Marketing MethodsAfter you’ve decided to start a home based business, one of the initial challenges may be getting the word out about your new venture. Obviously, the key to exposure is marketing and advertising. This is true whether you are operating small, one-person operations or a larger scale network marketing business. When you’re looking for the best home based business marketing tip, you may have to start with something simple like making serviceable flyers.FlyersAt one time or another almost every business has made use of the marketing flyer to promote their business and its products. Today, it is very simple to make a decent promotional flyer. You can choose from a variety of templates available with different software and on the internet. In some cases, you may have to pay for a flyer design, but this is by no means necessary.Flyer templates can be found everywhere these days. There are designs available for every occasion and for every possible use. This makes it very easy to find something suitable for your business needs. As a starting point, you might find a flyer template on sites such Microsoft Office’s template site, StockLayouts.com, FlyerTemplates.org, and other specialty sites. These can all be downloaded and customized for your purposes.System CompatibilityIf you’re using one of these templates to create your flyer you must make sure that you have the right software. Most of the templates you find on the web are designed specifically for particular operating system. You need to have the right one – or at least something compatible to even open it. It could be delivered as an MS Word file or an Adobe PDF. Naturally, if you can find a flyer made in Word you’ll have an easier time customizing it. All it will require is filling in blanks, editing other settings, and perhaps adding relevant images. Then you should be ready to print it out. PDF files require some sort of editor program to make changes. This could cost you money unnecessarily.If you want your business flyers to look professional, the choice of printing method will be a big factor. For some small home based businesses, a home printer is the most affordable option. There are a wide selection of high quality printers including those made by Lexmark, Brother, and HP. It may really be a matter of what you already have though. In other instances, you may have the resources to get a larger quantity of flyers printed at a local print shop. You might need to ask around to see who gives the best deals and does quality work. Regardless, this may be the best home based business marketing option for you.Do It YourselfYou don’t need to possess serious computer skills or be a graphic designer in order to create great business flyers. You really don’t have to spend all that much time on them to make something that will do the job you need accomplished. Naturally, the type of flyer you produce will depend on the form of your business. Some flyers have to pack in a lot of information in a concise format to get the word out effectively. It may not be the best home based business marketing option for your situation, but it is a still an effective strategy for most ventures.
A Simple Product Creation and Product Launching Formula
If you tried to think of people involved in product creation, who would come to mind? You may think of Edison, Franklin, or maybe Henry Ford. Would you ever think of yourself as someone who can create a quality product? Product creation is actually relatively easy and product launching is not that tough either! If you follow a few easy to understand steps, you could be starting the product creation and product launching process sooner than you think.
The first step in creating your information product is to know and understand your market. This can be very time-consuming, especially if you are unsure of what to do or where to look to know your market. Studying your niche market and understanding the buzz words and buying patterns can ease the process dramatically. Personally, I would recommend networking with someone who has had success in the niche market you are considering and learn from their results. If they are into product creation and not very business savvy expect some hesitation. If they only sell products and have nothing to do with product launching or product creation you may your first affiliate (sales person)! Something else you can use to find hot trends is with the Google Trends tool.
The second step is the product creation process. Take your niche market and brainstorm ideas and topics relating to it. There are a lot of product launching contests going on recently relating to a newly created internet marketing tool. There are so many aspects to the mentioned niche that literally, and unfortunately, anything can be considered an Internet Marketing tool. The reason that anyone can basically create an Internet Marketing tool is because of something called Private Label Rights products.
What I use private label rights products for, and highly recommend them in this specific manner, is to cure writer’s block especially when it is lingering. Many people base their entire product creation and product launching on a private label rights product. This is where you can start to shine and build a strong brand for yourself. If you set goals for yourself, short-term goals to be exact, you can see your product creation come into being much faster and there is a good chance with less revision needed. If you keep hitting time restraint road blocks; however there is nothing wrong with a slow and steady approach, you can consider outsourcing portions of your project. Outsourcing can be an extremely huge benefit or just as great of a disaster.
You can find someone to outsource work to at a freelance site such as Guru.com or eLance.com. When reviewing proposals it is almost mandatory you perform a background check on them as you are in essence hiring them. Doing a background check on freelancers is as easy as asking for samples of their work and reviewing feedback on the freelance site from previous customers. Depending on the size and requirements of your project this can add up to a decent sized investment, so caution is very important. One tip I always recommend to people looking to hire an individual is to ask them what they can provide you that no one else can. This simple question gives them a chance to “toot their own horn” and acknowledge where they feel most competent as far as their skill set.
The final portion of the product creation and product launching formula is the launch. This can literally make or break the effort, time, and maybe (if you invested) money you put in to your project. There are numerous aspects to product launching and although their relevance is debated in terms to their effect, experts agree all must be followed. The person in your field who you asked for product advice from can help you substantially if you have kept in touch. If not, the first thing you need to do is to create a visually appealing website with flawless design work.
I also mentioned outsourcing before, this is one aspect of product launching I have little strength in and I always outsource this portion. The website does not have to be large however the content (ad copy in Internet Marketing) must be stellar and as perfect as possible. This is where advertising knowledge or experience is beneficial. When the site is set up you now put a lead capture form on your website.
I put two lead capture pages on all products I create on the internet and is one of the best methods of getting a solid start when you are in the product launching stage. When you gain information from a prospect or someone looking to get paid for referring sales you are able to provide them updates or specials. Many people abuse their prospect or affiliate lists by in turn emailing them with a new product daily and I find the recommendations to be totally unrelated to their original need, problem, or interest.
Another stage in the product launching stage is creating a free report or demo version of your product to entice the product to sign up to your email list. Using proper follow up with this can help generate numerous sales for you. One thing you need to ensure is that your free product completely relates to your main product that you are looking to sell.
You are now ready to advertise your product launching to customers as well as the opportunity to sell for affiliates. This is the single aspect that many product creations and launches fail on. It is actually not entirely difficult. One thing you can do is write articles (and a good amount of them) on topics relating to your product. I am a huge advocate of giving a solution in forums. When you join a forum you are normally offered the opportunity to create a signature. In your signature, you should enter the link to your opt-in or lead capture page. When you respond to posts, you are advertising your opportunity.
It is not impossible to create a product and it does not have to take a long time. You need to setup a plan and stick to it. If you get stuck, look at similar and successful products to your own and try and see how they did it. When you sit down and brainstorm you will be surprised with what you can imagine.
How to Invest Money and Make It Grow?
Learn how to grow your money through investing. Investing is one of the best ways to achieve financial freedom but there are required skills and knowledge to succeed. Aside from your knowledge and skills, you also have to “take risk”, do not be afraid to risk because you can manage risk, minimize it by equipping yourself a skills and knowledge. As the old saying goes, in investing you should know what you are doing to avoid loss of capital investment.
Before Investing Money
Before you invest money, make sure you have prepared the following important things. Make sure you have paid all your debts or liabilities. Make sure before you invest you have your cash reserve or the emergency funds needed to help you in case there is an emergency so that you will never pull out your investment.
The ideal amount of emergency funds should at least 3 to 6 months of your income. So, if your income is $2,500 per month. You should have $15,000 emergency funds good for 6 months.
You should also have to buy a life insurance. A life insurance is for protection. You need life insurance just in case something bad happened to you. Life insurance can help your family to recover from financial losses in case you died.
The ideal life insurance coverage should at least 3 years of your total annual income. If your annual income is $60,000, you should buy a life insurance that has a face amount of $18,000 good for 3 years to help your family to recover from financial losses.
After you have paid your debts, have emergency funds and bought insurance, it’s time to know your risk appetite.
Know Your Risk Appetite
It always depends on your age, of course if you’re still young, you can take high risk and for mid 40s to 50′s you have to take medium risk and for 50s and above, they should only take low risk investments.
For low risk investments, money market funds, time deposits and bonds are appropriate investments.
For medium risk investments, combination of bonds with equities are appropriate investments.
For high risk, you can choose to invest purely on stock equities.
Make an Investment Goal
After you analyze your risk appetite, you have to make an investment goal. What is an investment goal? It is goal wherein you should know the purpose of your investments, how much should your investment cost your every month or annually. When should you start investing and when is your plan to redeem your investments.
Take Investing Action
A plan is good if you work for it. You can never see a result of your investments if you didn’t work your plan. You have to take action, just do one thing at a time. From opening your investment account, funding your investment account. And if you choose to invest in the stock market, you should buy your first stocks, you don’t need to be afraid. All is easy especially if you really want to grow your money. Just ask the financial advisor or financial experts, there are advisors in the bank or any financial investments firms.
Achieve Financial Freedom
Saving is good because it will teach you the habit of managing your money. If you are disciplined money saver, you will also be a disciplined investor. Ste aside money from your salary or income every month and fund your investments account such as mutual funds, stock broker account or fund your savings account intended to use as a business capital
I hope you do learn many things in this article. To achieve financial freedom, you must “take risk” and reap the rewards someday. Thank you for reading this article, I wish you a prosperity and financial freedom. If you have time, read other financial blogs, business and finance books and magazines or attend financial literacy seminars.