The business of marketing has changed considerably over the course of the last decade due to advances in technology. Many of these changes have come about as the result of increased importance placed on Internet marketing. Marketing for the online world is a relatively new field in marketing and one that has gotten a lot of attention by marketing educators in recent years. However, technology has also changed print marketing in many ways. One of the types of printing techniques that has emerged which has really changed marketing communications is the technique known as variable data printing.

Variable data printing refers to being able to print large quantities of marketing materials that don’t require every single detail on the material to be the same. For example, you can print a marketing letter that has most of the same information on it but which includes the personal identifying information of the intended recipient (such as a personalized URL or a name and address) without interrupting the printing process in any way. This has allowed marketing to become much more personalized even while it has become more mechanized. It’s an interesting change and one that marketing students should pay close attention to.

Technorati Tags: variable data printing, personalized URL, marketing communications

I don’t really like the use of testimonials in marketing because I tend to believe that they are all just made up. However, despite my feelings, I do know that testimonials can be a powerful tool for increasing sales. I think that you just have to use them correctly in order to increase their legitimacy.

Let’s say that you are in the business of selling products that are used for chronic pain management. Here are some tips that you would follow to include testimonials in your marketing:

1. Ask real customers to provide testimonials. Don’t ever make them up. Request to be allowed to publish the customer’s email address or website so that people reading the testimonial can verify that they are real.
2. Get testimonials for specific products. Don’t include testimonials that say you offer great alternative medicine pain relief. Instead, get a testimonial for specific products like medical magnets.
3. Make sure the testimonial includes details of how the products work. People who aren’t familiar with the product need to clearly see how the product worked for another customer.

These are just a few of the things that you can do to make sure that any testimonials that you use in your marketing will be viewed as legitimate.

Technorati Tags: medical magnets, alternative medicine pain relief, chronic pain management

I’ve thought long and hard about how I’ll promote my book when I get it published.  (Contrary to popular thought, traditional publishers don’t typically do a lot to promote your book unless you are already successful.  Therefore, whether you are publishing traditionally or self-publishing, a lot of the promotion falls on you.)

Here are some of my thoughts:

1. I’ll have a website for the book.  I already have a writer’s website, but I want the book to have its own website.  However, just posting a website isn’t enough — you have to be proactive about getting the word out.  A website can quickly get buried among all the other websites out there, so in order to generate a higher search engine ranking…
2. I’ll have a blog on my website.  This will be updated regularly, which will help in several ways: It’ll boost my search engine rankings, help to keep readers coming back, and (hopefully) generate contextual links to my blog and/or website from other people’s blogs.
3. I’ll write press releases about my book.  This is a dual marketing effort: I’m trying to get mentioned in the media, but I’m also using it like many online marketers’ link building compaigns.  The more links point back to my site, the more popular it will seem to the search engines, and therefore the more useful and relevant they will assume it is.
4. I’ll write marketing articles on topics related to my book.  These can also be excerpts published for free on other sites.  The idea is the same as the press releases: To increase visibility, but also to increase my link popularity.  This is another approach that is often used by a search engine marketing company.
5. I’ll know when to let someone else take over.  Of course, all this takes time.  And if everything goes as plan, I’ll be successful with my first book and be working on my next book, so I’ll want to make sure I have enough time to devote to that.  If it comes down to it, I’ll need to be willing to find an Internet marketing service to take over all of these tasks, freeing me up to do other promotion such as book signings and still have enough time to write.

Technorati Tags: book marketing, book promotion, blogging, article marketing, higher search engine ranking, Internet marketing service