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The Editor's Desk - From Beneath the Clutter
Feature Article - When times are tight
What's happening on the discussion boards?
Guest Article - How To Effectively Use Offline Advertising
To Build Your Online Business
Free Offers
Classified Ads
October already! How did that happen?
We've started work on Ariel's Halloween costume. She's only 2, so it's 90% to show off to grandparents and family friends, etc., but she has been invited to go trick or treating with a couple of the neighborhood kids. She's going to be a butterfly. We bought wire, which Brent has bent into wings, now we need to cover them and paint. Of course, we have to find a black outfit for the rest of the costume, but that won't be hard at all. She's very excited about being a butterfly for Halloween, even though she doesn't know anything about trick or treating.
Don't forget, you can contribute your articles or tips anytime for consideration. Just use the contact form.
Money problems happen at one time or another to just about every family, and can be especially challenging if one parent is staying at home to care for the children. The holiday season can make the situation worse, as the pressure to spend, spend, spend increases.
Fortunately, there are things you can do to save money, such as cutting cable TV, limiting your internet access (or only getting it at the library!), coupon cutting and so forth. But sometimes the steps you've taken already are quite simply not enough. You need more than that.
Yes, a job may be one answer, but it's not always practical. Childcare costs may eat up any earnings or there may be other problems.
Sometimes you just need outside help. There are resources out there to help you with your needs, you just have to look for them.
Consider finding out whether or not you are eligible for food stamps, if you don't get them already. You may not like the idea of being on government assistance of any kind, but that is what it is there for. Don't be too proud to do ask for what your family needs.
Talk to your church about anything they might do to assist families in need. Many churches are quite happy to support the needy families in their area.
You can also check out http://modestneeds.org/. This website encourages people who just need a little hand to ask, and for others to give. All requests are screened. Modest Needs is best for those times when an unexpected bill or money problem comes up and you just need a little money. Requests must be for individual expenses, not regular bills such as rent (some exceptions), and need to clearly be something that will have a definite impact on your life.
Of course, for those who do not have money problems, the holiday season is a great time to think about giving to those in need. Whether it is financial through giving to a charity, or by volunteering, donating blood and so forth, you can make a difference.
Stephanie Foster is the owner of Home with the Kids, a resource that knows that there's more to staying home with your family than just business. For more stay at home tips, visit the site at http://www.homewiththekids.com/ and subscribe to the free newsletter.
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First of all let me say that having spent the past 20 years working closely with small businesses I know exactly what works when it comes to offline advertising.
What I have found today is that online businesses have a built in advantage when it comes to promoting their business offline. You already have a website and autoresponder in place to lead your prospect to. When you combine that fact along with the traditional capture methods of telephone and snail mail there is no reason any online business can't use offline methods to build their businesses and sell their products and services.
A lot of online based businesses forget about offline advertising. I know I have. It is important to combine offline and online advertising together in your marketing campaign. This will give you to a more well rounded approach to promoting as well as attract potential prospects and customers you might not otherwise get.
In all your offline advertising you want to include your web site address, e-mail or autoresponder addresses, and your phone number and mailing address. This gives you the appearance of a real bonafide business.
Another thing is to start selling products for manufacturers who offer co-op advertising for promoting their products. You can read a little more about this technique in an article I wrote titled "Why Are You Wasting Free Advertising Money?" http://sites-plus.com/articles/article2.html
Finally you need to view offline marketing as a long term committment. I've seen businesses over and over run and ad not get the response they were looking for and quit.
This will not work offline. Or online for that matter. You need to establish a budget and stick to it. That doesn't mean that you can't change the ad copy if your response is marginal. It just means if you are going to run classified ads for example that you run them for a period of time and allow them to do their job.
Here are 10 offline marketing ideas. Use as many of these as possible to move your business forward.
-Classified Newspaper Ads- Place classified ads in newspapers. Local newspapers often have great advertising rates that you can take advantage of to promote your business. Here's a great source for running classified ads.
http://www.nationwideadvertising.com
-Put up flyers. They could be in computer stores, libraries, restaurants, car windshields, or anywhere you shop that allows flyers.
-Direct mail. A nice direct mail piece when done consistently over a period of time can bring tremendous exposure for your business. The biggest benefit of direct mail is it allows you to reach thousands of people at a bulk mail rate. You could not do this if you had to mail each piece individually.
-Buy time on local cable T.V. It is surprisingly affordable and if you commit to a block of advertising you can develop Top Of Mind Awareness. TOMA is being there when they want or need you. If you are an affiliate or in an MLM consider doing group advertising and spreading the cost out over several of you. You can have leads routed into one phone number and divied out to all advertisers or have each ad display a different phone number.
-Pass out your CD-ROM or diskette business cards at special events. It could be at trade shows, seminars, fairs, etc.
-Get 250 free business cards here and leave them everywhere you go. http://www.vistaprint.com
-Hold a free offline class and teach people how to use their computer or how to use the internet. You could have your web site on display as an example.
-Give away promotional items such as free mouse pads. Put your advertising on the mouse pads and give them away at computer or internet events.
-Advertise in card decks. The card deck you advertise in should be targeted toward internet users.
You would also want to target your offline advertising to groups of people that will actually be interested in your product or service. If you're selling business books, you will want to market to business owners.
In conclusion, if you have a business that's only based online using offline advertising to make money online is a great idea because so many people today go online to get information about products and services they are interested in.
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Jeff Schuman is a 20 year veteran of sales and marketing and has made over
$35 million dollars in sales in that time. His Team-Schuman.Com website contains
the Top 5 work at home websites, make money fast websites, make money articles,
a free classified ad service and more. Visit it here today: http://www.Team-Schuman.com
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