Marketing Wizardry

Creating a Referral Marketing System

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:51:30 +0000

System (s s t m) n.: An organized and coordinated method; a procedure.

A. There are many reasons referral systems are important. These systems primarily help your mindset, and your mindset is the first step in creating a solid positive change. Referral system implementation delivers the following benefits: ? Proactive referrals recruitment ? Customer assistance, relationship and loyalty development ? Sequential increase of referrals year-over-year ? Referral tracking and data-base development for future campaigns ? Lower cost per customer (CPC) ? Saves employee time and company wages ? Maximum return on investment ? Improves message penetration

Referrals are valuable but many businesses and marketers still think of them as happenstance and not as a serious marketing medium. This is a myth, and we need to be enlightened to the fact that, much like having a gym or personal trainer helps you lose weight, the proper referral system makes referral marketing a priority and after a while, it becomes second nature. We learn to take the necessary steps with every new customer, to ensure that they will tell others about our products and services.

The definition of a referral system is a repeatable procedure that you put into place and build on year after year. It’s a process you form with people and businesses that will have a positive influence on your company and it will bring you profit and growth opportunities.

B. To start a referral system, begin with a commitment to learn what referral strategies work best within your industry. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. originated with a referral plan. The founders started out several years ago as an investment advisory firm that provides personalized and performance-oriented financial services for its client base. It has grown from zero to $80 million in assets, all through growth originating from a referral system.

Implementing a quality referral program not only develops your referral business and increases sales, but also saves you money on marketing and advertising. Statistics show that referrals can offset advertising as much as 20, 50 even 100 percent annually, consistently. And if a business is 100 percent referral-based, it’s ad spend is practically nil.

C. The core objective that every business referral system must have is ease of use and seamless integration into existing sales and marketing structure. And when you build your referral system in a way that lets people feel good about referring you, you will tap into the master human motivation. People want to pass on a smart buy, a new find, a great experience - in part because it makes them look and feel smart, or whatever that thing is that makes them look good. Any successful referral marketing effort you engage in should give your referral source this kind of motivation.

With a successful referral system, you can bet your business needs some amount of the following:

Buzz - People will refer things that are new enough to be a find but solid enough to be known by “those in the know”.

Met Expectation - People want to be sure that their expectations will be met - and the expectations of those they refer to you.

Value - Your referral system should be set up to reward your referral base and acknowledge each referral as it comes in. People won’t continue sending referrals if you don’t acknowledge their effort.

D. Remember, referrals bring money into your business without the hard sale, and when a business sets up its system to reward customers for referrals, rewards are reciprocated as those customers become an extension of the sales force.

Referral marketing significantly challenges traditional marketing methods when a business implements the right online and offline tools. The rewards and benefits are undeniable. Investigate all available resources to determine what type of referral marketing system works best for your business and industry. No matter what system you choose, it really comes down to assisting people in being able to share “what is so great” with others.

About the Author

Diana D’Itri is the Exec VP of Ravebiz, a leading referral marketing and technology company. She’s a key driving force behind educating clients on how to generate more quality referred customers through practical applications and an automated, web based system called the Rave APG eReferral.

For a free download “31 tips for boosting referral business” go to www.ravebiz.com. Diana can be reached at (866) 284-3020 or email her at di

Get Started With Affiliate Marketing

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:53:29 +0000

You’ve tried and tried, but for the life of you, you can’t come up with an idea for an information product that you can sell online. Here’s an option for you to consider: STOP TRYING!

Yep, that’s right. Stop trying. Stop trying to rack your brain to come up with a one-of-a-kind product or business. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel in order to be profitable with your online business!

You’re frustrated because you see so many people seeming to make good money online with their great information products. You’ve tried to come up with a great idea, but your ideas just don’t seem to be going anywhere. You’ve given up hope, and you’re about to give up on your dream. Well, take heart! You don’t have to beat them at their game; instead, you can join them and cash in on the wave of success they’ve already created! If you’ve ever traded in the stock market, you’ve probably heard the old saying, “A rising tide lifts all ships”. This simply means that if there’s a big bull market (rising prices) going on, then you’re pretty likely to make money with just about any stock you pick. This same concept holds true in the world of online marketing through a concept called “affiliate marketing”.

Affiliate marketing is a technique in which a successful online business lets you make money on commission by selling their product on your website. You agree to set up a website and promote their product through search engines and your own advertising efforts in exchange for a percentage of the sales of their product generated through your website. This may sound like it’s only benefiting them, but it can be quite lucrative for you as well.

Affiliate marketing allows the average joe to set up a website and get started with an online business fairly quickly. As an affiliate you also have the added advantage of not having to handle anything other than the sale itself. You don’t have to worry about product development or user support, so you can focus entirely on marketing and promotion.

The best part is that once your affiliate website is set up and going, it will be out there making money for you day in and day out, 24/7, 365 days a year. You can spend your time doing other things while your affiliate website silently and consistently puts money into your bank account. Plus, you can be an affiliate with multiple companies and multiply your profits dramatically.

You’ll probably want to eventually develop your own products anyway, but affiliate programs can be a great way for you to learn how to market things online. That way when you do finally develop your own successful products you’ll have experience with proven methods of marketing them for maximum results.

Till next time…Success to you!

-Ted

About the Author

Ted is part of an Internet information marketing group that makes its home at:

http://www.InternetProfitMentor.com

Check it out for some up-to-the-minute info on marketing YOUR information online!

Online Poker Affiliate Marketing Strategy: Blogging

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:27:26 +0000

If you’re an online poker affiliate and don’t have at least one blog set up, you’re missing the boat. Blogs are a great way to promote poker and are extremely easy to use as traffic generators. Here is a quick start guide to getting you up and running with your own poker blog.

1. Choose Your Weapon - There are two blogging platforms that I would recommend using, either will work just fine so it is entirely up to you. The first is Blogger. Blogger is a great way to get a blog up and online in just minutes and doesn’t require you to spend a dime on a domain name or hosting account. You can customize your blogger template with ads and begin blogging in just minutes. The second is WordPress. If you already have a domain name (or don’t mind registering one) and a webhosting account, you can install WordPress for free. If your host gives you access to Fantastico, you can actually have WordPress automatically installed on your domain in just a few mouse clicks. There are pro’s and con’s to both platforms but both will allow you to get up and running easily.

2. Decide to Blog About - There are many different topics related to poker that you could potentially blog about. Home games, online tournaments, televised tourneys, your last trip to Vegas… the list goes on and on. Pick a topic and go with it.

3. Submit Your RSS Feed - Regardless of which blogging platform you choose, you’ll have an RSS feed included. After making your initial blog post, submit your RSS feed to blog and feed directories. This will generate incoming links (which is important for a number of reasons) as well as directory traffic.

4. Write! - Update your blog at least a few times every single day. Make sure that you’re including important keyword phrases in your posts that will attract search engine visitors.

That’s all there is to it! Blogging is a very easy way to quickly publish new content to the web and if you do this consistently every day, you’ll build a good foundation of unique content that will generate traffic for you day in and day out.

About the Author: Learn how to become a super poker affiliate by promoting the best poker affiliate programs at http://www.epokeraffiliate.com/