How many tools and techniques do you take advantage of for your home based business marketing strategies? Do you limit your home business to merely a few marketing methods? Worse yet, are you trying to teach everybody in your sales force how to work with the exact same home based business marketing method? If you have not entirely learned yet that not everybody will be victorious using all the same tools, I invite you to read my preceding post named – Home Based Business Marketing – The Delusion of Replication.Once you understand why you want to increase your home based business marketing toolbox, the subsequent inquiry is how. Many individuals don’t offer alternative types of marketing as they either don’t know what is at hand or they do not understand the way to train it. You will learn more facts about the miscellaneous options up for grabs and so you can move your sales force to make the appropriate choices for themselves.Why should you give heed to what I am sharing? For the reason that if you do not expand your home based business advertising knowledge and allow your group increased plans to function with, they will eventually identify someone which will. To put it plainly, you must give up to go up. Which means not merely sacrificing for the larger target, but it also indicates you need to be willing to concede that you do not know everything and that you are not good at everything. Your team will appreciate you more in the long run if you hold enough tenacity to be honest with them and point them in the appropriate path with reference to who they may learn whatever they like to learn from.Don’t Overlook These Important Home Based Business StrategiesEvery home based business marketing toolbox ought to involve both offline and online methods. The truth is, many people like traditional face to face marketing, and another group of people favor the internet and telephone. Not everybody possesses the technical abilities to plunge into online marketing right away. You’ll also function with others that don’t by and large take to sitting in front of a pc or staying connected to their phone steadily.Many individuals take to communicating in front of a room brimming with people, however innumerable individuals become faint and nauseated just at the thought of public speaking. One home business owner may favor selling merchandise, and another may enjoy recruiting additional people. You could have a few team members which are unusually good at developing advertisement copy, and team members who have never drafted an advertisement in their career. As you can see, the formation of your hbb is made up of all unique parts which all function in a different manner. It is your basic reason for developing a multiple method platform.Examples You May Entertain For Your HBB PromoThe 1st and most accepted form of Home business marketing is direct marketing. This is marketing that targets your concise market directing your ideal prospect to assume action, either it is going to your internet website or phoning you.Home based business promotion uses both online and traditional methods to exercise such. Offline examples could be snail mail promotions such as postcards, a letter, plus newsletters. Another example would be to use print ads such as newspaper classifieds, bulletins, or magazines. Those with a larger advertising budget might work with radio stations or even TV. Currently I have encountered some creative methods like lawn signs (like the ones you see during political campaigns.) Alternative types of conventional strategies are networking meetings, referral organizations, meetup groups, conventions along with trade show booths, drop-boxes or fish bowls and you will not neglect cold calling.Internet options may include but are not limited to: emailing, social networks, submitting articles, promoting videos, PPC, hosting a blog, free classified ads, ezine ads, forums, list builders, and so on. Online strategies used for home based business marketing can also include online versions of postcards, newsletters, etc.Home based business marketing is not limited to direct response marketing. Other methods can be applied as well such as reverse marketing and indirect or passive marketing. Regardless of which methods you personally use and teach, I highly advise investigating one method called attraction marketing. In a nutshell, attraction marketing is the method in which customers are drawn to you and magnetically desire to work with you, free of you actually soliciting them to. Attraction marketing should be your fundamental method of operation with any promotion options you use.Your HBB Advertising Action PlanBefore you take off in ten different directions, there is something you need to know. You can’t be an expert in all hbb advertising strategies. You should though, come to be well-rounded with reference to what is actually accessible to take advantage of. The reason you have to do this is so you may point your partners to the best hbb marketing options for them, based on their strengths and gifts.You become profitable by helping others become victorious. The best way to help more team members prosper is to supply them the options and direction they need suited to their personality. You throw them the football, however they have to hustle. Your first step is becoming familiar with what is out there. You do not have to know everything. For your own individual victory, concentrate on becoming truly great at one thing, and good at the rest.
Auction Listings Are Vital to the Success of Fundraising Auctions
Fundraising Auction Tip: You should always provide potential bidders with a printed Auction Listing of both your Live and Silent Auction items at any Fundraising Auction. A printed Auction Listing is vital for several reasons:
An Auction Listing informs bidders of the order of sale, and what is coming up next. If you keep your bidders guessing, they will simply not bid.
If bidders are not 100% certain of what they are bidding on, they will not bid. A printed Auction Listing should answer any and all questions about what is being sold in order to encourage bidders to bid as much as possible.
Bidders often need time to plan their bidding strategies, especially on multiple and/or larger value items. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Couples often need time to consult with each other about what they are willing to spend on something. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Potential bidders need to know the specifics, the benefits, and the restrictions on any item they are going to bid on, especially on travel and/or other higher value items. A printed Auction Listing should answer all of their questions, in writing.
After bidders see that they have lost an item to another bidder, a printed Auction Listing makes it easier for them to re-strategize on what else they can bid on.
Printed Auction Listings generally come in 3 forms:
Printed in the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-inserted into the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-delivered to all attendees, or left on each dinner table in the room.
Auction Listings cost practically nothing to produce and they can make the difference between the success and failure of a Live and Silent Auction. You should never conduct a Fundraising Auction without one.
A Case Study
Let me share a real-life experience with you. Once I was hired to conduct a Fundraising Auction for a nationally renowned organization. The event was held in a major hotel, in one of the country’s largest cities, with several hundred “black tie” participants attending. It was an extremely professional event, with the music, singing, lighting, speeches, and awards all perfectly timed and choreographed. Everything was done to perfection… exception the Fundraising Auction.
Although I had signed an agreement to serve as their Auctioneer nearly one year in advance of the event, no one bothered to contact me for any advice or help. Approximately one week prior to the Auction date, I contacted the group to see if they had replaced me with another Auctioneer. But they said that I was still their man.
Upon arriving at the event I asked for a copy of the Auction Listing. I was told that there were none. I’m not sure whether they felt that the Auction Listing wasn’t necessary, or whether someone forgot to have them printed. This was never made clear. When I asked what I was to use at the podium, I was told to copy the list of Live Auction items from a committee member’s computer. It took me about 30 minutes to copy three pages of hand-written notes in order to prepare for my role as their Auctioneer.
I knew that they had created a PowerPoint program showing the various Live Auction items. When I asked whether the PowerPoint slide order corresponded to the order of sale I had copied from the committee member’s computer, I was met with a blank stare. The committee member left to check the slide order, and returned to let me know that the slide order did not correspond my notes, and he provided me with the correct slide order… hand-written on a paper napkin. This forced me to re-arrange my three pages of hand-written notes before taking the podium.
There was a Live Auction Table with descriptions of the Live Auction items that were to be sold, but the table was not clearly marked, and it received significantly less attention than the Silent Auction Tables, which were clearly identified. Since the Live Auction Table was located adjacent to the “Raffle Table”, it appeared that most people thought it was part of the raffle and therefore paid very little attention to it.
According to the event program (which did not include an Auction Listing), I knew approximately when I was to begin the Live Auction. At the designated time the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the Live Auction to the several hundred people in attendance, and introduced me as Auctioneer. As I approached the podium I realized that photographs of award winners were still being taken… directly in front of the podium where I was to stand… which required me to stand aside for several minutes until the photographers were done. Can we say “awkward moment”?
As the photographers cleared, I approached the podium and began my Live Auction introduction. Approximately one minute into my introduction, the “Raffle Committee” approached the podium and stopped my Live Auction Introduction in order to pull the 8 or 9 Raffle Winners. These drawings lasted about 5 minutes. Upon it’s conclusion I was allowed to resume the start of the Live Auction.
When standing at the podium two intense and extremely bright spotlights were pointed directly at the podium. The lights were so bright that I literally could not see the center 1/3 of the room. I could see the tables on the right, and on the left, but was totally blinded when looking straight ahead. It took perhaps five minutes before the spotlights were turned off.
While at the podium and describing Lot #1, I had to ask someone to start the Lot #1 PowerPoint Slide… because apparently no one was assigned that job.
So with only the Auctioneer’s verbal description, and a PowerPoint slide, it appeared that few people in the room had any idea about what we were selling… or when we were selling it… until it was announced by the Auctioneer. As a result, bidding was extremely light and the final results fell several thousands of dollars short of where they should have been
The learning experience is this:
The Live Auction is where you place your better items, and where the real money should be made at any Fundraising Auction. Let bidders know as far in advance as possible what you will be selling, and the order of sale, so they can get excited about the Auction, and plan their bidding strategy accordingly.
Auction Listings are absolutely vital to the success of both Live & Silent Auctions. In my opinion, revenues at this Auction fell thousands of dollars short of where they should have been, because no Auction Listing was provided to the guests.
If bidders are not perfectly clear on what is being sold, including both the item’s specifics, benefits, and restrictions, they will not bid.
When you have a committee of volunteers, especially volunteers having full time jobs and/or very busy schedules, the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can help to keep the committee on track.
And once you retain the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer… use the services that you are paying for.
Considering a Home-Based Business? What Are You Waiting For?
The home-based business industry which is often referred to as network or multi-level marketing is exploding as of late. There are millions joining home-based businesses every month and hundreds of thousands per week. What is so attractive about a home-based business you may ask? More time to spend with family, more money, and a low-end investment in most cases. You can start a legitimate home-based business for less that $500 and make as much if not more money than you would starting a franchise.Having said that, you get all the benefits of using a franchise business model as you are able to use the company’s support infrastructure, marketing tools, and are able to use their guidelines to make sure of legal compliance. The only thing that exists in a traditional franchise that is not present in a home-based business is the huge franchise fee. When you couple the power of the home-based business model with the meteoric rise of free marketing strategies on the internet such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube just to name a few, you will be in the right place at the right time.Considering the state of the U.S. economy, with people getting laid off every time you turn around and the stringent requirements of the banking system with respect to those looking to start a traditional business, a home-based business opportunity is the way to go. I hope that you will take a leap of faith and join the home-based business industry, we would love to have you.