, too.

This is why I'd love to create a blog focused on the theme The Fascinating Stuff I Learn by Writing Someone's E-book or Website Copy. But alas, when recently ghost writing an e-book with a heavy bent on "nichefying," I learned that a blog focused this way might not be the best business-building approach. There's not much of a market for what I personally am learning. (Or is there?)

One's niche, I was reminded, should get right down to the lowest common denominator. In other words, it can be wasteful to advertise that you're, say, (just another) website designer. Instead, it's best to cull it waaay down to a specialty. For example, website creation exclusively for law firms or artists or health care organizations.

For more on niche marketing, check out:
-- Entrepreneur.com
-- Texas A&M University (Free PDF Report)
-- And this YouTube video:

We also handled website copy for a well-credentialed NYC business coach. This project led to a brush-up on the mastermind phenomena that's swept the Internet. If you're like I was -- not exactly sure of what masterminding is -- it's about bringing together a group of talents to help strategize how to move your business or practice fast-forward.

Our client, like some savvy others on the Internet, is establishing a mastermind group by teleconference. Hers, like many others, is a membership site, where she asks a $100 per month recurring fee to participate on her monthly conference calls. I'm impressed; I'm considering joining her mastermind group once it's officially launched. Bet I could learn lot in these sessions... Who couldn't use the help of an online business guru?

So wasn't the timing of Internet marketing expert John Chow uncanny?. . .

A day after completing the website copy project for the NYC business coach, John Chow issued to his email subscribers a free report for his joint venture (JV) partner Yaro Starek. Yaro is the successful go-getter behind Entrepreneur's Journey. His new venture is called Membership Site Mastermind. Pay to join and he'll walk members through the process of setting up their own membership site.

John Chow's email offered a link to get a copy of Yaro's viral report on setting up a membership site. I signed up to download Yaro's free report without hesitation. If you're interested, I highly recommend you sign up to get the viral report, too. Let me tell you, it is awesome.

So, through working on various ebook writing and copywriting projects, I learned a lot about two increasingly popular approaches to make money online:
1. Hone your niche down to a fine "long tail" science and then,
2. Offer your services not just on a one-on-one coaching basis, but as a one-to-many membership site driven model.

For website marketing copy, e-book creation, sales letters, report writers, and press releases, visit: SEO Copywriting Services @ CopyClique.com.

Copywriters Hop Links 5

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:02:00 +0000

In the spirit of Easter, copywriters hunting for eggs-ellence in writing might want to hop over to these five colorful websites. Each features food for thought about topics ranging from effective SEO press release writing and why writers' blogs are crucial for building a writing business.

@ Mashable: Make Press Releases More SEO Friendly (SEO Press Releases)

@ Copyblogger: 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging (Writing Blog Content)

@ DailyWritingTips: 5 Reasons Blogging Leads to Writing Jobs (Blogging for Business)

@ Online Biz Guide: Useful Article Marketing (Article Marketing Tips)

@ And this bonus site for word bunnies: Wordsplosion.com (Signs The King Is Coming Soon)

For website marketing copy, e-book creation, sales letters, report writers, and press releases, visit: SEO Copywriting Services @ CopyClique.com.

Article Writing - A 12-Step Program

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Article marketing is a crucial part of the online marketing mix. Article writing and submission to general and niche article directories:

~ Builds inbound links to your website or blog, increasing your search engine ranking,

~ Multiplies the number of people who learn of your goods, services and authority, and

~ Generates target customer clicks on your site, possibly resulting in new clients.

But if you're making yourself a little nuts trying to get article writing down to a science, back away from the computer... regroup and recover! You can cut down the time it takes to write an article and at the same time write a great SEO article.

There are many ways to approach article writing, and you may need to take a different tact. Try this 12-step process the next time you write a how-to article, whether supporting your own business marketing efforts or if you're freelance writing:

1) Create a bullet-point outline. This needn't be a formal outline, but it helps to top line a list of key how-to steps that readers need to follow.

2) Fill in each point in your outline, writing 3 or 4 sentences for each. Write exactly what you need to say to get across your point. No need to embellish yet: This is only your first draft.

3) Don't worry about writing your intro paragraph or conclusion yet. Many times, you'll get stuck massaging these sections, so just get in the flow of writing out the meat (body copy) of what you want to convey. Write generous details. Best article writing practices call for a 700 to 800 word count, which single-spaced is between 1.5 to 2 pages of 12-point type.

4) Next, start focusing on your 2 or 3 keywords or phrases... Leave your body copy alone a moment and just brainstorm about 5 or 6 sentences using each of your key phrases.

5) Once you have those keyword rich sentences, sprinkle those SEO terms into your body copy where they make sense. Tweak or lengthen the existing paragraphs to make your key phrases fit and logically flow.

6) Now, it's time to work with your intro paragraph. Use one of your brainstormed sentences. This is important: Make sure the key phrase is the very first wording of your article, for best SEO potential. Do not put the, or a, or any other irrelevant parenthetical phrases ahead of the keywords. Work that first sentence to begin precisely with your key phrase until you nail it.

7) Complete your intro paragraph with 2 or 3 additional sentences. Set up why what you're about to say is important, what you're going to be discussing, provide an impressive statistic if you like. Also create a title for your article, incorporating your key phrase early in the line.

8) Read through the entire piece and then add about 3 sentences as your closing paragraph. Here, you can summarize the potential result of following your advice or provide a roundup of the next steps that would complete the process.

9) Do a word count. If you're doing with as a freelance writing job, getting your client's word count right is important to them. If the article will be submitted to directories or served up for other site owners to use virally, 700-800 words is considered the sweet spot.

10) If you have access to a keyword density tool, definitely use it! It can be a pain, but consider it money in the bank to go back over an article to ensure your key phrases are used a) enough to rank high on Google's first page but b) not over-used to the extent that Google penalizes the piece. If this is a freelance writing job and your client will use the article for affiliate marketing, for example, getting the keyword density in the optimized range is crucial.

11) Review your article for writing quality. Edit and spell check. Eliminate any redundant points and do away with empty catch phrases. Some examples: "It seems that" and "In my opinion." These waste the reader's time and read as filler-fluff. Work to improve your style by being more concise: Get to the point and cut out words the piece can do without.

12) Decide if you really have 2 articles here. If so, work smarter not harder. Copy, cut & save the "tangent" part of what you've written as a separate, traffic-building piece! Make sure that what's left is still whole, though -- is written with a smooth beginning, middle and satisfying ending.

If you're writing articles to build your own reputation and inbound links: Wash, rinse & repeat this process as frequently as you can. In fact, consider establishing a goal of writing and uploading in article directories at least two articles a week.

Note, some who're most committed to building their business with this tactic are shooting to write 2-3 articles per day. That's not doable for most people, but just keep in mind what the competition is doing... Buy some PLR articles or hire a ghost writer if you understand the value of such an aggressive approach, but don't have time to do it all yourself.

Check here if you need a good list of article directories for article marketing (including their page rank).

For website marketing copy, e-book creation, sales letters, report writers, and press releases, visit: SEO Copywriting Services @ CopyClique.com.

Sales Copy Writing Tips (Free E-book)

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:42:00 +0000

I've done some updates to my e-book writing tips & copy writing ebook selling mini-site. For one, I've made a different portion of the ebook the free sample: a good chunk of the copy writing tips chapter!

You can get the free ebook download at EbookStrategies101.com. Hope you find this step-by-step to copy writing useful and purchase the full 76-page e-book.

Shameless plug aside, I've got to say I stay amazed by the search engine and SEO function in Internet marketing... I'd also decided to update my mini-site's browser line, the wording in the blue band across the top of your computer screen. (The keywords you put in your browser line help people who're Googling find your site on the first page of results.)

So I used Google's AdWords Keyword Tool to research the popularity of key ebook-related terms. Here's what I found:

Tips on writing an ebook - 1,000 (people searched this term in February)
Tips for writing an ebook - 480
How to write an e book - 320
How to write an ebook - 1,300
How to write a ebook - 22,000 (!)
Create ebooks - 590
Write ebook - 390
Writing an ebook - 390
Ebook writing software - 170
How to sell ebooks - 1,900
Ebook package - 260
Ebook download - 6,600
Ebook writer - 320
Download ebooks - 4,400

Similarly, I did some homework on Google's search pages, to analyze again the competition. This shows how many different options there are for sites where something about e-book writing is available (and what I learned):

Tips on writing an e-book - 4,500,000
Tips for writing an e-book - 18,900,00
Tips on writing an ebook - 4,510,000
Tips for writing an ebook - 4,510,000
Ebook writing - 397,000
E-book writing - 54,000,000
How to write a ebook - 1,350,000 (but no exact match on the poor usage)
How to write a e-book - 48,600,000 (but no exact match on the poor usage)
There's still quite a spelling war between ebook and e-book
Looks like e-book is winning (regardless of Google's suggestion that it's correctly spelled ebook)

So what did I discover, and what fiercely strategic move has it prompted? ... It's leds me to appreciate the potential value in e-book sales by actually typing THIS sentence with a link:

If you want insider secrets to

HOW TO WRITE A E-BOOK, just click!

(Hey, why fight it?)

For quality copywriting and ghost writing of e-books, sales letters, viral reports and more, visit the Internet marketing store: PetLeopard.com.

Copywriting Spa - Here's How to Indulge!

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:46:00 +0000

Writing sales copy that actually sells isn’t easy. Try as you may to edit yours, it still may not convert enough traffic. Grammar, spelling and usage aside, how you position the value of your goods and services must be compelling. The benefits of choosing your service or product over the competition must be conveyed in Zen.

If you’ve tried -- tweaked and tweaked again -- your website copy and still don't see the results you need, try a new approach. It may be time to loosen up. Indulge in a... Copywriting Spa!

Here's how to hire a copywriter, one with the skills necessary to heal the sales tension on your website or landing page. But when evaluating copywriters, don’t initially consider costs. Focus more on finding the writing style you believe can distinctively articulate your offer. Immerse in each writer’s portfolio. Follow as many links to their writing samples as you can. While reviewing, make your decision based on these strategic copywriting essentials:

Organic SEO Scrub – Good website and sales landing copy goes beyond being SEO friendly. It uses your highest value keywords in the headline and/or sub heading to increase website traffic. And then uses them some more. Marketing copy should be SEO-intentional. So, actually count the number of times the writer built the keywords into the copy, and where. Can this word-masseuse help get you near the top of Google search pages? Being there will improve your exposure, which impacts sales.

Natural Wrap Treatment – Conversely, too much of the above -- keyword stuffing – isn’t good. Not only can your website get D-listed by search engines for too densely repeating keywords, keyword stuffing turns off readers. Marketing copy must be SEO-friendly, but still a breeze to read. If you have to re-read lots of sentences in a freelance writer’s work, your visitors may have the same bumpy ride. Look for writers who've achieved a smooth SEO read.

Face Polish – Think of your website as your 24/7 salesperson. Consider the “personality” greeting your visitors. What is this "person" saying? Is the copy saying all that a potential customer is dying to hear? Copy should open up and persuade! Copywriting gurus call this the WIIFM factor: What’s In It For Me? Meaning that persuasive copywriting first addresses peoples challenges. It first strikes a nerve, and then gets into a description of how to resolve it. It gets personal and ignites a sense of understanding and trust.

Writers are everywhere online. If you plan to hire a copywriter, don't let price fool you. Never just select the least expensive writer you find. And don’t assume that spending more will make your sales copy an automatic success. Go with the writer whose portfolio and samples speak to you. When you see, hear, touch and smell hypnotic copy, its fragrance will persuade you!

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit the cool spot for Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.

Free Ebook - Confessions Of an Ebook Ghostwriter

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:23:00 +0000

Merry Christmas! I'd be honored if you'd accept this gift from Fiercely Strategic: a free ebook titled Confessions Of An Ebook Ghostwriter. It's a year-end review of favorite chapters written by Pet Leopard's copywriting service. (Click ebook cover for free download.)

I learn a lot doing this work, and some of it I've so enjoyed learning that I compiled it all in one ebook of snippets. What's it about? Well, like our how-to copywriting projects, the topics span the gamut. Sex. Dating. Internet marketing. Hypnosis. Being a great boss. Photography. Stain removal and more!

Eleven random -- but juicy -- chapters of ebook writing, some of which you may actually be able to use! That which you cannot use, I hope at least will sufficiently entertain you.

In other words, here's a fun, sample of ebook excerpts that have kept me and the blessed freelance writers who help out busy throughout 2008. Hope you like, and please: Drink responsibly during the holidays. But only if you're driving. ;-)

Merry-merry!

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit the cool spot for Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.

Media Relations 101 - Sarah Palin Video Turkey

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:20:00 +0000

Not sure how to classify this Sarah Palin video where she adopts a presidential posture and pardons a turkey prior to Thanksgiving. The media relations professionals and text books may start pointing to this one to illustrate how not to do an interview. Then again, one could argue that a whole library of Sarah Palin interview don'ts now exist.

Sarah Palin and/or her media coordinator did what might be considered an amateurish job of staging the action for this TV news media opportunity. What might have started as a fun way to extend her 15 minutes has turned into 3:09 of YouTube publicity hell.

Watch the turkey worker in the background. And once he leaves, keep your eyes trained on that space... Apparently, the people in charge thought this was a great visual: No one off camera shews the turkey man out of the shot. Worse: Once he finally leaves, he comes back and does his whack job again.

There's a huge media relations lesson here. Yes, newsroom decision-makers mostly only send a camera crew out to cover your event when you've told them a hot visual's planned. But this one of Sarah Palin's wasn't a wise visual, particularly when Saturday Night Live has parodied her unflatteringly as a gleeful moose-shooter. Unless Palin's running for chair of the NRA next, why photograph her anew near fresh kill?

Media relations practitioners sometimes spend hours brainstorming the right visual and weighing the pros and cons of how every element will be perceived. Landing on the right visual requires careful crafting. It's about more than getting out the media and providing talking points. You have to bring 360-degree thought to potentially negative perceptions you could unintentionally stir.

Which is why you'll never see the CEO of Burger King grinning on-camera next to... a Whopper-to-Be.

A picture really is worth a thousand words, isn't it? So what does this one of Sarah Palin "pardoning" a turkey say? Wonder if it occured to anyone in her PR circle that the actual pardoned turkey might have been better to put on camera?

An Associated Press article that hit this morning (in response to the turkey problem?) says that everyone from Oprah, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Barabara Walters to Hollywood and multiple publishers are courting Palin for interviews and book deals. All will make money through her, but I have to wonder who among them hope for another controversial showing to really skyrocket their own buzz.

For publicity, marketing copy, free reports and more, visit the Internet marketing store: PetLeopard.com.

Obama Merchandise Mania - An Essay On Politics and Personality Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:40:00 +0000

Everyone is getting on the Obama merchandise bandwagon. And I have a few fun ideas of my own. So, don't be surprised if you visit this marketing blog someday and discover its become Obama Stuff dot-com, replete with affiliate marketing products. Or, my own exclusive Obama-lovers goods.

You see, not only do I live in His city, Chicago, I live in the very community in which the president-elect resides: Hyde Park. I'm about five blocks from his barricaded, Secret Service-surrounded home.

Still, life goes on... He still uses the neighborhood to a limited extent. We see the motorcade going to and fro' all the time (always followed by an ambulance. A troubling necessity of his success.) He still uses his local barber. Although the barber now gets whisked away to haircut in an undisclosed location. Gone are the days when we'd see Senator Obama sitting inside that barbershop near the window.

With so much Obama-mania merchandising around I'm guessing the barber, the official escorts -- everyone -- probably has some side action selling anything Obama. Examples: Obama Hair Locks In a Box, Discarded Obama Socks, etc. And who could blame them, once you get a load of some of this stuff...

This is so not just a product-selling game for cable television or Time, Newsweek and Ebony magazines any more. Our local Walgreen's here in Hyde Park is practically wallpapered with Obama commemorative books, magazines, sweatshirts, t-shirts, calenders, caps and buttons. (Walgreen's stopped selling that weird dancing Obama novelty doll. But only because the batteries were faulty and sparked complaints.)

Speaking of Walgreen's... An employee says a Chicago Sun-Times delivery truck driver was robbed in the wee hours following the election. The crooks didn't want any money, he said. Only the now famous Mr. President-headlined newspapers. Oprah loved this newspaper, too. Thrilled with Barack Obama's win, Oprah jiggled that paper around the next day like a kid with a toy on Christmas. No wonder these sell like hotcakes on eBay.

Of course, numerous online Obama merchandise sites keep springing up, such as this page at Cafe Press. On Twitter, I learned of the many Obama handbags in the marketplace, such as this Obama purse. There's even this disgusting Obama dildo.

There's PBS with a "Senator Obama Goes to Africa" DVD. (I hope not the same way that Shaft went to Africa.) And now post-election, NBC enthusiastically peddles Barack Obama's life story on an Obama DVD titled "Yes We Can!" -- exclamation point and all!! The happy punctuation probably will sell NBC a few thousand copies more!!!

Last but not least, the City of Chicago is hawking the aroma of Obama as part of its bid to win the 2016 Olympics. The Obamas live right near the area where the City would build the (controversial) Olympic stadium. So, they'd be smart come 2016 to do some merchandising of their own. (Can adorable Sasha and Malia say "Welcome to the Obama Olympic B&B"?)

I'm sure you get the drift by now. Everyone's making money off of Obama but Obama.

As for my own money-maker? Well, last night in his 60 Minutes interview, Mr. Obama mentioned -- of ALL things -- Harold's Chicken Shack. The buzz about his mention of the city's popular hole-in-the-wall restaurant chain has everyone here atwitter.

So, it might be worth taking my camera and camping out near Harold's. Maybe I'd be lucky enough to catch the Obamas stopping by for a few of those chicken wings. Don't laugh: I could own the only photo on Earth worthy of replacing Harold's beloved zany logo -- a little chef with a hatchet chasing panicked poultry.

Now, if I could just get a snapshot of my famous neighbor running out of Harold's like that, we could turn that chicken shack signage world-famous. And with intellectual rights for such a dumb but viable idea I, too, could make money selling Obama's cult of personality online.

For website copy, publicity and other professional services visit the Internet marketing store: PetLeopard.com.

The Difference Between a Strategy and Tactic?

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:50:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of creating or updating your strategic marketing plan in today's tough economy. It was a lengthy post, fleshing out the components of a marketing plan. I mentioned I'd follow-up that post with a close look at strategies and tactics. So, here we go!

What exactly is a strategy, you might ask. And how does it relate to your marketing effort? Well, my definition of a strategy is that it's a big, broad idea for moving your business forward (in a series of "little" ways). Conversely, tactics are the specific activities you use to bring your big, strategic ideas to life.

The trick is to pick strategies and tactics that should deliver the best result for your time, energy, money, and other resources. A few examples using what's in my marketing plan for Pet Leopard Communications (or could be):

Strategy: Increase awareness of my products, services and talent within the Chicago advertising and public relations community.

Tactics supporting that strategy would include various publicity, advertising and/or promotional activities such as:

Join two Chicago public relations and advertising industry organizations and serve on committees on which I can volunteer/showcase my skills and expertise.

Start a blog featuring Chicago public relations and advertising agency news. Build relationships with executives by contacting them to be interviewed on my blog. Feature plenty of each targeted agency's news on the blog.

Run a Google AdWords advertising campaign geotargeted to Chicagoland blogs, the PR and ad agency communities.

Issue a series of online press releases announcing my new Chicago clients; tips that agencies can use; a promotional contest on my blog; local industry trends, etc.

Create and circulate a white paper or viral report showcasing great case studies, solutions, and/or creative by various local ad and PR agencies. Contact executives in charge of these successful campaigns for permission, quotes, photos, etc. and relationship building.

One could go on and on with tactical ideas. But after brainstorming your tactics, be realistic about your budget and whether you have time to implement each component. Prioritize and let some fall to the wayside for now; get busy executing those which are more likely to deliver the results you need.

Also be realistic about this: Not everyone'g going to contract or buy from you the moment you reach out. Consider every point-of-contact a seed to keep watering for growth. Better still, consider every activity a chess move in your reputation management game. Like in chess, we must think ahead with a vision, anticipating the target market's needs and possible next moves.

In summary, you can probably replace my business and industry in the above examples with your own. The strategy and tactics likely extrapolate and may work for your business model, too.

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit the Internet marketing store: PetLeopard.com.

Twitter - A Novel Idea (Literally!)

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:57:00 +0000

Follow me on Twitter

Calling all writers with a hot fiction book or manuscript needing promotions. Get a load of this out-of-the-box way to get exposure for your book on Twitter. It's pretty fascinating; I learned about it on Darren Rowse's (Problogger) Twitter-centric blog.

Darren says a few Twitter members are "publishing" their novels through Twitter tweets. Which basically means you're sharing your work at a rate of about two sentences at a time. If you've written a real page-turner, this'll keep 'em on the edge of their seats! ... Waiting for you to come back later in the day (or whenever) and type in another couple sentences.

If you're a writer, here's a nice way to gain viral exposure. If you're self-published through Lulu, BookSurge, or a similar POD service, this might build your following and stimulate book sales.

The Twitter crowd seems sprinkled with influencers. So who knows? Maybe a literary agent or traditional publisher will discover and enjoy your novel tweets, too.

I'm tempted to dust off my suspense novel and see what happens...

For details on how this cool book promotion idea works, visit Darren @ TwiTip and read How to Start a Twitter Novel.

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit the Internet marketing store: PetLeopard.com.

Social Bookmarking to Increase Blog Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Follow me on Twitter!

If you're a blogger, are you using social bookmarks to build traffic for your blog? Putting links to your blog posts on social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, Zimbio, Ning, Mixx, Facebook, Twitter, and Propeller can bring lots more traffic to your site. They offer a great way to create more visibility for your products, services or talent -- potentially turning online "friends" into customers.

Countless non-bloggers use these sites to find quality content all in one place. But those of us with small business blogs, affiliate marketing blogs and websites get this and more. Not only may people surfing these sites click-through to your site, many social networks also deliver you additional Google and Yahoo! search engine traffic, too.

Here's a list of over 200 social bookmarking services a blogger can consider joining, but it's best to focus on having a real presence at only a few. Join no more than 3 if you're pressed for time. To get the most out of these communities, you'll need to spend quality time social networking with other members.

From an SEO point, you can also gain inbound links through social media marketing. Building a profile at some of the social media sites count as an inbound link, helping boost your blog or website's Google Page Rank. Not all sites give up "link juice," though. Best to use Google and check those you're considering if search engine optimization is important to you.

Note: If you don't have a blog but want to attact traffic to your static website, the new microblogging sites such as Twitter might work for you. Microblogs allow you to set up a simple page, type a few friendly sentences or post your link, and keep truckin'. (Conversely, blogs need lots of content, photos, design and other attention.)

Check these links for tips on choosing and optimizing the best social marketing services (SMS) to meet your business or career goals:

~ Social Networks Can Have Real Business Benefits (@ Bizwomen)
~ An Addict's Guide to StumbleUpon (@ Squidoo lens)
~ Use Twitter For Business Right (Darren Rowse @ TwiTips)
~ Broken Social Media - 5 Anti-Social Sites (@ SEO 2.0)
~ 10 Ways to Get Diggs on Digg (@ Video Blogging Tips)
~ How I Use Twitter to Promote My Blog (@ ProBlogger)
~ Use MySpace to Build Business Contacts (@ Associated Content)

For publicity, website copy, e-book creation and sales letters visit the Internet marketing store: PetLeopard.com.

The Obama Brand - Insights from Alltop Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 11:32:00 +0000

Go behind-the-scenes with the Obama family on election night. Photos courtesy of David Katz on Flickr

I've been searching Alltop.com a lot lately. It's a great "digital magazine rack" for quickly learning what the best websites and blogs are saying in any given category. Very clean and user-friendly; very selective about site inclusion, thereby ensuring top quality.

So I automatically turned to Alltop in search of Obama brand fodder for this post. Here are 3 great Obama brand marketing blog posts I discovered:

1. At Ries Pieces on the business of branding, this pre-election post. Turns out the author correctly predicted the outcome of an Obama brand win in her post, McCain vs. Obama. Coke vs. Pepsi.

2. The BrandBuilder Blog offers this fascinating analysis in Obama vs. McCain: How Social Media Started to Change the Game in '08. Provides a long list of social media campaign metrics such as those comparing the number of Twitter tweets messaged by Obama and McCain.

3. Last but not least, a superb white paper at Brandchannel.com by Patt Cottingham. The document analyzes every brand element of the McCain and Obama campaigns -- from their promises to logos to VP picks and wives. After reading this PDF, remember the election results. You'll see that we're rebranding America!

But for little ol' you and me, the takeaway from these brand marketing articles is this:

If you want your small business to pay off, do things to distinguish your brand: Your services, presentation, communication channels, tone, content message, and more. Being good isn’t good enough. We have to be good in various areas. Every field is crowded; differentiate every aspect of your venture similar to how the Obama campaign did. Think style and substance. Demonstrate high integrity.

In another campaign life, John McCain might have outspent Barack Obama in advertising. But I suspect the outcome would have been the same. The values embodied by the Obama platform simply were more heartily embraced by more people. We bought Obama, we bought his notion of change for America, we bought hope for a brighter future...

Obama's brand of red, white and blue "soap" sold to landslide victory scale. Similarly, we can all "scub-up." Upgrade your brand identity and spotlight your value. Now's the right time to take to market a more irresistible version of brand YOU.

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit your Internet marketing store: PetLeopard.com.

Mind Mapping

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:55:00 +0000

I wanted very much to write an Obama Brand Marketing post. His was one of the most brilliant presidential campaigns ever, according to many expert accounts and the obvious historic result. But I don't have adequate time to do the topic justice today. Instead, I'll just share a few new links I'm liking.

The links are primarily for writers, but the compelling thought and approaches shared may benefit anyone. You see, in my goal of continuous improvement for Pet Leopard Communications ( http://petleopard.com ), I'm planning an analysis of People, Processes, and Technology, as recommended by a book I'm reading: "Outsmart! How to Do What Your Competitors Can't" by Jim Champy.

I recommend the book, which provokes thought by hyper-analyzing how many innovative new business models took flight. But I also so hope you find the following resources as valuable:

~ "Tribes" author Seth Godin is interviewed by HarperCollins and tells what's wrong with how the publishing industry thinks. And how it must refocus to meet the Internet economy. It's a refocus we could all benefit from, whether we're selling web design services, jewelry, green products, photography, baked goods, consulting services, or a book.

~ Merlin Man at 43folder.com provides creatives countless prods in the butt to get 'em going. That pitchfork... Taser!... might suggest new ways to organize your to-do list, how to freshen your blogging fodder, how to invigorate your PowerPoint presentation -- and much more.

~ Managing Your Career With Mind Maps at Geekpreneur. This long article takes me back to my need to think about People. Processes and Technology. Here's an excellent step-by-step to identify and evaluate more viable revenue streams within your grasp. It's about inventorying your possible untapped skills -- those which you enjoy -- and deciding what makes sense to add to your menu of services or merchandise mix.

Now, in the spirit of disclosure... I found the Mind Mapping article at Geekpreneur because the site's owner contacted me on a business matter regarding the site and his other, Photopreneur. He discovered me because as a photography hobbyist, I sometimes comment on his superb site. He came here, downloaded my free photography ebook, and contacted me because he valued what he saw of my skills and thinking. Again: viral reports work. They're a great investment of minimal time and money.

I cannot stress enough how much business comes my way through blogging, having a website, and giving away my knowledge in these free ebooks and viral marketing reports. Simply put, these are excellent ways to showcase what you've got. Strategically put, they are my killer sales people while I'm asleep or working on other projects.

As I write this, President-Elect Barack Obama is holding his news conference in his new, official capacity. If any of the financial issues he's discussing impact you, and you're ready to quell them, get on it. Obama is living proof that you can do it!!! Brainstorm. Believe. Figure a creative way around deficits and barriers. Seek partners. Execute with disclipline.

Get out there: For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit the leading Internet marketing service providers: PetLeopard.com.

Joint Ventures + Strategic Partnerships = $$$

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:01:00 +0000

Forming joint ventures and strategic partnerships are among the smartest ways a small business or Internet marketing enterprise can ramp up. Striking a savvy alliance with a venture that complements your own gives you an edge, one that'll result in increased visibility and sales for you.

Benefits of Strategic Partnerships & Joint Ventures

Enhanced Credibility for Your Company:
Consider it "name dropping" of the highest order. An alliance with a larger, better known company dramatically heightens your credibility in the eyes of potential customers. Those who're considering hiring or buying from you are shown compelling evidence that others have endorsed you, so they're more likely to get on your bandwagon.

Opens New Sales Channels:
Most of us have limits on our resources, which hinders growth. By aligning with a solid partner for a joint venture, you expand both your company's sales force and its distribution channels. You're doing it at an attractive low cost, too. Your overhead can remain relatively low.

Flatten the Learning Curve:
While a strategic partnership wonderfully exposes your company to new markets, you needn't invest much time or money batting in that new ball park. Your partner already knows the game and will get you up to speed for free. It's also a smart way to outsource tasks you don't have the time or skill to handle.

Block Out the Competition:
There's more than safety in numbers, it's a sign of leadership that acts as a powerful customer magnet. When several strong players are involved in a strategic alliance, your team can render the competition nearly irrelevant. Doing business with your consortium looks like the only logical choice for most of your target consumers. Your profit margin should benefit nicely, too.

That said, do your homework when considering joining or asking another about a strategic partnership. Interview your intended, so to speak. Do a Google search on them as well. You don't want to potentially drag down your good name and brand by aligning with someone whose reputation is sketchy.

Once you're sure this is a marriage made in heaven, pull out the stops to heavily communicate your joint venture.

~ Create a marketing plan and share responsibilities for implementing it. Consider sponsoring promotional offers to stimulate joint sales.

~ Develop a white paper or free viral report that shows potential customers why tapping your services is the new best way to go.

~ Consider designing a new logo that brands the new alliance.

~ Showcase the new capabilities, services or products in brochures, business pitches, on websites, and beyond.

~ Mount a publicity campaign and get the word out to relevant media, newsletters, and bloggers through a series of press releases and related communications tools.And of course for help with publicity, website copy, and sales copy e-book creation, visit PetLeopard.com - your Internet Marketing store.

Strategic Marketing Plan - How to Bailout Your Business NOW

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:33:00 +0000

You are working from a tight marketing plan, aren't you? If not, the state of our economy is sounding a loud alarm that it's time to get 'er done. Or refine what you have for better results.

You know, some Fortune 500s actually increase -- not cut -- their marketing efforts when times get tough. Well, even if they cut the budget, the pressure is on for every employee to make lemonade from fewer lemons than ever.

But a few go kamikaze, if you will, stepping up their marketing. The thinking is, when fewer dollars are circulating in the economy, out-marketing your fearful competition will drown them out. Your brand, then finally has a more dominant presence and gets atop the probability of eroding sales during bad times.

So to armour-up and prepare for war, look with fresh eyes at your marketing efforts. Re-evaluate the components and essentials of your marketing plan.

Some areas on the list that follows may need racheting up ASAP. You may wind up with a 30-page PowerPoint document, so roll up your sleeves and have fun planning:

~ Do your homework online and offline,
~ Think seriously about what should yield better results.

You may not feel you need all of these sections in your plan, but here's what many businesses typically consider. Cherry pick what you need and bypass the rest.

A Strategic Marketing Plan requires you to think through and write up (at least) four, distinct sections.

I. MARKET RESEARCH

First do your homework, pinpointing your market

~ Geographic (e.g., is it your hometown vs. your state vs. your country vs. the world?)

~ Demographic (e.g., profile of your customer's gender, age range, profession, lifestyle interests, etc.)

really

~ Behavior (e.g., buying/spending habits, values, barriers/preferences to buying, etc.)

~ Study the market trends and competition inside out, top to bottom

II. WRITE THE STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN

After studying your market, it's time to officially write out (and budget) your blueprint. Usually as PowerPoint document and primarily with lots of bullet points so it's not too wordy, a marketing plan typcially includes:

Situation Analysis

~ This page or two summarizes your entire "deal" in a nutshell. It's a narrative (i.e., paragraphs telling a story) of your business model and vision; factors necessary to succeed; competitive environment; and key threat and opportunities.

Mission Statement (A short, hard-hitting paragraph or two)

Business Model Overview

~ Define whether your pricing is above, below, or on par with competitors and why

Financial Profile

Marketing Objective(s)

Congratulations: You've now done much of your "big thinking" diligence. You've committed to paper who you are and where you want to be. You may not need all of these sections, you might even need some that aren't covered here. Every business, every plan is unique.

In future articles, I'll go through the next steps: creating Strategies, Tactics, and a Budget.

I'd be happy to take a look at your marketing plan if you'd like a fresh set of eyes on it. For a free marketing consultants service, just write me at info[at]petleopard[dot]com

For marketing consulting, e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports or publicity, visit PetLeopard.com - your Internet Marketing Store.

Sarah Palin: Boss of the Biden Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:00:00 +0000

While the nation waits with baited breath for the debate between vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, one thing is for sure: The Republicans will manufacture an insult to women, whether Joe Biden actually delivers one or not.

That's just the way the Republican machine works. It is masterful at spinning not-so-much into headline news. In fact, I'm certain they've already created a watch list and have several fill-in-the-blanks press releases and talking point memos ready to release immediately following the debate -- aimed at riling women about how Biden offended Palin (and all women).

But the truth is this: Many women -- the proud and so-called bitches of the world -- are perfectly capable of holding their own. Just ask any red-blooded American husband. They will essentially tell you that many of today's women are not wired to lose an argument. Most of us must have the last word. It is our nature to discern the weaknesses in a man's thinking, and many of us are challenged to keep quite about them.

Likewise, women who succeed in business are pretty tough cookies -- so are those who excel in politics. Women don't need the PR spin meisters to change the game. We are capable of looking smart without smoke and mirrors... A woman in Sarah Palin's position is expected to take and deliver a verbal punch like it's nobody's business. We don't need molly coddling; we prove every day that our thinking is darned sharp.

Palin, after all, has entered the limelight on the high heels of Senator Hillary Clinton. Love her or hate her, Clinton effectively removed any doubt that she could handle or flub the job of president on par with any man. Accepting less from Palin would symbolize a painful step backward for us good old gals.

I can't imagine that Senator Biden will make the huge mistake of calling Governor Palin sweetie or make any similar deeply offensive remark. But issue for issue, all else is fair game. His job is to spotlight her deficiencies, and Palin's is to spotlight his. If Sarah Palin isn't tough enough to take on Biden, she certainly doesn't want to walk the path of George Bush or Dick Chenney.

If you, like Joe Biden, must grapple with a tough female in your work world, do follow these links for sound strategies to manage your Rosie Riveter:

* Tips For Workplace Communication Between Men & Women [Simma Liberman]

* The DONT'S of Advertising Agencies: The Women's Edition [Media Bistro]

* Women In the Workplace [Ask Men]

* John McCain's Guide to Training Women In the Workplace [Comedy Central]

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit The Spot for Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.

Presidential Debate - Boxing and Body Language

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:16:00 +0000

Much ado is being made by the pundits about the body language of John McCain during the presidential debate with Barack Obama. Actually, the body language of both presidential candidates fascinated me. You see, one of the ebooks for which I recently was ghostwriter was about hypnotherapy and hypnosis. I'm also often asked to write ebooks on dating, where again, the mind science of body language comes into play.

So as I watched the presidential debate, I couldn't help but notice how infrequently John McCain looked at Barack Obama. I mean, there were times when Obama seemed to really be tearing into McCain's voting record or policy stance. But John McCain would only stare straight ahead, into the audience...

In hypnosis terms, McCain not making eye contact signals he's not interested in establishing rapport with Obama. Thus, there'd be no way McCain could effectively influence Obama (e.g., intimidate or otherwise throw him off guard).
In dating terms, McCain making so little eye contact with Obama means McCain doesn't find Obama sexy. (Question: The last time you refused to look someone's way, why was it? Did you think they were hideous in some way? Or maybe they were "beneath" you?)
Oh, I guess it also could mean McCain is taking the aloof approach to flirting. But in the dating ebooks, we coach guys that they'll never get the girl by acting too distant. You've got to charm the target first, at least a little, before blowing her off.

Senator Obama's facial expression also looked tense. Actually, what I observed at times seemed more like the controlled outrage of a tough street fighter. Coupled with his highly educated "elitest" intelligence, I must confess I'd like this in a new president. But I digress...

In dating terms, Obama's ease with looking directly at McCain says he's The Man. He's large and in charge, as they say. Not intimidated. If McCain were a woman, she'd know this guy might want a piece of her. I mean, was worthy of her respect.
But unfortunately, McCain was having none of Obama's commanding eye contact. McCain seemed to avoid The Man's glances like The Plague. So in hypnoworld, Obama never had a chance of weakening McCain's resolve. He'd have gone home alone, McCain-less.

But for me, the real fighting words were those uttered by McCain, who accused that Obama didn't know the difference between a strategy and a tactic when it comes to resolving Iraq.

Whoa, I thought; my back straightened on the sofa. Now that's a mega insult. Telling anyone who's ever graced a board room they don't know the difference between a strategy and a tactic is a slap in the face.

I knew Obama wouldn't let that one slide. That's probably about the time I wondered if the debate could do the unimaginable: lapse to fisticuffs. But again, I digress...

A strategy defines your "big idea" approach to meeting your goal. For example, America has a goal of winning the war in Iraq. A "big idea" approach (strategy) for doing that might be to infuse a surge of more troops there.
Now falling underneath the surge strategy would be various tactics i.e., activities carried out by the increased number of troops. The tactical activities might include being able to protect new areas of Iraq, or being able to secure with more certainty areas where our troops have lost ground.

At least I think this is how the strats vs. tactics work with regard to Iraq. If not, I welcome Senator McCain to straighten me (and Obama) out, Dating 101-style.

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit the cool spot for Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.

McCain Ad Congratulating Obama - Politics Meets PR 101

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:21:00 +0000

If only I'd been a fly on the wall at McCain Campaign Headquarters. A textbook example of Political Public Relations 101 surely evolved, the result of which was this heart-tugging McCain TV ad recognizing the historic moment that Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president.

I've taken part in many competitive strategy sessions over the years, although not for politics but around a brand or business. All of these meetings work about the same way. They are long, painful, emotional, politicized, tense and sometimes surreal. Brilliant ideas are lost because they weren't presented by someone important. Conversely, weak tactics take flight only because of who mouthed the ill-conceived idea.

I'm entertained by the possibility that the painful birthing process for this ad might have gone the same way. What follows is the entertaining scenario as I imagine it.

The campaign's going-in assumptions around which a huge meeting is called:

McCain's negative TV ads slamming Obama have been pervasive and probably at least a little effective. Hillary and Bill Clinton always said the young senator from Illinois wasn't ready for the White House, so the McCain folk have tried to jam the airwaves with proof of the Clintons pre-convention opinions.
For both parties, the tradition is to heavily increase attack ads during the opposition's convention. And that's just what Team McCain did. Until this historic night for Obama, that is. And out of this head-scratching situation surely came great internal debate...

The McCain Campaign options:

Should we try to steal back the limelight by announcing McCain's choice for vice president before Obama hits the stage?
Or should we just ramp up our ads slamming Obama, blunting every sharp thing he will surely say before and after his big speech?

Enter the fresh-thinking, innovative Intern (or a similar person no one listens to):

"Hey!" this kid musters the courage to finally chime in and say, "Why don't we catch them off-guard. You know... kill Obama with kindness."
The room goes silent. The kid wonders if he's just lost the little bit of credibility he might have amassed. Some big shot squints at the peon and says, pejoratively, "What?!?"
Young intern finds his voice and continues: "Well, Obama's making this speech on the anniversary of Dr. King's 'I Have a Dream Speech'. Won't we get slammed for disrespecting this historic moment if we go negative Thursday night? I mean, you'll have Sharpton and Jackson screaming bloody murder right when we're trying to make a big splash with the announcement of McCain's veep. So maybe the safest way to maintain our presence Thursday might be to make nice... just for the night. You know, produce a nice little fluff ad acknowledging Obama as a black history maker. Then come out swinging again -- harder -- first thing Friday.
The room is completely silent... Everyone's waiting for "someone" to tell them what they should think of that idea... As expected, "someone important" shuns the idea and embarrasses the intern. Others in the room think of four other reasons this idea stinks. So the team continues brainstorming another couple of hours, debating in agony how to "handle" Thursday night.
But then someone really truly very important comes to the meeting late. And she comes with a novel idea the team should consider. The light bulb clicks above her head and she says, "Hey! Why don't just make nice - just for Thursday night. Let's produce a little PR piece with McCain actually congratulating Obama for making history! How out-of-the-box would that be?!"
Jaws drop around the table. Everyone loves this heretofore unheard of idea. They get busy splitting up assignments for who'll write the script, booking studio time, and whatnot.
Energized and raring to go, they all leave the meeting room. All except the stunned intern. He sits there wondering if he's just spent a few hours in the Twilight Zone or what. He had the same idea and everybody hated it.

If anything like this scenario actually happened, the "peon" needn't sweat it. Just shoot that resume to Karl Rove soon, kid.

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit The Spot for Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.

Copywriting Tips - Engage the 5 Senses

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:08:00 +0000

Not excited by your website copy? Your sales letter isn't converting well? Want copywriting tips that'll help you convert more visitors to clients?

Well, get a whiff of this:

* Does Your Website Smell? @ Copyblogger

* Copywriting & Your 5 Senses @ Advertising.About.com

* Copywriting: 7 Ways to Trigger Emotion @ SelfCEO

* NLP Advertising & Copywriting Tips @ Squidoo

And there's also this free copy writing ebook by yours truly! Well, it's actually an excerpt from my ebook on tips for writing an ebook and copy writing tips. Feel free to download and save this:

Sales Copy Writing Tips

Publish at Scribd how to write sales c ebook sales letters

Happy reading & copywriting!

For website marketing copy, e-book creation, sales letters, report writers, and press releases, visit: SEO Copywriting Services @ CopyClique.com.

Like the Mad Hatter, Blogging In WWWonderland

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:16:00 +0000

I just read a very well thought-out blog post over at DoshDosh about the many tasks one has to handle as a blogger. If you're a blogger, you'll get lots of helpful thoughts not only from the write-up, but from the numerous comments, too.

If you're not yet a blogger but are considering starting a blog, the DoshDosh article will either overwhelm you into delaying this. Or hopefully, it will energize you to finally "just do it" and start off on a solid, strategic footing.

As DoshDosh articulates, there are far too many hats to wear as a blogger... not enough time to think and plan the way you should. In the simplest of cases, a blogger usually is:

Editor-in-chief (i.e., "The Decider." The person who determines what to fill the space with. This role is about quality control and ensuring that what you're putting on the blog is interesting enough to make people spend their precious time reading it.)

Writer (i.e., "The Wordsmith." The person who connects the dots about a topic and puts it all together on paper/screen. This often means you have to do a bit of online research to be sure you know your stuff and/or add a few hot angles to make the story more well-rounded and informative.)

Art Director (i.e., "The Artist." The person responsible for making everything visually appealing. Words pack a punch, but only a picture can engage with immediacy.)

Why, that's three "jobs" already! And we haven't even mentioned the other crucial "hats" that bloggers wear, including:

Promotions person, whose job it is to let the world know your blog exists. This role keeps a blogger quite busy at social bookmarking sites, social networking online, and signing up and setting up profiles in new directories.

Advertising or Affiliate Marketing executive, who might be needed if you want to make money online with your blog. You'll need to spend time setting up revenue streams, monitoring them, and getting the cash!

The bottom line: If you're already serious about blogging and find it too time-consuming to keep fresh, it may be time to hire a freelance writer. It is staggering the number of bloggers and website owners who farm out the heavy writing responsibilities nowdays. At a freelance site like Elance or Guru, numerous writers will bid on your project; you pick the best one you can afford.

You can also consider buying some PLR content. Private Label Rights content is professionally written articles, ready-made for you to buy, often quite affordably. Of course, PLR articles in some niches is easier to find than others. For instance, categories like electronics, cooking, parenting, health, fitness, affiliate marketing, fashion and beauty are among the easiest topics to find PLR content for.

There are even PLR membership sites that cater to those who want an ongoing selection of copy from which to choose for their blogs and websites.

So when it comes to blogging, remember the adage: Work smarter, not harder. It's fun and it can be rewarding both as a form of self-expression and financially. Just don't let the constant to-do's of it wear you out first.

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit The Spot for quality Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.

Links:

At DoshDosh - You're Not Just a Writer...

Build a Better Blog - Business Blogging Tips

Wikipedia - Mad Hatter

Fashion Webzines - In the Brand-building Spotlight

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:13:00 +0000

There was a time when I fashioned myself a bit of a fashion insider. I did my share of modeling in high school and college; my first job out of college was that of fashion events coordinator for a Philadelphia department store chain. Many of my favorite friends are still fashionable and chic and connected.

But I became "distracted" over the years, more involved with the corporate marketing world. So my exposure to the fashion world these days is limited to reading the award-winning column by Robin Givhan of the Washington Post and whatever's on the mind of the New York Times' excellent fashion and lifestyle writers.

And this is what's on their mind today: Where the Fashionistas Go For a Quick Fix. The article features a fashion shot from a webzine called Unvogue.com, which I'm sorry to say I wasn't even familiar with...

According to the NYT:

"Conceived to mimic mainstream glossies, titles like Hintmag.com, Fashion156.com and Glossmag.ca draw international readerships in the hundreds of thousands. But unlike their newsstand competitors, these publications exist exclusively online, updating weekly or even daily, and offering a sense of community that conventional monthlies cannot replicate."

Oh well. Now we know what we're missing. Or maybe I should speak for myself?

Ultimately, my point is that after visiting a few of these ultra hip fashion webzines, I was inspired...

The fashion webzines in the NYT piece are well positioned to become must-have paid membership sites. This is something we should all keep in mind. There'll come a day when the balance of free websites vs. members-only sites will experience a sizemic shift. Now's the time to cultivate the required loyalty, content focus, and other elements necessary to be in position to ride the next wave.

Do you have a vision statement and plan for your blog and/or website? How will you grow your online presence? How will you carve your niche and stake your claim in cyberspace? Isn't what you have to say or offer far more important than your blog today feels? How will you close the gap and take the quantum leap forward?

Time for renewed FOCUS!

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports and publicity, visit the spot for Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.

SEO Doctor to Follow Her Own Advice

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:16:00 +0000

I'm not trying to turn this into a digital photography blog, but I'm about to -- for the third time in a row -- post about digital photography, photography marketing, etc. Kind of. If this isn't your cup of tea but Internet marketing is, this post may still be relevant to you. The real point of this post is to share some interesting search engine marketing (SEO) and traffic building insights I've noticed from my previous two blog posts, both of which had to do with digital photography (darn it! ;-).

Lesson #1:
For effective SEO practices, repeat your keywords and key phrases and repeat them 3 to 5 times. I say this because while I'm excited about having more people pop in and grab a copy of my free ebook on selling digital photography, looking at my traffic statistics I see that I simply didn't use the phrase digital photography enough in recent posts. I searched Google hoping the previous post would appear maybe near the bottom of the digital photography tips results page... nada. So I'm disappointed by the fact that I'm just not pulling from Google when it comes to interesting new traffic in my free ebook on photography. Very stiff competition for the key phrase digital photography. Guess I'm a bit spoiled...

Lesson #2:
Pick several MAJOR niche forums, network and blogs and comment -- and they will come. A little highly relevant comment I left at Digital Photography School and a Ning photography site I belong to, PictureSocial, have reaffirmed that to increase traffic on your site, this tactic about leaving quality comments in the right places is awesome. Of course, the real carrot was that my comment offered something possibly high-value for FREE. And free ebooks -- or free anything -- gets most of us going like Pavlov's dog.

Lesson #3:
Speaking of free... For the July 4th holiday, I offered some free fine art photography note cards when you subscribe to this blog. Well, I'm ecstatic that several people have subscribed... but my feelings are a little hurt that only two of them emailed asking for my lovely photo note cards (LOL). I don't want this to mean what I suspect it may mean: I can't give these darned things away?! Well, maybe I'm not working that offer well enough with the right audience. I haven't gotten around to marketing this offer at photography sales sites like Etsy, RedBubble, etc. As Rev. Jesse Jackson would say, "Keep hope alive." (At least that was the kind of innocuous thing Jackson used to say.)

Lesson #4:
Viral marketing is wonderful -- and viral marketing works. A nice number of people are catching my photography report "virus" and are passinging the word along. For example, this nice but brief mention by a U.K. lady named Nikki over at Ecademy Club, a business network, has also sent an impressive amount of traffic here for my free photography ebook, Earn Extra Income In a Snap! Selling Your Digital Photography Online and Offine. Thanks, Nikki!

Lesson #5:
The spam concerns online are just too strict and out of hand, I feel. As much time as I spend on Flickr posting my digital photography and commenting, I'm not allowed to post my banner or a link here within my photo stream where all the people with whom I network will easily learn about my free ebook. It's frustrating. Darn it.

Bottom line: When it comes to SEO and getting a higher Google rank with a new keyword, it's "Doctor, doctor heal thyself."

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit the cool spot for Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.

Digital Photography Tips for Photo Sales

noreply@blogger.com (Viqi French) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:30:00 +0000

If you're a digital photography fan, grab yourself a copy of my free photography how-to guide. Earn Extra Income In a Snap! Selling Photography Online and Offline is a 14-page how-to guide packed with digital photography tips. If you (or a friend) seek ways to turn that camera-toting addiction into time spent for profit, you'll probably get a lot out of this PDF. (Click the top-right icon below to instantly download.)

Extra Income In a Snap - Photography Marketing (Online and Offline) -

It's astonishing how the advent of digital cameras combined with the WWW explosion, together creating a new universe of ways that even those in the amateur photography realm can make money online with photo sales. (It's very much like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup collision with chocolate, isn't it?)

Earn Extra Income In a Snap! doesn't just touch on ways to succeed online with stock photography sales, this free ebook is jammed with tips for selling photo images offline, too. Sort of a digital photography course primer, this little digital photography ebook touches on selling digital photos at art fairs, on consignment and more.

It doesn't matter if your niche is nature photography, still life photography, fine art photography, glamour photography or portraits. Many of the photography marketing tips are the same. To compile this photography marketing tutorial, I interviewed online photography sales forerunners such as Diana Pappas, whose impeccable (and profitable!) Photo-a-Day email project pays her lofty New York City area rent. I also interviewed several photography friends on Etsy and even scoured the photography forums to gather the best techniques for how to make money online (and offline) selling photography.

So be sure to download it, take a look, and let me know how it goes!

P.S. -- If you're a professional photographer who'd like help creating and marketing your own digital photography ebook or photography ecourse, email me.

For e-book creation, sales letters, viral reports, publicity and more, visit the cool spot for Internet marketing services: PetLeopard.com.