Customer Retention in an Uncertain Market 3 March 2008

The latest edition of ‘Communiqué for Success’ is now available for public viewing (subscribers get advanced notice when it’s hot off the press). It answers such questions as:

• How can you retain customers in an uncertain market?

• What is happening to CfS – and what does it mean for you?

• How can you win the attention of the growing digital marketplace?

• What is the number one secret to effective marketing?

• How can you successfully market online?

• Where can you get free online hosting? 

All the answers (and more) are ready to be revealed.

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Word count for this issue: 2,613
Approximate time to read: About 12.5 minutes    Scanning Time: About 45 seconds
Suggested props: Organic Hot Chocolate or NoCaf
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You can see the current and most of the past newsletters by going to www.mediaminister.co.uk and clicking on the “FREE stuff” link on the top menu.

You’ll also find direct links to my other sites.And it’s all freeeeeeeeeeeee (for now).

Enjoy!Tracey

PS - The direct link to the latest newsletter is –http://www.mediaminister.co.uk/cfs/19February2008.htm

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Does Your Website Suffer From This? 25 January 2008

According to an interview with Kelly Goto, author of Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works, the three most common website re-design mistakes are:

1. Failing to hire someone specifically to write the content. 

2. Not having a clearly defined brand ‘vision’. 3.

Having no, or inefficient, specific measurable goals.

It never ceases to amaze me how a company can spend a fortune on flash design, but will bear little regard for the actual content.

The thing is, while a flash intro page is often pretty to look at, the search-engine spiders usually just pass it by. Yet if that page was full of relevant, quality copy, they would no doubt pick up key words and phrases and rank them in the engines.

You really can’t put a high enough monetary value on good writing. And to get that, you have to either have or bring in someone who has the necessary experience and skills. This applies whether you are creating a website from scratch or vamping up an existing one.

One essential tip for creating effective content is to imagine your ideal customer saying, “So what?” and “What’s in it for me?” As you write, be sure to answer both.

Whatever you do, don’t get so engrossed in describing your business, products and features that you fail to appeal to the visitor specifically.

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Grab Your No-MBA-Required Marketing Plan 2 January 2008

A customised marketing plan helps you build success systematically. You’ll be building up on PROVEN actions, as opposed to falling flat on your face when business slows down (like as at this time of year).   My Powerfully Effective Marketing™ can help you create and, if needed, implement a very powerful marketing strategy for reinventing and repositioning your company (or help you invent and position your business, if you are a start-up). You’ll get better results, feel more focused and thus in control, and blast away your competition to boot.

* * * Sign up before 15 February 2008 and I’ll also critique your website’s home page at no extra charge. * * * Details: http://www.business-marketing-advice.mediaminister.co.uk

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Five Tips to Jump-Start a New Business 19 November 2007

1. Create a brand. Print up small but important things such as business cards with a professional logo to present a good image.

2. Ramp up online. Websites today are one of the most important tools when creating a business. Make sure you establish yourself on the internet so that customers have somewhere to learn about you.

3. Make your first sale. The first sale is always the hardest, but once you have the ball rolling, there will be no stopping you.

4. Customer testimonials. Start building the credibility of your business from day one. Get customers to write up a testimonial. And be sure to seek permission to use any unsolicited praise.

5. Build a campaign. Be creative. Quantify on any good opportunity that comes your way; anything from a special promotion to a big event can be used in the campaign to get your name out there.

Source: Start Your Business magazine, issue 14, June 2007, p28

Want to use this in your ezine, blog or website? No problem! Just let me know. I’ll send you a short resource box/bio to include at the end of the article.

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