Present! - Edition #1 Rethinking Presentation Design

How do I start when creating a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation? What are the things to focus on? How should I approach the design? These slides try to answer these questions.

Present! - Edition #1 Rethinking Presentation Design from Oliver Adria

The great eye learns to see

A fable about using design to help your audience see your message clearly. And what to avoid. For directors, designers, instructional designers, and presenters.

Design for Presentation: The great eye learns to see from Francis Glebas

Seth Godin: The tribes we lead

Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so.

Seth Godin is an entrepreneur and blogger who thinks about the marketing of ideas in the digital age. His newest interest: the tribes we lead.

Don Draper’s Answer to the Ultimate Marketing Question of All

Posted by Patrick Clouden

I watched a couple seasons of Mad Men, and here is, by far, my favorite scene:

Captivating, touching, and insightful. You can’t get help but get a little choked up.

There’s a marketing lesson in it, too. It strikes at the most important marketing question of all…

Why do people buy stuff?

What simple statement explains why things are valuable enough for us to trade our precious money?

We’ve probably all heard the saying that people buy based on emotion, not logic. There’s much truth in this. No matter how coldly logical and practical a purchase may seem, there’s always a subtle, emotional aspect (why did you choose that loaf of bread or brand of light bulb over another?). But there’s more.

How to Sell Books AND Get them Read in the 21st Century

Writing a Great Book is NOT enough these days.

how to creat a good subject line

Source:

Marketing and Advertising Mistakes and Musts

Join Tony Melvin as he covers the common marketing and advertising mistakes almost even business owner makes. You’ll also learn what you must do.

A Remarkably Simple Business Plan

I don’t know about you, but when I started trying to figure out how to work for myself, the idea of a “business plan” sort of made me gag.

The traditional books for small business (the best one, IMO, is Small Time Operator), painted a picture that wasn’t really relevant to me, with things like lines of credit and office space and a business license.

Those weren’t the problems I needed to figure out. My problems were more like, “How am I going to find people who want my services? How do I convince them I’m good at what I do? And what the heck should I be selling, anyway?”

Last year, I put together something I called the Remarkably Simple Business Plan, which answered those questions for me in the early days, and for my consulting clients as I moved forward. I’d like to go ahead and share it with you today.

In the spirit of the whole “Remarkably Simple” thing, just cut and paste what’s below into the word processor of your choice and get rolling. Replace the “blah blah blah” sections with your own answers.

I don’t care if you use Google Docs or notepad or send an email to yourself. You can copy it out longhand in copperplate handwriting if that turns you on.

The secrets of easy e-mail profits

Instant Email Marketing Webinar

by ATS

Social Media Marketing Webinar

How do you use social media to build your business?

Find out how businesses are successfully using Facebook and Twitter to generate leads, increase customer loyalty, and make more sales.


In this call, you learn what makes a good business Facebook Page, how to quickly convert lookers to leads, how to reach your target markets, and more.

One Sentence Persuasion?

Posted on March 30th, 2012 by Patrick Clouden

Is it possible to capture and communicate anything of value about persuasion in a single sentence?  It is and I’m about to prove it.  But before, let me explain why it’s important.

All marketing efforts hinge on effective persuasion.  No subject is more fascinating, empowering and profitable, and unfortunately, confusing.  Much of the confusion is unnecessary, though. Persuasion doesn’t require good looks, a silver tongue or infallible logic.  It doesn’t require charisma or a magnetic personality.  It’s actually a pretty simple matter when you cut through all the smoke.  That, of course, is the hard part.

I read the 27 words I’m about to share a long time ago and found them so true and useful that I’ve grounded any and all marketing efforts in some part of them.

THE SENTENCE

Do You Have an Irresistible Offer?

Posted on April 27th, 2012 by Patrick Clouden

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

That’s about all you get to capture the mind of your prospects.

They are bombarded by messages day in and day out and thus are forced to make quick evaluations.

But in those three seconds sales are made, deals are closed and empires are built. Do you know what to do in those three seconds?

Most people don’t and that’s the topic of this article.

Your Prospects’ Big Four Questions

During any sales process, an inner dialogue takes place in your prospects’ minds. The process of making a buying decision requires that four questions are satisfactorily answered:

1. What are you trying to sell me?

2. What’s in it for me?

3. How much?

4. Why should I believe you?

Your offer must address these four questions and must do it quickly. In order to do it most effectively, you don’t want just any offer…you want an Irresistible Offer.

What is that and how do you create one?

Read on.

How to Market During a Recession

How to Market During a Recession

Listen to an interview with Joy Gendusa, as a guest on Jim Blasingame's Small Business Advocate program. In it, she gives tips on how to market during a recession to gain market share.

Πηγή

The war between marketing and sales

The war between marketing and sales

Consultant and trainer, Patrick Valtin, explains the real key to selling on this audio seminar for the Central Valley Business Times of Southern California. [Pre-recorded.]

Έξοχη διαφοροποίηση μεταξύ Marketing και πωλήσεων. Ο Patrick αποκαλύπτει ποιός είναι ο κύριος λόγος που οι άνθρωποι θα αγοράσουν από ΕΣΕΝΑ.

Πηγή:

Your Power of Publicity

Learn how to get your book the media attention that will reach your target audience! 


Watch this information-packed video of Marsha Friedman, the CEO of EMSI, in a recent presentation to a large group of business owners, teaching them how to harness the power of the media in order to explode their sales. 


This video is filled with vital PR tips that you can easily apply to the promotion of your company, product, service or book!




Δείτε το site του δημιουργού.

Δεύτερο Μέρος

"ΕΞΥΠΝΕΣ ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΙΚΕΣ MARKETING & ΔΗΜΟΣΙΩΝ ΣΧΕΣΕΩΝ”

Part 1

 

Part 2

Part 3

 

 Part 4

 

Visual Hammer

Repositioning 'Positioning': Connect With Consumers With a Visual Hammer, Not Verbal Nails

Laura Ries Uncovers the 'Weakness' in Her Father Al's Famed Theory on Positioning

By: Laura Ries 

Almost a decade later, McGraw-Hill published their book "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind." In the years that followed, "positioning" became one of the most talked-about concepts in the marketing community. In its 75th anniversary issue, Ad Age selected positioning as one of its 75 "top ad moments." More than 1.4 million copies of the book have been sold, including 400,000 copies in China.

Forty years ago, Advertising Age published a series of articles by Jack Trout and my father, Al Ries, titled "The Positioning Era Cometh."

As revolutionary as positioning was, however, it had a weakness. Invariably, positioning strategy was expressed verbally. You looked for a hole in the mind and then filled that hole with your brand name.

But the best way into the mind is with visuals, not with words. Visuals play a more important role in marketing because they hold emotional power that sticks.

In 1973, for example, psychology professor Lionel Standing conducted a research study in which he asked subjects to look at 10,000 images over a five-day period.

The images were presented for just five seconds each. When the subjects were showed pairs of images (one they had seen before and one they had not), they remembered 70% of the images they had seen before.

I challenge you to try presenting 10,000 advertising slogans for five seconds each and see how many of them a person will remember five days later.

Now, here's a visual everyone can identify: a pink ribbon. Consider what that symbol has done for Nancy Brinker, who in 1982 started a foundation to fight breast cancer in memory of her sister, Susan G. Komen. Since then, the foundation has raised nearly $2 billion. Today, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world's largest nonprofit source of money to combat breast cancer.

In contrast, the American Cancer Society was founded in 1913, yet most people have no idea what visual symbol the society uses. The Cancer Society has a trademark that is almost impossible to verbalize, while Susan G. Komen has a visual that is easy to describe.

I call Komen's pink ribbon its visual hammer because the interplay between words and images is like a nail and a hammer. A strong verbal idea is a brand's nail, but the hammer that really drives home the idea is the visual.

This concept is even more important in today's global economy, where a strong visual hammer can cross borders without requiring translation.

In 2010, Coca-Cola spent $267 million advertising its brand in the U.S. What was Coke's slogan? Most people don't remember. What they do remember is the "contour" bottle.

The contour bottle is not just a package but a visual hammer that emphasizes the idea that Coke is the original, the real thing. Even though Coca-Cola sells very little product in contour bottles, the visual is strongly identified with the brand. And the company reinforces the visual-hammer effect by using the bottle image on its cans, cups, billboards, trucks and even business cards.

If Coke's contour bottle says "the authentic cola," what does Pepsi 's "smiley face" trademark -- introduced to much fanfare in 2008 -- say? Pepsi 's smiley face says "Pepsi ." In essence, it's a rebus, a visual symbol that's a substitute for a brand name. PepsiCo's management, like many others, seems to think that a visual hammer is nothing but a glorified name for a trademark. That's why executives tend to spend a lot of time and money perfecting their trademarks rather than searching for visual hammers.

In fact, almost all trademarks are rebuses. After years of constant use, they can be recognized as symbols that stand for brand names. But trademarks don't have to be meaningless.

Nike, for example, has "the swoosh," a powerful visual hammer. The swoosh doesn't just say "Nike." The swoosh says "leadership." Nike was first in its category, giving it permission to create a visual hammer out of a rather mundane checkmark that has been streamlined. Today, everybody knows what a swoosh looks like, but how many people can rattle off a description of Reebok's trademark?

The advertising industry is hung up on trademarks and logotypes, but in reality they account for only a small percentage of visual hammers. Anything associated with a brand can become a hammer -- color, packaging, demonstrations, founders, celebrities, even the product itself.

Color often plays a role in creating memorable visual hammers. Think: Tiffany's blue box, the Masters' green jacket, Nexium's purple pill, Christian Louboutin's red soles.

The product itself can play that part -- a Rolex watchband, the grille of a Rolls-Royce, the Absolut bottle or the polo player on a Ralph Lauren shirt.

Symbols can act as hammers to visualize "invisible" products: Travelers' red umbrella, Wells Fargo's stagecoach, Geico's gecko.

And, finally, company founders can do this as well -- think Colonel Sanders, Papa John, Frank Perdue, Orville Redenbacher, Paul Newman.

McDonald's is another leading brand with a visual hammer. By naming its symbol "the golden arches," the company moved beyond the rebus idea and turned the "M" into an effective visual hammer.

Not every brand gets it right. Despite $5.1 billion in annual sales, Red Bull doesn't own a visual hammer. The energy-drink brand had the opportunity, but its visual is too complicated for a small can. "Two bulls and a sun" make a weak hammer. Furthermore, its blue cans undermine the Red Bull name.

In spite of these examples, why do many marketing people work exclusively with words, when the real power is with visuals? Don't get me wrong, the objective of a marketing program is to "own a word in the mind," and visuals shouldn't come before some well-thought-out positioning planning. But to consider words independent of how they might relate to a visual would be a mistake.

BMW, for example, owns "driving," an achievement that turned the brand into the world's best-selling luxury vehicle. The visual hammers that etched "driving" into the minds of BMW fans were its distinctive TV commercials showing happy owners maneuvering BMWs over winding roads.

In 2009, BMW switched its focus to "joy" -- a verbal concept that broadens the appeal of the BMW brand. But how do you visualize it? Like many other high-level abstract words (happiness, enthusiasm, customer satisfaction, quality) joy cannot be visualized in any meaningful way.

Is it a coincidence that for nine years in a row, from 2001 to 2009, BMW led archrival Mercedes-Benz in the U.S. market and then, in 2010, after launching the joy campaign, fell behind Mercedes? Luckily, this year BMW ditched joy to go back to its driving nail.

Of course, advertising is loaded with visuals, but most of them never become hammers. They might be funny, but if they're not also functional they do little for the brand.

A good example is the frogs from the famed 1995 Budweiser Super Bowl spot, often listed as one of the best commercials in history. The ad shows a swamp at nighttime with three frogs rhythmically croaking "Bud"... "Weis"... "Er." But where's the verbal nail?

Frogs, lizards, dogs -- Budweiser has used them and more. All the while, the brand has the ultimate visual hammer that it brings out only occasionally. That visual is the Clydesdales pulling an old-fashioned beer wagon, which reinforces the authenticity of the brand: the King of Beers.

But instead of using a hammer and nail it already owns, Budweiser keeps searching for new ideas for Budweiser and Bud Light. "Drinkability," "Here we go," "It's what we do" and "Great times are waiting." All verbal ideas that are impossible to visualize.

Visual consistency is even more important than verbal consistency. You can sometimes successfully change a verbal nail, but not a well-established visual hammer. Look at what happened when Tropicana tried to drop its straw-in-the-orange image.

For decades, marketers have sat in meetings developing positioning statements for their brands. But sorry, Dad, today that's not enough. Today, marketers also need a visual hammer to build their brands. A visual hammer that connects emotionally, authentically and credibly with consumers.

Laura Ries is president of Ries & Ries consulting. Her iBook, "Visual Hammer," is available atApple's iBookstore

The Secrets of Easy Email Profits

The Secrets of Easy Email Profits

A recent poll of consumers revealed that 44% of email users were inspired by email marketing to make at least one online purchase, and 41% were inspired to make at least one offline purchase.

These numbers are only expected to go up from here as more and more people are getting online and spending more and more money online.

If you want to know what is making money RIGHT NOW in the world of email marketing, then you NEED to watch this webinar.

In it, you’re going to learn things like…

• How the tides of marketing are changing from OUTBOUND marketing to INBOUND marketing, and what this means for your business…
• The 5 biggest mistakes you can make in email marketing.
• Clever little tricks and techniques that you can use to get LARGE percentages of your email subscribers to actually open your emails.
• How to craft messages and calls to action that actually drive response and get people to click, call, and buy.
• And more…

The bottom line is this: If you’re not ALL OVER email marketing like the forty-niners that rushed the mountains of California to dig up piles and piles of gold, then you’re losing a heart-wrenching amount of money.

Watch this webinar today and learn things most people will never know about making money with email marketing!

5 Ways to Supercharge Your Copywriting PART 2

Copywriting is one of the most profitable skills you can master in business.

A great copywriter persuades hundreds, thousands, and even millions of people to buy products with nothing more than words weaved into advertisements, sales letters, website pages, and videos. It’s like he or she creates a powerhouse salesperson and then give him or her the magical power of being able to sell to thousands of people at a time, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

In this webinar, you’re going to learn things like…

How to rivet the reader’s eyeballs to your ad with your FIRST sentence. The fact is you have mere seconds to either hook the reader or lose him, and this is how you do it.

Why every great copywriter’s mantra was “specific, measurable, tangible, and verifiable,” and how you can apply this in your copywriting to boost response.

How to use pictures in advertisements to boost sales, and the types of pictures you DON’T want to use.

Three ways to create strong offers that make people want to stop procrastinating and act NOW.

And more…

Watch this webinar today and learn the secrets of million-dollar copywriters!

5 Ways to Supercharge Your Copywriting PART 1

Copywriting is one of the most profitable skills you can master in business.

A great copywriter persuades hundreds, thousands, and even millions of people to buy products with nothing more than words weaved into advertisements, sales letters, website pages, and videos. It’s like he or she creates a powerhouse salesperson and then give him or her the magical power of being able to sell to thousands of people at a time, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

In this webinar, you’re going to learn things like…

• The two basic qualities of good copy. If you can just get these TWO things right in your copy, many people will enjoy reading it and be persuaded to buy.
• How master copywriters set themselves up for success before writing a single word by doing two very specific types of research.  When you do this correctly, crafting compelling copy that sells is surprisingly easy.
• The single-most important part of any advertisement and how to NAIL this in your promotion pieces so they grab eyeballs and force people to read them.
• The three classes of successful headlines and how you can mix and match these to create headlines that make readers think, “I just HAVE to read this…”
• And more…

Watch this webinar today and learn the secrets of million-dollar copywriters!