Marketing Genius: A 3 Step Plan

by

Arianny Celeste

To most people, this was just another cool slap-on-the-back, atta-boy, feel-good, internet story-of-the-moment.

To me, it’s marketing 101 genius.

The story, that ran around the web, soaking up it’s 15 minutes of fame is about a typical high school kid, Connor Cordova. And how he posted 3 YouTube videos asking superhot Maxim pinup model and UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste to be his prom date.

Of course, it’s only a story because she said yes.

The Mechanics of Good Marketing

The 3 step marketing plan I’m going to share with you is actually pretty simple.

But to get to it we have to look at a few of the marketing gems in this story first. This gives us the foundation we need to really understand the plan.

Read more

How to Start Your Freelance Web Design Business and Get Work in 3 Days Flat

by

Web Designer

That’s right, business is not complicated. You can literally start a business like this and start making money in a few days.

Now sure, you might be thinking ‘there’s a ton of work to do just to start a company’ … well that’s not how entrepreneurs do things. Successful entrepreneurs jump first and tie the bungie cord to their legs on the way down. The details can wait. The task at hand is to start making money. Now.

Freelance web design is a great business to jump into if you’ve got the skills. There’s no overhead; you work from home. You already have a computer. You know html, css, WordPress, Photoshop, and how to use a digital camera. You need 50 or 100 bucks in startup capital for gas and business cards, and that’s it.

The real trick is getting clients, but there’s a ton of opportunities out there. I’m going to show you how to find them and how to sell your services to them.

This is a 3 step plan you can execute in 3 days. Flat. Just keep in mind that this is about jumping in and making it happen right now. Sort out the details later. Get more professional later. Because worrying about details and a “perfectionist” attitude will only get you killed in the entrepreneurial game.

Read more

Recession Hiring: And How to Make it Pay Off BIG

by

hire-more-people

Thanks to the housing crash and the financial scam crisis, many businesses have had to downsize their workforce. But many others are prospering. And hiring.

And the difference between them is in how they “purpose” their people. For example; how many people in your business spend money (creating and delivering products and services) vs bring in money (selling products and services)?

And the oddest thing I see are companies that cut their sales and marketing staffs and budgets because sales are down. They do that because they see their sellers as a simple expense on the financial statements. And somehow they’re unable to make the connection that EVERYTHING on the income side of that statement comes from their sales and marketing people.

If you do it smartly, you can hire and/or retain your people in a recession. And doing it smartly, you can make a bundle of cash in the process. Here’s how:

Read more

5 Great Job Hunting Strategies that Will Get You Hired

by

I talk a lot about business and entrepreneurship, but sometimes you just need a job. And finding a good one in a “layoff economy” is not always an easy thing. You need strategies that work and you need them now.

To start, you want to keep some essential facts about job hunting and the hiring process in mind:

  • 90% of jobs are not advertised. This is huge, and it means newspaper classifieds, Craigslist, and the big career websites are only telling you about 10% of the jobs out there.
  • There are 3 gateways to get through. The first is getting your resume looked at, the second is getting an interview, and the third is getting hired. You have to get through all 3 gateways to get the job.
  • Companies want solutions to problems. A lot of times, a company will advertise a position but end up not hiring. They end up finding another solution because they don’t just want a warm body; they want a solution to a specific problem.

Just understanding these key points is critical to your job hunting strategy. It tells you where to look for a job, and how to present yourself for maximum results. So put these 5 strategies to work and let me know how your job hunt goes …

Read more

The Complete Guide to List Building and Email Marketing

by

Barack Obama’s email list is worth half a billion dollars. Do I have your attention yet?

Every business needs to have a web strategy, and every web strategy needs to incorporate list building and email marketing. If you don’t, you’re missing a massive opportunity to engage and interact with your users … and to sell, presell, upsell, cross sell, and turn one time customers into repeat customers. You need a list.

In fact, good list building and email marketing is responsible for the lion’s share of online profits made by many Fortune 500 companies, web-trepreneurs, and affiliate marketers. It’s extremely powerful. In fact “list marketing” is so powerful that it takes shape in many forms; telemarketing, fax marketing, and direct mail marketing as well as email marketing.

Isn’t it just spam? The difference between spam and good email marketing is this: permission. It’s permission-based marketing when you ask users to subscribe and give them the option not to. And when your users can unsubscribe at any time, quickly and easily. And when you provide great value that fulfills their expectations.

Then, it’s a trusted connection. And it can be the foundation to a multi-million dollar business.

So to help you put your list building and email marketing strategy together, here’s a … well, a list … of resources where you can find the tools, software solutions, and strategies for building your lists and launching your email marketing campaigns …

Read more

12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness from the Little Red Book of Selling

by

Most business books only teach half of what you need to know to start and run a successful business. And guess what? It’s the wrong half.

That’s right, you can learn how to set up a corporation, how to lease space, track inventory, and all the other things that cost you money in most business books. They teach the “buying” side of business. And very few books have much to say about the “selling” side. And selling is far more important. At least, it is if you want to create a successful business that makes money.

Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book of Selling IS that other half of business you need to know.

It’s a must-have book for any entrepreneur or business owner. And in it, Jeffrey outlines 12.5 (catchy huh?) principles to help you sell anything. Let’s take a look at them …

Read more

Old School Affiliate Marketing BEFORE The Internet

by

If you’ve ever looked at ways to make money online, then you’ve probably heard of affiliate marketing. To boil it down; affiliate marketing is delivering internet users through SEO or paid advertising to a merchants website in order to gain a commission on a sale or some other action.

The internet makes it easy, which makes it very competitive … and so, not so easy. But affiliate marketing has been around a long, long time. Long before the internet was in full swing.

Here’s a true story about off-line affiliate marketing I think you’ll find entertaining and educational …

The Drunken Barber

Years ago, I met this dude who was a hair stylist. I can’t even remember his name but he was really hyper and had a real drinking problem. Just picture “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” mixed with Mickey Rourke’s character in the movie “Barfly”.

Read more

How to Get Free Local Advertising For Your Small Business

by

Effective advertising and marketing leads to sales, and sales lead to building a successful business. That simple equation tells us why successful businesses are always advertising.

Now wouldn’t it be great to get some free advertising to jumpstart your sales?

The Real Secret of Flyer Advertising

We all get flyers in the mail, and most newspapers have a nice collection of them sprinkled in between the pages of the paper. The most common flyers are the ones you see every week; from local home electronics and grocery stores offering up great deals for the week.

Here’s the big secret …

Read more

The Economy Sucks … Or Does It?

by

Strategic lion

For a lot of people right now, the economy sucks. But for some, it’s a time of great opportunity. And which side of that fence you’re on depends a lot on how you understand the fundamentals.

Let’s get all metaphoric and try to sort it out …

The Lion vs. The Gazelle

So we take a lion and a gazelle and put them in a big fenced-in park. And we wait. One of two things will happen … either the lion eats the gazelle or the lion starves to death.

Read more