The Power of a Case Study

Most average newsletters and websites have several testimonials sharing the greatness of the product or service offered. That’s all well and good, but the way to really capitalize on your superior offering is to highlight a detailed example of a job well done through a case study.

A case study is a mini-article that is two to three short paragraphs long and includes two or three pictures. The pictures may be the before and after comparisons and a photo of the person. The text can describe the problem in the first paragraph, the solution you provided in the second paragraph and a quote from the satisfied customer in the third paragraph.

Case studies tell the story of your business brilliance. They are a much more effective way of saying how great you are because someone else is saying it. Including a single case study in each newsletter is a savvy way to keep people interested in your product and offering satisfied customers a way to show off their wisdom in choosing your product or service.

Please Do Not Disturb

Sometimes the hardest thing about working at home is getting uninterrupted time in which to take care of business. Here are some five tips for setting up some boundaries to increase your productivity.

Make your office your office only. Donbt take your work into your home or bring your home into your office. Set yourself up for a block of time by preparing your coffee, water and snacks prior to going to the office.

Schedule your office hours and stick to them. Publishing them on your website and advertisements keeps you on track. Make sure your friends and family know these hours and encourage them to support your success by honoring them. A bDo Not Disturbb sign for your office doorknob can be helpful as well.

Do not allow yourself to be interrupted by a doorbell. Pretend that you are not at home when a solicitor rings the bell and do not even check to see who it is unless you are expecting someone.

Make a communication space at your front door so people can leave messages. A small box with a notepad and pen can work just fine.

Resist the temptation to take calls when the phone rings. Screen your calls on both your land line and cell phone if you use either for both personal and business purposes.

CopyrightB) 2007, FrogPond. All rights reserved . FrogPond offers you More Royalty-Free Reprintable Articles at FrogPond.com

Widget Me That!

by Jason Heller, Tuesday, Sep 25, 2007 6:00 AM ET

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN WIDGET! IN MERELY a matter of months you went from a buzzword towards a tipping point, if not there already. It's time to do it right this time around. As I wrote last month in "Widget Me This: A Buzzword in Perspective", widgets may be a major buzzword in the current digital marketing lexicon, however the term achieved that status based on merit. The Web experience is evolving as we enter a more interoperable and platform-agnostic era. Content and experiences becoming portable databased assets with easy connections to any platform or channel will create another major shift in media consumption, and with it will come a world of new marketing and advertising opportunities. Amazon last week announced its official entry into widget-world. Of course, Amazon has offered API's to developers for several years now, but never had offered widgets in such a manner. I think the angle is pretty slick. The original king of the affiliate program, rolled out these widgets for its affiliates. Some of the widgets are quite clever ways of extending Amazon's product catalog and opportunity for relevant placement. An example of one of the more clever ideas is the Slide-show Widget, which "Makes elegant slide-show widgets out of images chosen from products across the entire Amazon catalog -- CD cover art, DVD's, books, anything!" They also have rolled out widgets that add contextual links inside blog or site content. As a major player in the ecommerce world, Amazon will most likely incite a bandwagon of commerce related widgets to follow...and a bandwagon is not necessarily a bad thing when it progresses the market. Like I've mentioned before, buzzwords are like folklore, they almost always have some firm root in reality. The trend of increasing demand for and supply of content and utility across digital boundaries, so to speak, is driving a lot of innovation and providing consumers with better experiences and features than ever before. Welcome to the brave new web. Go Go Google Gadget Another big announcement last week -- Google Gadgets are officially being integrated into the Ad Words program, which now combines the power and breadth of their massive market place of publishers and consumers, with an incredibly engaging and flexible means of reaching targeted audiences with relevant communication and commerce experiences. Previous forays into graphical ads were not as successful, this may fuel some change in that regard. The concept of digital media mobility, which I rant about regularly, is approaching a tipping point, or maybe we're there already. The ability to provide consumers with the experiences they want, and some they didn't realize they wanted, on-demand, anywhere, on any platform, is going to spawn another spurt of growth for digital media and marketing consumption in the near future. I'm psyched! This is great news! In the spirit of Facebook opening up their back end to developers earlier this year, and Yahoo recently following suit, Google (in pure Google fashion) is one-upping the rest of the industry by going one step further and actually providing funding to start ups to help develop revenue-generating widgets for the Gadgets product. Plenty of VC's are also eyeing this space and betting on the future being an interoperable one. Investments in Web 2.0 and widget development projects seem to be at a crescendo. The interesting part for me personally, is how excited about these developments I am as a consumer, as well as a marketing strategist. Usually the scale tips in one direction or another. The "open source ecosystem" we are evolving towards is ripe for innovation and growth, and the future's bright for both consumers and marketers alike. Let the next marketing renaissance begin. Jason Heller is an independent digital media consultant. Most recently he held the position of Managing Director of Horizon Interactive, the digital arm of the largest independent media buying agency in the U.S. In 2005 Horizon acquired Mass Transit Interactive, a successful digital media agency that Heller co-founded in 1998.

To Score A Home Sale In This Market, Step Up To The Plate

Develop A Competitive Edge

BY KATHLEEN DOLER FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

Price with carrying costs in mind, now that it's taking months to move a property

The residential real estate market's showing a cruel twist to the maxim that time is money.
Real estate agents warn that now a seller may have to pay more directly or indirectly to get a property sold in a timely fashion. So many homes are for sale that finding a buyer amid the competition can take extra effort and strategy.
U.S. median home prices have been falling and the inventory of existing unsold residences rising. About 4.6 million homes are available. That's nearly a third more than a year ago and it would take 9.6 months at the current sales pace to sell them all, the National Association of Realtors says.
Homes stay stuck on the market longer. While last year a NAR consumer survey put the average at six weeks, homes now tend to remain unsold at least a couple months.
"Based on the historic relationship between this (annual) survey and our monthly read on supply, the current national time on market is in the range of eight to 10 weeks," said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the group.
Those figures may underestimate how tough it is to sell now as they don't include sellers who've given up, says Brock Harris, owner of Brock Real Estate in Los Angeles.
"Sellers are pulling their homes off the market," he said.
What's a seller to do? One recommendation from housing industry specialists is to get the most experienced Realtor available, someone who's been in the business more than five or even 10 years and has sold before in a down market.
How do you find the right real estate agent? Some online sites such as HomeGain .com offer referrals and agent comparisons, but wordof-mouth referrals are a tried-andtrue approach. An alternative is to look for the most active Realtors in your area. Who has had the listings that you've seen sell?
Once you've got some names, interview at least three agents and ask tough questions about how they're going to get your house sold.
"It really is a job," Harris said. "And you want someone who will be straight with you — absolute candor."
Price For Now, Not Yesterday
The agent needs to be able to advise you on how to price your property and say what upgrades are needed to make it marketable in the slow sales environment, he says.
"We're seeing a lot more overpriced listings than we ever have," Harris said.
He thinks sellers and agents are putting too much emphasis on dated comparables. A home that sold a month ago isn't necessarily a good comparable for pricing a listing now, he says, because that home was probably put on the market five or six months ago.
"Sellers need to be very, very realistic," Harris said. "They have to under-price their home. Buyers have so much choice they're only going to look at the cheap ones."
It's a particularly poor time for premium pricing and real estate agent commission discounts, according to specialists, who say sellers should expect to pay for expertise, experience and aggressive marketing.
"Real estate is a competitive, cutthroat business, and Realtors are always hungry," Harris said. "If anything, now's the time to pay an extra commission, especially to buyers' agents. We're seeing like 4% to the buyer's agent. In this market, it takes two good agents to pull a deal through."
Getting through a deal usually involves financing. So you want a real estate agent who's knowledgeable about home financing and who has very good contacts with mortgage brokers. Sure, the buyer's agent will probably steer a potential buyer toward a mortgage broker, but more names can't hurt.
Survive Tighter Financing
Buyers may have a tougher time getting a good mortgage, given the recent tightening of credit standards. So sellers may consider financing part of the deal themselves, a tactic used to close deals in other real estate downturns.
"You'll want a Realtor who has the experience to help you through this," said Bradley Inman, founder of Emeryville, Calif.-based Inman News, which runs a real estate investing Web site (inman .com).
Getting an offer, and thus to the financing step, requires "PEA — price, maximum exposure through advertising and accessibility," said broker George Stephens, at ERA Stephens Properties in Houston.
Make your property shine for its showing, and take care of repairs so it compares well, Stephens says. He recommends having some properties pre-inspected, before an escrow, so a seller can identify and fix problems that might quash a sale.
Spur The Sale
Be diligent about using traditional sales tactics, too.
Make sure the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) entry that describes your home to Realtors and househunters is detailed and includes great photos. Ask your agent to ensure that the property gets as much exposure on Web sites — the broker's, your Realtor's and other spots — as possible.
A great flyer is a must. The flyer box needs to be stocked regularly.
Invite neighbors to view the property — maybe they have friends interested in moving to the area. Your agent should hold a broker's open house as well as several buyer open houses.
Beyond open houses, Stephens says sellers need to make their properties accessible for showing "seven days a week between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m."
He cautions sellers that if they limit one or more of the PEA factors, they're placing barriers to their objective of achieving a timely sale under current market conditions.

Open house signs fill a corner in Altadena, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007. Sales of existing homes have dropped to the slowest pace in nearly five years and are 9% below a year ago. Amid that, the median home price has slipped. AP

Trulia Ranks Among Top Three Traffic Drivers...

Posted By admin On September 20, 2007 @ 1:17 pm In Technology | Comments Disabled

RISMEDIA, Sept. 21, 2007-Trulia.com, one of the Internet’s leading real estate search engines, announced that the company now ranks alongside Google and Yahoo! search engines as one of the top three contributors of traffic to real estate companies nationwide.According to the latest data released by online competitive intelligence service company
Hitwise, Trulia was a top three traffic contributor to 12 of the largest residential real estate franchisors and brokerages nationwide in the past month (August 18 — September 15, 2007).

Consistently outpacing fellow online real estate marketing sites Google Base, Craigslist, HomeGain, Realtor.com and Zillow, Trulia referred, on average, 11% of the traffic being directed to a diverse group of franchisors, regional franchisee firms and independent brokerage firms in the past month, including: Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, Century 21 Real Estate LLC, ERA Franchise Systems LLC, Keller Williams Realty, Intero Real Estate Services, Weichert, Realtors, Alain Pinel Realtors, Watson Realty Corp., among others.

Trulia can attribute its traffic gains to a continued focus on delivering a great consumer experience, including unique neighborhood information and viral community building through Trulia Voices. This has enabled Trulia to continue its trend of double-digit monthly growth to the site, and even higher increases to partner Web sites, which now average three million user visits per month.

“As one of the early adopters of Trulia’s model in September 2005, we have increasingly relied upon Trulia.com to deliver high quality traffic to InteroRealEstate.com. Outside of the Google and Yahoo! search engines, Trulia has consistently been our number one online referral source since January 2007,” said Derek Overbey, vice president of marketing, Intero Real Estate Services.

“In today’s uncertain market, real estate companies need to be able to tap into a huge audience of qualified consumers,” said Sami Inkinen, Trulia’s co-founder and chief operating officer. “We know that 70 percent of Trulia.com visitors are looking to buy a home within 12 months, and the Hitwise data confirms that the Trulia model works to connect these consumers with robust real estate information and agents.”

For more information, visit http://www.trulia.com.

The Pitfalls of Email Marketing

by Patrick Valtin

Email marketing gets a bad rap. The controversy about email marketing is a quagmire that leaves many business owners in confusion in its wake.

According to a new study by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing delivers the highest return on investment of all media available to marketers. The study also projects that email driven sales in the United States will show a compound annual growth rate of 14.9% between 2006 and 2011. But, statistics like that only bring about real understanding when the outcome of email marketing impacting long term customer-relationship-based revenue streams is fully known.

Patrick Valtin, sales & marketing expert, President of M2-TEC USA, INC. and founder of one of the largest consulting company in Europe called U-MAN BELGIUM claims email marketing is highly profitable if done correctly. The main mistake is trying to convert a prospect when embarking on email marketing, he says. The direction one should take is instead is trying to attract a qualified prospect.

Attract first, don't try to convert. It's actually common sense if you think about it. What if some one came up to you and said BUY THIS with no enticement as to what it was and what it could do for you? Would you buy (convert)? Probably not. However, say a girl scout comes to your door with a tray of cookies for you to pick one to sample. Did she entice you and attract your attention first? Yep, mostly likely, and how many boxes did you buy? How many will you buy year after year after year on a regular basis?

Those emails that do attract your attention and entice you by putting that cookie in front of you to nibble on - those are the successful approaches.

That begs the question if they already are opt-in prospects, do you still have to attract? Aren't they already qualified prospects if they are in your database?

Not always, according to Patrick. Patrick points out the best ROI approach to email marketing is to promote to inactive prospects and sleeping customers in your data base with the purpose to get them active and to turn them into (entice them to be) regular, loyal customers. Sleeping customers are prospects. Old, inactive prospects were curious enough to inquire into your company to begin with. That is the crucial point as Valtin explains. "The biggest false data out there is the saying 'they were just curious' as to the reason a prospect didn't close. Look up curious in the dictionary - it is interest." So curiosity IS interest. It is up to you to entice them even further so they become "sold". Sold equates to being a repeat customer.

Valtin goes on to say that the ways to first attract prospects are done with classical marketing techniques before email marketing comes into the picture: pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization with your website, direct mail marketing - the "more traditional" forms are the channels used to attract. Then once you get a prospect or even a first-time customer you can start email marketing to them.

Once your prospects are on your opt-in list, you have to entice. Just on a different level. You have their interest - now hook them.

Three common mistakes in email marketing are:

• Trying to sell through the marketing email. You have to cut the gradient to attract and then convert. The question is: what will motivate them to join your list?
• Making the subject line too ambiguous; using trite phrases that are actually considered SPAM. What you have to watch, Valtin also warns, is "too hot or too juicy is looked upon as SPAM by search engine spiders."
• Not being consistent with "From" address line. From very beginning, the "From" line should be consistent. Even here there is a need to have instant recognition.

With customers receiving an average 400 emails per week and checking their email an average of 4 times per day, it is no wonder that email marketing has taken off. But don't fall in the trap of using it incorrectly. According to Valtin, when you screw up on email marketing lines with prospects or customers, you are cut off and most likely don't get another chance. It's too easy to junk your email address and be shut off from further communication.

Three Valtin tips for being successful in email marketing are:

• Make the subject line personalized. "How would you like a free weekend in Acapulco" compared with "Dear Jane, how would you...." increases by 200-300% your chances it will be opened. (Note: opened not converted ...but attracted.)
• Make one-time customers into repeat customers. Offer an exclusive newsletter only for customers with highly valuable content.
• Have an option for people who subscribe to your newsletter to systematically send it to a friend, which acts as a referral and consequently per Valtin, makes it viral. SPAM legislation still requires those friends to opt-in before you can start emailing to them, but the referral raises your credibility and will give you more bang for your buck!

Valtin says there are many more principles to learn about email marketing. Having studied marketing and sales trends for the last 35 years, he packs a lot of lore under his Belgian skull. Understanding the outcome of email marketing impacting long term customer-relationship-based revenue streams is his forte. He teaches email marketing at marketing boot camps organized by Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania, and Marsha Friedman, CEO of Event Management Services, Inc. to business professionals nationwide.

"Permission-based email communications can solidify existing relationships, initiate new ones and convert one-time clients into long-term customers," Valtin advises. "Relationship-building emails leverage the investment you are making in all other forms of marketing, allowing you to grow your business more efficiently."

First Response Is Key

Hi Jane,

Thanks for stopping by my site at http://www.thephilife.com.
You will find the information you requested attached for your review.

In the meantime, I realize that you are currently in the information gathering stage, and may not be ready to "open up" about who you are, or what your needs are at this time. Be assured this is perfectly okay, and that my staff and I will completely respect your online privacy.

Also, keep in mind that my ability to help you is dependent upon understanding your particular needs and wants with respect to finding a home. So when you are ready to explore your real estate needs further, I will be happy to assist you.

Have a great day, and I look forward to hearing from you.

(examples of "opt-out" campaigns)

Philip
PS: As a way of saying "Thanks!" I've given you a complementary
subscription to my information-packed monthly newsletter, ”Welcome to the Philife”. Each issue packed with valuable information about buying your first home. You may stop receiving it at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of any issue.

(or, use the alternative for a targeted campaign)

PS: As a first time buyer you probably could appreciate any additional information that will help you make the right choices. With this in mind I have given you a complementary subscription to my e-Course: 15 Secrets to Getting The Home of Your Dreams (and avoiding the nightmares!)These valuable tips will come to you periodically via e-mail. You may stop receiving them at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of any message.

Sample "First Response" E-mail Message With Phone Number

Hi Jane,

Thanks for stopping by my site at http://www.thephilife.com.
You will find the information you requested attached for your review.

In the meantime, I realize that you may currently be in the information gathering stage. Be assured this is perfectly okay, and that my staff and I will completely respect your online privacy.

Since you have provided a phone number in your original message, it appears that you are ready to discuss your home buying needs. If this is not the case, please let me know via a reply e-mail. Otherwise we can discuss your needs in detail over the phone.

Have a great day --looking forward to speaking with you soon.

Philip
PS: subscribe to my information-packed free monthly newsletter,

“Welcome to the Philife”by sending a blank e-mail to…