10 Ways to Run Your Own Advertising Campaign

Taking on your own advertising campaign is no easy task. You can do it on your own but get ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

Your Marketing Plan
Nothing can help you identify your goals more than your marketing plan. You learn a lot about your company, your competitors and your long-term goals by creating and following your marketing plan. This is crucial to knowing what type of advertising is best for you.

Create a Plan of Action
Once you have your marketing plan, you must create a plan of action. This model shows you how freelancers and agencies put their own plan of action in place. Your plan of action also gives you crucial info you can use in executing your ad strategy.

Define Your Advertising Budget
How you advertise depends on your ad budget. You need to strategically use your advertising money. If you're only allowing a small portion of money to advertising, you wouldn't want to throw it all into the production of one commercial that runs at 2 a.m. Know exactly how much you will spend on your advertising first so you can make wise decisions in the creation and placement of all ad mediums.

Hunt for Affordable Opportunities
Running your own ad campaign means you have to be your own media director. You've got to find the best ad placement and the most affordable opportunities to fit into your budget. If you're limited to a very small budget, you can find many ways to bypass high advertising costs.

Know Your Target Audience
You can't advertise effectively if you don't hit your target audience. Know who they are before you start creating your ads. If your company sells scooters to seniors, you don't want to invest in cable ads to run on MTV.

Advertise in Appropriate Mediums
Of all the different advertising mediums you can use, you have to be able to use these mediums to your benefit. Spending all of your money on a direct mail campaign when your ad dollars would be better spent on print ads is going to limit how many customers you could've gained. Take a look at each medium, think about your target audience, take a look at your marketing plan and your plan of action and decide which medium(s) will be best for your ad dollars.

Don't Be Afraid to Hire Professionals ...like ArtfulMind.Biz
If you can't turn your advertising over to an agency, still consider hiring a freelance copywriter and/or graphic designer. These professionals know what makes a good advertisement. Many freelancers have worked in advertising agencies so you get the benefit of their expertise. Plus, freelancers can give you professional copy and materials at an affordable cost.

Consistency is Key
If you're running TV and radio commercials, print ads and a direct mail campaign, keep them consistent. Use the same announcer and music for your commercials. Print materials should use the same colors and fonts. Use the same tag line. You want to keep everything consistent so your potential customers start identifying your tag line, your colors, your font, your announcer, jingle - everything - that relates to your company's ad campaign.

Frequency
Buying space for one radio commercial that airs once at 4:30 in the morning isn't going to get much of a response. You want commercials to have a larger frequency so you can increase your chances of hitting that target audience. If you're running a direct mail campaign, decide the frequency of your materials up front. Once you send your initial materials out, how many times will you send out follow up materials? Know the answers before you begin to help maximize your strategy's success.

Books
When all else fails and you still run into questions, there are plenty of books you can use to give you guidance. Also be on the lookout for titles that have just been released so you can keep on top of current advertising trends.

Maximize Profits Through Hyper-Targeted Facebook Ads

What if you could direct your advertising only to the people who wanted it? You can do that effectively, and inexpensively, with Facebook.

By Michael Russer | June 2010

Imagine if you could advertise your services in such a way that only those who are most likely interested would even see the ads — and better yet, you onlypay for the ads when consumers acted on them. Sounds a lot better than traditional print advertising, doesn't it? Traditional Advertising is still effective if done right. Especially now because a lot less people are sending direct mail, so your piece STANDS OUT. Direct Mail when properly designed and executed at printing and with revamped fiunction (post card with detachable business card) GETS ATTENTION TOO! had to

This is what "hyper-targeted" advertising is all about, and nowhere is the opportunity greater for this than on Facebook. Yet few people in the real estate industry have taken advantage of it.

Facebook vs. Google

Facebook is huge , with close to a half a billion members, and it continues to grow rapidly each month. What makes the advertising potential so great is that by the very nature of the data found in user profiles, Facebook has amassed incredible demographic and psychographic information on its members. This information includes personal likes, dislikes, affiliations, interests, and so on.

It doesn't stop there. Facebook also has the ability (and the necessary funding) to cross-tabulate its internal member information with purchased third-party data like magazine subscription information and group membership affiliation, which allow it to further refine its targeting ability.

When Google serves up ads to users of its search engine, the ads typically are targeted based only upon the search query, because that's the limit of Google's knowledge about that particular consumer.

But when Facebook serves up ads to members, it knows far more about them. Consequently, it can show ads that are much more targeted and more likely to convert.

And Facebook ads have built-in "social proof" to add credibility and increase conversion rates, since your ads can show viewers if their Facebook friends have interacted with you or used your services.

Also, the amount of time an average member spends on Facebook eclipses even the most avid searcher on Google.

Like Google AdWords, you can pay for Facebook ads either as pay per click (PPC, which is the best way to go in most cases) or per 1,000 impressions (cost per mille, or CPM). The process of setting up, managing, and tracking your Facebook ads is very straightforward. And frankly, no one does a better job of explaining it than Facebook. Just go to Facebook.com/advertising to review the steps and best practices.

(Tip: Facebook suggests ad pricing to best reach your defined ad target. Let's just say they can be a bit biased about this. Experiment using PPC values that start out about 10 percent less than suggested and then continue to lower your bid amounts until you see a significant drop off in impressions. This strategy can save you a lot of money!)

Hyper-Targeting for Hyper-Growth

The ways in which you can use Facebook advertising to grow your business and differentiate yourself are limited only by your imagination. The following came out of a recent brainstorming session with my Online Dominance students.

To help organize these ideas, I've broken them down into the following categories:

• Win New Listings: Show your prospective sellers how you can advertise their listings on Facebook and receive literally thousands (if not tens of thousands) of impressions. Chances are very good that none of your competitors are doing this, and it will help you stand out considerably.
• Sell Targeted Listings: If your listing is unique or fits a particular profile (e.g., Florida waterfront property), you can create an ad that is shown only to those who would likely have interest in this, such as "snow birds" from other areas that have a proven track record of purchasing this type of property.
• Property Tours: Advertise just about any kind of tour you can imagine (the more out of the box, the better) to targeted Facebook members in your area. Here are just some ideas that came up for this:
• Riding horse property tours.
• Bicycle property tours.
• Waterfront property tours ending in a wine-tasting party.
• Luxury high-rise condo bedroom tours.
• Boat tours of waterfront properties.
• Golf course property tours that include short presentations by the golf pros.
• Foreclosure property tours or preforeclosure tours (with the permission of the owners, of course).
• Seminars: Either in person or via webinars, there are tons of possibilities here, including:
  • • Real estate investing.
    • Foreclosures/short-sales.
    • Investing with IRA funds.
    • First-time buyers.
    • How to get around today's mortgage maze.
    • How to prepare your home for sale.
• Community Involvement: You can advertise your community involvement by getting local people to participate. For example:
  • • Charity food drives.
    • Client-appreciation parties
    • Neighborhood block parties
• Irresistible Offers: If your Web site has irresistible offers, using Facebook ads is a powerful way to drive targeted-traffic to take advantage of them.

Facebook ads offer a convenient, inexpensive way to hyper-target your advertising dollars and almost instantly measure the results. And the good news for you is that very few real estate professionals have even started taking advantage of this potential. Now is your chance to grow your business in a way that will have your competitors guessing — and you smiling, all the way to the bank.

Source: RealtorMag

CLICK my logo to experience great inexpensive solutions to GREAT BRANDING!

Promote Yourself Through Video!

I promote my business through this AD out to the millions of potential clients that view CraigsList daily –– receiving GREAT RESULTS!

Within this methodology, there are at least viable two metrics that measure results:

1. Hit meter attached to video;

2. Calls/emails received showing their interest of CONTENT & APPEAL.

Great Stuff Is Just A CLICK Away!

I do this for realtors too and they get RESULTS!

Let's do it for you too.

Real Estate sample video (note hits)

Thanks,

Vincent~

310 251 9728

ArtfulMind.Biz

TOP TEN TWEETS!

1. Architecture affects mood & creativity? || http://blog.ounodesign.com/2009/05/02/how-rooms-and-architecture-affect-mood-and-creativity/ ||

2. TIME TO INVEST? ||http://economist.com/node/16846514?story_id=16846514&CFID=141267706&CFTOKEN=38937858 ||~• http://ArtfulMind.Biz •~||

3. Always a fan of great music... Pavane by Gabriel Fauré || http://youtube.com/watch?v=xUsGh2xYYQg || Great Stuff Is Just A CLICK Away! •~||

4. CREATIVITY that inspires... || http://bit.ly/PDC4Z || http://ArtfulMind.Biz || Great Stuff Is Just A CLICK Away!

5. Know thy neighbor...it pays! http://hubpages.com/hub/Do-You-Know-Your-Neighbor || Great Stuff's Just A CLICK Away! || http://ArtfulMind.Biz

6. Know your dog...age chart: http://bit.ly/am4isJ || Great Stuff Is Just A CLICK Away! || http://ArtfulMind.Biz

7. Who's all about the luck of the draw? RT @onlinepoker Poker: Luck vs Skill Infographic http://bit.ly/9AJrCN || http://ArtfulMind.Biz

8. Design For Six Sigma DFSS vs DMAIC http://artfulminddotbiz.blogspot.com/2010/08/design-for-six-sigma-dfss-versus-dmaic.html | Great Stuff!

9. REFLECT! Reach Your Full Potential: http://letsreflect.com/about.php via @addthis || Keep Moving Forward! || http://artfulmind.biz

10. A Day In The Life... http://onlineeducation.net/internet || Keep Moving Forward. That's How Winning Is Done! || http://ArtfulMind.biz

Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) Versus DMAIC

Troubled with the acronyms of Six Sigma? We'll help you figure out new product design (DFSS) from existing process improvement (DMAIC). Learn the many methodologies of Design For Six Sigma, and see how they compare to DMAIC.

One of the most confusing issues associated with someone saying "I'm using Six Sigma" has to do with what methodology they are actually using. A majority of the time they are using the DMAIC methodology, because they have existing processes that are wasting resources (hence the big savings you've heard about at GE, Honeywell and others over the past years). The remaining minority of Six Sigma practitioners are using a Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) approach to design a new product for Six Sigma quality.

What Is DMAIC?
When most people refer to Six Sigma, they are in fact referring to the DMAIC methodology. The DMAIC methodology should be used when a product or process is in existence at your company but is not meeting customer specification or is not performing adequately.

The DMAIC methodology is almost universally recognized and defined as comprising of the following five phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. In some businesses, only four phases (Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) are used; in this case the Define deliverables are then considered pre-work for the project or are included within the Measure phase. I have even heard of DMAIIC, where the first I stands for Improve and the second I stands for Implement.

The DMAIC methodology breaks down as follows:
Define the project goals and customer (internal and external) requirements.
Measure the process to determine current performance.
Analyze and determine the root cause(s) of the defects.
Improve the process by eliminating defect root causes.
Control future process performance.

What Is DFSS?
DFSS is the acronym for Design For Six Sigma. Unlike the DMAIC methodology, the phases or steps of DFSS are not universally recognized or defined -- almost every company or training organization will define DFSS differently. Many times a company will implement DFSS to suit their business, industry and culture; other times they will implement the version of DFSS used by the consulting company assisting in the deployment. Because of this, DFSS is more of an approach than a defined methodology.

DFSS is used to design or re-design a product or service from the ground up. The expected process Sigma level for a DFSS product or service is at least 4.5 (no more than approximately 1 defect per thousand opportunities), but can be 6 Sigma or higher depending the product. Producing such a low defect level from product or service launch means that customer expectations and needs (CTQs) must be completely understood before a design can be completed and implemented.

One popular Design for Six Sigma methodology is called DMADV, and retains the same number of letters, number of phases, and general feel as the DMAIC acronym. It rolls off the tongue (duh-mad-vee) in the same fashion as DMAIC (duh-may-ick). The five phases of DMADV are defined as: Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify.
Define the project goals and customer (internal and external) requirements.
Measure and determine customer needs and specifications; benchmark competitors and industry.
Analyze the process options to meet the customer needs.
Design (detailed) the process to meet the customer needs.
Verify the design performance and ability to meet customer needs.

A slight modification on the DMADV methodology is DMADOV (see Discussion Forum sidebar): Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Optimize and Verify.

There are a few other "flavors" of DFSS that you might be interested to know about: DCCDI, IDOV and DMEDI.

DCCDI is being popularized by Geoff Tennant and is defined as Define, Customer Concept, Design and Implement. You can see that there are many similarities between these phases and the DMADV phases.
Define the project goals.
Customer analysis is completed.
Concept ideas are developed, reviewed and selected.
Design is performed to meet the customer and business specifications.
Implementation is completed to develop and commercialize the product/service.

IDOV is a well known design methodology, especially in the manufacturing world. The IDOV acronym is defined as Identify, Design, Optimize and Validate.
Identify the customer and specifications (CTQs).
Design translates the customer CTQs into functional requirements and into solution alternatives. A selection process whittles down the list of solutions to the "best" solution.
Optimize uses advanced statistical tools and modeling to predict and optimize the design and performance.
Validate makes sure that the design you've developed will meet the customer CTQs.

DMEDI is being taught by PricewaterhouseCoopers and stands for Define, Measure, Explore, Develop and Implement. I'm sure you won't have much trouble identifying the main objectives in each of these phases based on the title of each phase.

As you can see, the DFSS approach can utilize any of the many possible methodologies. The fact is that all of these DFSS methodologies use the same advanced design tools (Quality Function Deployment, Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, benchmarking, Design of Experiments, simulation, statistical optimization, error proofing, Robust Design, etc.). Each methodology primarily differs in the name of each phase and the number of phases (and, of course, the acronym).

How do you decide which DFSS methodology to use? If you're hiring a consulting company to help with your deployment, use their methodology as their training materials will be tailored around it. If you are implementing DFSS on your own, any of the DFSS books available should get you moving in the right direction. In any case, following a detailed DFSS methodology will help you achieve high quality levels for new products and services. If you are interested in improving your existing products or services, DMAIC is a more appropriate methodology to use.

source: isixsigma.com

The Social Contract:

Customers, Companies, Communities, and Conversations in the Age of the Collaborative Relationship

Download a free, comprehensive ebook on the social customer experience, featuring input from 15 experts in the field.

Social tools, networks and media have enabled customers to do what they’ve always wanted to do – be heard, and to have the power to turn their ideas into ways to make the products and services they love even better. These tools are also allowing them to reach more people like them, with common interests and information needs, creating powerful communities not possible only a few short years ago.

This ebook brings together a collection of experiences from some of the brightest people in business today. From executives at major corporations, leading industry analysts, best-selling authors, application vendors, and customer service professionals, come real stories of how companies are integrating social channels into their traditional methods of engaging today’s socially-empowered customers.

Read how industry leaders are using social media to get closer to their customers in order to build better relationships. You’ll see how customer communities are already impacting the way that customers are supported, and the effect that's having on top and bottom lines.

Featuring contributions from:

• Brent Leary, Co-Founder, CRM Essentials LLC
• Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
• David Alston, VP Marketing & Community, Radian6
• Ellen Filipiak, SVP Customer Care at DIRECTV
• Dr. Natalie L. Petouhoff, CRM, Customer Experience, Customer Service, and Social Media, Forrester Research
• Frank Eliason, Senior Director in National Customer Operations at Comcast
• Kevin Ryan, Vice President, Social Media at Barnes & Noble.com, Content
• Mark Simmons, Senior Director of Marketing and Customer Support, Six Apart
• Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., Peppers & Rogers Group
• Sanjay Dholakia, Chief Marketing Officer, Lithium
• Scott Rogers, Director of Strategic Planning, David’s Bridal
• Martin Murtland, Vice President & Managing Director, Dow Jones
• Tish Whitcraft, SVP of Customer Experience & Operations, MySpace
• John Burton, Director Product Management at SAP Labs
• Emily Yellin, Author of Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us

Ebook | The Social Contract: Customers, Companies, Communities, and Conversations in the Age of the Collaborative Relationship

To process, please paste string below into your browser.

http://thesocialcustomer.com/?utm_source=smt_sidebar&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=intersite

Top 10 VerticalResponse Blog Posts of 2009

1. 29 Ways to Collect Email Addresses for Your Business

2. 50 All-Time Great Retail Subject Lines

3. Writing Email Marketing Copy That Sells

4. 10 Ways to Get More Clicks in Your Email Campaigns

5. How Not To Write a Subject Line

6. 9 Cool Things to Throw in Your Retail Packaging That Get People Talking About You

7. Motivate Employees to Get Email Addresses

8. 5 Easy Things to Test to Get a Better Response in Your Email Marketing Campaigns

9. Designing Your Email for Mobile Devices

10. The Wrong Way to Handle Unsubscribes