“We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.” – Harrison Ford
Do you look for the opportunities when faced with change? Or do you waste time resenting the upheaval? Change is inevitable so you might as well learn to embrace it and let it enhance your life.
Good marketing isn’t passive. And successful businesses aren’t build without good marketing.
In decades past, before the Internet, a business may have been able to get by without doing much marketing. Their business spread more through word of mouth, with people telling each other about a new store or a new restaurant (remember that? when people interacted with each other face to face?). Maybe the business would take out the occasional ad or promote a new product, but they wouldn’t have had to do much more.
Now, if they wanted to increase their success, they couldn’t just count on passively building their business. They would have to take a more aggressive approach.
Well, with an online business, the days of being able to passively build your business are over. You can’t simply sit back and wait for visitors to enter your website. For some this is surprising; they assume that once something is online it will automatically gain popularity. But just because something is available to anyone with an Internet connection, it doesn’t mean it will be seen by everyone with an Internet connection.
You need to aggressively market your business, and the more aggressive you are (as long as you do it in a smart manner) the sooner you’ll see success. Gone are the days where you develop an ad or a commercial, send it out there, and then just wait and see what happens. Online marketing strategies — article marketing, pay per click, SEO techniques, link building, and more — require continual effort.
This is actually a huge advantage because it allows you to make changes instantly, gauge the success of your various campaigns directly, and implement new strategies almost immediately. Yes, it does take a little more work, but if you expect to find success online there really is no other way to do it.
Contextual links are an effective way to improve link popularity with Google and enhance your rankings. It should be noted that the benefits of contextual linking aren’t limited to Google, and the practice has relevance with other search engines as well. This makes it a powerful strategy for entrepreneurs.
The most important factors in your contextual links are context and activity. First, contextual links must live up to their name. They must be relevantly placed in quality content. For example, if you sell doghouses, then links to your site would be highly appropriate on a blog about pet care. If a link to your site appeared in an article on that blog, it would be in context with the rest of the content. Hence the name.
While a good contextual link will help you in the search engines, it’s the use of that link that can really give it traction. For example, if no readers clicked your doghouse link, you probably wouldn’t see significant benefit from the link. But if the pet care blog is popular and your link gets numerous clicks, you’ll get a lot of juice from its placement.
A few decades ago, racism and sexism were far more pervasive in America than they are today. Civil rights leaders hadn’t yet rallied for equal rights, and minorities and women were frequently the objects of demeaning portrayals in popular culture and especially in advertisements.
Fortunately, things have gotten better. Successful companies today generally show respect to all people, regardless of race or sex, and there are usually heavy consequences for disrespectful behavior. Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of people, sexist and racist advertisements have become historical remnants of a less tolerant time (though some, certainly, still exist, many of them anti-male). Here are a few shocking advertisements from decades past that you wouldn’t (and frankly, shouldn’t) see today:
Image by The-Lane-Team
Not only is it nonsensical (why is he wearing a shirt and tie in bed?), this ad just comes right out and says it: this is a man’s world. And it doesn’t say nothin’ (good) about a woman or a girl.
Image by The-Lane-Team
Yes, it perpetuates gender role stereotypes. And no, this type of advertising wouldn’t fly today. But the real question is: how is she going to cook anything with those nails?
Image by The-Lane-Team
This ad is obviously referring to the biological differences between men and women—indeed, men generally have more muscle mass and are thus generally physically stronger than women. But I’d like to see even the strongest man open a bottle without a screw-type lid. Impossible, I tell you. Impossible.
At least this ad shows a man treating a woman with respect. And at least he’s not beating her, as in other ads you can find from that era. But even one of the more mild ads from the time reeks of masculine superiority.
“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.”
–Earl Nightingale
While most goals aren’t mutually exclusive, it’s still important to align them in such a way that they complement each other. This is never more true than in your business and personal life. If you find that your goals are competing for your time and resources, realignment is necessary. By decreasing the energy required to accomplish your goals, you’ll increase your success and decrease your stress.
So how do you align your business and personal goals? First, think of the last two or three goals you accomplished. What were they and how were they related? Chances are that even if they weren’t expressly related, they all shared a similar direction and focus. This is because we often set goals that move us in the same direction.
In addition to these directionally-related goals, we set other goals. But as you evaluate your personal and business successes, you’ll probably notice that the complementary goals have a high success rate. The outlying goals that lack a clear focus generally fall to the wayside.
As you set business and personal goals, identify a master destination. Where do you want to be at the end of the week? At the end of the month? At the end of the year? By aligning your goals with your chosen milestones, you’ll find that it’s easier and more rewarding.
Businesses that effectively use Twitter are able to maintain contact with their network in a powerful way. For example, by announcing product launches, business develops and other exciting news, you keep your business in the minds of your customers and attract new prospects. This cultivation leads to increased sales and the type of loyalty that brings longevity to your business.Â
Did you know that you can use Twitter for market research? After developing a network with at least a couple hundred followers, you can put out a poll to get their input on company policies, product design and anything that will have a direct effect on your customers. Twitter makes it easy to get this valuable information that helps you make informed decisions. Also, giving your followers the opportunity to voice their opinion is an excellent way to help them feel valued. For example, if they voted on the color of your latest product, they’ll probably be more likely to look for it and make a purchase once it is released.Â
Polls are just one way to keep your followers involved and happy. A more regular and crucial method is to make sure you keep your Twitter content interesting and non-salesy. While it can be tempting to use your Twitter feed to advertise on a regular basis, it is essential for you to resist this urge. Put yourself in your followers’ shoes… would you want to get daily ads from someone you were following? Probably not. By providing relevant content to your followers, you’ll keep them interested and involved. That way, when you do include an ad, it gets attention and isn’t just one more ad in a stream of marketing material.
Image by epSos.de
There are plenty of inspirational quotes about developing good habits that you don’t need another pep talk about how our habits define our character or something like that. What you need are actionable items to help you actually develop those good habits that will lead to success.
So here are a few:
Professional Marketing International™ is a wonderful place to work!
PMI is located in beautiful Lehi, Utah. Utah provides many recreational, cultural and educational opportunities for its residents. Professional Marketing International employees enjoy these amenities as well as working for a stable company that cares about the community and provides world class success education to its many successful clients.
Professional Marketing International encourages entrepreneurship within its employees. While the coaches that work for PMI are required to have active businesses within the area for which they coach clients, all other employees have access to the state of the art curriculum the company provides to students. This creates an energetic environment that helps employees feel good about their jobs and thrive.
The company puts an emphasis on its core values by rewarding those that provide excellent service and show integrity in their dealing with clients and partners. Many corporations just give lip service to their values, but the leadership at Professional Marketing International feel it is important to recognize those in the company that exemplify those vales each day as we help our clients learn how to achieve their goals.
PMI also encourages everyone in the company to give back to the community by providing opportunities to give in simple ways. Making contributions to Sub for Santa through payroll deduction, organizing a month long blood drive for all the businesses within the business park and providing drop off location for food and clothing for the needy are all ways the company facilitates giving for its employees.
Professional Marketing International strives to be an industry leader and understands that by providing its employees with a dynamic work environment is key to its long term success.
This week marks the beginning of a new year full of possibility. A clean slate. A chance to set new goals and start fresh on old ones. Will 2011 be your year?
It can be if you are willing to put in the effort. If you don’t want your dreams for the new year to dissipate sometime in February, be sure to focus your work in the right places and keep a positive attitude. Hard work properly focused will help you succeed.
Use these tips to help keep you focused on today’s heartfelt aspirations.
So this year, dream big. 2011 can be the year that you see significant growth, both in yourself and in your business. The choice is yours. This year, choose success.
