In this issue:

1) Tip of the Week

2) FEATURE ARTICLE: How To Use Marketing and Sales To Explode Your Home Business - Part I - by Sean M. Lyden

3) CLASSIFIEDS

4) FREE Resources

5) POWERQUOTE

6) MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGE: Creating Fun and Effective Goals by Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D.

If you'd like to read previously ran tips and features, go to http://netcheckspayroll.com/newsletter.html

Today's feature article starts at the beginning and takes us all the way through the process of moving our businesses up and over the profit threshold. Sean Lyden provides us with some practical steps for building on simple ideas and taking them to the next level. One of the things he advises is using powerful headlines in all promotional materials. For more on writing irresistible ad copy using proven keywords I recommend a visit to http://www.privatesites.com/warriors.cgi?LR2286

How To Use Marketing and Sales To Explode Your Home Business - Part I - by Sean M. Lyden

The Problem

Many home-based entrepreneurs don't know how to best market their products and services. Some neglect proactive marketing all together, praying earnestly and waiting for prospects to fall through the ceiling. Others market full-force, but produce shoddy publicity materials or other key marketing mistakes that kill their business credibility, pushing clients away. Either approach will keep you from achieving your business potential and financial dreams.

The Bottom Line

Whether you've been thinking about starting a home business or you're already a seasoned home-based entrepreneur, the principle remains the same Ñ your business' survival and success hinge on how effectively you penetrate the marketplace. Therefore, examine how the following marketing strategies and tools can help you boost your home business profits.

The Home-Based Advantage

Low overhead costs, no commute to work, the ability to be home with the kids Ñ these are just a few of the advantages for the home business owner. Gear your marketing efforts to capitalize on these and other home-based strengths including:

¥ Adaptability. The Information Age has escalated the rate of change in the marketplace. To survive and thrive, you must be prepared to act Ñ and act quickly. As a home-based entrepreneur, you can make adjustments instantly, without having to cut through the red tape of bureaucratic decision-making procedures of larger business.

¥ Technology. Computers, the Internet, fax machines, and emerging video-conferencing can take home businesses to a more level playing field with bigger companies, empowering entrepreneurs to accomplish tasks that used to require hiring staff to perform.

¥ The Part-Time Option. Unlike conventional store-front businesses that require full-time attention and high overhead costs, home businesses can be operated part-time, at low cost, and Ñ depending on your financial goals Ñ can be phased into full-time operations.

Taking Your Business To The Next Level

A common reason home businesses fail is because owners neglect the up-front planning needed to position their ventures. Once you have defined your market position Ñ where you want to take your business in the next year Ñ you will have moved one step closer to success.

Begin by taking inventory of where your business is right now. What specific goods and services do you provide? How do you set yourself apart? What is your business' reputation? How are you perceived by your customer as far as your prices, reliability, and other elements of your products or services? If you already have a business, seek feedback from existing clients.

The next step is to project where you want to take your business in the next year. What market position do you want to occupy? Is the niche market you want large enough? How will your benefits outsell those provided by the competition? Do you have the ability, capital, resources and support to make your market position a reality? Your answers will give you the information you need to begin designing or updating your marketing plan.

Planning For Profit

Once you have determined where you want to go, outline the essential steps to get there. Begin by writing a one sentence purpose (mission) statement for your marketing campaign. The rest of your plan should include a brief description of each of the following:

¥ Benefits of your products and services.

¥ Your target market.

¥ What marketing tools will best help you achieve your mission.

¥ Your market niche Ñ what sets you apart in the market place.

¥ Your marketing budget.

Keep your marketing plan brief. The more concise you make your marketing plan, the more effective it will be in evaluating your marketing efforts throughout the year.

Finding Your Niche

This is often the hardest task for a beginning home-based entrepreneur Ñ but also one of the most crucial. In order for your venture to survive in a competitive marketplace, you must distinguish yourself from other businesses and find a niche. What makes your business unique? Why should someone choose to buy from you over a competitor? Prospective clients want to know. If you can give them a compelling answer, you will position yourself as a leader in your industry Ñ boosting your profit potential.

Marketing Tools That Hit a Home Run

No matter how you choose to publicize your business, one principle should guide your promotional material: Get to the point Ñ fast. You're vying for the attention of consumers bombarded each day with advertisements from countless companies Ñ some being your competitors. Don't waste any time getting your message across.

Ad Ñ Vantage

You have determined your market position and drawn up a marketing plan; now you're ready to proactively spread the word about your products and services. One effective tool is mass-media advertising. You have a variety of media choices Ñ depending upon your target market and your advertising budget Ñ including magazines, newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet.

Start by evaluating how and where your competitors advertise. What's working for them? Take their best ideas; then design your own winning layout, positioning yourself as having the best offer.

Seductive Headlines

As the first phrases seen in advertising copy, headlines should arouse enough interest in the reader so that they will want to read or listen on to learn more about your product, price and offer. To get ideas about what headlines will work best for you, scan different types of ad copy, particularly those from your competitors. Effective headlines:

¥ Capture the customer's interest

¥ Build business credibility

¥ Highlight the most important benefits

¥ Are always positive.

Testing Your Ads

Advertising can be expensive, but for just about any business a mandatory investment. To get the most out of your ads, test them by the following criteria:

¥ What is the quantity of leads or prospects that the ad generates? Compare this amount in terms of a unit cost of advertising (dollars in advertising per leads generated).

¥ How many of these leads convert into sales? Different advertising media Ñ due to the audiences they target Ñ will vary in the numbers of actual closes.

Continually check the response from your ads, make changes or run a new ad if necessary.

Regional & National Exposure

Magazines and trade journals are the Energizer Bunny of the advertising tools Ñ they keep going and going and going. Not only do magazine ads have the longest "shelf-life" of any advertising medium (giving your business exposure for as long as that issue is in circulation), but you can make reprints of that ad that will last you forever. You could run an ad in a major national magazine (a cost-effective option for home-based entrepreneurs to build credibility and compete with larger companies) and then order reprints of that ad to use as powerful credibility pieces in sales presentations, direct mailings, or whatever promotional means you choose.

To find out if a publication will give you the exposure you want and fit in your marketing budget, call and ask for their media kit. Not only will you find out a magazine's ad rates, but you'll learn about its circulation, demographic focus, etc.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Newspaper ads are very effective for home-based businesses that market their products and services locally. Not only can you reach a large number of people in specific metropolitan locations, but you can also target prospects via their interests (e.g. sports, lifestyle, and business sections).

Go to your local library to study back issues of the newspaper in which you're interested in placing an ad. What would be the best day for you to run an ad? If you were running a catering business, for example, you would choose Wednesday or Thursday because those are the days most newspapers print their food sections. What section of the paper would be best geared to your target market? If your offer is directed toward males, the sports section would be one for you to consider.

Advertising costs depend on a number of factors including: the size of the ad, where in the paper it's placed, the day it runs, etc. As with magazines, call and request a media kit from the newspaper to determine what advertising steps you can take that will fit within your marketing budget.

Making Waves With Radio

Radio advertising enables you to home in on your target market depending upon the type of station, time of day and day of week you run an ad. The advertising costs for the large, more popular stations are out of reach for most home-based entrepreneurs. However, smaller stations provide less expensive options.

When deciding whether or not you can afford to place a radio ad, determine how many times you need to run the ad in order for it to be effective. Initial placement may fit well into your budget, but the true test is to consider the overall costs of running an effective radio advertising campaign.

For many home-based entrepreneurs, radio is not a cost-effective medium for home business owners, especially those who market to a national audience. However, if you target a local market and have the funds to run your ads consistently on a number or stations throughout the year, radio advertising may very well be the ticket you need to take your business to the next level.

Now You Too Can Be on TV!

A television commercial Ñ when done properly Ñ is the most powerful way to get your message across. The combination of video and audio appeal to more senses than any other advertising method. Historically, because of television's drawing power, only the big-name companies could afford to use it to advertise. However, with the dawn of satellite and cable TV, more affordable options are available for the home-based entrepreneur.

As with radio, consider how often you need to run a TV ad for it to be effective. Then add up expenses. Placement costs have plummeted significantly, but if you purchase only one or two thirty second segments, you won't likely make enough impact on your target market. Therefore, decide how much of your marketing budget you're willing to devote to television advertising. If you cannot afford a significant number of runs, invest your advertising dollars elsewhere, such as magazine advertising. If you can, take full advantage of this powerful medium.

The Power Of Printed Material

Once your ad has generated interest, how do you keep your prospects hungry to know more about what your business can do for them?

Brochures To Generate Closures

Whet their appetites with a compelling brochure that showcases your business' features and benefits and promotes your business expertise. Add attractive graphics and attention-grabbing headlines to give your brochure a professional appearance and build your business credibility.

Home-Based Basics

Your brochure is just one component in your marketing arsenal. Don't overlook the sales-generating potential of basic business printed materials:

¥ Letterhead and Stationary: Use high quality paper. Consider including your mission statement and a brief listing of services. Incorporate all ways to contact you, such as e-mail and fax.

¥ Faxes: A fax cover sheet should mirror the letterhead. Include your company name and number across the top of the page.

¥ Business Cards: When meeting a potential client, the business card is your first introduction. Put a headline on it that defines your mission. Fill the blank space on the back the card with the top three benefits your business has to offer.

¥ Invoices, Statements & Miscellaneous Correspondence: In all correspondence you have with a client, even sending a bill, use these as opportunities to market your business. As an example, an invoice to a client might contain a special discount only for previous customers.

¥ Flyers: Less formal and shorter than a brochure, flyers are used for impersonal promotions targeted to a time-specific event (special discount, sale item, etc.). Home-based entrepreneurs who market to a local audience can tack them up on utility poles and bulletin boards, place under car windshields, insert in newspapers, or deliver through carrier route mail. For national marketing, flyers can be send through the mail.

...more next week on web marketing and direct mail, the telephone and testimonials.

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Looking for an enjoyable way to gain a personal edge each day? Subscribe to Powerquotes! It features a quote and some questions to reflect on, related to the quote. It comes each weekday and is free! To subscribe, send an email to pq@discian.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line or go to http://discian.com/pq.htm

"Happiness in life is not measured by the things we achieve, the places we go, or the route that we take to get there. Happiness in life is measured by the people that we share all of our experiences with."

- Chris Needham, Powerquoter

Chris is the author of both today's quote and questions. Thanks Chris! You can reach Chris at mailto:i_am_chris@hotmail.com

Questions to Ponder

How do I measure happiness in my life?

What value do I place on my personal relationships?

What can I do today to let someone know how important they are in my life?

Submitted by Kevin Eikenberry from Powerquotes kevin@discian.com to subscribe http://discian.com/pq.htm

Creating Fun and Effective Goals Copyright Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D. (1999) All Rights Reserved.

It seems the news media is just full of things that we are supposed to be doing to be healthier, wealthier and happier. The problem is that in order to do new things we have to give up spending time doing old things that we had gotten really good at doing. And let's face it, it's not fun to think about giving up what we are good at doing. So I am not going to talk about quitting things. Instead I will talk about doing more of the things you like to do.

First thing we need to do is get a picture of goals in our heads. "Goal" is a popular word these days. You hear about both short and long-term goals for business, government and people. That's good stuff, but at times goals can sound boring. So I like to think of football, hockey and other sports goals at the same time I think of life or business goals. I like doing this because combining sports goals with thoughts of life-goals helps me have a happy, energetic feeling about goals. You can think of what you want, just make sure you put some happiness and energy into your goals, however you go about doing it.

With that done, lets look at some goals that are easy to get happy and energetic about. More than likely you already do some things really well. So make at least some of those things you do well into goals for the future. Just look back at your last few weeks, months or years and how you accomplished getting those good things done. Try and figure out how you did them day by day, week by week, and month by month. Now project those activities out across the next few weeks and months, Like magic you now have some goals you know you can accomplish because you have already done them. You may think I am joking, but just think about it. Are there good things that you enjoyed doing in the past that you are sorry you gave up? Most of us have them. So setting a goal of keeping up one, two or more good things you already do is a very good goal.

For example, maybe in the last few months you spent more time with your parents or your children. Why not make it a goal to keep doing that? Maybe you cut down on caffeine and started to sleep better. Maybe you are balancing your work and family life better. Whatever good and healthy thing you have done set your goal to keep on doing it.

Of course, like most people, you probably have some goals that you have never reached, but have dreamed about reaching. The first thing to do is to write those things down. Magic happens when you write things down. Of course it is not magic, it is simply that you are taking abstract thoughts from your brain and turning them into concrete objects you can see, touch and read.

After you have one or more major life goals written down, why not look at what you already do (remember those good things you are going to keep doing?) that will help you achieve those goals? This time figure out how you can increase and/or improve doing them in a way that might help you reach your dreams.

Finally, set this simple goal: "I will schedule some time during every week to think about how doing the things I already do can help me achieve my dreams." Go ahead and write the times in your schedule. You might just find your are a lot closer to your dreams than you thought.

Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D. is a goal and time management coach, writer and speaker. He can teach you the art of managing your time. For a FREE subscription to his monthly "Time Saving Tips & Tricks" put SUBSCRIBE in the BODY of an email to Mailto:timesavers@oaknetpub.com.

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