Search engine marketing is one form of inbound marketing, which uses the power of words to persuade consumers or people searching for information on the Web, to click on links which direct them to a specific webpage. Many of the concepts used in search engine marketing are grounded in the psychology field with regards to persuasion and the manipulation of people.

The participants in the Stanley Milgram study had similar reactions to authority figures in the experiment as high school football players do with their coaches. Within the Milgram experiment participants overrode their personal moral value levels by following instructions from the researchers and, in their mind, creating extreme pain for the research participant.

The similarities between the Milgram study participants and the high school football players show that when people are put into social situations where they are being directed by an authority figure there is often a pressure felt to perform the task as requested by that figure. No different with search engine marketing and social networking, people are persuaded and manipulated by the words they read from messages and advertisements posted by businesses and other online users. Is it possible that the motivation to please these authority figures in life could stem from childhood, where efforts are directed into learning and performing for parental figures as a way to receive recognition and rewards.

Persuasion is very much present in today’s marketing world. Whether online or off-line advertising, communication techniques in the form of pictures, sounds, colors and word choice are used to illicit specific emotions, thoughts, opinion and feelings in consumers in attracting them as leads.

If you are out to increase the effectiveness of your online exposure and attract prospective online customers, you owe it to yourself and the financial future of your business to learn everything you can about effectively using advertising in a virtual environment and facilitate company growth.

Do you want to increase the effectiveness of your online marketing techniques to dramatically grow your bottom line?

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Starting your own business can be difficult. The preparation will require time, effort and money. Also, marketing your business will be very challenging. When it comes to this aspect of the business, there are actually lots of strategies you can choose from.

What particular marketing technique should a new start up business owner consider? This article talks about postcard advertising and how it can benefit a start up business.

Smart Advertising with Postcards

Postcard advertising is an advertising strategy that has been used by many successful businesses in the industry. For a new business, it is certainly worth a try. What are the benefits you can get from postcard advertising?

The best thing about postcard marketing is that you do not need to spend a lot compared to other advertising strategies. One type of direct mail marketing, postcard advertising has been one of the most effective way to promote a business. Another important advantage in is that a business owner can use it to accomplish different advertising goals. The following paragraphs will discuss these advantages.

Low cost advertising. When compared to other marketing techniques, postcard marketing is more cost efficient. This type of marketing is cost-effective since you won’t need to put postcards in an envelope. At 23 cents, you can send your postcard via First Class Mailing and get essential mailing services like the “Return to Sender” option. Generally, you will only spend less than 50 cents to send a standard size postcard, including the cost of materials, printing, and postage.

Get positive response. Postcards are often well-received by the market, particularly if your postcards are attractive and well-designed. Compared to other promotional materials, people do not throw away postcards. Some people display them on their refrigerator doors or use them to decorate their work stations. This only goes to show that when done correctly, postcard advertising is a great way to get your message across and get positive response from your target market. Send for various reasons. There are different reasons why a business owner send postcards. For you to introduce a new line of products or services, sending postcards can be effective. It can also be used as invitation to a special event happening in your shop such as the opening of your store, a big sale, etc.

Postcards are also great to show your appreciation to the people who have patronized your company. For example, you can launch special postcard marketing campaigns during holiday seasons to remember your customers. Even for established businesses, postcards are a great way to let people know that you are a company that cares about your customers.

Track results easily. Postcards are easier to track because they can double as discount coupons or claim stubs for customers who decide than they want to try out your product or service. You can immediately see if your postcard marketing campaign is working based upon the response of your recipients or the increase in your sales.

ACN Inc. is a network marketing company. ACN provides consumers low cost telephone service, internet, wireless service, digital and video phones. The company was established in 1993. ACN stands for American Communications Network.

Today the Company has its offices in more than 19 countries now. They do marketing with the MLM strategy; and are expanding their business very quickly.

The product of the company is internet services and telecommunication services. As for the product, the company is excellent for an MLM program, as it is a necessity so you can convince people much easily on getting into ACN.

The product is very good on its own, but the other products of the same industry in the market are even better. However, this is one of the best but still you have to be a good marketer if you want to make money with ACN MLM program.

The biggest disadvantage of the company is the extremely high startup fees, to start with ACN you will have to pay a total of $499, which is the most expensive in the MLM market. The fees can decrease to $99 depending on the starting level you select.

People are afraid to pay so much money seeing the high dropout rate. However, if you are a good marketer and you know you can do well with MLM programs, then this $499 will be worthwhile.

For an MLM program the most important thing is not the history of the company, it is the future. According to the present condition, ACN definitely has a good future, and the associates of the company will be earning good.

In the beginning, when you will join the company, you will definitely have to work a lot and you will earn less. But as you will get more and more referrals to ACN you will see your ACN income boost very quickly, till the time comes when you will just have to work 15-20 hours a week and you will be earning $5000 per month; and this figure will keep on rising.

Their commission package is different; they will give you 1% to 8% of the telephone bills of the people you have referred. This might sound really low, but when you have got 100 clients, then you will see how these drops of water will make a huge ocean pouring directly into your bank account.

The actual amount of the commission is determined from your level. Suppose if you are on level 1, you will get ¼% of the bill, level 2, 3, 4, 5 have the same commission. For level six it is 1% and for level seven its 6%. In addition, you can earn more if you qualify for bonus. Your sales and your customers determine the levels.

Another drawback that follows the ACN MLM is that it is not a pyramidal scheme, which means that you will earn only from the people you have directly referred. If the people you have referred refer someone then you will not get anything from the third referrals.

In the end, this is another opportunity where you need to meet people face to face and perform direct selling. Something that not everyone is cable of doing or enjoys doing.

Before businesses converted to online marketing, the bread and butter marketing and advertising techniques are mostly focused on traditional marketing or what is not called as offline marketing. These 8 offline marketing ideas have been around for years and have been proven time and again to bring in revenue to any business whenever they are well-placed and well-timed.

Classified ads
Ad placing on any local or national newspapers – if your pockets could afford that – can give your website traffic or sales a really good boost. How? Apparently, people still read newspapers and trust the things they read on print media. And with this same level of trust, people view newspaper ads as something that they can be confident about. Online businesses that have placed ads on newspapers have benefited from the great advertising rates of this medium.

Flyers and Posters
There’s a good reason why small and large companies alike still use flyers as part of their marketing campaigns. They work and they work really well. Place flyers somewhere with good traffic and watch as traffic get diverted to your website.

Direct Mail
The offline version of opt-in email listing and email marketing, offline direct mail is a marketing method that directly contacts individual and inform them of your website’s presence. When done consistently and with good email pieces, this strategy can help with brand awareness. This may even result to instant sales.

Infomercials
While this could turn out to be quite expensive, infomercials are actually very effective means to enhance brand awareness and to increase market reach. Since most infomercials run consistently over a long period of time, these often allow for some curiosity on the part of viewers. If you don’t have enough budget for infomercials, try group advertising. This will spread the cost between you and your partners.

Business Cards
These are possibly the least expensive of all marketing strategies. Give your business cards to anyone you meet and leave them anywhere you go. The results may not be instantaneous, but in time, your cards could bring in revenue for your online business.

Give Free Information
If you are an expert in a field relevant to your business, you could try to be a free learning resource. You could do this by holding a free offline class. Radio and TV shows are also good mediums as these could reach a wider spectrum of audience. If you can, try to get an interview over the radio or on a TV show.

Freebies and Giveaways
Giving away promotional items is still alive and well. Next to business cards, this strategy is probably the second least expensive. The cost of this offline marketing strategy could run up to a few hundred dollars or more though if you’re giving away expensive free items.

Network with Other Local Business Owners
The chamber of commerce as well as other local business associations are powerful tools to expand your network. Connections mean better opportunities. Try to get as many connection as you can by attending local business owners meetings and conferences.