How To Set The Just Right Tone For Your Self Promotional Marketing Materials
Here is a helpful exercise on how to research and prepare promotional marketing materials to bring the right people to your business. When I do this exercise with my marketing students, we always have a lively conversation that not only sparks solutions but also leaves participants feeling enthused, inspired, even excited about showing up in the marketplace. The themes we explore and the fun we have doing this exercise are so central to an authentic approach to small business marketing that I have decided to highlight them in this article.
First, let us stipulate that somewhere in the world there are prospective clients or customers who will fit you and your work "just right." (If this does not feel true for you yet, then you have work to do. Perhaps you need training, practice, or mentoring before you can attract "just right" customers. Or perhaps, like I did with my art business, you are trying to make an avocation into a vocation. For now, let us assume that you are in the right business with the right skills.)
Second, let us assume that "just right" clients are those who get great value from working with you just the way you are. These are clients who share enough of your standards and values that it is easy to develop mutual respect, appreciation, and benefit. With these two assumptions in mind, here are some unconventional yet highly productive questions to help focus the image, tone, and message that will attract clients who fit "just right." Answer them quickly to tap into your creative subconscious. There will be plenty of time later for thinking about the answers and deciding when and how to use them in sharing your gifts with the world.
1. If your work were a color, what color would it be?
2. What shape would it be?
3. How big would it be?
4. What texture would it have?
5. If you pressed it with your finger, what would happen?
6. If your work were a popular song, what song would it be?
7. Who would be singing?
8. How loud?
9. If your work were an historic personage, who would it be?
10. If your work were going to a party, what would it wear?
11. If your work had a typical mood, what would it be?
12. If your work were a plant, what kind of plant would it be?
13. In what environment would it thrive?
14. If your work were an animal, would it be domestic or wild? How big?
15. If your work were a meal, what kind of meal would it be? (Fast food? Haute cuisine? Mac and cheese?)
What is the point of questions like these? Simply this: Answering them can reveal aspects of your personality that inform and augment the work you do. By surfacing these unique associations, you will be unearthing imagery and attitudes you can use to set the tone for your marketing so that it is easy for your "just right" clients to differentiate you from other people doing similar work.
Try this exercise - it could be the start of something beautiful.
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Molly Gordon, MCC, is a leading figure in business coaching, writer, and a frequent presenter at live and virtual events worldwide. Join 12,000 readers of her Authentic Promotion® ezine to find more sound advice on self promotion, focusing on your market niche, marketing plan components, and letters of gratitude as one of the building blocks of your marketing plan.


Free Viral Traffic From Article Marketing
Many newcomers to the internet, and in particular owners of websites, often have the misconception that site traffic comes at a financial cost. Well think again! Why not use article marketing to drive traffic to your website and increase link popularity in the process?
One of the major benefits of article marketing is the ability for a particular article to spread throughout the internet onto several websites, often referred to as "viral marketing". The effectiveness of this is highly dependant upon the popularity of the article niche and the quality of information contained in that article. However, it is important not to underestimate the power of this possibility. It is highly likely that your article will be picked up from article directories by tens, hundreds, and possibly thousands of website owners eager for fresh, informative content for their sites and ezines.
It is impossible to predict which sites will pick your article up, but it can be very exciting to find that an article that you wrote has been published by a site with PR (Page Rank) 5, 6, 7 or maybe higher.
The consequence is a link back to your site from a number of sites running your article, and an increase in targeted website traffic, for free!
Furthermore, once your article has been written and submitted to article directories, depending on the quality of the article directory, you can benefit from the same article for years down the line.
Article writing provides you with an opportunity to display your knowledge to others. Should you provide valuable information that readers find interesting, then you can benefit from two essential ways. Firstly the reader can directly visit your site to view the service or product that you have to offer, and secondly, the reader may wish to publish the article on their website as they'll feel it may provide good information for their own website visitors. This ultimately benefits all parties:
- Your article, with resource box containing your website link, is located on many websites. You are rewarded with website traffic and link popularity.
- The reader (publisher) that finds your article informative has free content to place on their website for visitors to read.
- The visitors to websites using your article, locate an interesting and informative article, which can lead them to more information (your website).
The power of article marketing is obvious, and if you are a website owner, you should certainly be using it to drive free targeted traffic to your website.
Justin Brown maintains the website http://www.articleblotter.com which provides a perfect opportunity to submit articles, and to also discover article marketing news and valuable information.


Idea Marketing
Idea marketing – the key to success
Though it is not the only thing, idea marketing is one of the most important things that govern the success of any business (be it a small home based business or a big business). Of course, the quality of your products/services will be the main thing driving the growth of your business. Idea marketing can be done in a number of ways. What your idea marketing techniques you apply will be dependent on the type of business you run and your idea marketing budget.

Online idea marketing
Online idea marketing is one of the cheapest ways of Idea marketing. By online idea marketing we mean publicity of your products and services on the internet. With millions of people logged on to the internet all the time, internet is also one of the best and most logical ways of Idea marketing. On top of that, Idea marketing on the internet is also lot easier than offline Idea marketing. There are a number of ways in which you can do Idea marketing on the internet. The first step, of course, is to set-up a website for your business. Again, based on what kind of business you are running, you might need a simple static website or a complex/ dynamic one. For most businesses simple websites will suffice. The dynamic ones are needed only if you are running an online business that needs a lot of security and other interactive features. Once you have setup your website, you can go for online idea marketing in a number of ways:
1. Ads on websites / search engines
2. Participation in online forums
3. Getting listed on web directories
4. Search engine optimization techniques
5. Pay per click and other/ similar marketing techniques.

Offline idea marketing
Offline idea marketing can be done in a number of ways too. Again, if the idea marketing is for a big business and you have a big budget for idea marketing, you can resort to traditional bill boards and TV/ radio ads. However, if the idea marketing is just for a small home based business; you will need to resort to things like distribution of pamphlets in public places, posting of flyers on bulletin boards at laundry, restaurants etc, newspaper ads, yellow pages etc. Also, you should inform your friends and other acquaintances and ask them to spread the word around (this has been known to be one of the cheapest and most effective ways of offline idea marketing but is often neglected by people).

Warren and Karen have been involved in the internet for a number of years and run several websites. They are most interested in providing opportunities for people to connect with information relating to business, health and creativity. Check out their Idea Marketing blog for more information.