To participate, you will first have to get a piece of paper and have something to write with so that you can complete this exercise.

Peter Drucker and his writings is the guru of modern management and has written much that is quotable, but this is my favorite:

“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions: marketing and innovation.

“Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”

Keep these in mind as you go through each exercise.

On a blank piece of paper write a vertical line along the left side and connect it to a horizontal line near the bottom of the page.  Label the vertical as “Income $” and the horizontal as “Time“. Now create a slope line that represents about a 3% increase over Time. This represents the average increase in income. Our task: what can we do to double the slope of this line and then double it again and again.

Here is what the page should look like:

Double Your Income, Increase the slope by David C Aaronson

Here is the first of our 3 activities to double your income: or Put Greens in your Jeans and all that I ask is that you try at least one of them.

Activity Number One: Train

We all know that the more formal education the greater the earning power. There are a lot of studies showing  increased training also increases earnings. So it should now be obvious that the first activity is: continue to train yourself. The more training you have, the more you will earn. For each training the slope on your graft moves higher. Training includes: subject matter training, product and services and do not forget How to Sell and How to use Word of Mouth Networking.

BNI as an organization can help you. There are BNI Books, there are BNI CDs, the BNI Member Success Program, BNI Conferences,  BNI Advanced trainings. And there is a lot more available: educational DVDs, and ON-line Webinars, On-line Train, Seminars Conferences. Try a couple, maybe even go outside your comfort zone (Toastmasters?), statistics show you will increase your income.

Remember the opening quote? Innovate – Market – Succeed !

David C Aaronson Certified Internet Marketing Consultant

Advanced Interenet Marketing Certification

David C Aaronson Certified Internet Research Analyst

Certified Research Analyst

David be reached at davidca@inernetm2.com

Internet Marketing Management, LLC

Internet Consultant

David C Aaronson, an Internet Consultant based in Los Angeles has formed a new LLC called Internet Marketing Management, LLC.  Although the business is based in Los Angeles, the Internet Consulting practice is global.

The new firm is dedicated to creating Internet Marketing Systems and Lead Generation Engines.  The basic 4 components are:

1. Build Traffic and Proper Presence

While Traffic is important, we make sure it is the right kind of traffic.  Even more important, we make sure the landing page is optimized to convert visitors, using clear calls to action, conversion tools and clear value proposition statements.

2. Acquisition and Conversion

ROI is made from visitors converting, not just from traffic and not just because a site is “pretty”. Every site should be focused on the acquisition of new customers.

3. Retain and Grow Customers

It is an old lesson than it cost much less to retain a customer than to acquire a new one, yet few companies have in place procedures to retain their existing customer base. Many times very inexpensive steps can be taken to preserve this important revenue stream.

4. Measure and Modify for Success

Without measurement, we just do not know how we are dong.  Its like driving a car blindfolded.  Analytics, setting and measuring goals are the only way to decide which endeavors are worth while.  We might be experts, but the public will always really tell us what we are doing is right or wrong.  The other 3 points are mute and useless unless there are proper measurements in place.

A Recession as a Time to Cultivate Your Business for Future Growth

by David C Aaronson – Internet Marketing Consultant w/Internet Marketing Management

Summary: Seth Godin, the marketing guru tells us is it better to farm then hunt. Peter Drucker tells us we must always be marketing. There are referral networking groups, like BNI, that are committed to educating its members and providing a structure for marketing member’s businesses. A practical exercise by Steven Covey provides a mechanism to help our farming as we use the economic slow down to increase our fertilizing, watering and nurturing so that we can have a better harvest.

There is no reason to participate in any kind of market slow down. In fact as farmers this is the time to plant more seeds and do more cultivating. Seth Godin the marketing guru and author of The Purple Cow, Permission Marketing and his latest book – Meatball Sundae, had this to say about farming vs hunting on his blog back in 2007.

Farming and hunting

Five thousand years ago, every human was a hunter. If you were hungry, you got a rock or a stick and you went hunting. The problem was that all of the animals were either dead or really good at hiding.

Fortunately, we discovered/invented the idea of farming. Plant seeds, fertilize em, water em, watch em grow and then you harvest them. The idea spread and it lead to the birth of civilization.

Everyone got the idea.. except for marketeers. Marketeers still like to hunt.

What we’re discovering, though, is that the god prospects are getting really good at hiding.

Lucky for those who are in referral networking groups like BNI who already know about the effects of farming: planting and cultivating and harvesting.

Peter Drucker the modern guru of corporate management wrote in 1974.

Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two–and only these two–basic functions: marketing and innovation.

Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are “costs.”

Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices: (What is a business?) Chapter 6 Harper & Row [1974]

Please read that statement again for emphasis. If you are not spending the majority of your time marketing or innovating, you are going to be out of business. Referral networking groups, like BNI are the essence of continuing to market and farm. When it comes to getting new leads, every business owner should ask themselves every day, “What else can I do to bring more business.” Referral networking groups are also about farming, about planting seeds, cultivating, watering and harvesting. Think of that which you nurture now as part of your future harvest of referrals. What can you do now to affect the harvest in the future?

Nearly everyone knows about Steven Covey and his 7 Habits of Highly Successful People:

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek to Understand, Then to Be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

I have been fortunate enough to attend the three day workshop based on the book and its principals. Before the first of the 7 Habits, the course teaches some basic Foundation Principals. Among them is the concept of The Emotional Bank Account or EBA. It is a concept that can be applied to every relationship in your life: Personal, Professional, Societal, Familial – Co-worker, vendor, client, prospect, family member, chapter member, community member…, the list is endless.

On a plain piece of paper draw a single horizontal line. As close to the center as possible place a vertical line through the horizontal one. On one side of the vertical line place a minus sign (-) and on the other side place a plus sign (+). This will be your measure of the balance in this particular account. You can create one for each relationship in your life.

For this exercise, think of a prospect or a referral source or a customer with potential to grow. On the plus side write the deposits that you have made or now intend to make. On the minus side write the withdrawals that might have happened or will happen in the future if you do not take some action. Even if, for every relationship the pluses are more than the minuses, think of new ways to fill up the plus side. Each item on the plus side is either another seed or some water or some fertilizer that will bring future benefits at harvest time.

Yes there is no reason to participate in a recession or any market place slowdown, when you can plant and nurture your seeds during any economic time and each such act is marketing so that your business will grow.

Remember your referral network and farming.

Plant seeds
Cultivate
Be Patient
Live Long & Prosper

By David C Aaronson

We ended our last column with the following:

Testing, Testing, Testing:

This is a separate subject but here is a teaser for what we will cover next week.

Have you tested your: Call to action:

From Email Experience Council:

“Two-Click Survey Results: Buttons Vs. Links-The Call-to-Action Hero Is…

Buttons, according to 72% of respondents to the Two-Click Survey on the EEC homepage. Only 28% thought that links performed better as primary calls-to-action. If you’re using links as your primary call-to-action, this bit of community wisdom should spur you to do some testing. “

Survey results being what they are, many blogs on this subject have stated: “that buttons perform better for purchase decisions but that links perform better when the call-to-action is to view an article or request more information.” Testing is the answer.

The basics of testing. Always at the very least split your list randomly creating an “A” and a “B” group. For every email choose at least one element you will be testing. Each audience is different, so for many of these elements there are no answers, but they can be from the results of testing. Once you have successfully tested and found a significant difference you can move on another aspect of your email campaign.

1) Why waste the time testing anyone?

We have know: Time is Money! So is it really worth it to test? What is the gain for the pain? How will it effect my bottom line? One first has to answer the following question? What is this email campaign all about? Will it increase people buying from me? (How much is purchase worth to me?) Will it increase referrals to me? (How much is each referral worth to me?) Will it keep clients from leaving? (What is the cost of a client leaving?) There are so many more reason for a campaign and they should all have a plus or minus value. Measure the value and decide whether the time spent warrants the return expected.

2) Testing Elements of the email.

You never can really know what might affect the effectiveness of your email. Something as simple as the how a link is formatted could increase clicks by many percentage points. The example above used the element “call to action”: Button vs. Text links. Others might be: location of the call to action; if buttons are best, test different buttons; test salutations; signatures – graphic vs. regular text. Do not test more than one element at a time unless you can isolate the elements within each text group.

3) Sampling: A simple technique for sample testing your list

Create nth groups. For every nth create a separate group. Using the numbers 0-9, you can create a group for every nth which will yield 10 random groups. Send your test to any of the two groups and when you discover the better group, use that group’s email to the other 8 groups. Skipping a detailed description of statistics, the larger the groups the better and more reliable the results.

4) When to send

This is always a difficult question to answer. The statistics say that Monday night and Tuesday are the best days based on emails that are opened. However, any individual email may perform differently based on the time or day it is sent. Testing your target community is the answer and your email may defy the normal rules.

5) Descriptive Subject vs. Outright Offer

Subject line testing is perhaps the most common of email tests. Many believe that this is the number one factor in whether an email will be opened. Better open rates lead to better conversion rates and that is where the money is. The most common test is a descriptive vs. and outright offer in the subject. Again only testing of your email audience can tell you which Is the best.

David C Aaronson runs a Marketing business with an emphasis on using the Internet to improve profitability. He is also the local Assistant Director of BNI for West Hollywood and can be reached at: david.aaronson@bni4success.com

Getting Better Results from Your Email Marketing

By David C Aaronson

First let’s consider the CAN-SPAM act rules.

You can send an email to anyone once, but you must follow these basic rules: 1) The Subject/Header must be relevant to the content of the email. 2) In the body of the email you must provide a real physical address for the sender. 3) You must provide a way for the recipient to opt out from any further emails from this company. If you follow these rules and are sending emails, then I suggest you also adhere to the following suggestions.

The two most important statistics to follow for all email campaigns are: 1. Number of opens and 2. Number of clicks. If you are not using an email systems that provides these statistics to you, please click here for a free trial.

1) Consider your recipients as if they were you!

We all learn (or should have) that being polite and courteous is the only way we should interact with others. Think of Email marketing as another form of interacting with other people and use the same principle. Sending a courteous welcome email when a consumer subscribes to your newsletter or joins your club, etc. is an overall best practice. On subsequent emails, just think about whether you would want to receive what you are sending.

2) Make it personable!

“Dear John” is the most obvious, but if there is any other personal information you know about the individual, including it in some way will increase opens and clicks. If you can collect any other information aside from an email address, use it. Any information that you know and include is very beneficial. Do you know what they last ordered? Do you know what they click in the last email? Do you know if they forwarded any past emails to others?

3) Everyone likes something free or near free.

Start your email conversation (your first email to this recipient) with an offer, an incentive or coupon. This shows your audience your appreciation and thanks them for giving you permission to contact them on a regular basis. Make sure the offer is a special for those that are subscribers. Make sure they know that subscriber’s will always: Get the best deals; or Be given priority on new products or services; Get discounts for continued loyalty; etc. If they choose to opt out, remind them on the opt our page of all they will be missing if they continue to opt out. Give them a chance to stay.

4) Set the right subscriber expectation:.

Why do subscribers opt-out? They become bombarded with too many emails, and everybody’s time is valuable. Let them choose how often they want to be contacted, daily, weekly or monthly. Set their expectations up front so they know how often they will hear from you before signing up. Make sure they know what kind of information they will be receiving and stick to that.

5) Keep your brand in the forefront.

Branding is extremely valuable, just ask Coke or Disney. All your emails from the very first one should have the same look and feel as your website. This will reiterate your brand to your audience. Clear calls-to-action should always drive readers to your site. It might want to include your brand name in the “from” field and subject line.

6) Viral marketing.

Always include a “Forward to a Friend” link in your email. This is most important whenever you include a bonus offer for doing so. You never know how much you can expand your list. This is a great way to get your name and brand out there. Do not be afraid to allow your subscribers to do some of the work for you.

7) Testing, Testing, Testing:

This is a separate subject but here is a teaser for what we will cover next week.

Have you tested your: Call to action:

From Email Experience Council:

“Two-Click Survey Results: Buttons Vs. Links—The Call-to-Action Hero Is…

Buttons, according to 72% of respondents to the Two-Click Survey on the EEC homepage. Only 28% thought that links performed better as primary calls-to-action. If you’re using links as your primary call-to-action, this bit of community wisdom should spur you to do some testing. “

Survey results being what they are many blogs on this subject have stated: “that buttons perform better for purchase decisions but that links perform better when the call-to-action is to view an article or request more information.” Testing is the answer.

David C Aaronson runs a Marketing business with an emphasis on using the Internet to improve profitability. He is also the local Assistant Director of BNI for West Hollywood and can be reached at: david.aaronson@bni4success.com

How Do I Build My Business In a Slow Economy?

By David C Aaronson and Ivan R. Misner, Ph.D.

The fact is that the economy goes through cycles and business has slowed down for many people. Unfortunately, every time it takes a downturn, the fallout is felt strongly by salespeople, business owners, and professionals alike.

Successful business professionals learn from the past. For many of us, this will not be our first downturn. So, what did we learn from previous economic slowdowns? In the early 90’s, right in the middle of a nasty recession, Dr Misner was at a business mixer in Connecticut and it seemed that everyone was feeling the crunch from the slow economy. Throughout the entire event, the favorite topic of discussion was how bad the economy was, how things were getting worse and its impact on their businesses.

Dr. Misner was introduced to one of the many real-estate agents attending. Given the decrease in property values in the state, he was leery of asking this gentleman the standard “How’s business?” question. He didn’t want to hear yet another variation of how bad business was. However, the agent stated that he was having a great year. Naturally, Dr. Misner was surprised and asked, “You did say you were in real estate, didn’t you?”

“Yes”, he said.

”We are in Connecticut… aren’t’ we?”

“Yes, “ he said with a slight grin.

“And you’re having a good year?”

“I’m actually having my best year ever!” he said.

“Your best year!” Amazed. After thinking for a moment Dr. Misner asked him, “Is this your first year in real estate?”

“No,” he replied with a laugh, “I’ve been in real estate for almost ten years.”

Asked how he was doing so well, given the conditions of the economy and the stiff competition, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue and white badge that read:

“That’s your secret? You refuse to participate in the recession, so business is booming?”

“That’s correct,” he said. “While most of my competitors are crying the blues about how bad business is, I’m out drumming up a ton of business networking with my contacts and generating referrals by talking about the great opportunity that exists right now to purchase real estate.” Indeed, while nearly everyone in the room were commiserating with one another, very few were actually networking and working on seeking new business. As a result, very little business was actually being accomplished.

If you want to do well in business, you must understand that it does absolutely no good to complain to people about how tough things are. When you complain about how bad business is – half the people you tell don’t care and the other half are glad that you’re worse off than they are!

While you cannot control the economy or your competition, you can control your response to the economy. Referrals can keep your business alive and well during an economic downturn.

During the last recession, I watched thousands of business people grow and prosper. They were successful because they consciously made the decision to refuse to participate in the recession. They did so by developing their networking skills and learning how to build their business through word of mouth.

You can do the same during a slow economy by:

1. Diversifying your networks. You need breadth and depth. Participate in different kinds of groups.
2. Don’t be a “cave-dweller”. Be visible, put yourself in play, get out and meet people at business events.
3. Learn how to work the meetings you attend. It’s not called net-sit, or net-eat, it’s called Net-WORK.
4. Prepare effective introductions and presentations to give to other business people at networking events and meetings.
5. Most importantly, understand that networking is more about farming than it is about hunting. It’s about building relationships with other business people.

Don’t let a bad economy be your excuse for failure. Instead, make it your opportunity to succeed. It’s not “what you know,” or “who you know,” it’s “how well you know people” that counts. In a tough economy, it’s your social capital that has value. Make good use of it and you will thrive while others struggle.

Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder and Chairman of BNI, the world’s largest business networking organization. David C Aaronson is an Assistant Director with BNI in Los Angeles.

david.aaronson@bni4success.com