by: Michael Delpierre

Incorporating sales, marketing and business development techniques to create unified and integrated messaging for your company is critical. Too many times a businesses’ sales team will sell their services “one way”, their marketing department is positioning their services “another way” and their business development team is pitching a value proposition never heard before. Sound familiar? I bet it might.

This fragmented messaging not only happens to small businesses, it also happens to the most admired fortune 100 companies. When I was a sales manager for a leading Telecommunication provider I quickly noticed the value proposition our Inside Sales team used to pitch our services was different than our outside sales teams. I also noticed the TV commercials the marketing department made never integrated the values and strengths we were taught to sell.

Not only was this apparent then, it is very common today within the small businesses we help. Too many times we see a company’s sales team pitch their products by highlighting one or two of their strengths; however their website focuses on a totally different value proposition and their marketing materials (PDFs/Brochures) state something completely different.

It is critical when small businesses plan their overall marketing strategy that their messaging is consistent and integrated seamlessly across their sales and marketing channels. The sales teams pitch must be the same as what their customers read on their website, Facebook page, LinkedIn site or corporate brochures. And we all know repetition helps customers remember your company when it comes time for a purchase.

Consistent, clear messaging must be integrated across your sales and marketing teams; and it must be done throughout your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns. Your key words, title tags, Meta tags and website copy must be entwined and work together in order to drive traffic to your website and covert online users into viable sales leads.

So, the next time you are confused by an advertisement or not sure what a commercial meant, ask yourself, “how do our prospects and potential customers perceive our messaging? Do we confuse them”?

At Conversion Pipeline we specialize in creating unified, integrated and powerful content that is consistently messaged by your sales, marketing and business development teams.
Conversion Pipeline is a strategic Internet marketing firm focused on providing online marketing strategies to the small business. Conversion Pipeline offers a variety of custom-tailored marketing, communications, branding, social media, and revenue generating strategies aimed at elevating brand awareness while increasing the sales pipeline. For more information please visit http://www.conversionpipeline.com or contact the Pipeline creative team at info@conversionpipeline.com.

The author invites you to visit: http://www.conversionpipeline.com

by: Silas Reed

The top jobs today are related to sales, marketing, advertising and public relations. All over the world, businesses are going ga-ga over the same; recently, latest business development models have seen sales and marketing being clubbed together to push sales. This demands the article to first give a good definition of the same.

What is Sales Marketing?

Marketing as we all know is strategies developed by companies, businesses to predict and convince people to buy their products. It is the sales volume in the end which defines the effectiveness of the marketing strategy. Since it was difficult for some sales driven firms to make the specialty areas work separately, they decided to club both of them to give optimum results. This was the inception of sales marketing. Sales marketing targets to build a customer base rather than people who buy only once.

This area of specialization is riddled with myths and paradoxes than actual true facts. Here are some top myths regarding sales marketing which have been busted here:

Top Myth about Sales Marketing #1: An Aggressive Sales Push is all I Need!

Most of the sales marketing is carried forward with the help of internet. It is the internet which has become the marketplace of the present and the future. Websites promoting products employ an aggressive marketing strategy that will go all out to sell the customer a thing. And soon after the sale is completed, they forget about the customer and the product! This is an attitude that you should never allow to come in way of your business. Customers who liked your product will come back to you on the support of the after sales service that they get.

It is the relation that you develop with your customers that will define your sales marketing strategy and the results you reap from it.

Top Myth about Sales Marketing #2: Sales and Marketing? Not my cup of tea!

Most people around the place would like to believe that when sales and marketing are combined together, it completely goes beyond their reach – that is in terms of handling things. Now consider this – if it was such a difficult task, how could other people rake in dollars out of the promotional strategy? It is your positive attitude that goes beyond to help you make money out of the same.

Top Myth about Sales Marketing #3: SEM and SEO development is not related to sales marketing

Since most of the businesses have gone online in the past decade, it has only become increasingly important to optimize the search engine results to give your business a much needed boost. This came to be known as search engine optimization and further on, search engine marketing. The application of SEM in sales marketing is huge. It is here that you make advances in your business by taking it online and benefitting from the SERPs to give your business exposure. This can be of course achieved by proper SEO of the website.

Product development and promotion have a new strategy and future with sales marketing!
To learn more about finding sales marketing jobs, please visit http://www.marketingcrossing.com/lcjobtypelisting.php and sign up for a FREE trial to gain access to ALL of the many exclusive job listings we offer in the marketing profession. Silas Reed, writes articles that inform and teach about different marketing job profiles.

The author invites you to visit: http://www.marketingcrossing.com

by: George Torok

Who delivers a better presentation and why?

Recently I listened to a group of senior sales and marketing executives speak at a networking meeting. I also served as a judge at a speech contest for 12-year-olds. These two unrelated events prompted me to compare the presentation skills of each group.

1. Guess who was more engaging, attention grabbing and memorable?

2. Guess who was boring, uninspiring and easily forgettable?

The answer to question one is – the 12-year-olds. They were good.

The answer to question two is – the sales & marketing executives. They needed improvement.

Why did 12-year-olds deliver better presentations than senior sales and marketing executives?

Competition

The 12-year olds were competing in a speech contest. Many of their parents were there. Money and prestige were on the line, so they were well rehearsed.

Focus

Each presenter had a focused message. Their presentation was designed to deliver that message. Some were deep and serious while others were light and whimsical. In all cases the message was clear and easy to summarize.

Relate

The presenters spoke to the interests of the audience. The topics ranged from “the influence of the media”, “tourism in third world countries”, “the family van”, “peculiarities of the English language”, and “homework”. Yet each speaker related the topic to the listener.

Stories

Each speaker told colorful stories. That sparked images in my mind. Many said things that were funny and made me laugh. Some statements challenged my opinion. I was impressed by the carefully selected words and phrasing. All were simple and understandable.

Passion

Each speaker conveyed passion for their message. Each radiated that they were happy to be speaking to us.

Bold

These speakers were bold. They stood before the audience, looked people in the eye, delivered their statements and performed.

What did the Sales & Marketing Executives (SME) do poorly?

Winging it

The SME seemed to be winging it – even though they were competing for attention, memorability and jobs. These SME were between jobs but seemed reluctant to compete and rehearse. Yet, clearly a lot of money was on the line. If their family had attended, would they have prepared better?

Vague

There was no focus or purpose evident. It almost seemed that they first were reciting their resume and then what they had for breakfast. Okay, I’m exaggerating the breakfast part – but it seemed as boring as porridge.

Pain

Each speaker seemed to be caught in their own self-centered world. Most didn’t relate to me or how they might fix my pain or that of my contacts. How could I help them if I didn’t know what they were offering? Stating “who you worked for” tells me little. They needed to speak of pain and solutions.

Blah

Facts, history and blah, blah, blah. Some related recent experiences but none that were worth remembering. Many used filler, self-sabotaging and jargon words. I was bored, confused and unimpressed.

Passion?

I didn’t feel it. The emotion that I felt was remorse. “Why am I here?”

Timid

You might think that Sales & Marketing Executives would be anything but humble. You might think that Sales & Marketing Executives would grasp the difference between benefits and features. I thought so too.

All of the SME sat while speaking, crunched in their chairs some with an arm draped over the back of the chair. It was as if this was a family picnic instead of a possible career defining meeting. I found it curious that none of the men wore a tie. Did they want to be taken seriously? Or was this just a social club?

Presentation Skills Contest Results

What’s the score? 12-year olds -1. Sales & Marketing Executives – 0.

Some of you might think that I’m too hard on the Sales & Marketing Executives. That I’m expecting too much from them. Maybe – but I bet that I’m not the only one.
© George Torok is the Speech Coach for Executives. He coaches business leaders to deliver deal-closing presentations. Find more free presentation tips at http://www.SpeechCoachforExecutives.com Find more tips and ideas for your presentations at http://www.facebook.com/PresentationSkillsClub To arrange for training for your team call 905-335-1997

The author invites you to visit: http://www.torok.com

by: Tsuyoshi Suzuki

Introduction

MLM business opportunity is favorable to develop various kills and abilities, and you may display some hidden talents. There is no doubt that a multi level marketing MLM business is potentially a very profitable undertaking. There is no limit at all to how much you could earn from this venture. It all depends on how much time, commitment and hard work you invest. You must determine your needs and motivations to see if running this kind of business is right for you. One great method of building this business is using pre-interviewed mlm leads. The number one thing to make a business and easy mlm business is to stick to the plan. Remember that the backbone of an MLM business is sales and marketing.

Marketing

Marketing is a form of business practice that receives or has received a fair amount of bad press and to be honest in some cases justifiably so. Multi Level Marketing programs have always been a popular money making opportunity for many people. The beneficial compensation system employed by several programs today makes its easy for the enrollee to earn and receive the money he had gained. So, you have decided to take the plunge, gathered some cash, and enrolled yourself in a Multi Level Marketing program. You have grand visions of untold wealth flooding your bank account at such a brisk and consistent pace each and every month.

The basics of effective Multi Level Marketing MLM ring around patient listening, smart questions and objections handling, perseverance, diligence, smart sales skills and a great social network to name some. Well the very essence of a network marketing business or this business, is that you are your own boss, no security and guaranteed redundancy at some time in your career and probably no pension. Often the best marketing is the marketing that is spread by word-of-mouth.

Sales

Are you a manufacturer or a distributor of goods It does not matter if they re strictly digital or physical you could boost your sales by employing this system that would make your customers do the selling for you Amazing, isn’t it. Multi level marketing MLM involves the sales of a company s products directly to the end user through independent distributors Social network is the backbone of MLM Wider the social network, better your chances of success, as MLM works mainly on the Word o. The good news is sales and marketing is a skill set, and it can be learned. Most people don’t know how easy sales and marketing can be. Once you’ve learned how to harness a great sales and marketing system and execute just like the teenagers at McDonald’s do, day in and day out, you will be successful too.

Conclusion

In short, the MLM business is really a relationship or team business. One of the key factors in bringing success to your MLM Business is to hit the right target. However, the great thing about building an online business is its leverage income.

For more information about Network Marketing, make sure you follow the link in the recourse box below now.

Tsuyoshi E. Suzuki is an Expert Internet Network Marketer. Discover How To Build Up 1,000+ Downline. Generate Your Own MLM lead for FREE! Find out the best MLM business opportunity. The Dirty Truth about MLM Marketing that You Don’t Know. Get FREE Report Now! Go to ==> http://www.HappyMLM.com

by: Peter Bowerman

The Marketing-Phobic Author’s Guide to Profitable Book Promotion

(Excerpted from The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living, by Peter Bowerman. Fanove, 2006. www.wellfedsp.com).

I saw a great series of billboards in Atlanta recently. It was for Apartments.com, an online clearinghouse for apartments that allows you to search for exactly what you want in any state. The first billboard had just one short sentence (their tag line, actually) across the middle: “You want what you want.” Then, simply their logo and the Apartments.com name; a thing of simplicity and beauty. In one five-word sentence, they nailed THE hot button for their audience: personal taste and choice in an apartment.

But, say “marketing” or “sales” to a roomful of right-brained author types and watch the sweat beads pop. But, getting comfortable with the whole sales and marketing thing really is easier than you think…

It’s ALL About the Customer

In the course of promoting your masterpiece, you’ll be crafting a pretty steady stream of promotional materials: press releases, marketing proposals to wholesalers, distributors, and booksellers, email pitches to book review targets, queries to publications to submit articles, notes to groups soliciting invitations to speak (and accompanying promo materials, and much more. As such, it’s good to understand what’s important in this process (your audiences and what they want) and what’s not (you and your book).

Here are the three fundamental principles of sales and marketing – principles that, incidentally, are already a part of your frame of reference as a consumer:

1) “Audience” – Always understand who your audience is and what language will best get through to them.

2) The Features/Benefits Equation – Focus on driving home what you know is important to your audience, not just talking about you and your book.

3) The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – Figure out what sets your book apart in the marketplace and drive that difference home – early and often.

Sales = Making it Easy

Developing a marketing mindset means always looking at things through the eyes of your target audience. For example:

• You want someone to post an Amazon review (after they gushed on about your book in an email), so you send them the actual Amazon link to your book.

• When sending out review copies (and the heads-up emails), you include a prominent link to your “Media Resources” section, which includes everything a potential reviewer might need to put a review together.

• You want some “key influencer” to promote an upcoming event of yours, so you send an actual ready-to-go promo blurb, as if written by them, so that it’s just a simple cut-‘n-paste to get it handled.

• You contact a journalist to get some publicity, and you include a link to “News Pegs” in your Media Resources section.

In all these cases, you’re thinking about their reality and that you’re not a high priority in their world. As such, you need to make it as easy as humanly possible for them to do what you’re asking them to do. Let’s explore each of the three in a bit more depth…

“Who’s the Audience?”

This is absolutely THE first question you need to ask yourself whenever you’re about to put together any promotional copy. When you buy a product you heard about through some form of advertising, it’s because something spoke to you. Someone knew what to say to make you sit up and take notice – which is exactly what will happen when a message is well crafted. What’s amazing – and tragic – is how much marketing material, put together by authors and prestigious publishing houses, is poorly written and doesn’t consider the intended audience. If you can get it right, you’ll set yourself apart.

The Features/Benefits Equation

Some time back, I was contacted by an author who wanted me to review a press release for their new book. It was full of superlative adjectives about the book, hyperbolic gushing-on about the author, and other unforgivable self-indulgences. In short, tailor-made for a quick trip to the circular file. So common. So unnecessary.

The Features/Benefits Equation is an absolute cornerstone of sales and marketing and a concept with which we’re already intimately acquainted.

Basic Definitions

In the publishing context, features are all about a book and its author. Benefits are about your target audiences – what’s important to them, and how your book addresses those issues. Always begin with benefits, follow with features. The more you make it about you and your book, the more likely your intended audience will ignore you.

A Book Example

Okay, using my first book as an example, you think people care that Peter Bowerman leveraged a sales and marketing career into a new career in the lucrative field of commercial writing and then wrote a book about it? That the book covers X, Y and Z subjects? Yawwwwwwwwn. That’s all about me and my book.

If you were a prospect for my book, I’d wager good money that you’d care far more about the fact that there’s this lucrative field called commercial writing, where you fulfill your dream of making a good living (i.e., $50-125 an hour) as a writer. A field that can provide a great income while letting you work from your home, have more time for life, loved ones, and leisure. Sound better? Course it does. Because that’s all about you – your favorite thing in the whole world! Then, once I get your attention with things I know mean something to you, I can tell you more about me.

Just remember, if you’re an unknown author, journalists couldn’t care less that you’ve written a book. A release about a book and its author is…features. That reporter wants benefits: “Tell me why that book is important to my readers/viewers.” Not the book, but the angle represented by the book. Those are the benefits.

USP – The Unique Selling Proposition

Every book is unique in some way. Once you determine the audience for your book, zero in on its Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – THE thing that sets that book apart in a marketplace full of competitors (more important with non-fiction than fiction). What does it do that others don’t? Once you determine your book’s USPs, make sure they show up in your back cover copy and in most everything else you send out. Drive the message home.

Getting comfortable with sales and marketing doesn’t have to be painful. And when you make these concepts your friends, and they become second nature, you set the stage for some serious promotional success.

***************

Can’t land a publisher? Do it yourself, and make a living from it! Check out the free report on self-publishing at www.wellfedsp.com, the home of the award-winning 2007 release The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living. Author

Peter Bowerman is known for the award-winning (and self-published) Well-Fed Writer titles (on the lucrative field of commercial freelancing). 50,000 copies of his book in print have provided him with a full-time living for over five years. (http://www.wellfedwriter.com).