Everyone is affected by marketing in some way every single day.  Whether it be through something you remember seeing or hearing, or something that you see right in front of you.  I am sure that you have purchased something that you thought would be much better than it actually was, right?  Well, I want to help make sure this doesn’t happen to you anymore so you will learn an important tip that can help you considerable in the future when looking at an advertisement.

I am frequently asked “what is the best way to make money online”…but with the word best being used makes it very tough to answer.  If it was instead replaced with the word “easiest” then it is much simpler to answer…affiliate marketing.  This is in my personal opinion and is what my past experience tells me.

This constant question I have received from a wide variety of people is one reason why I created The Analyzed Marketing Business Area.  Businesses, websites, even individuals need to constantly be advancing their business knowledge and their marketing skills to become and remain successful in what they do.  My training program helps them do just that! Members even have the opportunity to make money with their membership by taking advantage of the built in affiliate program!

But I am getting off topic a bit here, I actually want to give you a little tip…A marketing/advertising tip of sorts.  It can be important for anyone to know…both marketing professionals and consumers.

When you see an advertisement or commercial that is promoting itself as being the “best”, “the greatest”, or  something similar in nature, then you should immediately experience a “click” in your mind.  This click in your mind should come because of your knowing that that the advertiser is most likely using the word as a marketing tactic to make their product sound better than it probably is. This may not be the case everytime, but a lot of the time it is.

Everyday, consumers are bombarded by marketing tactic after marketing tactic (I will write a blog post on this specifically in the future!) and are affected directly by a number of them every single day.  There are times when a company will use words like “best” or “greatest” in their marketing but there are also times when they can’t.  This depends on the nature of the product or service they are claiming to be the best and if it is possible that it can or cannot be a proven claim.  If it can be proven that the product is not the best as it claims it is, then legal issues could occur.

So the next time you see an advertisement claiming to be the best or something of a similar nature, stop to think to yourself.  Is it possible that a study could have been conducted to prove the statement or is it just a claim being made to make a product, service, or company sound better?

This will help you make better decisions in your everyday purchase decisions and will help you minimize your disappointment in purchasing goods that are over claiming their potential!

Mark Garland
AnalyzedMarketing.com

Have you ever heard of the following phrase, “facts tell, stories sell?” Well this is certainly true when it comes down to marketing your products and services. While it’s important to identify what it is exactly your product or service does, if you want to make lots of sales, it’s just as important to include powerful testimonials in your sales process.

So what is a testimonial exactly? A testimonial is a story provided by a third party person or company saying good things about your product or service. For instance, if you have ever watched those infomercials for one of those exercise products, they always include a testimonial of someone showing their figure before and after using the product.

Why do testimonials work so well? They work because people tend to believe a 3rd party person more than they believe you. The reason why is because you have a financial incentive to tell me the product is good because if I buy it, you get paid. A 3rd party person has no financial incentive to say good things about the product. Therefore, the only reason why they would say good things about the product is if those good things were really true.

So how do you get testimonials for your products?

One of the best ways to get testimonials for your products is to provide a free copy of the product or service to some of your target prospects in exchange for a testimonial. While this might cost you in potential sales, this strategy will more than pay for itself for years to come in that it will allow you to launch the sales of your product with testimonials. This is a win-win for all parties involved. Your prospects get a great product for free and you get great testimonials that you can use for your marketing.

If you have a product that you have already made sales for in the past, one way that you can get testimonials is to contact some of your previous customers. Ask them what they liked best about your product and ask them if they would be wiling to give a testimonial. John Reese, the author of a home study course called Traffic Secrets (which is unfortunately no longer in print) implemented this strategy after he made some initial sales of his course. He sent an email to all of his customers asking them if they wouldn’t mind sharing a testimonial as to how this home study course helped them in their business.

As a result of this strategy, John Reese received HUNDREDS of testimonials about the quality of his home study course, as well as the positive results his students achieved as a result of applying what they learned from the course. He then turned around and displayed many of these testimonials of the sales letter of the web site he promoted the Traffic Secret course on. You can use this exact strategy regardless of what your product or service is.

By using testimonials in your marketing, you would be amazed when you see the results it gives you. Try it. Create one page with testimonials and one page without them and see which page converts more sales.

Interested in learning more about how to effectively market your business? You may be interested in my online business training program titled The Analyzed Marketing Business Area. You will have access to a wide assortment of high quality training materials to help make your business a success. Full support is included. Learn more by clicking the link below:

The Analyzed Marketing Business Area

Have you ever heard of the expression “A diamond is a girl’s best friend?” Well an auto-responder is a marketer’s best friend. So what is an autoresponder and how is it a marketer’s best friend? An autoresponder is a program that allows you the ability to send out emails to a large group of people all at one time. In addition, it allows you to pre-program those emails in advance so that the recipients receive them in set intervals (i.e. every 7 days, etc).

Why is an autoresponder a marketer’s best friend? There’s a saying that goes as follows…”Exposure is everything but the fortune is in the follow-up. You can expose a prospect to your web site and they may buy what you have to offer. However, if you really want to significantly increase the chances of getting a sale, then you need to follow up with as many people that visit your web site as possible. An autoresponder allows you to be able to do just that

When a prospect visits your web site, you need to get that prospect to subscribe to your autoresponder so that you can follow up with them. One of the best ways to get a prospect to subscribe to your autoresponder is to offer them a “bribe” or a “free gift. In exchange for the prospect providing you with their name and email address, you can provide the prospect with a free e-book, a 7 day e-course or even a free audio or video. The prospect subscribes to your autoresponder to get the free gift and you now have the ability to follow up with the prospect.

“But email marketing is dead” you say? “No one is getting any of my emails because of the SPAM filters.” This is nonsense. UNWANTED email marketing is dead, but the bottom line is if people WANT your email, they will get your email. The key is you have to sell people on wanting to receive your emails.

Maybe you send the free gift to them via email so that they have to give you the correct email address in order to receive the free gift. Maybe you promise some additional information at some point in the future via email so that they will want to make sure they are getting your emails. In any case, people will receive your emails if they want your emails.

Most people who have email accounts are already familiar with the concept of a SPAM filter or folder. As part of their email routine, they scan their SPAM filters to see if there are any emails that they want to receive. If you are providing information of value to a targeted prospect, even if your email gets blocked through a SPAM filter, the prospect will unblock your email and read your email.

The final benefit to an autoresponder system is that you have the ability to send out a broadcast email to your entire list at one time. This is a very useful and valuable tool for many email marketing strategies. For instance, maybe you might want to offer a monthly newsletter to your subscribers. Perhaps you are using affiliate marketing and you are making an offer to your list. All of these techniques require the use of an autoresponder.

Therefore, if you are not using an autoresponder in your email marketing strategies and techniques, you are missing a vital component to your marketing funnel. Remember, an autoresponder is a marketer’s best friend!

Are you struggling with your online business? Why not learn exactly what to do to become become very successful and financially independent online.  The complete online training area is available for you at:

http://www.analyzedmarketing.com/business_area

To Your Success!
Mark Garland