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Youre Halfway There!...Or Not Part 1
The year is almost over and the last half of this year will fly by just as fast as the first half. Are you on target for meeting your business goals for this year?If you answered yes, congratulations! Keep reading for ideas that will help you stay on track.

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Fax Marketing : Reaching a New Niche of Customers
Traditional marketing and advertising assumes that all of your customers are traditional people. Even newer technologies like email assume that the best way to reach people is when they are at their computers.

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Nice Guys Finish First
Volunteering your services can be an excellent way to form new business relationships and raise your business's profile while lending a hand to a good cause. However, unless you take care, it can also become all-consuming, with little return (besides creating good karma).

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Marketing Tips - Ten Quick Marketing Actions
It is often difficult to manage to do marketing tasks when you have a busy business or professional practice. Here are 10 ideas each of which take 5 or 10 minutes and can be done between appointments or when you take a break from working on a large project.

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Discover 7 Hidden Profit Producing Secrets
Would you like to learn the lessons of the businesses that struggled last year without having to follow in their footsteps? I’d like to share with you seven of the mistakes that are among the most common that are made. This information is value critical if you intend to see marketing efforts drive sales increases.

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Who are Those People Youre Selling To?
If you're in the IT business, that's an important question.Most marketers are keen to profile their prospects.

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Produce More Sales from your Email Promotions Five Ways - Part 1
Do sales come from your ezine regularly? How many well-written articles do you submit per week to opt-in online ezines? How often do you send thank you's and follow up messages to your different email groups?If you answered not many, then you need to re-evaluate. The answer to online success is the same as traditional success--promotion, promotion, promotion.

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Secrets of Trade Show Success
The ropers at Annie Oakley's Real Western Dudette Ranch were all riding high in the saddle. It was just before their first ecotourism and adventure travel trade show in Chicago, and they just knew they would rope in big sales.

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How to Make Profits With a Commission Mailing Business
There are many mailorder publications that will list your nameunder this directory..

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A Pass / Fail Test for Any New Market
If you are considering entering a new target market, with an existing or new product or service, it makes sense to first systematically analyze the market in question via some fundamental market evaluation criteria. It is not only rational but most cost effective to determine if a new market pursuit makes sense for your company before any significant resources are further applied to the effort.

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Making Your Mark With The Millennials
Generation Y--The second-largest crop of young people in America's history, offspring of the Boomers-80 million of them, nearly 27 percent of the U.S.

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Reverse The Risk And Boost Your Profits
As a business owner or marketer, if you don't reverse the risk in your product and/or service offerings, you're really missing out in what can be one of the most powerful weapons in your marketing arsenal.Risk Reversal DefinedRisk Reversal, in essence, means that you, the business owner, assumes all the risks associated with the business transactions, and your customers none.

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5 Tips to Heat Up Your On-Line Marketing Using Off-Line Tactics
The internet of course brings a huge arena of marketing opportunities for you. The ability to do business with people around the world has now been made readily available through a web site and email.

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Dont Think Like A Package Designer - Think Like A Customer
Some of the most successful package introductions have come from people who knew nothing about package design. How can that make sense? Designers are creative.

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Avoid These 5 Web Site Blunders!
The Web is intended to help people find information quickly and easily. So why do so many sites make it difficult for users to get what they need? While neat design can add impact to your message, make sure the message itself doesn't get lost in the mix.

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Do You Really Know Your Prospect?
I'd like to introduce you to someone. I don't actually know his name, but I'm hoping you do.

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How Your List Affects Postage Costs
HOW YOUR LIST AFFECTS POSTAGE COSTS AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!The quality and accuracy of address information in mailing lists is one of the areas least understood and largely overlooked by most businesses using direct mail. To get an advertising message delivered the address must be correct! Many firms that use direct mail neglect this vital aspect.

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3 Strategies to Market Your Business Even When There's No Money
Many small and home based businesses know they need to market and yet, have little or no money to do so. Sadly, many use this as a reason not to market.

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There's More to Marketing ROI (return on investment) Than Meets the Eye
All too often people look at marketing ROI in terms of response rate: in other words, "I sent out 10,000 pieces of direct mail and only got 39 responses which is terrible." This is wrong think.

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Direct Mail Response Rates Low? Eliminate These Mistakes
Are your direct mail response rates lower than you expect? Check your sales letter or direct mail package against this checklist to uncover the reasons for your poor response.LIST You are mailing to people who are never likely to buy You are not mailing to others in the same business who influence the buying decision Your list is out of date Your names and addresses are not formatted correctly for proper delivery Your list has job titles only, not namesFORMAT You are using the wrong format for your audience (self-mailers to professionals, for example) Your letter and brochure are not complete sales pitches in themselves Your liftnote or buckslip confuses your offer or main selling promiseENVELOPE Your envelope gives too much away, so your prospects throw it away unopened Your mailing envelope looks like junk mail Your package is addressed to "Occupant" and not to a person by nameMESSAGE Your letter lacks a strong, customer-focussed headline The opening line in your letter is not compelling You spell your prospective customer's name incorrectly Your letter lacks specifics about product size, weight, color and other vital details You discuss product features but not customer benefits You talk too much about your company and not enough about your reader You do not create enough desire Your letter lacks urgency You do not offer a guaranteeOFFER You are offering the same thing that your competitors are offering Your offer is not specific Your offer is not exclusive Your offer is not relevant Your offer is not valuable Your offer is not unique Your offer is not usefulCALL TO ACTION You do not ask for the order You ask for the order, but too late in your letter You conclude by saying, "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me" You give too many ways to respond-or not enoughREPLY DEVICE Your reply device is too cluttered You do not tell prospects what to do to buy your product or service Your reply device is not postage-paidTIMING You are mailing at the wrong time of the year Your letter is arriving on the wrong day of the week You are mailing too often, so prospects ignore you You are not mailing often enough, so prospects do not remember youAbout the author Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using creative direct mail.

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