A Mongolian Renaissance Faire I was with a couple of friends. We were out exploring the countryside surrounding Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. Up ahead, alongside the road, there appeared to be some kind of festival happening, so we rolled on over to check it out. There was a makeshift grandstand, a covered eating area and a few tent structures from which people were selling food and drinks. There were even a few booths with crafts for sale and demonstrations of various kinds. We had stumbled upon the Mongolian equivalent of a Renaissance Faire! The Mongolian Hordes of ...

Brawn and brains merged in a perfect symbiosis, when the JWTKolkata team, comprising of Gautam Roy and Angshuman Roy were declared victors of the Idea Brand Equity Quiz. The spoils of war in this case, were two “Mighty Muscular” tech-packed Mahindra Scorpio VLXs. Anchored by veteran Quizmaster Derek O’Brien, the Brand Equity Quiz is one of the most awaited events in the corporate world. Every year, hundreds of participants from companies across industry sectors, pit their wits against each other – and take on the formidable challenge of become finalists at this famous business quiz. The f...

In the offline existence long before the World expansive Web and PPC (Pay per click) ads came along, publishers as well as radio and TV stations experimented using anything called PPO (pay per order) and PPR (pay per response) or PPL (pay per lead) advertising. You can view further details here http://advertisingcosts.net. As the names advise, these were ads wherein the advertisers both salaried per prime generated or order generated. But the reality is that these ads never truly took off and were never generally accepted.So what happened in the lawsuit of online PPC (pay per click) ads? What ...

Good promotional packages are available for any company size. Regardless of the amount in the budget for advertising, you can get valuable exposure that your business will always need to stay afloat and continue sailing. If your budget is closer to slim and almost none::%%:: mailings of letters and/or postcards is a great place to start. Current customers as well as ones that have stayed away too long will be reminded they are still valued. This is also an excellent way to attract new customers. Giveaways are a good idea and they work well for many companies. Generally you will want the items ...

There are 3 major differences where direct marketing, also known as relationship marketing veers sharply away from traditional marketing and advertising. You'll see why it's the most cost effective method any business can do. But especially small business because let's face it – you'll never have the money to throw at marketing and advertising that BIG business does. And the good news is you don't have to. These proven principles will work on or offline across the board, for any business, in any media, with any product or service. But first let's be clear that direct marketing is n...

Many people get confused about the role of advertising in the marketing mix so here's a simple view of where it fits in. In the traditional marketing model, we talk about the 4 P's • Product • Pricing • Place • Promotion The last section - Promotion is what we mean when we say you are "doing your marketing". It's your communications or your actual marketing activities. But first, let's get clear about the PURPOSE of marketing and why you want to get good at it. "The PURPOSE of marketing or it's biggest task is to persuade prospects to visit you online or offline so you can present y...

When it comes to marketing, testimonials are as important to your business as your list. There is no substitute for authentic verification from a third party of what you offer. We all know people do business with people they know, like and trust and testimonials provide the perfect vehicle to deliver these essential ingredients in a truly authentic way. Without testimonials you will have a tough time getting people to sign up for what you are offering or to part with their money. Treat testimonials like gold. Seek them, collect them and use them at every opportunity. Here's th...

If you want to increase your sales then you must get your prospect really excited about your offer. Not just your product or service but the whole package of benefits they'll receive by being your customer. There's a whole bunch of ideas you could use that, added together will mean they can hardly wait to whip out their credit and buy from you. Try these top 10 ways to get more prospects excited about what you sell. 1. Benefit-packed copy Load your copy with benefits that meet the needs of your prospects. Turn your features into benefits and pack them throughout your copy. Write your ben...

Most small business owners and entrepreneurs make the same fundamental mistake when they put their hard earned money into advertising. The reason why is obvious, but little understood. They simply copy the big end of town and do what big companies do because they think that's how to advertise successfully. After all, aren't those companies successful? Unfortunately it's the last thing small business should ever do. In fact you should never do it. Play that game and you could wind up working for less than the average wage. A slave in your own business because your advertising is ...

Direct response advertising is all about getting your prospect to take the action you want. And the sooner they do that the better your conversion rate will be. There are many techniques and they work in combination so use them all to maximise your results. The idea is to build urgency, make it easy to respond and give no reason to put it off until later. Here's my top 10 tested techniques to get more prospects to take action now. 1. Cut-off date to your offer Create urgency by having a cut-off date. You can do that in a number of ways but it’s really important that you do it with integri...