Some people can’t stand social media. Some just don’t understand it enough to use it. Some don’t get the purpose, especially those who’ve made a cautious attempt at using social media and seeing no results.

Think of social media like the broccoli your mother made you eat when you were young. You hated it then, she made you keep trying and now you probably like broccoli just fine.

Why should you learn to like social media, even if you hate it? Because it’s good for you – just like broccoli. Read the rest of this entry

It is essential once in a while to get out on the web and browse for related articles. We decided a couple weeks ago that we should be doing link round up as everybody else and here is our fresh batch of second link round up.

Today’s links are geared towards two aspects of marketing – Traditional and Online. As we were trying to see what others have to say about the differences and effectiveness of these two forms of marketing, we were able to grab 10 links that we think you will enjoy. Most of these links talk in favor of online marketing, but since we are old timers when it comes to marketing, we decided to throw in one link that talks in favor of traditional marketing.

If you have any links on this subject please feel free to post the link on your comments.

We hope you are finding these link round ups interesting. Here it is – Traditional Marketing and Online Marketing Read the rest of this entry

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We bloggers like to see ourselves as ahead of the curve when it comes to everything from technology to business models to marketing. In some ways, we might be right. In other ways, we’re way behind the times.

One of the gongs bloggers bang over and over again is how, “when one benefits, we all benefit.” Heck, the first time I heard that idea from a blogger, I was enthralled. “How amazingly simple, yet revolutionary!” “This could change the way business works!” The idea that, rather than compete in the marketplace bloggers in a given niche would collaborate to grow the niche, thereby growing everyone’s readership is powerful.

It’s a powerful idea because it’s true.

It is not, however, new. Read the rest of this entry

There is a reason that social bookmarking sites and news aggregators do not have anonymous members. It’s true that many of those who submit content to these sites are doing so for the pure need to inform others and raise awareness of a certain topic regardless of how surreal or illogical it may be. For others however it is a whole different modus operandi. I’m talking of course of working to build one’s social media profile and the desire to market it.

I have an account registered at multiple different services all across the web. All of them use the same profile image and username. By now people are starting to recognize my consistencies across the web and that is becoming a very valuable thing. Each day I have a couple more random followers on Twitter and Pownce all due to properly marketing myself to the rest of the crowd. My routines consist of browsing through many different popular and unusual media aggregators. It may be a active webforum, some confusing Italian blog or a historic IRC channel but what I’m looking for is that diamond in the rough, that piece of social media that gets a reaction from everyone and with that more recognition for myself. Read the rest of this entry

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There is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again. – Maki, DoshDosh

In today’s business world, a business is only as strong as it’s marketing strategy or campaign. Without an effective marketing guideline or path to follow it is no surprise that a business will sink. With the rise of web, social media marketing has become one of the most cheapest or free source of massive traffic and attention from potential customers. However, most businesses and users don’t understand the basic concept that lies behind social media marketing. Social media marketing isn’t about immediate attention. It is about brand building, brand awareness and long term attention and loyalty from prospective customers. This is only possible after you have put in due amount of time and effort in the social media scene.

This post highlights 10 ways you can build a brand and use social media to market your business. Read the rest of this entry

Direct mail marketing is easy. It’s one of the quickest, cheapest, and most actionable forms of advertising. But it amazes me how many people don’t understand what they are doing when it comes to putting a good campaign together!

Here’s an example. I got an over-sized piece in the mail from a local bank. It’s about 4 inches x 6.5 inches. In big letters it says, “Does Your FREE Checking Account Earn 4.05%?” Then there are three rates underneath (and this ugly picture of a guy getting his toupee blown off..).

When I got it in the mail, I glanced at it, read the headline, and promptly threw it in the trash. In fact, I would scan it in and post it here – but I had to dig it out of the garbage can and don’t want to goo up my scanner.

Quite simply, this card didn’t do anything for me. There was no action step. There was no incentive. In fact, all it said was, “Visit your nearest branch and be WOWed!” What do I care? I am perfectly happy banking where I am at.

Like our friends at the bank, there are so many ways we can screw up a direct mail piece. Some are less obvious than others, but I want you to spend your money wisely. So we’re going to take a minute and go through ways to boost your response rate using direct mail..

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It’s been long due. Marketing Hackz is two days shy of being a month old and we have yet to do a link round up. It seems like it’s a norm in the blogging world to compile links. The benefits of course are many. First, you get to share articles that you find interesting and informative with your readers and second, it helps you market your own blog via linking to other sites. This practice makes link round ups or link compilation a favorite among bloggers.

We are no different. We just can’t believe it took us so long to get to this. In this post we have compiled links to 15 marketing articles that we really enjoyed and found informative. Each link is accompanied by a short excerpt from the post itself. Hope you enjoy it. There are a lot we couldn’t include which we will as the site gets older. If you would like to share any links that points towards marketing, social media and such please feel free to drop the links in your comments. Read the rest of this entry

[ In our pursuit to give you the best marketing advice, tips and hacks - we encourage anyone to write guest posts! The following is from Mark Schumann of Publicity Wheel. If you know of a great service or a new startup that would be of benefit to our readers, please let us know! - Jason]

Imagine what would happen to your site if it was being advertised on hundreds of similar sites for a whole week? Not in rotation, not until x number of impressions, but permanently. This is the aim of The Publicity Wheel, a new concept for generating website traffic and exposure.

Read the rest of this entry

In business, being different is good. Being wacky is good. But being extraordinary is better.

Have you seen any of this year’s auto expos? Wacky. Crazy. Extraordinary. SOME of these cars are magnificent. Others, though – need to get scrapped.

Welcome to the rule of thirds.

The rule of thirds says that every car should cause one-third of the people to absolutely hate it and one-third of the people to absolutely love it. The remaining one-third simply isn’t paying attention.

Smart marketers know that if a car was built to the preferences of the majority, no one would really be passionate about it. It would just blend in. But by captivating one-third of the crowd, they are capturing far more enthusiasts than they could by simply building something that the majority preferred.

Hence, concept vehicles.

Read the rest of this entry

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On a daily basis there is a new social media site created. There is basically a site for every person from every background. We spoke with Muhammad Saleem, social media maven, about his opinion about a variety of sites, social media marketing and the most important elements to keep in mind when engaging in the space.

In our discussion about the major social sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Twitter, we were able to establish the key steps towards establishing prominence online. Participating, contributing and becoming an intregral part of the community are the main ways to develop the personal brand that Muhammad has been able to establish for himself. Read the rest of this entry

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