What?!? Sabotage your own success? Who would do that? Well, you'd be surprised how many small business owners think they are effectively marketing their business, when in fact they are cutting their own throat.

Yes, they may be running ads that are pulling in leads or customers. And yes, they may be writing a regular column for their local newspaper so they are perceived as the expert in their industry. And yes, they may even be doing a pretty good job of marketing on a regular basis to their prospect list.

So if they are doing all of these things "right," how are they sabotaging their success? Well there are lots of ways. Following are just a few of the ways small business owners unknowingly sabotage their own success.

(1) They have not taken the time to develop a marketing plan.

A plan focuses your efforts and allows you to make the most of your marketing budget. Unfortunately, you can market without a plan. Yes, you read that right. You can do it, and people do market without marketing plans everyday. But that does not mean you should. To make the most of your marketing efforts and budget, make sure you take the time each year to create a plan.

(2) They don’t have written goals.

Smart business owners have written goals and objectives for what they want to achieve with their business and for each of their marketing activities. I know this sounds b-o-r-i-n-g, but it's a fact. There is proof that people who put their goals into writing have a higher success rate than those who do not. Plus, how can you develop a plan if you don't have concrete objectives? You need a clear vision and target to aim for. You can't possibly determine what marketing or how much marketing you need if you don't know what you are aiming for.

(3) They have a short-term attitude.

They are reactive in nature, and while on the surface it appears they are doing a lot of marketing, they are not doing anything consistently or long enough to make an impact. Running an ad or sending out your newsletter a few times and giving up when you don't get immediate results is worse than doing nothing at all. How so? Because at least when you do nothing it doesn't cost you any money. Pulling the plug too soon costs you money. And statistics show it takes somewhere between three and 10 exposures to a message for the average consumer to notice it and take action. So it is quite possible your audience was just beginning to take notice right about the time you threw in the towel!

(4) They don't know their USP.

Probably the worst way business owners sabotage their marketing efforts without even realizing it, is to NOT have a clear Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The greatest marketing plan in the world will not be effective if you have not clearly defined why someone should buy your product or service instead of all the other products or services available to them. If you have not figured out what is unique and better about your product or service, and found a compelling way to communicate this in everything you do, you can market 'til the cows come home and you will be wasting your time and your money

10 Tips to Banish Marketing Sabotage

(1) Develop a marketing plan. Make sure you make it your number one priority to develop a marketing plan every year.

(2) Write objectives. Write at least one objective that states what results you would like to achieve with your business over the next year. And, write at least one objective for every marketing activity you undertake, that states what results you would like to achieve from that activity over the next year.

(3) Stay the course. Check in on your progress toward your objectives every three to six months, but give your plan a good nine to 12 months to work.

(4) Determine your unique selling proposition and make sure it is represented clearly and in a compelling way in everything you do.

(5) Don't try to be "everything to everyone. " Focus on a few specific benefits and a specific audience.

(6) Track all of your marketing activities so you know exactly what is working and what is not working.

(7) Don't rely on one marketing activity. Employ a mix of several marketing activities to reach more people more times.

(8) Create a system to help you stay on track with your marketing activities every month and to help you plan ahead for future activities.

(9) Create a realistic budget based on a percentage of your projected revenue, or the dollars you have available for marketing and stick to it. Marketing is an investment in your business. You have to spend enough to make progress but not more than your business can financially support.

(10) Understand your environment. The economy, competition, the strength of your particular industry, your prospects' situation. You have to understand them all so you can create an effective plan to either overcome obstacles or take advantage of opportunities. Follow these guidelines and your business stands a much greater chance of succeeding. All of these activities are part of a good marketing plan. And no business that wants to succeed should be without one.

Source: Free Articles

About the Author
For More Free Resources visit http://www.freeearningtips.com/

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Creativity is one virtue a site must possess to lead the race in the ruthless competition in the Internet based business. With so much competition and rivalry going on, every method of marketing must be employed and utilized.

It does not matter if you have a killer product or a fantastically designed website, if people don't know that you exist, it does not matter, and you are not going to make it big. Worst of all, you business could just get killed.

While there are so many methods and schemes used by so many e-commerce sites today, there are still some of those that can help you with an extra boost in the popularity ratings. One of these is the so called Viral Marketing.

While the term Viral easily depicts a virus, a word very much dreaded by all computer owners, it is not what it seems. You do not actually use a computer virus to spread your business; on the contrary it just might kill you. Everyone has had enough of all those pop up ads and spyware.

Viral Marketing Overview

Viral Marketing also known otherwise as Viral Advertising is a marketing technique used to build the public awareness of one's product or company. They use many forms of media to reach out to the public without actually promoting the product by riding on in other forms of addictive means that could get a person hooked and be obliged or amused to actually pass it on, with the product or company advertisement along with it.

In a nutshell, companies ride on the idea that if people like the content of a media they will pass it on to their friends and family. They sponsor the certain media, such as a cool flash game, funny video, amusing story and such, which one may pass on to another with the company brand or logo or the products description or any other content to help promote the company or its product.

Viral marketing has become a popular means of advertising and marketing because they are relatively low cost. To avoid being tagged as spam mail, viral marketing counts on the eagerness of one person to pas on the product. If a person sees the name of the person they know as the sender, they won't block it and open it as well.

Many companies offer incentives such as discounts and rebates when they help in spreading their viral marketing. They rely on the number of recipients a viral marketing gets from one person in determining the amount or number of incentive they can be attributed with.

Using Viral Marketing to your advantage

The main and foremost advantage of viral marketing is that you get a lot of publicity and public awareness about your site and your company. You get to generate a flow of traffic that are potential customers. With a little ingenuity and imagination, plus some incentives or prizes, you can reach out to a great number of people and announce your existence.

Most sites and companies are catching on to the effectiveness of Viral Marketing and Advertising. Not using it could kill your business. Along with other schemes and methods in promoting your site, like Search Engine Optimization and such, viral marketing could easily push you ahead in the rating games.

Viral Marketing could be a sneaky way to get people to know about you and your company. You get them to pass your advertisement along. They are also very low cost that not investing in it could be downright a business suicide. All it takes is a great idea, a good addicting game, a funny story many ideas are still out there.

Create gossip or a buzz. Many movies are promoted by using scandals and gossips to make them more popular. Remember the movie, The Blair Witch Project.Many big companies have tried viral marketing and have had many success stories with it. A classic example is Microsoft's Hotmail. They were the first known big company to utilize the scheme and it has worked wonders for them.

Now it's your turn to use viral marketing to work wonders for you. Act now and reap the benefits Viral Marketing will provide for you and your sales figures.

Source: Free Articles

About the Author
Terry Sauerbier is a marketing consultant. His mission is assisting associates achieve a more fulfilling life, sharing techniques that generate financial well-being and success. More about viral marketing, visit, http://www.viralshock.com/members/tcsassociates and http://www.million-dollar-maker.com

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Get A Mentor - How important is it to have a mentor in business? It's critical! It's not just a nice to have it's a MUST HAVE. There's a reason why all the most successful business people have mentors. It's because you need people who've been where you have been to help guide you through the twists and turns of success.

Before I found my currant mentors, I'd spent a fortune failing and far too much time (years I'll never get back) trying to implement methods that just didn't work and never would. I was like a wind up toy that kept trying and trying to walk though the same brick wall over and over again.

But in only 18 months from the time I decided to shut up, listen and learn from people who had done what I wanted to do many times over, I went from being an MLM failure to making over $100K working part time all the while still holding down a full time teaching job; and I owe it all not only to getting the proper mentoring and guidance from the right mentors, but also to the fact that I was willing to listen to them and put their knowledge into massive action every day.

Lead With The Product - Using the income from your regular job can be a bit of a sticky wicket at first so you'll need to budget for it. This is why getting your MLM to fund your MLM as quickly as possible is so important. But how you ask? Well... (Drum roll please) by selling your product of course...but not the way you've been taught by your upline and Network Marketing Company.

You wont be buying any more brochures, DVDs, CDs or flyers...in fact the only thing you will be paying for when you first get started are leads, but not those expensive opportunity leads that your company is pushing on you...those are worthless. You also won't be calling your friends and family to harass into joining your new business opportunity nor will you be employing the three foot belly to belly rule; your acquaintances are off limits from now on!

You see those methods only work in the company's favor. In fact only 3% of all MLM reps ever make it anywhere near the big league; a stat that neither the companies nor their reps readily divulge. So where does this leave you as a budding Network Marketer if you don't have people to chase around and pester anymore? You will need people to share your wares with, but if your warm market is off limits as well as anyone within arms length, whose left?

Hmm, well how about people who have already expressed a want need or desire for what you have? There are a lot of potential customers and business builders out there searching for what you have, learn how to tap into that niche market and have customers and prospects coming to you for a change...what a concept.

And leading with the product instead of the business opportunity is the quickest way to build a clientele of people who truly love your product and continue to buy it on a monthly basis. Not only have that, but those who truly love the product or service make the absolute best business builders!

Make A Schedule And Stick To It - Network Marketing is a great way to take care of your monetary future as well of your families' future by building a powerful residual income, but how to do this with a full time job? Scheduling is the key.

This is the hardest thing for most folks to master, and believe me it wasn't my strongest suite in the beginning either, but I can't stress enough how important this is even if you don't have a full time job, but if you do have a full time job it is non negotiable.

Perhaps one of the reasons sticking to a business schedule of your own making is because it not only takes a lot of discipline but more importantly it takes a far different mind set than most people who have been employed by others are used to.

Sure you may have no problem with a work schedule that your employer has put together for you but budget your own business schedule takes a business owner attitude. In other words when scheduling for yourself you need to wear two hats, one being the business owner and the other one being the employer.

If you think nepotism is a problem in other businesses imagine what can happen if you're your own boss...talk about favoritism and getting away with murder on the job. But the fact is, if you can't be honest with yourself as to what kind of an employee you are for yourself, murdering your business is may be a sad inevitability.

In closing - Treat your network marketing business like the real business that you want it to be. If you play with it like a hobby it will always be a hobby and it will always cost you more than it makes you.

I wish you great success in your Home Based MLM Business.

Ellen Franzoso is a home based business consultant living in New York who is currently helping hundreds of people to achieve their business dreams.

Email: ellenfranzoso@gmail.com and website: http://www.addnewrepsnow.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ellen_Franzoso

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By Ellen Franzoso

I built a 6 figure income in Network Marketing in an 18 month period, all while I was still working a full time job as a first grade teacher. Let me back up a little.

I've lived in the majestic suburbs of New York most of my life but have for the past few years gotten really tired not only of my teaching career with its grueling hours that never seemed to quit even when I was on vacation or just trying to relax on the weekends with family or friends (I always had papers to grade or a new curriculum to prepare) but also the freezing cold winters were really starting to get me down.

My husband said to me three years ago while I was once again complaining about my plight, and I believe it was tongue in check, that if I replaced the income from my teaching job with a six figure income in network marketing, I could retire from teaching and we could move to a warmer climate during the winter months.

Needless to say I took him on and set out to lean exactly what I had to do in order to make this come true and ended up doing just that. In fact just recently shocked both my friends and peers by turning in my irrevocable resignation, thus giving up a seventeen year, six figure income career, and the full pension that would have gone with it!

How I did this with a full time job in only 18 months is why you are here so let's get to it...number one:

You Must Have A Big Why - What Drives You?

You already know what mine was and obviously it is what kept me going even through the times (and there were many) that I really wanted to throw in the towel, so what's yours? If you think its money, think again! You must have an emotionally charged why in order to keep your mindset in the proper perspective, which brings us to number two:

You Must Be Willing To Do Whatever It Takes

What are you made of? When you get involved in a home based business you get to really test your mettle on this one. What I mean is you are going to have some startling revelations about yourself and not all of them are going to be pretty, not that that's a bad thing.

The personal growth you'll get when your doing all the things you should be doing in order to build your network marketing business into a successful and powerful six figure entity will laterally knock your socks off! You'll find yourself doing things you never dreamed possible, but you must be willing to take the lumps of failures along with the glory of successes and accept them as part of the deal. You will not succeed in network marketing until you are willing to fail not just once or twice but over and over again. And this leads us to number three:

You Must Be Teachable

I'm not kidding here, without this one you may as well pack it up and quit right now. You see at this point you don't know what you don't know, so if you are not willing to keep an open mind and ears coupled with a mouth shut off from excuses as to why this or that method wont work for you but at the same time open to even what you might perceive as the dumbest of questions, you will not make it in this business...Period!

In Closing...

One of my mentors told me, in business you can do only one of 2 things, you can either make excuses or you can make money, you cannot do both...

The next installment (Part Two) of this article will deal with the details and the trench-work of how to succeed in MLM.

About the Author:
Ellen Franzoso is a home based business consultant living in New York who is currantly helping hundreds of people to achieve their business dreams.Contact Info: 914-980-1089http://addnewrepsnow.com/

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By Lily Boynton

Business will only grow just a little or not at all without advertising. This also applies for affiliate marketing business. To be successful in affiliate marketing business, you have to get targeted traffic to your website.

Businesses need customers to buy their products or services. They need potential customers to know what they are offering. Advertising is an effective tool to reach this goal. This condition also apply for affiliate marketing business. There are many ways to advertise in affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing works by signing up a website as an affiliate of an online business to advertise for them. In this case, your website becomes pretty much like a billboard or an advertising space. They will pay you commission if a visitor from your website clicks the link and buys the product or services the online business is offering.

To start being an affiliate you first need a website. Your website should have a specific theme or topic you are interested in. Remember that the key to this business is targeted Internet traffic. Having a theme in your website can make it easier for you to get targeted traffic.

When planning your website, you need to consider these 3 elements. You should create a website with a specific content based on what you know, this can be your hobby or your previous job. Then, think of the most profitable topics based on your websites theme. Lastly, choose an affiliate program related to your websites topic. It is important that you should not include sales pitch on your website. Including one will make it look like you are selling the product or services. Keep in mind that you just referring on where they can buy the product, not selling them.

Your topics should be informative, which include things on what it is all about, why buy the product. You can also include the pros and cons of the product. Giving your opinion about the product will give you more credibility. It is also wise that your advertising should not be in your article page. It is better to create a different page that has the affiliate.

As mentioned previously, we want targeted traffic for your website. These are people who are interested in the product you will be discussing in your website, not just someone who accidentally entered your site. High amounts of non targeted traffic are useless.

What do you need to do to increase targeted traffic? Well, you can write articles about the products or services you are promoting. Remember to add your website link at the end of each article before you post them to article publishing websites. Another great thing about this is, that not only it will generate high amounts of targeted traffic; it is also free.

Internet users seldom go to the third results of their search so it is important that your website ranks well on search engines.

These are some of the basic structures in building your affiliate marketing business. Keep in mind that targeted traffic is the lifeline of affiliate marketing business. Websites with little or no targeted traffic are websites that do not generate suitable income.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FREE affiliate marketing business newsletter at: => http://www.best-internet-affiliate-program.com/ You'll also get to download FREE make money online e-books!

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By: Willie Crawford

Like many people struggling to make a better life for themselves, and their families, you stumbled across the Internet as a possible way to do this. You read about all of the big success stories, and began planning how you would join their ranks. After several YEARS of working long and hard at building your websites, generating traffic, and even creating a few of your own products, you discover that you're working harder for yourself than any boss would ever expect. You also calculate that you're earning LESS per hour than you'd earn working in a fast food restaurant.

After many more hours of intense study, the light bulb finally comes on. You see a way to shortcut the climb to success. If you could just get one of those people with the HUGE lists to recommend your product to their lists, you'd be "set for life." Now the question becomes, “How do you get their attention, and convince them that it's in their best interest to promote your product to their lists?”

Please allow me to inject just a little brutal reality for you here...

First of all, those people with list of 50,000... 100,000... even 250,000 subscribers get bombarded with request to promote all types of products every day. I personally receive more software, ebooks, huge DVD courses, and accesses to membership sites, than I can ever look at. The FedEx guy drops off unexpected, and unrequested, packages to my house several times per week. My home office has about $20,000 worth of products stacked up in a corner that I don't anticipate ever working my way completely through… since new stuff arrives regularly.

Knowing that first fact, it's actually probably easier to focus on those with somewhat smaller list when seeking joint venture partners. Honestly, many of those with smaller list also have much more responsive lists. The smaller lists are sometime more responsive because they haven't been desensitized by being constantly bombarded with "special offers."

List owners who get flooded with JV offers need a system of screening which offers they will take a serious look at in their very limited spare time. Often that filter is friends. If one of their friends recommends that they promote a product, they're more likely to take a serious look at. Their friends pre-screen offers.

A second type of filter is certain "high powered" individuals that have managed to gain a reputation for only presenting the big dogs with world-class joint venture offers. These individuals often work as "JV brokers." Since they make the job of large list owners, and the job of those seeking to introduce products to the marketplace, easier, they serve a very useful function. In exchange for brokering deals, and getting products noticed that might otherwise die on the vine, they get paid a percentage commission for putting the joint ventures together.

I share the story of just one joint venture I personally brokered, that sold nearly $60,000 worth of a $47 ebook in under 30 days, in a special report I wrote. You can grab a copy of that free PDF report at http://WillieCrawford.com/jv-brokering-report.html If you'd like more insight into how this process works, that special report is essential reading.

In my work as a JV broker, I quickly recognized a second point that you need to acknowledge. Large list owner, and those with the attention of your target audience, often prefer selling big ticket items. They can tell their lists about a $29 piece of software that they earn $15 on each sale from, or they can tell their lists about a $997 course where they earn $498 on each sale. Assuming that either choice requires the same amount of work, which do you think your typical "top shelf” marketer is going to choose?

When you start to develop your own products, realize that you will need products that span a wide range of price points, but that you'll get those with the large lists most excited about helping you by approaching them with products "big ticket" enough to make promoting them worthwhile. Developing and launch one of these big ticket items is really no more difficult than launching a simple ebook. You go through the same product launch sequence... the same product launch formula. That formula has been tested and thoroughly documented by online marketers such as John Reese, and Jeff Walker, author of the Product Launch Formula, which you'll find here: http://www.p-l-formula.com/

Outside of a JV broker, a recommendation from a friend of a "top shelf” marketer, or just plain luck, your best way to get the attention of one of the large list owners is negotiating face-to-face during a live seminar or conference. At these events, big-name marketers, and the speakers, are very accessible. Over dinner, or in the hallway during a break, it's very easy to "strike up a conversation" with one of them. It's natural during one of these conversations for them to ask you what you do. When you're asked that question, if you're ready with a concise, thought-provoking answer, you may get that big break.

To locate seminars and conferences, subscribe to the seminar summary list published from an authority site such as: http://internetmarketingseminarschedule.com/ This site is also a great site to bookmark and visit frequently. Often, you'll discover free, or low-cost, event near you. This site also lists teleseminars that you might want to listen in on.

There are also many seminars set up JUST to give you a chance to joint venture and network. These events pull together people actively looking for joint venture partners. These types of seminars are regular hosted by several well-known individuals and organizations.

Michael Penland regular hosts his Internet and Joint Venture Conferences. You can get more details on these, which I regularly attend, at: http://WillieCrawford.com/michaelpenland.html
JV Alert, regularly has joint venture seminars/weekends, where they not only help you to put together HUGE joint ventures, but also coach you on how to best land a lucrative JV. These seminar are hosted in various parts of the U.S. with plans of hosting them worldwide.

The next one is in Orlando, Florida in February 2006. I'll be attending that event too. You can read about these weekends, set up primarily to teach YOU how to to land lucrative JV's, at: http://WillieCrawford.com/jvalert.html

In comparing proven methods of setting up lucrative joint ventures with large list owners, the very best way to do this IS face to face. That's because it's just easier to set up a deal when you're sitting across the dinner table from someone, than it is via emails.

When looking for the quickest way to grow your business as a beginner, nothing is quicker, or easier, than joint venturing with those who already have the attention of your target market.

Now that you know the secret, all that you need to do is… go do it! That's the second big secret. You need to develop "the action habit".

Top marketers prefer dealing with those who have a demonstrated track record as someone who does more than just talk a good talk. Once you start approaching the "big dogs" and develop the action habit, you won't be a beginner for long. You'll soon be partnering with, and learning from, the best in the industry.

About The Author
Willie Crawford has taught PROVEN Internet marketing techniques to thousands of successful Internet entrepreneurs since late-1996. Subscribe to his free weekly ezine, which helps you cut through the clutter and time-wasting hype. Subscribe now by visiting: http://williecrawford.com/.

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By Steven Wagenheim

I get a chuckle at some of the marketers I know. They pour thousands of dollars into these fancy websites without any way of knowing how to promote them. The fanciest website in the world is absolutely worthless if nobody sees it. And nobody is going to see it if you don't promote it actively. This is without a doubt the most basic fundamental of Internet marketing. Promotion is the name of the game. Okay, great, but how? Well, in this article, I'm going to share with you a few cheap and effective ways of promoting your product or service that work wonders.

Content makes the world go round. Think about anything at all that you've looked for online. Ultimately, your search brought you to an article of some kind. Maybe it was a review of the product. Maybe it was some data on the problem. Ultimately, these articles helped you to make a decision on your next purchase.

Well, I've been writing articles for the purpose of marketing for years. Are they effective? They account for about 67% of my monthly income. That's how effective they are. Writing articles and submitting them to article directories like this one or to your own blog is a great way to market your products and services.

Another great marketing strategy is forum participation. The reason for this is simple. People who hang out at forums do so because they are looking for answers to their problems. There are forums for all kinds of problems from health to earning money to video games. Each one of these has the potential to be profitable if used correctly. Simply contribute to the discussions and establish yourself as an authority on the subject. After all, you are an authority, right? Then behave like one and you'll be making sales before you know it. Just one rule...don't spam forums. Spamming will get you kicked out quick.

Finally, there's video marketing. The Internet is evolving daily and video is one of the biggest things today. Just go to YouTube if you think I'm kidding and look at some of the views that these videos are getting. A well made video in a niche with rabid buyers can bring you tons of traffic to your site. And you don't have to spend a lot of money to create these videos either. With tools like CamStudio, which is free, you can make excellent videos that will more than get the job done.

Bottom line is this. Without promoting your site, you're not going to get traffic. I've given you three great ways that won't cost you any money at all. So take advantage of them.

Promotion IS the name of the game.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Wagenheim

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