Here are some guidelines to follow:

Never Spam
Spamming might give you some quick cash but it’s not worth the risks. Spamming via email is illegal. Spamming in other forms — such as on Twitter, Facebook or message boards — is an easy way to get banned and see your account get deleted.

Never Spam (Image: Flickr)

Be Honest
When marketing, you should also remember that honesty is the right policy. If you’ve tried out a product and you don’t like it, don’t be afraid to let feeling be known.

Be Open
If you are getting paid to promote something, don’t hide that fact. This is especially true for bloggers and others who have a loyal following. Deceiving your loyal followers is a bad idea.

Money Isn’t Always Right
Money is great but it shouldn’t be your sole concern when marketing. If there are two products you are marketing and one of the products is better, let that be known — even if it isn’t the one that could bring you the most money.

Help Others
If you are veteran online marketer, you’ve surely been approached by others seeking some form of help. It’s not ignore people wanting a helping hand. At worst, you have a good contact for the future.

Post from: Bizzia

For TiVo, the company famous for their digital video recorders, they will see their products marketed at Best Buy stores across the United States. Considering that TiVo is currently facing an unprecedented amount of competition in their industry, this marketing move makes a lot of sense.

For Best Buy, on the other hand, this agreement gives the company a unique way to reach their customers. Each TiVo DVR purchased from Best Buy will give Best Buy the platform to provide ongoing marketing dialogue with their customers.

Said Chris Homeister of Best Buy: “We recognize that our ability to get much closer to the customer in their enjoyment of digital services in the home is one of our greatest opportunities. TiVo’s award-winning user interface, and its ongoing, innovation provides a unique combination of factors for Best Buy to further build its digital home presence.”

TiVo seems equally as excited.

“We could not be more gratified with this important relationship with Best Buy,” said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, “which is the world’s leader in retail consumer electronics.”

Expect to see more TiVo products at Best Buy (Image: Flickr)

Post from: Bizzia

And of course you’re probably not going to be able to resolve every single thing to suit a disgruntled customer. It’s just not possible. But when you think about how you should handle a problem, think about how it will reflect on your company. Unhappy customers talk a lot more people than happy ones do. So you have to weigh things - is it important to be right, or to give a little to keep the relationship smooth?

Some customers will demand way more than you want to give. And that’s understandable. But when you’re a large company with the ability to take care of small things, isn’t it easier just to take care of things and move on?

Dave Carroll

For example, musician Dave Carroll from Sons of Maxwell has written a song and produced a video about his bad experiences with United Airlines. He claims that United’s baggage handlers broke his $3500 Taylor guitar by tossing it around carelessly. After months of trying to get the claim settled, Carroll didn’t get his situation resolved to his satisfaction. United said they would not pay for repairs to his guitar, according to Carroll’s web site.

So he promised to write a song to let people know what happened. And he did. Now, well over one million people have seen the video about United and its baggage handling. If what Carroll claims is true, and that United was at fault and refused to pay, then was it worth it to them to get such bad press?

With the popularity of YouTube, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and so many others, things can go viral quickly. If you have the means to fix a problem, shouldn’t you? I’m not referring to holding businesses hostage by threatening bad reviews or videos like this. But situations where you can make it right, and probably should.

Which would you prefer: save a few bucks, or watch word of mouth spread quickly?

Here’s the video, titled “United Breaks Guitars”, below:

Dave Carroll image courtesy of davecarrollmusic.com

Post from: Bizzia

With that in mind, it’s no wonder why a ton of money is made per year by marketing on message boards and forums. If you own a message board or forum, tapping into the loyalty of your members is the key. By giving an accurate account of a product or service, you’d be surprised how many of your members will follow your lead.

If you are looking to market on a message board or forum that you don’t own, your best bet is your signature. Many places allow you to place a link in your signature, which you can obviously use for marketing purposes. However, be sure to check the rules of the specific message board or forum to make sure that you aren’t breaking any rules.

Marketing on message boards and forums (Image: Flickr)

Post from: Bizzia

Here are some key elements to insert into your signature:

• Your name - first and last. Make sure people know which Jane, Mike or Steve they are communicating with.
• Your business name - that’s a given, but many people actually forget this.
• Your slogan or branding. Use the opportunity to reinforce your branding.
• Your web site address. Let people know where to find you!
• Your phone number or email address. Remind your customers how they can reach you. Go ahead and put your email in your signature - it makes it easier for someone to copy all of your contact information into an address book.

You could also include your title, company address, fax number, and other information. But the above elements are the essential ones.

In addition to using this signature in email to customers, think about using a short signature to promote your business to friends, family, and acquaintances, too. However — and this is a big however — if you’re forwarding risque or off-color jokes and pictures, you don’t want to associate your business with those activities (unless that actually is your business). If you’re writing a note just to say hello and chat casually with someone, it doesn’t hurt — at the very least — to put your web site address in your signature. Remember that friends and family can refer customers to you, too!

There are many other simple things you can do to promote your business every day. What are some of your favorites?

image: www.lumaxart.com

Post from: Bizzia

The lawsuit claims that the claims that these “light” cigarettes were fraudulent. The suit, which was filed on behalf of cigarette smokers in the state of Tennessee, hopes to garner class-action status.

Court papers filed by the plaintiffs in the city of Nashville had this to say: “Their marketing, which emphasized reductions in tar and nicotine, was false and misleading.”

Altria Group, which formerly went by the name of Philip Morris Companies, is one of the largest tobacco-related companies in the world. It has more than 10,000 employees.

Reynolds American has in excess of 6,000 employees and reportedly sells more than 25% of all the cigarettes sold in the United States.

Cigarette Marketing (Image: Flickr)

Post from: Bizzia

On the other hand, there’s Google. You need SEO, page rank, and search results with Google. People only find you when they’re searching for you - or more likely searching for your product. If you want the walk-in customers, you still need Google. But if you want referral traffic, you’re increasingly going to need Facebook.

As more people use Facebook, it becomes a place to find product and service recommendations. Do you want to choose a random business from a generic search, or would it work better if you got reviews from friends? Most people are going to prefer help from a trusted source. As people post links to videos, news articles, or cool new things they found, others are seeing those links and clicking them.

Your marketing plan is going to need to accommodate both sites. If you want people to find your site through searches, you’ll need to continue optimizing your site for Google traffic. But as more people get their information from Facebook, you need to make sure you’re providing the content that people want, and make it easy for them to share it with friends.

image: morgueFile

Post from: Bizzia

But what happens when your current customers see the offer? Many people see the “new subscriber” exclusion and just move on. Why should they? Don’t loyal customers deserve a “thank you”? Why do companies work so hard to gain new clients while they ignore the established ones?

If you currently exclude your loyal, paying customers from deals and incentives, stop and think about why you do that. Is it the way it’s always been done? The way your competition does it? The way the industry does it? So what. Isn’t it cheaper for you to keep the customers you have? And what’s wrong with offering them a loyalty discount for a few months?

Because once companies get a certain amount each month from customers, they’re afraid to give it up. To get less. If you offer customers a loyalty discount for a few months, they may demand that price all the time, right? Maybe. So what if they do? What’s the worst that can happen — they leave? If you don’t offer them something for their loyalty they may leave anyway.

So if a discount isn’t what you want to offer, what other perks can you offer your loyal customers? Referral incentives? Think about your lowest cost items. The ones that you could offer for free. Why not offer that item for free after a year of service? Or bundle it free with a new service? (Just make sure it’s something that customers will actually want and not just a token offering.)

Change things up. Think about how you can thank your customers for staying with you instead of irritating them with “new customer only” deals. Either allow them to request the same deal — and only give it to those who bother to ask — or offer them an alternative. You do have an alternative in your arsenal, don’t you?

image: sxc.hu

Post from: Bizzia

Marketing Music on Twitter (Image: Flickr)

The numbers are actually quit staggering. According to the NPD Group survey, 34% of Twitter users have bought digital music recently compared to only 16% of non-Twitter users. 41% of Twitter users have listened to online radio, while the non-Twitter number is only 22%.

Additionally, 39% of Twitter users have watched online music videos recently compared to 25% of non-Twitter users. One third of Twitter users have bought a CD recently, while less than one quarter of non-Twitter users have bought a CD recently.

Said Russ Crupnick, an NPD Group analyst: “Twitter has the potential to help foster the discovery of new music, and improve targeted marketing of music to groups of highly-involved and technologically savvy consumers, but it has to be done right. There must be a careful balance struck between entertainment and direct conversation on one hand, and marketing on the other. Used properly Twitter has the power to entertain — and to motivate music fans to purchase more new albums, downloads, merchandise, and concert tickets.”

Post from: Bizzia

In the mid-1980s, Jackson signed a deal with Pepsi to market the soft drink. At the time, Pepsi was a distant second place in the industry to Coca-Cola. But thanks to Michael Jackson’s fame and the all-inclusive Pepsi marketing push, the soft drink company was able to catch up to Coca-Cola.

Jackson’s initial marketing deal with Pepsi was worth around $5 million. At the time, it was an unheard of amount to pay to a celebrity. Looking back on it, that amount looks like a bargain for Pepsi.

On the other hand, not all of Michael Jackson’s marketing was a success. He signed an extremely lucrative deal with LA Gear to market the shoe company. However, after negative reviews to their early advertisements, LA Gear pulled the plug.

Will Michael Jackson prove to be a powerful marketing posthumously? Only time will tell.

Michael Jackson (Image: Flickr)

Post from: Bizzia