Its amazing how time flies by. It seems like yesterday that we started marketinghackz, but it sure has been a while. We started MH on April 2008 and with time we have grown and surpassed our own expectations. Its a good feeling when you know there are thousands of blogs that start each day and die the next, that you are still alive and rolling like there is no tomorrow. As 2008 comes to an end we would like to link to some of our favorite posts. Of course we like every post thats on here but I guess sometimes you just have to choose a few and let it go. One of the reason for that is because I need to head out in a bit and join the crowd as we welcome the upcoming year.

Here are a few of our favorite articles,

Do Not Ever Promote Your Product or Services

Eating Healthier With Social Media

How To Crash a Server With Site Launch In 3 Easy Steps

Using The Rule of Thirds To Crush Marketing

A Cocktail Guaranteed To Boost Your Marketing

The Secret To Writing Killer Press Releases

10 Unusual Places to Drop Your Business Cards

10 Car Commercials That Make You Wanna Buy

5 Publicity Strategies People Miss Out On

25 Best Slogans of All Time

Cuil’s Marketing Strategy – Not So Cool

5 Reasons To Adopt a Freemium Model To Succeed

Lemonade Stand Marketing – Lessons From a 14 Year Old

10 Creative Ads That Are To The Point

Branding 101 – What You Need To Know

The Big Three Of Internet Marketing

The Secret To Marketing Is……

Twitter For Marketing – What Not To Do

Social Media Marketing – Humanization

And Finally my letter to StumbleUpon : StumbleUpon Can Kiss My Ass

There it is. There are a lot more I wanted to include but that is all I could do given the time crunch. By the way, as of this point we are shutting down marketinghackz for the year 2008. Ohhhh we are definitely coming back in 2009 .

Wishing you the very best of everything in 2009. Have fun and please, please hide the keys before you drink and then drink enough to forget where you hid them .Happy New Year!

In our previous post we talked about email marketing a bit. Today lets dive in a little more into email marketing.

Email marketing is the cheapest and the easiest way to connect with your customers. The current statistics reveal that more then 1 billion people use internet across the world and almost 92% of them use emails. Nielsen reports further suggest that more then 70% users receive marketing emails and around 82% of the users who receives marketing emails at least make one online purchase. More striking is the fact that almost 33% of the users make the purchase as soon as they receive a promotional email. So to cash upon this figure and making your revenue grow you need to send compelling emails which should be informative, eye catching and doesn’t get deleted as junk or spam! So here are few tips which can be used to come up with professional marketing emails with a personal touch:- Read the rest of this entry

The internet has bought a revolution in the business world. People are on the constant lookout for new ways of selling their products. E-mail being one of the most over-utilized and the most under-rated tool of all. Every now and then, you receive an e-mail giving unnecessary details about a sale or claim to a free gift. The real winners are the people who compel the target audience into buying the product. So how do you spin that web really? This is the e-mailing that will sell. Read on:

1. Truth Prevails: Write a subject line that gives an intro to your offer. But be truthful. Don’t be fake. It should be as compelling as it can be. Have something like Important or Must Open as the subject line. Free, discount, offers are words that consumers grow accustomed as they read it again and again. A subject like “Marketing: Why your company’s future depends on it” is a question which has 2 possibilities of what you’ll gain out of it if you read or what you’ll lose.
2. Clear and concise: People in the 21st century are busy. They don’t have time to figure out what you are offering. So sum the whole thing up in as little as you can, in a nutshell. Be direct and let the first sentence extremely clear as to what you are to offer. Grab the attention with a concise statement which will make them get up and think like “Looking for an effective and easy way out for marketing? Try XYZ services”. Do not leave detailed information in the first go. By the end of the message the reader should have an “opt in” option. Once he feels that he is interested, your work is half done.
3. Send only one message: I’m sure you have come across mails that give you information about all the products they offer, like 2 ipods or free one touch keyboards. Do not do that. Readers do not have very long attention spans. In fact, it is a proven fact that they lose focus after only 10 minutes of reading or listening. Sending a separate e-mail for every product you offer is the best way to go about getting maximum attention. You cram it up with all offers, and you lose a reader. An even better way to deal with it is to send a newsletter to all your regular customers who you think can be considered as prospective buyers.
4. Focus on value: The reader’s time must be compensated by giving them a value offer or a discount. An example of this could be how VeriSign did e-mail marketing. “Does your business have the full security it needs to carry online? To learn what’s securing all the leading websites today, claim your free copy of “Securing Your E-Business” now”.
5. Show the benefits: Just telling the readers about the offer is not enough. You have to show them what else you can give them which will be beneficial for them in way or the other. Eg.: “Our free job matching service will help you find high-paying gigs. We’ll send you the names of at least two potential clients each week.” This will lure some if not all your readers. It is important for you to turn web surfers into prospective buyers. The deal will pull them tomorrow if not today.
6. Final cut – Action! : Your compelling subject line and consumer oriented lead has worked like magic for you: getting the customer to read what you offer. What’s next then? The last thing that leaves an impression on a reader would be to ask him to visit your site. This is not the best idea. Instead ask them to sign up for your free e-zine or a newsletter, enter a lucky draw or to buy your product. Eg: Download the free demo at (URL).

This is how e-marketing is made easy and effective. It has such a strong effect that it reaches the customer within minutes or even seconds. The response is generally immediate – 90% of the times it happens within 4 days of you sending the mail. It is a less complicated, time saving and rather cost effective method of marketing your business.

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So there has to be a good enough reason as to why you will do marketing with the most excruciatingly boring piece of e-mail sent to the customers, right? Right! Marketing with newsletters is not an easy job and may give you the results you are looking for. There are thousands of companies who are leaving out a huge chunk of the market share because their strategy for using them is not very good. Unfortunately, most of the businesses which fail miss out on a very important piece of information. According to them their latest offering is great and keeps them excited as they feel that the customers require their product and will fall for buying what they are offering. Due to this, their newsletter basically just revolves around the features, the company holdings etc. Well, for those who did not know, your clients are not interested in you or your product.

So how does one go about creating a newsletter which will be read and will help expand the possibilities of increasing more sales and clients? Well, frankly there are not management books you will come across which will teach you how to do the same. But you don’t have t be a Harvard graduate as well to write a brilliant newsletter. There are no set rules as such but keeping a few things in mind can actually show some great results. Read on to know a few reminders of how you can achieve brilliance with newsletters:- Read the rest of this entry

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This is the first Christmas for MarketingHackz and we are excited to share this moment with you. We would like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

We will be back with our usual articles and posts starting Friday. Until then enjoy your friends and family and once again wishing you a very Merry Christmas from MarketingHackz family.

I am a little late in letting you guys in on this amazing list of online marketers, but better now than never. Invesp has always been a great source of information when it comes to online conversion and business aspect. Recently they released a list of 100 most influential markters of 2008 which is a very refreshing list which includes people that you might not have thought would be considered as marketers. This is why this list stands out from the ones we are used to seeing. Please click on the image below to check out the 100 Most Influential Online Marketers of 2008,

We all know that the economy is going down the hill and during these times it is harder for businesses to spend ad dollars. When it comes to marketing most businesses and marketers tend to think that a set budget is required in order to market. Although it might be true in most case, advertising doesn’t always require money. There are many ways to create a presence and market your product and services for free. Of course you need to spend either time or dollars to make it happen but during times of recession it is wise to spend time than dollars.

Conversation marketing is a form of marketing where you promote your business and advertise through word of mouth marketing. Trust me, there is no requirement that you have budget for marketing cause it simply requires your time and effort in effectively carrying on a 2 way communication. This is one of the reason why social media has become so powerful in online advertising. If your businesses doesn’t exist on the web, you are pretty much non existant. While I surf on the internet and participate on sites such as Twitter and Facebook I come across contacts that constantly say they are doing their Christmas shopping online. This goes to show that businesses indeed strive online.

Lets get a little deeper into conversation marketing and what it is all about. Conversation marketing is simply communication between business and potential clients. The way your potential clients take marketing messages have evolved. Gone are the days when people would simply look at a billboard and make a purchasing decision. However, this does not mean traditional marketing doesn’t yield results. It does but when ad dollars are low this is one of the best way to market. Even when the marketing budget is there you should still engage in conversation with your potential customers. Each community houses a number of your targeted customers and you should reach out to them. Not just as a business but as an individual sharing thoughts, opinions and making yourself a part of that community.

Conversation marketing today is one of the best applied marketing tactics and it has worked wonders for many. Recently, Sears and KMart used Social Media to generate interest from potential customer by reaching out to bloggers and increasing their visibility to the blog readers. Although they didn’t communicate directly, the bloggers that they chose were their marketing personnels who helped them pass the message. In short, conversation marketing is nothing but a way to gain recognition and create a presence among your potential customers. The only thing that is required in order to carry an effective marketing campaign is the ability to dedicate time and be a part of the community. Not that hard, is it?

Go ahead and give it a shot. Start participating and communicate with your customers. This will not only give you a positive image among your customers but will also fecilitate in gaining word of mouth advertising. Let us know what you think of conversation marketing and share some of the ways you think this form of marketing can help.

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Every where I look, I see more and more messages about how bad the economy is and how terrible this holiday season is shaping up to be…  Turning on the news is more of a pain in the ass than anything.  It’s so terribly distressing to hear what these ‘media companies’ are saying about our current plight.

We all know that Internet marketing is growing.  And we have tried to position ourselves in that market by offering tips and tricks on how to get the most out of it.  So we are going to do something special for you to kick off the new year.  We are going to do a comprehensive pay per click training for free.

There are very few mediums in advertising that let you:

1. Set up your campaigns to pinpoint your target market
2. Allow you to adjust your spending in semi-real time
3. Track your success in a conversion-to-expense ratio

Pay per click is one of them.

I really think this is important because it lets you actually see how much you are spending as compared to what your revenues are.

How I Used Pay Per Click To Profit On An Ebook

A prime example of this is with an ebook that I created a couple years ago – The Art of Domaining.  It was an ebook that talked about buying and selling domain names. Read the rest of this entry

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Content Marketing has emerged as one of the hottest marketing tools on the web. Whether you are using social media tools such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook or any other platforms, marketing comes down to content. Of course marketing has always been about content in one way or the other. Marketing messages are all contents but the content marketing today is different than what it used to be in the past. Content marketing today is what we call “marketing through education.”

We all know there are millions of blogs floating on the internet today. Almost 75% of these blogs are created not to maintain a personal diary of any sort but with a motive to earn revenue. The reason is simple – compelling content generates attention. This is the reason why corporate blogs have surfaced on the web. They sell products and services not through direct marketing but through content marketing. Any information that can educate people in a genuine way will certainly generate interest which will convert.

When we use social media platform what is one thing that we all chant about – participate, provide value and become an influential part of the community. This is not possible if we simply try and sell product. It is possible if we engage with meaningful content and conversation. Whether we are acting as an individual on social media sites or as a company, conversation is important. Participation and engagement is of equal importance because without it your strategy to market through content will fail.

Recently we have been seeing more and more businesses getting into social media space. It would be safe to say that soon we will see content marketing and conversation marketing slowly take over the traditional marketing approach. The way your potential customers think have changed. It is about time we all switch our approach to marketing and embrace both content marketing and conversation marketing as a prime marketing tool.

We will get more into content and conversation marketing as we move along.

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ChirpMarketing

a form of marketing that is used to convey short messages that are highly centralized, can create impact and grab target market’s attention without them having to spend substantial amount of time looking at the marketing message.

ChirpMarketer

any person or business who uses Twitter or other similar services to create brand awareness with short, enticing messages that call for action

Marketing on Twitter therefore is ChirpMarketing and anyone using Twitter to market are ChirpMarketers.

Twitter as you all know is one of the best online communication tools out there. It helps you connect with other users and share your views and ideas. The key to any marketing strategy is to communicate, which can be through content, images, video or any other forms of marketing. Marketing thrives on communication and communication online thrives on Twitter to say the least. Twitter has emerged as one of the most influential marketing platform and this is the reason why we are seeing more and more companies diving into it.

The growth of Twitter has been nothing short of a miracle. Although the service itself has yet to see any form of revenue, more and more businesses are implementing Twitter into their marketing strategy. If you are a business and you don’t exist on twitter yet, you are losing a good share of your target market. Movies, retail products, services you name it and you will find businesses related to these on Twitter. There is a reason these businesses have taken the leap and embraced “chirpmarketing.” Communication is the key to building a presence and an influential presence can do good to your business in many ways.

Lets quick take a look at why your business should exist on twitter,

1. Communication - Marketing thrives on communication. Twitter gives you a platform to send messages that are short yet effective. The 140 character limitation to some might be a pain but to effective marketers this is a blessing. If you can convey your message within 140 characters your consumers are most likely to pay attention to you rather than a sales copy that takes almost 30 minutes to read.
2. Branding - If you exist on Twitter, you exist on the web. Period. Twitter can tremendously help in creating brand through community participation.
3. Humanization - Twitter gives you a platform which helps you participate actively as an individual community member rather than a business as a whole. Think about it, how many businesses actually can and do share “what they are doing?” not very many. Twitter’s foundation is based on that very question that allows you to participate without being tied to marketing itself.
4. Customer Service – Lately I have been more inclined to use twitter search rather than google when I am looking for customer service for a particular business. Whether it is an airline ticket that I bought or problem with my hosting service, I am tempted to “@” them on twitter rather than call and wait for hours.
5. Trust - Social Media presence is built on “trust factor” and the same rule applies on twitter as well. Twitter gives you a platform that hosts millions of active users where you can gain presence within a short amount of time and build the trust factor. By the way, I recently bought a DELL computer although I am more inclined towards HP simply by seeing DELL’s active participation on Twitter, and of course recommendation from other Twitter users. Marketing isn’t simply about selling products, it is about influencing and Twitter helps you influence the market not through your business profile alone but through the community itself.

Let us quick take a look at a graph that shows the growth of Twitter since its launch in 2006,

You can clearly see from the image above that twitter has enjoyed a steady growth. I can almost guarantee that by the end of 2009 we will be seeing more and more businesses dropping off of Facebook and using twitter more aggressively as a marketing tool.

Are you chirping yet?