Press Release: Discover 5 Crucial Tips To Get Powerful PR Now!

Press Release: Discover 5 Crucial Tips To Get Powerful PR Now!
Submitting a PRESS RELEASE to the media is the most
powerful form of marketing and advertising on earth. Last
month, I pitched two of my clients' stories, Kathy and
Patti, to a local newspaper. Their stories were featured
and within one week, their sales collectively spiked over
$10,000!

One feature or mention in a popular, respected business
publication can help your phones start ringing off the
hook! The reason? Something called "social proof".

Basically, social proof means that we tend to use the
behavior of others as an indicator of what we should do in
a particular situation. If someone else says, something
must be good or noteworthy, than it must be so. This is
why getting publicity through press releases is so powerful.

How do you write a quality press release that will grab the
attention of the media and your particular audience?" Here
are five tips to help you succeed:

1. Pick a "Newsworthy" Angle.

Press releases are not advertisements. Remember, a
journalist, editor or reporter is reading your press
release, not buying your product/service. It's your job to
give them an interesting story they will be happy to share
with their audience.

Feed the press information THEY regard as news, and they'll
happily spread your message, at no cost to you, as long as
you can come up with a timely angle for your message. Here
are some ways to be timely:

* What's new about your business?

- Have you just opened?

- Introduced a new product or new version of one?

- Launched a new service? - Hired a new president, vice
president?

- Announced impressive sales figures for the quarter?

Even if your answer to this question doesn't seem
momentous, you can use it as a basis for a press release to
local media or media that serve your profession. However,
you'll really be cooking if you have something both new and
distinctive...

* What is different or distinctive about your business?

Sometimes it takes imagination to articulate a media worthy
answer to this question. Think about, "What can you say
about your business that competitors can't?" You may also
want to create a sideline service or product that comes
across as distinctive.

* Do you have an event you can create or publicize?

Since an event happens at a specific time and place, it
gives the media more reason to cover you than if you try to
publicize an ongoing service or product. A Grand Opening
event or a free lecture at a nearby public library are both
examples of potential feature stories.

* Can you piggyback on current news?

For Kathy, my catering client, she successfully obtained a
contract from Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White
Sox, for baked pies. The Grand Opening of her store
coincided with opening day of the White Sox; interesting
story!

* Can you suggest a surprising twist on received opinion?

Controversy gets you attention. As long as you can argue
effectively for your position, it will pique the interest
of the media. Think of an idea, flip it into a
controversial position, and pitch your story.

2. Write your press release in an inverted pyramid style.

Journalists often use the "inverted pyramid style" when
writing a news story. This simply means they put the most
important facts at the beginning of the story, and the
least important facts towards the end. Typically you want
to get the "Who, What, Where, When, Why and How" of the
story written in the first half or third of the press
release. After that, you can expand upon what you have
said.

3. Keep your release short and to the point. It should
contain no more than about 500 words and no more than 2
pages.

4. Keep your title to 10 words or less.

The headline and the first few sentences of the first
paragraph are the most important part of the press release.
If you don't catch the reader's interest here, you'll lose
your audience.

5. Include your contact information.

Provide full contact name, company name, full address,
phone number, email address, and Web site URL. The contact
name should be someone who is knowledgeable and available
to answer any questions by media members.

Targeted press releases to the media have helped thousands
of companies succeed. They are the most powerful form of
marketing and advertising on earth. Remember: One article
is all it takes to get people talking!

Copyright 2008, Bonita L. Richter and Profit Strategies

----------------------------------------------------
Bonita L. Richter, MBA, founder of Profit Strategies,
teaches entrepreneurs and business owners how to market
their businesses to increase sales to generate wealth and a
lifestyle of choice. Find out more about how to market your
business and skyrocket sales with her popular and acclaimed
FREE eBooks at ===> http://www.Profit-Strategies.biz

Marketing Tip - Make Money From Home Online

Marketing Tip - Make Money From Home Online
Have you noticed how common it is in today's online
business world to make money online? Yes, many people are
making money from home online and you can also!

One of the best ways to make money from home online is
through affiliate programs. An affiliate program is simply
a program in which you earn commissions by selling someone
else's product or service.

Be careful when selecting a affiiate program to join. Some
are out there to help and work with you while others will
just take your hard earned money. Do a thorough
investigation. You should pick a programs that's been
around for a while that pays at least 50% commission per
sale to it's affiliates.

You don't need a website but having one is helpful. There
are many places on the internet that offers free websites,
low cost domain names and hosting. Getting set up with your
site is the easy part. If that was the end of the story
then everyone with an online business would be making tons
of money. Once setup you have to send traffic to your site.
The traffic needs to be targeted to your market and once at
your site you need to convert the traffic into willing
buyers.

For immediate traffic the quickest way is by paying for
traffic or pay-per-click. You pay only when a visitor comes
to your website by clicking on the advertisement. For more
information on pay per click do a search for "pay-per-click
advertising".

Another proven strategy of getting website traffic is
through writing articles or article marketing. Article
marketing is a type of advertising by writing 400 - 500
word articles related to your business. Once written and
submitted to article directories these articles are freely
available for distribution and publication in the
marketplace. Each article contains a 'bio box' which
include references about the author and you can place a
link back to you website.

A more long term approach to traffic generation is through
SEO or search engine optimization. Search engine
optimization is the process of improving the volume and
quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via
"natural" search results for targeted keywords. This is
some thing you may want to consider after you gain some
experience in marketing your website.

There you have just three of the many ways to get traffic
to your website, there are many more. But for immediate
traffic pay-per-click and article marketing are probably
the best.

Whether you're young or old, you can make money on the
internet with no previous knowledge or experience. No
matter who you are, you can work at home and you can start
today. You have nothing to lose but everything to gain.
Start making money from home online today!

----------------------------------------------------
Paul Jesse is an author and webmaster providing free and
low cost opportunities to make money at home. He invites
you to visit his website at ==>http://www.sheamarketing.com

Home-Based Business Work/Life Balance

Home-Based Business Work/Life Balance
'Work Life Balance' has been talked about for years, but it
also applies to small home-based business owners. The
biggest difference is that when you are an employee working
for a company that works toward work/life balance, your
boss is (hopefully) looking out for you. When you work for
yourself, you have to look out for yourself!

I have a built-in monitor - my children. They need to be
picked up after school whether I have work to do or not,
and I'm an only parent. They also need to eat - every day!
Since I really enjoy spending time with them and
understand the value of having dinner together, I don't
work with clients nights or weekends.

What stops you at the end of the day? Do you have an 'end
of the day'? You really need one! When you read that, if
you answered in your head with, "Yes, but..." you might be
working too much!

It isn't that simple; I know. If you work in an industry
that requires you to work nights and/or weekends, like a
wedding planner or a psychologist, it is difficult. Also,
there is that period of time when your business really
takes off, but you are not making quite enough profit to
hire an assistant.

You need to maximize your income, so what do you do? The
truth is, I have lost a couple of clients because I don't
work nights. I also built my target market around my work
hours. If I worked with corporate employees, I would need
to work at least a couple of nights per week. For me, it
was well worth it.

My clients also benefit. I accepted a couple of clients in
the evenings, after my children went to sleep, when I first
started my business. I was hungry! After working all day,
taking care of my then 7- and 9-year-old daughters all
evening, I was tired! My clients were not getting my best.
Then I would be exhausted and energized at the same time,
at bedtime, and more tired as the week progressed.

Everyone lost. My clients, my kids and I all got less than
we deserved.

Does this sound familiar? How can you begin to set
stronger boundaries so you are not working all the time?
Do you need an additional day off during the week? Perhaps
you can start by deciding not to work a specific evening
every week, and go from there. If you are in real estate,
perhaps you can take the first half of every Tuesday and
Thursday off. Sleep in - get a mani-pedi - watch a movie.

It boils down to you setting your priorities, and it starts
with a decision. You need to decide that having a life
outside of work is important - that YOU are important. You
are, you know. If you don't think so, ask around. Decide
what is important to you and go after it - don't wait for
permission. In fact, stop waiting in general. Go after
what you want today - life is short.

By having time off of work, you are replenishing yourself
so you will be happier at work! You will be healthier and
have more energy. Your family, friends and clients will
thank you!

----------------------------------------------------
Audrey Burton, Small Business Coach, is "The Tigress". Get
her FREE Special Report, "Closing the Sale is Not
Complicated!" with her FREE monthly email newsletter at
http://www.TigressCoaching.com .

Window Cleaning Forums

Window Cleaning Forums
There are many window cleaning forums on the Internet these
days and what a good place they are for finding any
information about window cleaning you need.

Some forums specialise in Reach and Wash window cleaning,
while others dedicate boards for traditional window
cleaning and reach and wash window cleaning. When the
traditional window cleaner decides that because of health
and safety guidelines that it is time to change over to
reach and wash type, then where better to gather all the
information he needs. The window cleaning forums are full
of newbies desperate to learn all they can before deciding
which equipment they need and where to buy the best value
for money window cleaning systems.

There is also Lot's of advice for the people who fancy
putting the system together themselves, from making up a
brush to installing a water tank in their van. They can
also get information about the cheapest, the lightest, and
the best value for money poles. Some forums even have
dedicated FAQ boards where the window cleaner can browse
through at his or her leisure. Last but not least is the
second hand systems and equipment where you can buy a van
already fitted with a full reach and wash system, right
down to a simple connector to join your pole hose to your
hose reel.

Window cleaning forums are very easy to join free of charge
and only require that you register first before posting.
Most of them will let you browse all the previous posts
without registering.

Recent topics discussed on one of the most popular window
cleaning forums as follows....

Opening up a pole.... What sections of your WFP's do you
open up first? I always start with the top ones but noticed
that they flexed quite alarmingly. Would it be better to
lift up the sections lower down the pole first? Haven't
tried it yet hence my query.

Waste... I've been water fed pole since last August with DI
only, the Di wasn't lasting long enough so I've just bought
myself a Merlin RO system. Only problem is my garden is
flooded out at the moment with the waste water coming out.
Any ideas where I could put it. Also is it normal for my
van to take ages to fill up?

Help with water fed pole....Please help I am getting spots
on the windows even when i am doing my own window, I am
just starting out, anybody out there can give me any advice?

These questions and many more are answered every day on the
window cleaning forums.

----------------------------------------------------
Peter Fogwill owner and administrator of the very popular
window-tools forum welcomes you along anytime, here you
will find out first hand when new window cleaning tools
become available. Peter's most recent inventions include
the Very popular Autobrush and Clamp-less telescopic pole.
Peter's forum can be found at the address below.
http://www.window-tools.com/windows/index.php

The Win-Win of Joint Ventures

The Win-Win of Joint Ventures
Forming a partnership with another company can be a great
marketing injection into the revenues of your business. By
combining your strengths, you will become a greater force
in your industry. However, making it a win-win situation
does require careful consideration.

Creating the joint venture groundwork

First you will have to know your company, inside and out.
That means that you have a clear understanding of your own
vision, and you also know how the public receives you. Once
you have determined these elements, it will be the rock on
which you are founded. When searching for the right
partner, your vision cannot be compromised - and if that
means moving onto the next candidate, then that is the only
option in a win-win joint venture.

Analyzing prospective partners

Next, do your homework to find a company that is genuinely
interested in a joint venture. If you are a small business,
you can look for other small business to team up with -
allowing you to become a competitor of a larger company.
Both of you will win in this situation. However, small and
large companies should both be open to a joint venture
together, as this too could be a benefit to both.

Consider the separation

Once you have found the company which compliments yours,
plan your divorce. That's right, plan your divorce. This is
a business tactic used by many, where in forming a united
front, you carefully consider everything and anything that
could go wrong. You cover all of your bases up front. This
ensures confidence in each entity and gives you both a
clear future because you have removed the fear of the worst
case scenario.

Open the lines of communication

Now that you have formed your marriage/joint venture
remember that relationship will require quality
communication. Set up weekly conferences to monitor
progress as a whole, as well as check in on how each entity
is feeling about the partnership.

Chances are, as with any relationship, there will be
issues. Staying on top of any problems is crucial. These
issues can grow into such a large problem that they
ultimately destroy the joint venture unnecessarily.
Communicate on a regular basis. The agenda should include
the issues in your planned divorce to make sure you are
still in agreement.

Create the business plan

Now form your business plan. Once you have known each
other's strengths and weaknesses and have shared ideas and
compromises, make a plan together. Agree upon suppliers,
your structure, and allocations. Be sure to do this
together.

If in completing any of the steps you run into a multitude
of conflicts, then it may be time to move on and find
another partner. Negotiate on the things that are less
crucial to fulfilling your own vision. If you stay grounded
in the fundamentals, the company you joint venture with
will form a win-win situation.

----------------------------------------------------
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A strategic
Collaboration Marketing consulting firm. He empowers
business owners to discover and implement Integration,
Alliance, and Joint Venture marketing tactics to solve
specific business challenges. He demonstrates how to create
your own Collaboration Marketing Strategy to increase your
sales, conversation rates, and repeat business.
Contact: christian@christianfea.com
http://www.christianfea.com

Align Your Decisions for Success

Align Your Decisions for Success
Success in life is not difficult or tricky. It's not luck
either. Success can be summed up in ONE word: alignment.

For you to succeed, in any endeavor, you must learn to
align 4 basic components of your life. The four components
are:

1. Your thoughts

2. Your decisions

3. Your actions

4. Your awareness

Today, we'll discuss the second basic component: your
decisions.

NOTE: For more information on "your thoughts" check the
archives for "Align Your Thoughts for Success"

Your decisions

Our thoughts don't control our decisions, but they do
influence and steer them. Listen, to make a decision we
have to make a choice of what we want to act on.

Decisions are nothing more than transitions between
thoughts and actions.

Now, they are very important transitions. Without them you
wouldn't be able to take action. Therefore, you need to
make smart decisions to get you where you want to go.

So, how can you start to make smarter decisions? Here are
2 ways to start making smarter decisions:

1. Align your thoughts with what you want.

The thoughts you FOCUS ON the most are the ones you make
better decisions about.

Your thoughts are your foundation. Focus on high energy
thoughts more often and you'll start to make better,
smarter decisions.

2. Learn to control pain/pleasure

Okay, you've started to align your thoughts with success.
Now, you have to control how you feel about taking action
on your thoughts.

Remember, decisions are just transitions. To transition
from thoughts to actions you have to control your emotions.

There are 2 primary emotions: pain and pleasure.

Pain is a stronger emotion than pleasure. In other words,
most people will do more to avoid pain then they will to
gain pleasure.

Now, pain isn't necessarily a bad emotion. And pleasure
isn't necessarily a good emotion (at least in this
context). The important thing you need to know is:

How do you control pain/pleasure to make smarter decisions?

Here's a simple exercise to gain control. Pick a topic
you've been focusing your thoughts on and do the following:

a. Write down 5 advantages that will GIVE YOU PLEASURE.

Example: You've been focusing on mastering your time. One
advantage to this that gives you pleasure may be:

You'll be able to spend more time with your family.

b. Write down 5 disadvantages that will BRING YOU PAIN.

Example: Again, you've been focusing on mastering your
time. One disadvantage to this that brings you pain may be:

You'll lose the love of your spouse and kids.

c. Now, read both lists aloud.

Really feel the advantages and disadvantages in your gut.
Use these lists as leverage to gain control over the
pain/pleasure you're experiencing.

Okay, you know your thoughts have influence over your
decisions. You also know you have to control the
pain/pleasure between your thoughts.

You're ready to make a decision...

----------------------------------------------------
Weston Lyon is recognized as one of the nation's leading
experts on finding time for what's important in life. To
grab a FREE copy of Weston's e-book, 7 Strategies to Create
Time in Your Crazy Busy Life, go to
http://www.creatingspacebook.com

Your Mental Attitude Dictates Your Number of Clients AND In-come

Your Mental Attitude Dictates Your Number of Clients AND In-come
QUOTE: "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental
attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help
the man with the wrong mental attitude." - Thomas Jefferson

You may be working your tail off to market your business
and yet you're still wondering why it hasn't "happened"
yet. I've seen this happen thousands of times. An
entrepreneur is seemingly working HARD to get clients,
working like a dog to bring in some good in-come and yet,
the results just aren't showing up. It's like fighting an
uphill battle and often seems like it's not really worth
it, or worse, like something's wrong with us.

But the real battle that's going on isn't with the
marketing, it's that something's wrong on the INSIDE. If
there's a struggle on the OUTSIDE, it simply means that one
exists on the INSIDE, and it's based on our conditioning.
You see, how we are conditioned affects virtually every
aspect of our life: our relationships, health, finances,
success, even Client Attraction.

If you're experiencing struggle or results aren't happening
fast enough, it just means there's an inner conflict that
affects how you think and feel, as well as your beliefs and
fears. It's the battle between your conscious and your
unconscious.

"When your conscious mind thinks you want something but
your subconscious mind thinks you don't deserve it (or any
other limiting belief), you will fail at getting what you
want. Instead you will actually attract what your
subconscious feels is right for you. In order to attract
what you prefer, your conscious and subconscious have to be
in agreement." - Joe Vitale

If there's an exterior struggle, like clients not coming in
fast enough or the fact that money is REALLY tight, then it
means that PART of you wants something (your conscious) and
PART of you doesn't (your subconscious). The bad news is,
your subconscious has veto power over your conscious,
always.

The GOOD news is, once you clear the interior struggle, the
results you want happen almost instantly. That's what's
happened to me in the past year or two and continues to
happen. The more I match the inside with what I "say" I
want, the more opportunities come my way, the more in-come
shows up and the easier it all is. And I mean really easy.
(And before you start going "there", just remember that I'm
no different than you. Once you work on your own Inner Game
of Client Attraction, you too can experience the same
results. That's what we'll do together in Miami in
September at my 'Mindset and Income Acceleration Retreat'.
More details to follow soon.)

It's not about working harder! If you want different
results, you must change your subconscious beliefs and get
clear on the fears that are not congruent with what you SAY
you want. Here's a few of the hundreds that I've come up
with, based on a survey I did:

- "They won't pay for this"
- "I don't know enough"
- "If I get bigger, they'll find out I'm a fraud"
- "I'm a failure"
- "If I get too many clients, I'll get overwhelmed"
- "I'm not worth it"
- "I can't have it all"
- "My expertise is common sense"
- Etc.

If this is what's going on in your subconscious, you're
essentially driving with the parking brake on, and we've
got to do something about that if you want to begin seeing
different results. Otherwise, you'll continue to push
really hard, work REALLY hard and not see the results you
say you want.

Your Assignment:

If you want to succeed, get rid of this GUNK and SLUDGE
inside. The key is to become AWARE of your which fears and
subconscious beliefs are sabotaging you on a daily basis,
like some of the ones listed above. Once you're clear on
them, figure out where they came from, process them and
then release them. This will immediately change your
behaviors, increase your in-come and new opportunities will
start showing up, ones that you never expected. You'll
wonder why you struggled for so long.

----------------------------------------------------
Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is
founder of the Client Attraction System™ and
http://www.ClientAttraction.com , the proven step-by-step
program to attract more clients, make more m'oney being
self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all.
To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly
how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit
http://www.ClientAttraction.com .

How To Write a Simple and Useful Business Plan In Four Easy Steps

How To Write a Simple and Useful Business Plan In Four Easy Steps
So you've decided you need to write a business plan - now
what? Where do you start? Here are four quick tips that
will help you get going right away. The main thing is to
GET STARTED. Here's how:

A business plan is in essence a creative writing project.
You want the plan to be an interesting read, not a long
pedantic discussion. When you're approaching lenders or
investors, you have to put on your marketing hat and make
your company's future sound exciting.

So write your plan as an exciting description of the
opportunity you see that lies ahead. Are you excited (you
should be!). Then let that excitement shine through in the
narrative of your business plan. You want to infect the
reader with the same excitement you have, don't you?!

WRITE YOUR PLAN IN A STYLE THAT FITS YOUR INDUSTRY AND YOUR
OWN STYLE The business plan for a sports bar company would
sound much different than a plan for a bank. Make your
plan sound like you; put some of your personality and
philosophy in the plan, so after reading the plan an
investor or lender would feel as though he/she knows you.

BE ENTHUSIASTIC IN YOUR APPROACH When you talk to
entrepreneurs about their company, they usually get so
enthusiastic that they almost wear you out. Then you get
their business plan and it reads like the operations manual
that came with your DVD player. The purpose of the
business plan is to create excitement in the minds of the
investors, in other words to activate the area of their
brains devoted to greed. If you can't be enthusiastic
about your business plan who can?

AVOID GETTING MIRED IN INDUSTRY JARGON Internet companies,
medical companies and computer companies all tend to dwell
on minute details about their technology and don't
adequately develop the business reasons why they are going
to make money for themselves and the investors. Explain
the technology in laymen's terms and then focus on why your
company will make money and how it will make money.

BE OPEN ABOUT THE RISKS AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITIES There
are downsides to every business venture, recognizing those
risks shows that you've considered all the alternatives.
In the discussion come up with how your company will react
to certain risks. That demonstrates smart management.

A CD ROM CAN'T REPLACE YOUR MIND! More and more
entrepreneurs are relying on business plan writing
software. These products are sometimes helpful in
formatting the plan and creating the financial schedules,
but they can't formulate your strategies for you. The
heart of the business plan is explaining how you are going
to sell more of your product or service than your
competitors, and operate your business at high enough
profit margins to generate a superior rate of return for
investors.

The CD-ROM you might purchase has no idea how to do any of
this. It's spent nearly all of its life on a shelf, in a
box. How exciting is that?

The main idea here is that, to engage the reader of your
plan, you need to share your sense of excitement about the
opportunity. Yes, you will have lots of analysis, SWOT,
financials and the like, but you want to make sure that
your reader is engaged and interested from the first
paragraph - so get excited, already!

----------------------------------------------------
Henri Schauffler, The CEO Coach, has dedicated the last 20
years to helping small businesses like yours to "Outmanage,
Outhire, Outsell and Outprofit All the Competition." For a
FREE business assessment and tune up to see exactly how you
are doing in all Eight Essential Areas for Business
Success, go to http://www.QuickBizQuiz.com .

What To Do During Slow Months

What To Do During Slow Months
So, what do you do if your business is slower during some
months?

Yes, you can make more cold calls, run more advertising or
stand on the street corner waving a huge sale sign. Or, if
it's going to be slow no matter what you do, then how about
planning for next year? How about taking some career
development courses/classes/seminars? How about boning up
on your computer skills to find out how you can be more
efficient in your business? What about doing things that
take up a bunch of time when you're busy and stocking up on
them (stocking shelves, printing and folding mailings,
sending out packets of info, writing articles or press
releases, whatever?). Volunteer and create awareness and
exposure for your business.

Or better yet - get on that marketing plan for 2009! You
know you don't want to be hap hazzardly marketing or
throwing money out to see what sticks next year - if you
plan out what you do it will be so much more effective and
well managed - this means you'll get better results and
make more money!!!

Instead of sitting around worrying, get better at what it
is that you do. Whether you are a direct salesperson or
not I would definitely recommend working on your sales
skills; listen to a speaker or take a sales class.
Everyone can benefit from some new sales techniques in
their business whether they sell a product or service to
the consumer or whether they simply deal with customer
service issues over the phone - it comes in handy.

If you don't know where to go to attend a seminar that
would be of interest to you in your business try visiting a
few local small biz development or county sites. If sales
isn't your forte, see what else you can learn to better
yourself and your business. Here are a few sites I know
about; however there are probably more in your specific
field too.

-

www.pttrain.com
-

www.learningexchange.com
-

www.natsem.com
-

www.salestrainingcamp.com
-

www.score.org

Or you can try researching and reading online. I recommend
the following sites for info, articles and great
newsletters to subscribe to by email:

-

www.businessownersideacafe.com
-

www.briantracy.com
-

www.entrepreneur.com
-

www.entreworld.org
-

www.sbdcsierra.org
-

www.salestrainer.com

Here are some books on sales that have been recommended to
me by sales trainers:

- The New Science of Selling and Persuasion: How Smart
Companies and Great Salespeople Sell - Bill Brooks
- The Patterson Principles of Selling - Jeffrey Gitomer
- Knock-Out Marketing, Powerful strategies to punch up
your sales - Jack Ferreri
- Public Relations Marketing, Making a splash without
much cash - Stephanie Seacord
- Grow Your Business, Strategies to help you
successfully manage your business - Mark Henricks
- Selling with Integrity - Sharon Drew Morgan
- If you're not Outselling, You're Being Outsold -
Michael St. Larence & Steve Johnson

If you would like to improve your sales with a sales
professional in person, I can refer you to and some across
the country. I have also coached clients on how to improve
their sales approaches and closing ratios. This also goes
for cold calling scripts, direct mail letter development
and much more to improve your overall sales.

----------------------------------------------------
© Copyright 2008 K.Sawa Marketing
Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Relationship Marketing
Coach who's helped hundreds of small business owners take
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Change the Way Your Offerings Are Used to Expand Consumption with Pricing

Change the Way Your Offerings Are Used to Expand Consumption with Pricing
You cannot change your business model to better use pricing
until you find a concept that expands your competitive
advantage, regardless of what competitors do. Let's look
for that important breakthrough concept.

Although we have been focusing on the potential value of
the right pricing tests, please realize that those are
actually very hard to do well. Only if the demand
elasticity is very great will you be able to tell the
different between one pricing structure and another. Also,
beyond a certain point, you cannot effectively run any more
tests and before then measuring the results can be costly.

Because of these limitations, you need to do a lot more
thinking about what pricing could do to expand demand than
actual testing. Let's consider how changes in your pricing
structure could change your customer's and the end user's
behavior.

Disneyland's historic pricing structure might be a good
starting point. If you went to Disneyland (the one in
Anaheim, California), for many years you were offered the
choice of a one-day, multiple-day, or annual passport. The
most expensive way to buy a visit by the day was by the
one-day passport, and the least expensive per day was the
annual passport. If you knew that you were coming back for
several days during a vacation trip, you would usually opt
for a multiple-day passport. If you lived nearby, you
might consider an annual passport.

Disney always advertised these structures. So, if you were
planning a vacation to Southern California from far away,
you would often plan the length of your stay to match the
longest multiple-day pass available (usually three days).
If Disney had only offered two-day passports, many people
would not have planned to or actually stayed for a third
day.

If you lived nearby, you might never visit Disneyland again
(having been there too many times to count) unless it
seemed like it was free. And that's the perception that an
annual passport creates. Each entry is free after you have
made the annual investment. So, you might even consider
stopping by for only an hour or two. In your mind, the
cost of the day has dropped from around $50.00 recently to
nothing. Would that change the number of times you go to
Disneyland if you lived nearby? You bet.

Why would Disney want you to come all of the time? Well,
actually they don't. So, there were usually two different
kinds of annual passports. One allows you to only come on
days when Disney knows the park isn't crowded. For a lot
more money, you can come every day. The price of the more
expensive option is about the same as buying two three-day
passports. The price of the less expensive option is about
the same as buying one three-day passport.

What benefit does Disney get from having you come on not so
busy days? Well, it's almost impossible not to spend some
money while you're there. You will probably pay for
parking in the Disney lot. Even if you don't park there
and only spend $2.00 for a beverage, Disney probably has
made more money than if you hadn't been present that day.

Throughout the day, you will also be exposed to enormous
numbers of impressions about other Disney products and
services from Mickey Mouse shirts to Disney Channel
subscriptions. In essence, you are paying for the right to
receive vastly increased amounts of Disney advertising.
And if you have a good time while you're receiving the
advertising, you will undoubtedly buy more of those
products and services.

Is this pricing strategy a good one for Disney? You bet.

Why did Disney open a new theme park in Anaheim called
California Adventure? Undoubtedly, the company perceived
that it could capture vacationers for longer stays and
local people for more visits. Also, it had a chance to up
the price for an annual passport to include visits to two
parks.

With twice as many places to entertain guests when the
parks weren't crowded, the chances to increase revenues and
advertising exposure were enormous. By the way, a third
park is under development. How do you think the pricing
structure will change then?

Will the behavior of millions of visitors be changed in
ways that make more money for Disney? You bet.

How can you change the pricing of your offerings to expand
consumption?

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

----------------------------------------------------
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an
Optimist, The 2,000 Percent Solution, and The Ultimate
Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for
accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:
====> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .