List building is simple, as are all effective email marketing programs. It takes some work, but it’s also really pretty easy. A lot of times people complicate it all because they feel like it has to be this complicated process. After all, if it were simple, they would have figured it out already, right? Then they jump from complicated system to complicated system, and never end up building much of a list for themselves. Well, I’m going to break down the list building process for you right now, and you’ll see how simple effective email marketing programs really are.

There are just a few things that you need to have and few things you need to do to build a list for your email marketing program…

First, you need to have qualified traffic. Some people make the mistake of just thinking that you need traffic. General traffic isn’t going to do; you need what we call qualified traffic if you are going to succeed at direct email marketing. Basically speaking, traffic is qualified when it is composed of people who are interested in what you are offering. Simple right?

Next, you need a web site that is capable of building a list for you and your email marketing program. This is a site that is designed around capturing the email addresses of the qualified traffic you are sending to it. Generally that means that the site is built around getting people to fill out an email form that you place on it. Generally you bribe them into doing this by giving them some sort of free offer, like a small free eBook or the like, if the give you their email address for your direct email marketing.

And that’s it. There are only two steps to this process. Find qualified traffic, and drive it to your site that is capable of building your list. It’s true that there are a number of different ways to go about finding and driving traffic to your site.

It’s also true that there are a number of different ways you can design the site that’s going to succeed at getting people to give you their email addresses. These are both true, but there’s no need to complicated the overall process more than you need to. In fact, it’s generally better to keep these processes as simple as possible for your email marketing campaign. Simple is better. Simplicity breeds success.

Now do you think email marketing programs are really inherently complicated?

Increased sales for less cost is fast becoming a business mantra. For any company it is critical to understand precisely why people buy into what you have to offer. In this competitive marketplace research budgets are often first to go in an attempt to save money. Yet some types of research have been proven to dramatically increase profits.

Market research is the systematic gathering and interpretation of intelligence using analytical methods and techniques to gain insight or support decision making. It is really any structured attempt to gain knowledge about competitors, markets or customers.

Yet, the term is commonly, and wrongly, interchanged with the practice of Marketing Research yet, there is an important and distinct difference between the two. Marketing research is the objective gathering and interpretation of intelligence using analytical methods and techniques to gain insight and intelligence about audience purchase habits.

Can you appreciate the distinction? – One gathers knowledge on potential markets, the other gathers intelligence on why they purchase and who from.

The main purpose of this type of research is to understand the purchase triggers of the audience. In short it is the science of understanding how and why customers and potential customers react, or not, to your advertising communications. When done correctly will tell you precisely how to push the buttons that will compel more people respond to your message or proposition. And it will give you that information simply, quickly and cost effectively.

Perhaps that is why, an increasing number of companies are moving away from the ‘soft’ intelligence provided by market research and are moving towards the ‘hard’ information provided by marketing research. In this context, knowledge is generally defined as ‘hard’ when it provides specific, detailed and quantifiable direction for future marketing campaigns. The fact that it is measurable and can directly influence bottom line profitability has caused this sort of research to be called “research for a new business age” by professionals and that “traditional methods may produce findings that are interesting – but who these days has the time and budgets unless there is a quantifiable purpose and payback?”

Whilst some organisations lay claim to offer bespoke solutions, in truth, some are simply variations of their everyday research offering. These rarely provide information that could be used to direct and evaluate marketing campaigns. Be cautious, if your research company suggest focus groups as part of a project as that is usually an indication that they have just adapted their usual offering to fit.

Modern techniques use research methodologies that are adapted from behavioural psychology to gain insights into your situation that are instantly actionable, useful and designed to repay your investment in better results.

So which type of research is best for you?

If you feel you have an understanding of who your audience are; their demographics, how old they are, how much disposable income they have, their lifestyle, etc, then you may not need to spend money on market research. Yet if you need your advertising and marketing to increase inquiries and sales then you are more likely to find marketing research more worthwhile.

Whichever route you decide to take, ensure that you act upon the intelligence you receive as, in these difficult times, it could make or break your company.

Once you are about to launch your next business marketing strategy, there is one thing that you may want to know if seek a very profitable return. You see, I have spoke about this in my book and in my newsletter for the last couple years or so and a great copywriter that passed even wrote about this a while back.

When you are looking for your marketing strategy to be a winner, then you want to know what will bring in the best return on your business marketing efforts and investment. If you have tried marketing online or offline and have a website, then this is the best way to see a huge improvement.

What am I speaking about?

Hang on while I explain it to you real quick. This marketing strategy is only going to cost you about fifty cents per lead and can easily bring up to 400% better results and anyone who has used this in their business marketing will agree.

The marketing strategy is simply taking your online leads offline. If you have a business and you have a website, then simply take your online people who sign up at your site to a different medium. With emails being deleted everyday and so much spam, this leaves so many business owners to see fewer results.

The direct mail route is the way to go.

When you take your leads offline, you now are taking an online impersonal approach to an invited guest approach. If you have an auto responder and are capturing email and name info now, why not simply ask them to put in their address for a free report, free sample, free whatever you were offering to begin with. You can keep your marketing strategy of emailing them, but also now you can contact and follow up in direct mail which few business owners do. This means competitive advantage for you. A huge bonus tip…

To get the best response from your business marketing and your website auto responder or lead capture method…is to not ask for all address and extra info in initial offer. Many people will leave because it is a hassle to sign up for what you are offering. However, if you just simply ask for email and name or email, phone, name and then in the email ask them to reply with their offline mailing address to get additional free offer, report, or whatever…

Now you have continued to not only have a nice marketing strategy of online contact, but also you can contact in direct mail. Try this in your next business marketing attempts and see how much this marketing strategy will pay off for you.

E-commerce helped to turn conventional marketing strategies upside down, and added dynamism to the marketing landscape. The internet generated article marketing, added another notch to niche marketing, and also launched affiliate or associate marketing. As a result, affiliate marketing is now at the top of every strategic business plan. Because of its success, it is now regarded as the top online marketing strategy. So just what exactly is affiliate marketing, and why do you need to know about it?

In response to the first question, affiliate marketing is a marketing technique where a merchant, (product owner or service provider), rewards affiliates, for each referral. These referrals are generated as a direct result of the affiliate’s marketing initiatives. Every business owner needs to understand affiliate marketing, because it is big business. It now generates billions of dollars in sales revenue on an annual basis. Revenue flows both to the business owner, and to the affiliate.

When well orchestrated, affiliate marketing is a very effective marketing tool. It will result in an increase in website traffic, as well as an increase in revenue. Essentially, it is a revenue sharing approach to marketing, and involves a contract between a merchant on the one hand, and an affiliate on the other. Merchants will be able to gain maximum exposure for their brand, without having to spend any money if there are no results. This exposure will lead to increased revenue and profit. The affiliate will also increase revenue, as payment is based on the number of referrals made.

In terms of revenue sharing, affiliate marketers are paid a commission for the business they refer. They will either direct traffic to the merchant’s website, or help to sell their products by placing the merchant’s advertisement on their site. The joint venture between the merchant and affiliate is usually formalized by way of an Affiliate Program. There are several programs which are now used, the two most popular are Pay Per Click, and Pay Per Performance.

As the name Pay Per Click suggests, the affiliate is paid each time a visitor ‘clicks’ on the banner or link that directs them to the merchant’s website. The affiliate will be paid even if the visitor does not make a purchase. This is probably the least lucrative affiliate program option, because payment tends to be small, usually about $0.05 to $0.10 per click. Pay Per Performance includes both Pay Per Lead and Pay Per Sale. With Pay Per Lead, the affiliate marketer will get paid on every occasion that a visitor clicks through to the merchant’s website, and then takes some action that creates a lead for the merchant.

With Pay Per Sale, an affiliate gets paid every time a sale is generated by a visitor that clicks through from the merchant’s ad on the affiliate’s site. This is a more lucrative option, as the commission can be as much as 20% of the final sale price. However, it is only beneficial if the conversion rate of leads to sales is relatively high, for the product or service. Affiliate marketing is now a very profitable method of advertising products and services. The merchant is able to market their product on several sites, and in the case of a Pay Per Sale program, those ads are free until a sale is made. In this way, merchants can ensure that their marketing dollars are being put to the best use.

One of the most successful proponents of affiliate marketing is Amazon.com. Amazon has built a successful associate marketing program, which boasts over 1 million affiliates. As with any good marketing tool you do have to plan for success. So the basis of any affiliate program must be a good overall business plan, a good product and a solid marketing strategy.