Home Wealth Project

An idea introduced to a population almost always fades away.

Send 1,000 people a coupon, and perhaps 20 use it. To get more usage, you either need to ping the audience again or find a new group of people.

This explains why marketers are always in search of new people to reach, and also insist on frequency of messaging–it maximizes the percentage of the group that is reached and minimizes the fade of the idea.

There’s an important exception to the rule of fading ideas, though. Every once in a while, an idea starts with a small population and actually reaches new users, people outside the population. Instead of the idea fading, it gains traction as it spreads. Imagine a cold getting started at an elementary school but soon the cold infects parents, teachers and the co-workers of those parents…

Eventually, even these viral ideas fade away (if they didn’t, then every single person on Earth would know about LOLcats and be into slacklining.) But before that happens, an idea spread by an excited tribe can have huge reach, particularly if it’s digital.

One mathematical cause of this viral spread is the outlier who becomes quite active in sharing the idea. This superuser might tell a hundred or a thousand or more other people about it. Using his own pulpit, reaching his own tribe, the superuser raises the average (the R0 value) to over one, causing the idea to continue spreading.

Monday’s publication of Stop Stealing Dreams has exceeded my expecations for feedback and impact. While a typical bestseller might sell 2,000 copies a day, this free manifesto was downloaded and shared more than 60,000 times since yesterday. I’ve gotten comments from around the world, and it’s clear that the manifesto has struck a chord–and that’s exactly why I wrote it. (Translations in two countries are already underway… I’ll post them on the download page as they become available).

And now the moment of truth–will the people who read it, share it? Will they take the file and email it to 5 or 50 of their peers? Will they use it to start a conversation among parents or teachers or, best of all, students?

Thanks.

View full post on Seth’s Blog

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Why Pinterest Is Not the Next Big Thing for Your Business

Feb 29th

Posted by Home Wealth Project in Marketing Tips

Why Pinterest Is Not the Next Big Thing for Your Business

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

You’ve likely heard lots and lots about a newish social network called Pinterest in the last couple of weeks.

1935 Alfa Romeo 8C – Fabforgottennobility via The Fancy

Many bloggers are talking about it in the same giddy ways reserved for the last few next big things, but let me offer some relief. Pinterest is an interesting site with some real, immediate applications for online retailers and Etsy merchants, but the site itself offers little for most typical businesses and it’s certainly not the next big thing. (I wrote about it late last year if you want some information on Pinterest for Business)

I usually know that once small business owners start asking me about a strategy for using some new tool it’s time to speak up.

In fact, it’s the search for the next big thing that is hurting many businesses. You know what the next big thing for every business is? Find a way to clearly differentiate what you’re doing and how you’re doing it and why you’re doing it from everyone else that says they are doing what you’re doing. That’s the next big thing. Pinterest then might actually be used as a tactic to support that, but never the other way around.

I think the thing that leads to so much confusion and frustration for business owners these days is that there’s an entire generation of online pundits (generation is about every three years in online punditness) that missed out when blogging tipped and that weren’t at SXSW in 2007 when Twitter raced on the scene, so by gosh they aren’t going to miss the next big thing and are willing to proclaim – “this changes everything” about any tool that gets a little white hot.

Here’s the thing. I kind of like Pinterest, I kind of like Foursquare, I kind of like Twitter and on and on, but the main thing I like about every new tool is what it can teach us once it develops buzz and users. So you see, I’m not opposed to anything other than people selling tools as strategy.

The great learning from playing with Pinterest and even exploring ways to use it to help support your objectives is that you get to witness how important visual stimulation and social sharing is in the grand scheme of attracting interest. I’ve had the opportunity to study how some early Pinterest adopters use the tool and it’s a fascinating study in the behavior of online users.

Like the entire category of infographics has done, Pinterest has plenty to teach us about how to create interest on our own website, in our own presentations and in the stories we use to attract potential clients – that’s what makes Pinterest worthy of the investment in time and not some magic fairy dust promise of traffic and riches.

In fact, I would suggest you look into some other sites employing visual scanning and visual stimulation to actually make money. There may be greater learning to be had at sites like The Fancy, Fab.com, Visual.ly or Polyvore.

The big message in all of this though is clarity of purpose. Until you’re clear on your marketing strategy every new tactic will sound like the next big thing.

View full post on Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

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Insider Tips on Creating a Publicity Friendly Retail Website

Feb 29th

1 comment

In the over 10 years I’ve had my public relations business, I have worked with many clients who have sold products through their websites. Their goal in getting media coverage is to get more traffic to their sites, as well as sales. To achieve those goals, I have often asked clients to make changes to their websites, to make them publicity friendly. The changes I suggest are based on feedback from the media, as well as experience.

media website

Here are my three favorite insider tips:

Create a grammatically correct, professional looking home page with no spelling errors: When pitching the media, you must include a website where people can buy your products, and usually that website is yours. If the media has any interest in your pitch, they will generally take a look at your website to make sure it looks acceptable. Acceptable means that the site, and mainly the home page, looks clean and polished and has no spelling and grammar errors.

Fact: More than one media contact has told me that a website being pitched is not professional enough for them to consider sending their readers to it.

Provide clear, colorful, photographs: As the media needs to see a visual of your product, your media pitches will also include a link to the products you are pitching, preferably on your website. The photo that the media contact sees should be clear and include all color options (color is important and often is a deciding factor when laying out products on a magazine page). This picture is the first, and sometimes the only, time (if samples aren’t requested) that the media will see a visual of your product. Many editorial coverage decisions are made on that first impression. Spend the money to get professional photos taken.

Delete mention of national media coverage of the product you are pitching on your press page: While it’s exciting to you to list your national media coverage, the media isn’t so excited. They want to be the first to cover products. If someone else has done that already, it’s an instant turnoff.

These three tips will lead to media worthy, publicity friendly website . Here’s to more great publicity!

Media Photo via Shutterstock

Insider Tips on Creating a Publicity Friendly Retail Website

View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends

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Leap year meditation

Feb 29th

Posted by Home Wealth Project in Marketing Tips

Once in four years, just once, perhaps we could:

Forgive, forget, relax, care, stand out, speak up, contribute, embrace, create, make a ruckus, give credit, skip, smile, speak truth and refuse to compromise–more than we usually do. Pick just one or two and start there.

Hey, it’s just one day.

Careful, though, it might become a habit.

View full post on Seth’s Blog

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Wealth And Financial Freedom For Christians

Feb 29th

Posted by Home Wealth Project in Home Biz Opportunities

Wealth And Financial Freedom For Christians. Program Designed On The Biblical Principles Of Wealth And Finance. Results Based Step By Step System To Help Christians And Non-christians Achieve Financial Freedom.
Wealth And Financial Freedom For Christians

Christians, Financial, Freedom, wealth

The Safety and Security of Online Faxing

Feb 29th

The telephone changed the world and birthed a new way of doing business. When transmitting documents via those same phone lines first arrived on the scene, it was almost like witnessing magic. In the late 1980s, the squealing sound of the facsimile machine – or “fax” machine – became part of the modern office’s background music. We had entered a new age of speed and convenience in document sharing.

Soon, nearly every office was using the new-aged tool to receive nearly 1 page per minute, even if they needed to send something halfway across the world. Contracts, proposals, and other very important and time-sensitive documents were no longer delayed by the limitations of postal or courier services. The pace of business quickened even more.

Now, new technology has brought us even further. The fax machine of the past millennium required a complex system of printing, scanning, transmitting, receiving, and then reprinting. These machines are quickly becoming a thing of the past with the advent of online faxing. You may now send and receive documents via your laptop, notebook, and even your smartphone – anything with an Internet connection. Not only is this method infinitely more convenient, it is much safer and more secure.

(Photo Source: adactio)

Speedier and Safer

Instead of waiting for the call, the download, and the eventual printout, you may now use online faxing to receive a PDF document via email. You may choose to print and/or save the document from that point, depending on your needs. If you fax a document, it no longer has to be printed, delivered to the machine, dialed out, scanned, and sent because you send it directly from your Internet-linked device. No more looking for phone numbers, dialing a “9” to get an outside line, or waiting for a machine to kick in; the moment your fax completes, it’s available to the receiver.

As for online safety? With more reputable online fax services, you can access your account via a password-protected SSL-encrypted website. Some of the better services also offer TLS encryption for email messages so that data-sensitive transmissions are protected.

(Photo Source: xcabelle )

No Paper

Fax machines require a paper printout, which wastes paper unnecessarily and can share sensitive data with others. Since most of us don’t have time to stand and stare at the fax machine waiting for our documents, and nearly every office shares 1 machine among several workers and/or departments, the chances are very, very high that any and all paperwork transmitted across normal fax lines will be viewed by others. This does not bode well for anyone working with sensitive information. It opens you up to stolen information at worst and embarrassment at best.

With online faxing services, you no longer must print and scan your documents, meaning that they leave no paper trail and reducing the chance of an important document getting lost or falling into the wrong hands. You can receive faxes 24 hours a day, 7 days per week and probably have less fear about somebody else accessing them.

Not only does having your faxes digitally available facilitate in indexing and storage, but you are also using the protection of your computer’s security software, which is much safer than your office’s wire basket for stray faxes.

No Spam, No Scams

The United States Secret Service has been investigating fraud cases revolving around unsolicited faxes. These scam artists simply blast out their requests to any and all numbers that will accept a fax. Many unwary people have fallen prey to these solicitations and have had to deal with stolen identity issues or lost funds. At the very least, these scams and advertisements are a waste of paper, ink, and energy.

As annoying as fax spam is, it’s impossible to guarantee full protection. However, even if the scammers are getting smarter and are able to use the Internet as well as fax numbers, your spam filtering and that of your online fax provider can help to protect you from their attempts.

(Photo Source: AMagill)

Better Than a Phone Line?

With added features such as API integration, multiple lines, and web-based services, it is also more convenient and often less expensive for businesses of any size.

Online fax services provide speed, cost savings, and value that we didn’t previously see with traditional fax machines. Here’s to technology making a better world – and business environment!

View full post on Business Pundit

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Making Business Better Requires Special Effort

Feb 29th

1 comment

If you aren’t willing to put in that effort, your business may not survive. But here’s the good news! It may not be as hard as you think. Here are some tips and other ideas that could make all small businesses better.

Marketing Introduction

Content marketing benefits your business. Ileane Smith of Basic Blog Tips joined the BizSugar community yesterday for a great discussion on content marketing. Do you have any questions on how to make content marketing work for you? Check out the entire Q & A now archived on the BizSugar Facebook page. BizSugar

Using e-mail as a marketing alternative. One expert shares some reasons why e-mail might be just as effective or more than social media in building your business. Tell us what you think? Do you find yourself using e-mail or social media more in your business? Smallbiz Technology

More Marketing Tips

Unleashing the power of social media. On the other hand, don’t knock it until you try it. Small businesses can reap great rewards from the tools social media offers. Here are some tips that will help you use those tools to best advantage while building your business. Youngentrepreneur

Ten other tips to improve marketing results. In addition to some of the more specific advice given above, there are some really general things that will improve your marketing game. If you want to take your marketing efforts to the next level, be sure to try these simple ideas to get you started. Marketing HQ

Customer Relations

Learning more about how customers use mobile. Build your business from a customer perspective. Figure out what customers want and expect from your brand. You can start by studying one of the most widespread trends transforming the customer/business relationship. Find out what going mobile really means. Grow Smart Biz

Testimonials

Do your customers love you? Take advantage of that fact through the power of customer comments and testimonials. If you want to learn more about how to utilize testimonials and comments from your adoring fans to their best effect, follow these simple steps and see your efforts pay off big. Step By Step Marketing.com

Getting video testimonials the easy way. Of course, you’ve already read about the power of video, especially online. Team it up with the power of the customer testimonial and you have a combination guaranteed to benefit your business in a big way. Here’s how to get things started. Firefly Coaching

Startup Advice

Surviving the early years. Sometimes flourishing in your small business just means hanging on long enough to survive. If you aren’t prepared to meet the challenges head on, you’ll find it hard lasting long enough to see the big success toward which you’ve been working. Here are some tips that will help you make it. Smart Business Guides

Policy & Trends

Improving small business hiring. 10 small business owners make suggestions they would share with U.S. President Barack Obama about the kind of help the government could offer to get small businesses hiring again. What would be on your list of suggestions for policies that might benefit small business? CNN Money

One thing that won’t help small business. While some small business owners seem eager to tell Washington what will work to improve small businesses growth, others are ready to tell the White House what won’t. Here’s one example of policy some small business experts can’t support. Bloomberg Businessweek

Making Business Better Requires Special Effort

View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends

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24 More Small Business Email Marketing Applications

Feb 29th

4 comments

At the end of 2009, we created the 30 Useful Email Marketing Apps list for small business owners. It proved a popular post and we decided to revisit the State of Email Marketing Apps and the result is these 24 new additions for you to consider.

Email Marketing

I have to state this at the start of every big list post — quite often a company is left off the list because pricing is not listed. Every small business owner I know is slammed trying to fit three days’ worth of work into one day. They don’t have time to hunt for pricing or get badgered by one more eager sales representative. List your pricing and you have a better chance of making the next update.

Overall, these new additions are quite exciting. There are many new entrants in the email marketing space listed here that offer some of the traditional things you expect from a provider. However, there are also some unique approaches and niche services like Boomerang for Gmail, FeedBlitz, and MessageSherpa, to name just a few.

Feedblitz is a terrific solution if you also use RSS (really simple syndication) for your blog readership. It is one of the first RSS-to-mail solutions and you only pay for the email portion. If you were looking for a more robust way to share with blog readers, Feedblitz is one to consider. Pricing starts at $1.49 and remember your RSS readers don’t count towards your pricing.
CakeMail is probably not for every small business out there, but if you also sell marketing services then you might want to look at CakeMail. It is a white label, or private label, email marketing platform that you can resell to your clients. Pricing starts at $200/month.
Contactology caught my eye because they had a cool spam checker tool that you can use to test your email quality. Quite often, senders have no idea if they are landing in the inbox. Contactology solves that with its spam test. Up to 100 contacts is free on email marketing plans, then $14/month.
CoolerEmail takes pay-as-you-go to a new level by letting you buy “stamps” to send just a few emails versus paying at a full subscription level. Nice if you only send out a handful per year. Up to 150 contacts and 100 emails is free for 60-day trial, then plans start at $25/month. Like many, they have done a good job of integrating social media into the mix, plus they have SMS text message marketing available.
Admail.net communicates right away about how important it is to “build your list” and manage it. So their basic package comes with a list builder, email builder (templates, etc), and real-time reporting. They price on an annual basis starting at $149/year for up to 2,000 emails per month. They do have a less expensive package called Admail XP-Lite that starts at $7.95. You can read more about that plan on the site.
Atomic Mail Sender is a standalone package, but comes with a unique approach. According to their site, “Atomic Mail Sender has a built-in SMTP server that delivers all email messages directly to their recipients without using your ISP’s mailbox or mail server (if your provider permits).” This would allow you to make a one time purchase and then manage all your own email campaigns. You need the Email Studio ($299) and the Sender ($79.85).
BetterMail is a full service email marketing agency (which means they can do it all for you, for additional fees). I got the sense that you’d get a bit of hand-holding and good tutorials from this team. They focus on “engagement automation” and I understand that to mean they’ll help you with triggered emails, autoresponders, and concepts that should increase your relationship quality via email. Plans start at $49/month (Canadian dollars) that allows for 5,000 emails per month.
Boomerang for Gmail is super cool. I installed it in 5 seconds and now can schedule emails to go out when I want them to. It is free for 10 message credits. Once installed, you see a “Send Later” button. There are loads of reasons why sending a message at a specific time is important, but even sweeter than scheduling a send time is Boomerang will remind you about your message (essentially bringing the message back up to the top of your inbox). Further, you can tell it to do this if the recipient does not RESPOND. Pricing starts at $4.99/month.
FireDrum does email marketing, but it would be more accurate to call them internet marketing experts. They have a full suite of tools. Their do-it-yourself email packages are tough to beat – prices start at $15/month for 1,000 members, but they also have a free level for 750 members (contacts in your database) and up to 4,500 messages/month. Plus, you can get a custom email template built for $295 if you need a special design.
GraphicMail offers a nice template library that they call an eFlyer to make it fast and easy to get started. The paid service has options for social sharing and mobile campaigns, too. They have a forever free account, then plans start at $9.95/month.
JangoMail has some of the most advanced features I’ve seen. They allow you to do more than the usual customize the greeting (Hi John…) and insert custom content for each recipient based on their profile. Foreign language capabilities, too. Last (on my list of “that’s cool”) is that you can initiate the email campaign from your desktop app; Outlook, Thunderbird or Gmail, to name a few. Free trial, then plans start at $15/mo.
Mail Blaze does a lot with subscriber list management. I like that you can see a report of your “highest open days” or when you have the most activity for email opens. You can trigger responses based on what your recipient does, too, which makes your email campaign more engaging and interactive. You can send 1,000 emails per month for free. Then $15/month is the basic plan.
Mail Dog calls it a “pre-flight analysis” but they’ll analyze your email, show it to you in a wide range of email programs (so you can see what your customer sees in Outlook or Thunderbird or 31 more apps). In fact, they have 240+ tools to help you craft the best email campaign. Pricing starts at $29/mo.
Topica has a range of tutorials to help you wrap your head around all the many things you need to do in your email marketing. They have a 30-day free trial, then plans start at $49.95/month.
Mail-List is for you if you’ve ever managed a Yahoo or Google Group and want to communicate with your discussion list in an email-like format. Their FAQ explains all the subtle details for group managers here. Pricing starts at $8.95/month.
Nourish allows you to turn an RSS feed into an email. Up to 1,000 emails is free, then plans start at $29/month. The free option includes Nourish branding, so if that’s not an option for your communications, you’ll have to do a paid plan.
BombBomb solves a big problem in email marketing – what to do if you want to send a video in an email. Most of the time, corporate firewalls will block video attachments and embedded video, but with BombBomb you can do it. They have a test email option so you can see what it looks like. Pricing starts at $20/month with a two week free trial.
Mailman, the GNU Mailing List Manager is the totally free, open-source email list manager. It has a little bit of a learning curve, but if you’re looking for a way to manage discussions with your group or mailing list, then this is worth evaluating. Pricing: free.
MessageSherpa lets you take content that you’ve collected from a variety of places (think social: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and easily embed or place it in your email. It is pretty revolutionary. You can also create a “network library” where your contacts or members can see what you’re posting there. You can join for free; then $15/month.
Sendloop offers a lot of great educational resources and common sense tips (uncommon really). You can integrate their application with WordPress, Highrise, Eventbrite, and more. Has a free plan, then starts at $15/month.
SuccessByEmail has a long list of features that will serve just about any small business. You can integrate your email with SMS/text messaging, too. Free 30-day trial, then $25/month.
emBlue is a bilingual email marketing platform for Spanish and English marketing campaigns. You can purchase by number of emails or annual plans. Plans start at only $15/month.
YMLP is short for Your Mailing List Provider and has a free plan that is packed, I mean loaded, with features. Then the paid plans start at $3.75/month. Tough to beat. With 230,000+ users spanning the globe, I would urge you to consider them.
MailVU is a video email provider and offers a free plan. As soon as you hit their home page, it asks you if you want to allow your webcam to record a video (a little allow or deny popup). This is standard and not some hack or virus. The basic plan is $39.95/month and comes with the ability to customize the branding. Free plan has MailVU branding, but is fully functional and robust despite that small point.

Email marketing is often declared dead these days with all the social media success stories, but don’t be fooled — smart companies are still building and maintaining business relationships with email. Test out some of these tools and share your favorites in the comments. Feel free to email me directly if you want to suggest one that I’ve missed (it is likely that I didn’t miss it, but didn’t list it for a reason). Thanks for reading.

For 30 additional applications, view the original list.

Email Marketing Photo via Shutterstock

24 More Small Business Email Marketing Applications

View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends

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Vocus, Provider of PRWeb, Acquires iContact Email Marketing

Feb 29th

Along with its quarterly earnings call today, Vocus announced that it had acquired email marketing software provider iContact for $169 Million cash and stock.

Vocus acquires iContact

Screenshot of iContact home page announcing acquisition (above)

Entrepreneurs and small business managers may be most familiar with Vocus through its PRWeb product. PRWeb seems to be on every short list of press release distribution services for small businesses. However, Vocus serves larger corporations, too, with its public relations products.

In October 2011 Vocus added a marketing suite for SMBs. The cloud-based marketing suite provides a combination of social media monitoring, publicity monitoring, and a Facebook app/landing page creation tool.

With this acquisition of iContact, Vocus is now adding into the mix the ability to offer email marketing services. iContact has a customer base of 70,000 small and mid-sized businesses, according to Rick Rudman, CEO of Vocus (although it wasn’t clear how many of those many overlap with already existing customers of PRWeb and other Vocus products).

Vocus’s goal is to provide an all-in-one suite — presumably with less of a learning curve. In a video interview accompanying the press release, Rudman said that small business owners and marketers “just do not have the time to go out and learn 5 or 6 different packages.”

Rudman went on to say that Vocus will continue to support the iContact product and will have the same iContact support team in place.

iContact was founded in 2003 by Ryan Allis and Aaron Houghton while they were students at University of North Carolina. Under the terms of the deal, which closed on February 24, 2012, Vocus acquired iContact for approximately $91 million of cash, $9 million of common stock and $79 million of redeemable convertible preferred stock, aggregating $169 million of total consideration, net of $10 million cash acquired.

That’s a large acquisition for a company the size of Vocus. Vocus trades on the NASDAQ, and as such its financials are reported publicly. Reported annual revenue for Vocus was roughly $115 Million for 2011, an increase of 19% over 2012. However, the company lost $4.2 Million (on a GAAP basis) for the year 2011.

There’s been a lot of acquisition activity over the past year among companies that provide marketing services to small businesses. In particular, we’ve seen a big push to combine email marketing, CRM and social media marketing tools. It’s still a highly fragmented marketplace with so many tools it will make your head spin — if you can even understand what they all do … or don’t do. Some consolidation and integration is not only to be expected, but in the long run will be a good thing. Having fewer companies and better integrated products will drive out inefficiencies from the daily marketing activities of small businesses, and make small businesses more effective.