Note : Here at marketinghackz we talk about, well, marketing. But sometimes it is necessary to talk other aspects of business as well. In this post we will talk a little about idea generation which is required in every phase of business. Whether you are planning on starting a new business or trying to market your business to a new crowd, without an idea nothing falls in place.

Ideas – they sprout from everywhere, while walking down the mall, while eating at a restaurant, while watching TV or whatever it is that you are doing. It’s just a matter of minutes for an idea to jump into your brain and make you think about turning something into reality.

It is somebody’s idea that has made it possible for us to watch movie on a portable DVD player, it is somebody’s idea that has allowed me to connect to the rest of the world via internet; and it is somebody’s idea that allows most of us to write articles without having much technical knowledge on how to create a blog or a website.

Some ideas turn into reality and make it big, whereas others just get buried deep into the pile of bad ideas. How exactly do we make an idea into reality? How do we decide which idea we should act upon and which one’s we should let go off? What is it that we need to do to make an idea take the leap from our brain into the world?

This post will highlight some things that might help do just that. Call it the life cycle of an idea which starts from the generation phase and ends with the completion.
Click here to read more

A landing page is a dedicated page that viewers are sent to after clicking on a link, generally from another source like a Pay Per Click advertisement. The page focuses on a particular service or product with the intention of persuading the viewer to take some course of action that will end in a sale for your company. Strategies for many landing pages are pertinent to all of the pages on your web site and are valuable in view of general web page development and writing.

The process of a sale goes something like this: a prospective client lands on your home page, chooses an option from the menu or an offer featured on the home page, arrives to the product/service page and then makes a purchase.

In some cases, this may be true. In most cases, however, the client has linked in from some other site or article and only about ten percent of visits to a web site start at the home page.

Some experts in marketing believe that your landing page should be exclusively devoted to a single offer, while others will tell you that your should supply simple access to all of the other sections of your site with offers mentioned one these areas as well, should the visitor not be interested in your main offer.

If you are planning to use Pay Per Click advertising to direct your clients to a particular offer or service, then a page that is dedicated to that offer with minimal mention of anything else would prove to be your best strategy. Besides, most Pay Per Click advertisements are targeted so the traffic generated from this source is focused.

When you use Pay Per Click Advertising to send web traffic to your landing page, you should consider the use of a different marketing copy founded on different bids for key phrases. This will be a little more work for you, but it will be worth your time.
Click here to read more

Give your customers what they want to hear, not what you want to say.

That actually is the holy grail of marketing. When you reach out to customers trying to sell your product do not try and sell your product on how you think it might sell. Instead think what your customers might want to listen to and what it is that might compel them to buy your product. This is one of the worst mistakes most sales person and marketers make.

Here are a few tips on making your marketing efforts yield great returns each and every time,

• If you work for somebody do not listen to their marketing pitch. Create your own! If you are trying to sell something for your company, forget what they say or expect you to say to the potential customers. You be the customer of that product and think what it is that might make you buy that product and then create your marketing pitch.
• Think. Each word coming out of your mouth is being listened by your customers. Before you lay out all the positives about your product, be realistic and think if it’s really that good. If it’s not don’t keep your customers in dark. Be genuine and be honest. Remember this is why you put yourself in the customers shoes in the first step.
• Give them options. Every one likes options. Whether you sell a 100 dollar product or a 25 dollar product, your company is going to make a certain profit margin no matter what you sell. If you think a product might not suit a customers taste lead them to another product that might suit their taste and budget.
• One thing that always needs to be kept in mind is - don’t worry about a sale. Worry about long term relationship. A repeat customer that buys a 50 dollar product time after time is much better than a customer that buys a 1000 dollar product once.

Got any quick tips for us?

Today we launched our first product - Quick SEO. Unlike other SEO stuff out there Quick SEO not only provides you with an ebook but also comes with 3 hours of solid video tutorial. We believe that the best way to learn is by watching somebody do it and Quick SEO is jam packed with solid content and tutorial that will certainly help you get ahead in the SEO game.

Currently Quick SEO is priced at $29 which is one heck of a deal for 3 hours of step by step video tutorial and a 47 page ebook. This introductory price is good till July 27th. But we have something else stored for you as well which kind of makes this deal even better. Please read below :

If you purchase Quick SEO within 30 days you will automatically enter into a drawing to win www.Ghostblogging.net. Once the 30 day period is over we will draw one lucky winner who will also be the proud owner of Ghostblogging - a job board for bloggers and writers. The site is completely functional and includes a blog as well. This site has a lot of potential. If promoted this site can earn you money without having to do a thing, besides managing job board and such.

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and grab a copy! It’s your chance to get the best SEO video tutorial out there along with a 47 page PDF ebook. Hurry, before the price goes up. Get in, buy your copy and a secure your chance to win Ghostblogging.

Software and information are both great markets. It doesn’t matter if it’s online software (Saas) or offline books/tapes/ebooks - Freemium/Premium is the way to go.

What better way is there to sell something than to let people try it out for free?

For instance, Freshbooks is by far my favorite online invoicing application. We use it for Axiium and Tech Solution because you can pay right through Paypal and there are recurring invoices. But how did they hook me? By letting me try it out for free - up to three clients and one employee.

Well, anyone who is running a decently successful business has more than three clients! So once you get in, see the functionality, and decide you want to use it more - you just upgrade your account!

Below, we are going to see some of the benefits of Freemium services. And I highly encourage you to look at them more closely. If there is something you can do in your business or with your marketing efforts to mimic this - you’re golden.

5 Advantages of Freemium/Premium Advertising Models

1. Collecting Information - Information is worth more than any other business investment in today’s world. If you have a list of 3,000 dedicated, loyal customers the value of you business is exponentially increased. You can market to these people, send product launch information, or get feedback on your newest service. These people will stick with your through thick and thin.

So why not find more of these people?

One of the easiest ways to do it is offer a free service or a trial run. In order to sign up, they give you their email address. They know they are going to need a password to get it. It doesn’t matter if they pay you now or later - the point is you have their contact details. And as long as you offer a reputable service - you will have no problem getting them to open your email marketing letters.

2. It Costs Nothing - When talking about software and information products - giving free trial runs costs next to nothing. It’s one more table in a database and a bit of hosting space. But that’s about it.

Software as a service applications lend themselves nicely to this method of marketing, which we discussed above. But what about other things? Ebooks, DVD’s, training courses, magazine subscriptions… Why not give them 7 days free? Or a month’s worth of magazine issues? Or a free course on CD (aka The computer guy on the commercials)… You just need a good purchase agreement and a great marketing message, “We’re so sure you will love our free product that we know you’ll come back…”

Get’s ‘em every time.

3. Beta Testing - When you give a free run to a new client, you can ask them to send feedback about your product. This, in essence, is a great way to ‘beta test’ your offering. What better way to gauge the response of your target market than to ask them yourself what they think.

These people are usually the early adopters. They are the ones who try out new things and then tell their friends how much they liked them or how bad they sucked. So if you work with these people, you are going to be heroes in their eyes, and you will have a loyal group ready and willing to pay for the premium version.

4. Increase Referrals - In the online world, referral marketing is one of the many keys to business success. And when somebody is trying to sell your product for you (so they can take their cut), they have a much better time doing it when the service is try-before-you-buy.

It’s easy to get someone to sign up for something free, and when you have referral marketers doing the job for you it’s a piece of cake. Offer a decent incentive, create lots of banner for them to choose from, and give them a referral link. All they do is write an article or post an ad and they make money. Make it as easy for them as possible. After all - this is a bloggers paradise. Increase your viral appeal by catering to bloggers.

5. More Client Satisfaction - One of the worst things that can possibly happen is to disappoint someone. This goes double if that person paid you for a service that they thought they were getting but didn’t receive. If you go with a freemium model - they know exactly what is in store.

Additionally, they know you’ll honor their requests for more features or if they have problems. If they want to see some sort of increased functionality or are having a problem with the interface they didn’t lose anything. And if you team goes in and helps the person - you will have a loyal customer for a very long time.

Building the Freemium Model

Granted, some products and services lend themselves to this way of thinking more than others. As we talked, software and information feels right at home here. But big screen tv’s and pc’s aren’t quite as freemium friendly. There are always applications though. Who would have thought free trials of magazines could be so successful?

I am sure most of you have bought something that was given away as a trial or marketed through a freemium track. What made you buy? Was it a good decision?

[img Lori Spindler]

That’s right! Some times the best way to see marketing well done is by watching couple kids run a lemonade stand. Although you might disagree with my statement that children are marketing geniuses, it is true. We tend to ignore this fact simply because unlike grown adults they don’t have to try as hard and they just don’t. It comes to them naturally - the art of selling!

This post is based on an experiment that was run by Bob ( 14 years old ), one of the neighborhood children. The plan was to sell lemonades as you can figure that out from the title itself. It was pretty interesting to see how he successfully carried out this experiment and made money simply by working a lemonade stand. I had no hand in this experiment but Bob decided to share it with me while I was at the park. I was so fascinated by his approach I asked him to write an essay for me on how to sell lemonades and make money . He wrote one and I typed it here. Read it guys, this kid knows marketing and how to add value to an existing product.
Click here to read more

The main aspect of marketing is to convey message to potential customers in a way that it is understandable and appealing to the potential customers. If a product or service fails to convey the message then the promotional campaign certainly is a failure. Over the years there have been product and campaign promotions that simply amaze us with their genius ways of presentation where as the same companies have made some of the biggest mistakes in the history of marketing. This post is about those mistakes that companies made due to inadequate research before marketing their product to international customers.

When a company leaves it’s home boundary and sets its foot in the international market, there are somethings that need to be analyzed, such as cultural value or emotional value that would appeal to the international customers. Language, pricing and other factors can be a challenge when entering a new market in a foreign country. Please take a look at these examples below as to how these companies created some of the biggest marketing blunders in the history of marketing!
Click here to read more

We have finally launched the third blog under the Hackz Network. As you all know we had a little contest running for the site and with the site publicly launched the contest is over as well. Anyways, this is just a short update to let you all know that Hackz Network has given birth to another great blog - PcHackz!

The idea behind PcHackz is simple - build better computers. This involves hacking, modding and messing with configurations; upgrading hardware and software; and ultimately getting the most bang for your buck. You will also find reviews and other techy stuff on gadgets and so on. Go ahead and subscribe to PcHackz, with what we have planned you don’t want to miss anything .

We would like to welcome our new advertiser - CakeMail!

Here is a brief introduction about their service in their own words,

CakeMail is an open architecture, multilingual email marketing software. Cake Mail’s layered design is specifically meant for interactive marketing agencies, software companies, and web forms looking for an easy way to add email marketing services to their offering, leverage their data sources, reinforce their own brand, and to their bottom line.

I personally haven’t tried their service yet. But it sure does look promising. Whether you are just an individual running a blog or managing a company, seems like CakeMail can handle your email campaigns.

If you want to try their service, hurry! You will earn yourself a free trial.

Ever thought what it would be like to be Steve Jobs? Forget the accumulated wealth he has. Creator of Apple, one of the biggest, brightest and the most successful brands ever. This is no small deal. But if you have your own brand, you might just feel equally happy as well. It’s just that he has succeeded in reaching out to the people through various means. So how do you create something with so much personality and grip that it works wonders for you. Marketing has evolved from being just selling techniques and plans into becoming promotion and branding. There are dozens of companies offering just the same kind of products and services, but they still hold their respective shares in the market. This is all branding. Being a successful brand means a successful you, since it stays as a part of your identity. So ask yourself a single question: Who am I? Branding is just not meant only for products and companies. In this era, everything is a brand. It is quite important for professional success today. So here’s how YOU can create your own personal brand:

1. Vision;First step to discovering your brand: Every step in management involves some kind of a set goal or a vision. This means declaring the context of your brand. You must have a clear vision of what you think and what you want, your goal or vision. Your brand will be also responsible for representing you to the public; hence, it becomes vital that your goal stays connected to your brand.
   • Knowing who are is the first and foremost step to becoming a successful brand. This brings about communication among the people involved, eliminates competition, and gives a better product defense. All of this proves the authenticity of the brand.
   • Knowing your competitors follows next. Just having confidence of having a good product does not solve the problems. It is extremely important to know your close competitors. Understand them, know your own position in the market and of course, how you can stand out of the crowd.
   • Last but not the least, knowing your target. The target audience that you are to support should be communicated the right message in the language they best understand. Focus your brand on the right people.
2. Expression;the essence of your brand: This includes description of the essence of your product. Many products fail repetitively primarily because of the fact that they fail to communicate the essence of the brand. Have the right tagline, the right brand profile and list the attributes that fit the statement. Now that there is a clear picture of who your competitors and your audience are, you just need the right mix to communicate to who you really want to address. How you present it is crucial. Make sure you leave a mark with the brand everywhere you go. Meetings, presentations, conferences, airports are just some of the examples of where you can leave an impression of your name behind. Making it visible to the right people is also very important. Even during a business meal with your client. Adopt it as a part of your lifestyle. Eat, sleep and breathe it. Make sure every action performed is in consistency with your brand..
3. “Just Do It”- Evaluate your actions: The last thing to do is to evaluate your brand. As an employee, take feedback from everybody in the company. Managers, staff, employees etc. can give out essential details which you might just have missed out. On the client’s side, have a feedback form attached or try for a formal verbal or written way of feedback. The idea is to make sure that you are taking as much input as possible. Better results are only possible if the input is taken and acted upon.

The process unfortunately is a little painful since requires commitment and time. To stay relevant to the audience, it must evolve with the times. This could mean product or line modification or new and improved methods of communicating with the audience. This ensures that your brand stays in the sight of the audience and does not lose the authenticity.

One thing that goes without saying is “Give respect for respect.” Your name is a brand and the more respect you give will alone make a huge difference in the sales or profits. It’s a technique which comes handy often more than once. Name is a treasured item, so handle carefully. So put forth your brand with confidence and feel free to suggest more tips on the same.

Img credit