Black Swan Management, LLC

Investments and Strategies for the Future of Business

Posts Tagged marketing

Wealth Building Using 7 Principles

Apr 27

Posted by Ola Abitogun in business | No Comments

Wealth is the ability of choice and freedom of time and money. Wealth can be created simply and easily if one does not skip any of these important principles. Any success achieved without these principles is temporary and can be easily cut short by a third party, economical manipulation or shifts.

1. Quality Service or Product: Someone needs to be served in a repeated fashion if you want to create permanent wealth. You also need your consumer to need you and have the ability to refer more customers when they are happy with your service. Your product or service must be close to oxygen and water on peoples’ needs scale. Every business and corporate America is a pyramid scheme. The illegal ones are those that does not serve, provide services or sell any product.

2. Credibility: This can be acquired quickly by partnering up with an entity or person with a well documented track record of success and service. It is who you know and not what you know in life; not business only, but in life. The consumers, customers or whatever you want to call those you serve are naturally attracted to credibility. They would pay more for a bad product or service with good credibility if necessary.

3. Residual or Passive Income: This is the type of income that you generate when you do something only once and get paid over and over again; sometimes forever, either you get out of bed or not. True wealth is created only when your residual income outpace your residual bills.

4. Leverage: Every one physically has 24 hours in a day. One needs to strategically have more than 24 hours in a day to create true and permanent wealth. True wealth cannot be created with linear income regardless of how big your salary is; even $1 Million per annual. Leverage simply means doing more with less and the simplest way is to override residual income or others’ efforts.

5. Simplicity: Keep it super simple (KISS). One must be a able to explain your product and service in a simple and plain lay man language. Consumers that will continue to pay for your services are naturally attracted to simplified and friendly usability of product and services. Simplicity does not mean inferiority.

6. Initial Investment of Time and Money: Beware of any business opportunity that does NOT require this 2 things. If one does not invest time and money, it is as simple as they own nothing. Also, it psychologically removes the urgency and hunger for success by about 80%.

7. Education and Inspiration: Mindset is everything. One literally is a millionaire in their mind before it manifests in reality. The transition between being broke and being rich is a roller coaster and it can only be successfully done true constant education and inspiration. Most importantly surround yourself with successful people or people with same goals and a mentor.

Ola and Shola Abitogun are brothers and business partners. Ola Abitogun has a BS in Computer Engineering and MS in Engineering Management. However, he has successfully being involved in the Real Estate Business for 5 years. Shola Abitogun has a BS in Bio-Medical Engineering and MS in Pharmaceutical Engineering. He has successfully worked in the corporate America for 4-5 years and realized that true wealth cannot be created with any linearly paid or salary job. They have both achieved financial success, helped others do the same and dedicated their lives and careers to helping average people achieve financial freedom and true wealth through their organization, TBS Wealth Institute, Inc For more information on becoming a student and enrolling in their free Wealth Mentoring Program, visit http://www.TBSWealthInstitute.com

Author: Ola Abitogun
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker

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Web Pointers – Internet Business Strategies for Successful eCommerce

Mar 15

Posted by admin in business, marketing | No Comments

The goal of any online business is to sell something, be it a product, service, or information. To accomplish this, you need customers, or traffic, to your web site. Follow these key Internet business strategies to generate customers and cash.

Image is Everything

Your web site should reflect how you want customers to feel about your business. The site must be professional looking and easy to navigate and understand. The content provided should be relevant to the needs of the customer.

Marketing is King

What promotional tools are you using to advertise your web site? Search engines are the primary method Net surfers use to locate information. One of the top Internet business strategies is to choose relevant keywords for the most efficient search engine optimization. The word “books” is too generic for a site promoting life/career changing seminars based on motivational books. Surfers who type in “books” probably want to buy one rather than attend a seminar. Use specific terms that closely relate to what you are selling.

Links to your web page are another important Internet business strategy. Links increase visitors who often become customers. Relevancy is key; links to your home page should be from sites with topics closely related to your business. Be descriptive with links. “Buy last season’s Coach handbags at closeout prices” entices more clicks than “Brand name liquidators.”

Consider starting your own affiliate program. It’s cost effective because you only pay other sites for the visitors they link to you. You can pay for visitors or pay if the visit results in a sale.

Online businesses do best with online marketing. However, don’t discount “old” media. Get a press release or article about your eBusiness in the local paper. Place an ad in the Yellow Pages or industry trade magazines.

Information Content

Don’t just sell your product or service. Include articles, news, or interesting facts related to your eBusiness. Many customers will appreciate the information. In addition, reporters often look for information online; a blurb about your web site in their story might bring in more customers.

Customer Friendly

If your eBusiness customers are the general public, go easy on the industry jargon. Use “nose jobs” more than “rhinoplasty” if your cosmetic surgery site is aimed at patients rather than fellow medical personnel. This is important also when choosing keywords for search engines.

Go easy on graphics and other bells and whistles. These things tend to slow down page loads. A easy navigation system is one of the most important Internet business strategies. The average customer doesn’t want to sit through mini films or music interludes to get to the information desired. If your web pages take too long to open, customers will surf elsewhere.

About the Author
Rick Jorgenson has been an online marketer for the past 10 years. He has created successful campaigns for the likes of IBM, Microsoft and DirecTV.http://buildwealthnow.blogspot.com

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Web Pointers – Internet Business Strategies for Successful eCommerce

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My Internet Millionaire Challenge

Feb 5

Posted by admin in business, marketing | No Comments

I have seen so many claims by Internet “Millionaires” selling their secrets that I’ve decided to issue my own challenge.

Take me from zero to $10,000 per month PROFIT in six months and I’ll give you half of my PROFITS for that period as a consulting fee. Not a particularly lofty goal considering the claims I’ve seen made, but let’s see if any of the “gurus” are up to the challenge. I will also provide testimonials in whatever form you like – written, oral, video, etc.

I have seen endless screenshots of checking account and PayPal deposits – what is NOT shown is how much was spent to realize that revenue? This is known in the business world as “cost of sales”. For example, if I spend $9,950 and 100 hours of my time to realize $10,000 in sales revenues, I’ve made a profit of $50. These figures calculate out to 50 cents per hour. Not a particularly good wage from my perspective.

I have also seen numerous websites, advertisements, e-mails, etc. promoting the latest, hottest “system” to make incredible sums of money in a relatively short timeframe. Again, what is NOT revealed is that the bulk of the people marketing these programs are not making the money promised. I’m certain that the principals can and do make money by leveraging the efforts of the network marketers to sell their product. The question is: how do the working stiffs achieve these income levels?

If any of the Internet “Millionaires” can answer these questions and feel tempted to take me up on this challenge, here are the things you should know – like most people trying to make money on the internet:

I don’t have any downline to speak of.
I don’t have my own opt-in e-mail list.
I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on advertising.
I won’t buy a bunch of inventory of the greatest product since fried ice cream – been there, done that.
I am done calling prospects that aren’t really interested in the products or opportunities I have to offer.
I won’t base a business on selling Internet “millionaire secrets” until I’ve tried them – and they work.
I am tired of buying (or even downloading for free in exchange for my e-mail address) the latest and greatest, highest profit program/secrets/system.
I will not lie, mislead, or misrepresent myself or my PROFIT level in order to promote ANYTHING.

I do have some good, basic computer skills, and thought I knew the internet pretty well until I started getting involved in trying to make money on the internet.
I do have some money to advertise and promote, and I’m willing to re-invest my profits.
I am a quick study and can follow directions.
I have good communication skills – I know how to blog, and I’ve written several articles that are published.
I can spend 30 to 40 hours a week on a business.

While I may sound like a cynic, I do firmly believe that there are people out there making good money on the internet, and doing it in an ethical and moral manner. The problem is, how do we tell who is for real and who is just hype?

I am specifically issuing this challenge to Robert Allen, Stephan Ducharme, Declan Dunn, Stephen Mahaney, Ken McCarthy, Jonathan Mizel, Monique Harris, Jay Abraham, Paul Myers, Jim Daniels, Michel Fortin, Kevin Needham, Chayden Bates, Phil Wiley, Sam Robbins, Jimmy D. Brown, Scot Dantzer, Peter Sun, Ken Silver, Frank Garon, Dale Armin Miller, Brent Winters, David Garfinkel, Jay Conrad Levinson, Mike Enlow, Mike Chen, Armand Morin, Joe Vitale, Cory Rudl, Terry Dean, Dan Kennedy, Mark Joyner, and whoever else out there thinks that they can teach a newcomer to internet marketing how to REALLY achieve success.

About the Author
Bill Cox is an entrepreneur and Network Marketer learning to capitalize on the power of the internet to build multiple income streams.Visit me at my personal webpage!

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My Internet Millionaire Challenge

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Small Business Marketing Strategies

Nov 19

Posted by admin in business | No Comments

College marketing courses teach the four Ps, in a marketing mix and are defined as product, price, placement and promotion. These four Ps are essential in developing a marketing strategy.

The marketing aspect of business takes into account what your business is going to sell and how it is going to sell it. It is how your company markets itself.

What your business produces to sell is a reflection of what you company is all about. In other words, your product could be your company’s brand, and your company could be a brand on its own such as Coca-Cola or Starbuck’s Coffee.

Whether your business produces duck decoys or electrical services, your goal is to build and sell a quality product that will ultimately be your company’s brand. Basically, we need to build a better mousetrap!

Why is it that Starbuck’s coffee is larger than Gloria Jeans’Coffee or Seattle’s Best Coffee? (Starbucks has recently purchased Seattle’s Best Coffee). I am sure some of it has to do with capital investment and timing, but most of Starbuck’s success is the result of marketing its coffee as a brand and developing the brand so that it is well known. This is known as brand awareness and brand recognition.

We are all aware that Starbuck’s exists and we are very knowledgeable of the company as a brand. As consumers, we are all brand conscious shoppers, even though we may not be aware that we are.

For example, what does GE stand for? Most consumers would say that GE sells washers and dryers, so GE must stand for washers and dryers.

Actually, GE puts more emphasis on the quality of everything they produce, which results in consumers buying most of the things GE produces, whether it is washers and dryers, home appliances, financial services, or airplane engines. As consumers, our perception is that GE produces high- quality products.

The same could be said for Carnation in the western U.S. (Nestle USA has discontinued the Carnation brand). Back in the sixties, the Carnation label meant that contented cows produced the condensed milk in the can. Does the mood of a cow really affect the flavor of the milk? Carnation made us believe that it did and that their condensed milk tasted better than the rest.

So what is it that you produce that distinguishes you from your competition? Some will say that your pricing should set you apart from everyone else. This may not be true because your pricing could affect the perception of your product. Consumers may interpret the price of your product as a reflection on the quality of your product. Be careful when apply price to your products.

Wine is an excellent example. Most people believe that higher priced wines are better wines. This also may be false. Quality makes a wine good, and many wonderful bottles cost less than $10.

Unless you are like Microsoft, where the demand of your product is greater than the supply, you cannot be as flexible with pricing as you might think.

Consumers are fickle: Anything you do to annoy them could cause them to stop doing business with you in the future. So, what separates you from the rest of the business owners in your field? It could be pricing, service, or quality. It should be that your product is unique and that it satisfies a specific need for consumers.

For example, if you are a doctor, lawyer, mechanic, plumber, or electrician, you will always be able to market yourself as such. Everyone needs your expertise. Keep in mind, though, that everyone does not need poor service, high prices, or poor quality. Your field is saturated, and consumers have choices.

On the other hand, some consumers will go with the first company they might see in the yellow pages or on the web. So your goal should be to separate your product by producing a quality product or service making yourself the first choice your customers think of when they realize they need something.

There are “barriers to entry” that marketers develop to keep competition at bay. What are the barriers that keep your competition at bay?

Placement has to do with the channel of distribution in which you sell product. For example, if you own a successful bakery and you want to grow your business by offering your baked goods to more than your current client base, where do you sell?

Currently you may only sell to the customers in your neighborhood, but let’s say you would like to grow your business and start selling to the local grocery store bakery or the local university foodservice establishments on campus. Placement identifies your distribution direction.

Let’s think of other strategies that separate your business from the rest. I think poor service is easy to figure out. If your business treats your consumers poorly or really doesn’t care about consumers after they have purchased your product, it will only be a matter of time before consumers pass the word along. Word of mouth is also an effective marketing tool.

Again, unless you have such a unique product like Microsoft did 20 years ago, you should take customer satisfaction into account. As small business owners, we don’t have the luxury of television advertising. We must rely on positive word of mouth. It is the best and least expensive advertising a small business can have. The quality of your product and the quality of the service you provide is going to get around.

I like to think of marketing strategy development as brand building. Everything you do to manage your business should incorporate brand building. When you are having staff meetings, ask everyone to think about the impact decisions have on your brand. As your staff engages customers, they should be thinking of ways to make such encounters a better experience for your customers.

When we think of marketing, the first thing some of us think about is getting our name recognized. This is known as promotion, it’s about getting your good name out there as opposed to just advertising. You are promoting your company and you are prmoting one particular product or all your products.

Marketing your company or products through print advertisements and billboards is a great avenue. But I want to make sure you understand the value of marketing a good company or product rather than just approving the advertising budget.

You need to understand what it is that you are trying to tell consumers about you and your business. They are going to want to know who you are and what you sell.

Consumers also want to know about the quality of your product, and they will also want to know if your company is good at what it does. That information can only come from their experience with your product and your company. Think of it this way: You never get a second chance at making a first impression.

When you are ready to advertise, it is important for you to know whether you have a unique product or service and if your product or service is a quality product or service. Most important, you need to know that you can satisfy consumers’ needs. Do you know what you customers really need from you?

Let’s look at this scenario:

Let’s say you have the budget for a billboard advertisement on Main Street and your agreement is for three months. In three months, 5,000 possible consumers of your product see your advertisement. Twenty of them are interested in your service. Of those, let’s guess and say that 10 never call, because they just simply don’t call. Four of them call but decide, for whatever reason, they’re not going to purchase just yet.

We need to find out why we lost those four potential buyers. If we don’t understand our product, we will never know why we lost those potential consumers. Three of the 20 potential consumers just don’t call because they heard negative comments. The other three actually come to us and buy our product or use our service, but wait; we made mistakes during the transaction and two of the last three are dissatisfied.

Here is the marketing question: “What did we lose by all that”? Well, let’s take into account the cost of the billboard advertisement, the cost of losing potential consumers, and the negative impact of our brand. We lost a lot! I can’t put a dollar figure on it, but I can tell you that we lost some serious money in this example. How; future business?

You MUST know your business inside and out before you present it to the general public. Part of this process takes into account some form of management, most of which is marketing. That means marketing the right product at the right time. We can market our product directly to specific groups of consumers, but we can’t do that until we know what it is we sell, how we sell, the quality of what we sell, consumer expectations, and our own expectations. Consumers can tell if you know what is happening in your business based on how you market your product.

I always say; consumer perception can make or break your business, unless you have supply and demand advantages. Here’s something fun. Notice your purchasing habits the next time you go to the grocery store, notice your buying habits. Why do you buy what you buy? Think about it.

Marketers play to particular stimuli that consumers react to. As a business owner you should create marketing stimuli that entice your future customers. Differentiate your business and your product or service. Create large barriers to entry, keeping your competitors at bay, and develop products or services that meet the needs of your customers.

About the Author
Luis Luarca is the President of Allectus LLC, a management consulting company helping small to mid size businesses and is the author of “Business Management for Business Owners; How to Manage Your Small or Mid Sized Business”. http://www.allectus.com

Article source:
Small Business Marketing Strategies

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