Networking Events! Visit our Networking Events section to find upcoming networking events at your local Chamber of Commerce. Check back often because we will be expanding this section to include the Chambers in the region and beyond.
Virtual Exchange Message Board! See what new ideas the marketing pros are discussing. Post a question or contribute an answer. And if you need more, join in at the chat room.
Articles! Today's issue contains an extremely important article for anyone thinking of marketing online. It describes how you can use an Affiliate Program to extraordinarily increase sales. Our second article explains how you can bring your clients with you to your next sales presentation.
Your only dues for receiving The Next Level are to pass it along to anyone you think may benefit and use the marketing resources at www.nextlevelnews.com to increase your sales and build your business.
Best regards,
-John Libonati, Editor
Networking Events
Do not miss these upcoming networking events. Click here for information about these events and many more!
Phillies Tailgate Party and Phillies vs. Reds. September 19.
The Winners Circle Business Roundtable. September 21.
Six Chamber Business Card Exchange and Networking Spectacular. September 25.
ImPAct Young Professionals Statewide Conference. Oct 10-12.
When Amazon.com started using an affiliate program back in 1995, who would have guessed affiliate programs would turn into such a popular and effective promotion tool?
But they did. I have clients who report online sale DOUBLING every month since implementing an affiliate program!
For those who may not be familiar with the term, an 'affiliate program' is, in it's simplest form, a referral incentive program. You offer an incentive (usually money) to anyone who generates a sale of your product or service.
In some cases, you pay for generated 'leads' instead of sales . . it's up to you how you want to structure the incentive.
Internet technology is especially well-suited for this kind of promotion -- someone can 'sign up' as an affiliate in just a couple of minutes and can immediately start promoting your products with their affiliate number. You in turn can track and report their sales or leads in 'real time'.
Your affiliates can also use offline advertising by adding their affiliate number as a department number, 'priority code', or phone extension.
The best thing about having an affiliate program is that you never pay a dime for advertising UNTIL a sale is made. Your advertising costs are always a fixed and KNOWN percentage of your revenue. You can't lose! The advantages of having your own affiliate program are obvious:
• You'll have a small army of affiliates promoting your products -- and you don't pay anything for this exposure except when they generate a sale for you.
• You'll be able to harness the HUGE traffic some sites generate just by showing them how they'll profit by joining your affiliate program.
• You can use your affiliate program to monitor the performance of your own internal advertising -- STOP risking your capital on questionable advertising channels, and focus on the ones that work best.
• You'll have a quick and simple way to setup 'Joint Ventures' with authorities in your field -- and their recommendations will GREATLY increase your sales conversion.
• MOST IMPORTANT: You can 'lock in' strategic partners to promote YOUR product! Once you have them promoting YOUR products, it will be difficult for your competition to convince them to change anything -- people don't like to change.
With banner ads, pay-per-click advertising, email advertising, etc., you always have to pay UP FRONT for the advertising, even if it results in ZERO sales -- but with an affiliate program, you only pay for PERFORMANCE.
Your own affiliate program can be implemented in several different ways. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Let's talk about each one:
-- Affiliate Networks --
You can sign up as a 'merchant' in an affiliate network. One advantage is that they have several thousand affiliates in their network already, and you should be able to get several affiliates rather quickly.
However, this advantage is a two-edged sword. Affiliates in affiliate networks are constantly bombarded with new merchant offers and can easily lose focus on promoting YOUR product.
Another disadvantage with affiliate networks is cost. It will cost you several hundred to several thousand dollars to just SIGN UP as a merchant, and you'll have to pay monthly fees, usually including a percentage of sales.
One notable exception to this cost disadvantage is ClickBank.com -- startup cost with them is only $50.00 . . . they are the only affiliate network I'd ever consider using myself...
With an affiliate network, you are dependent on the network's servers for the affiliate program to work. Some will promote this as an advantage -- you're using their server resources instead of your own. This point is certainly well made, as they probably invest a significant
amount of time and money in maintaining their network.
However, with an affiliate network you are now dependent on TWO servers -- your web hosting server and your affiliate program server. So there are now two places where hardware or internet connectivity problems can disable your business.
Most importantly, affiliate networks typically 'Own' the affiliates. So if you decide you want to use a different affiliate program provider, you LOSE any affiliates you had through the network.
- Affiliate ASP (Application Service Provider) --
Like the affiliate networks, ASP affiliate program providers use their own servers to host your affiliate program. However, their costs are generally much less than with an affiliate network.
With ASPs, YOU own the affiliates who sign up for your affiliate program. So if you decide to move to a different affiliate program service, you can take your affiliate contact information with you this is a HUGE advantage over affiliate networks.
The biggest advantage I can see for an ASP solution is that when they add features, you get them automatically. You do pay monthly hosting and/or commission fees for this privilege, and for some people that's an acceptable trade.
-- Affiliate Software --
This is software you purchase and install (or have installed) on your own web server. You don't have any monthly fees and are not required to share any percentage of sales. The initial purchase is the only time you have to pay anything.
Besides the (significant!) cost savings, you have the advantage of not being dependent on someone else's server -- the software resides on YOUR web server, not somebody else's.
The advantage to this is that you only have ONE server that can go down and disrupt your business. If you're using an ASP, you're really depending on TWO servers for your business -- your hosting server (where you have your web site), and your ASP's affiliate program server.
If EITHER ONE of these servers goes down, you can't take orders. So the reliability of your server is a non-issue when comparing ways to implement an affiliate program. If your server goes down, you won't be able to conduct business, regardless of whether you're using an ASP or your own software for your affiliate program.
For some people, the main advantage of having your own affiliate program software is that you can control every aspect of how your affiliate program runs.
And while it's true that you won't get 'updated features' immediately like with an ASP, it's usually just a matter of uploading a couple of files to add the features to your installation -- so it's not a big deal.
When you look at the basic affiliate program functions, most software packages have comparable performance.
-- Support Will Be Critical --
Regardless of which KIND of affiliate solution you choose, the after-sale support should be a major factor in your decision. In terms of time, money, momentum, and goodwill with your affiliates, poor technical support will cost you many times the initial expense of implementing the affiliate program.
Some companies hide behind online 'Help Desk' forms, or (if you're lucky), an email address, so before you buy anything, make sure the company offers phone support.
-------------------
Paul Galloway is an Internet Marketing Technology consultant
and the author of 'The Business Owner's Toolchest'.
( http://www.businesstoolchest.com )
He also publishes a free eZine, 'BizTools Brief' ( sign up
at http://biztoolsbrief.com ) and develops custom internet
marketing software solutions.
For your next sales call, a short informational video about your product or service can mean the difference between making the sale and losing it. Together with your other marketing tools, a properly planned video will place you above the competition.
The most powerful component of an informational video is the client testimonial. Your best clients describe on video all the benefits your company provides. Unlike a testimonial on a brochure, a video testimonial is more genuine. Your client is telling your prospects how great you are - in person.
Of course, the main goal of the video is to provide your prospect with a succinct description of what you do. Depending on your industry, educating the prospect may be the goal. In addition to explaining why a customer should choose product A over B, the video can help educate the customer to make their own well-informed decision.
Another benefit is video's high perceived value has many positive qualities. A video, whether it is a VHS tape, DVD or CD, is less likely to be thrown away than paper mailed pieces.
An informational video has many positive qualities. Guarantee your video will be a great return on your investment by following a few simple tips before you begin:
Know your audience - a video with computer basics to a computer firm will only annoy your prospect. Be aware of whom you want to target and adjust language, benefits and goals accordingly.
Keep it client-centered - Explain your benefits to your prospect. 'The food will be delivered fresh and on time' rather than describing the features of your top-of-the-line refrigeration system.
Include a call-to-action - What good is a video or any marketing material if your prospect does not act? Whether a free gift or a limited-time discount for mentioning the video, you should include a value-added benefit to make the prospect act now.
Bring your clients with you (in the video that is!) to your next sales call and realize the rewards an informational video can bring you.
------------------- Colin Webb is Executive Producer of Webb Video Productions in Fort Washington, PA. You can reach him at www.webbvideo.tv or 215.643.0809.
Register Now For the 3rd Annual ImPAct Conference!
October 10-12.
ImPAct is a three day young professionals statewide conference sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
Interactive panel discussions, nationally famous keynote speaker, job fair and career networking events, as well as a kick-off bash, downtown city 'spirits' tour and breakfast with community leaders are all included.
ImPAct is expected to draw an estimated 750 young professionals from inside and outside the Philadelphia area.
Visit www.impact-pa.com for more information and to register today!
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