The online marketing world makes use of some offline tools such as advertising, direct mail and viral campaigns, video and ‘radio’, or more appropriately using the online term of podcasts.

All of these tools are used in digital format. In other words your advertisement will show on a website, your direct mail campaign might use e-mail or Twitter, your video will show on YouTube or on one of the many competing video sharing sites, and your podcasts may be downloaded from iTunes.

The principle is the same though. Every bit of material that you put out into the internet that promotes your products and services is part of your marketing campaign and is similar to what the offline marketers’ use. It is often just the vehicle used to deliver the message that is different.

It is, of course, also the case that offline marketers are starting to bring their product offering online. Some companies such as Apple have done this very effectively by offering some of their product range via the web only. These are the songs, movies, and videos they sell via iTunes and the third party applications for the iPhone available via the Apple Store.

Some of the more recognized marketing tools used by internet marketers are article marketing, blog marketing, search engine marketing, and social media marketing. Most of these techniques may be used without having to spend any or very little money.

Posting articles on your product to article directories is mostly free. Social media such as Facebook or Twitter doesn’t cost anything for the ordinary membership. Other tools such as bookmarking and setting up a Hubpage are free. Submitting this self-promotional material takes up a huge amount of time unless one purchases software applications that automate the process.

Then there is advertising that one has to pay for. These are pay per click ads, the main promoters of these being Google, MSN and Yahoo. You may wish to place banner and pop-up ads on other sites that you negotiate with personally or that you pay Google to place.

The principle boils down to being visible with your product or service and enticing people back to your store or blog to sell it to them. It’s very much the same in the real world. Be noticed and be followed so that a sale can be made.

What makes it slightly more difficult is that the shopper can’t feel the jersey that they are going to buy, or smell the bunch of flowers. They can’t see the meat or fresh rolls; and they can’t try on the jeans. As internet marketers this is a fairly large hurdle to overcome.

What that means is that the online customer would still like to try things first. If they can’t try it first, then expect a high number of returns. Etsy, the wonderful online arts and crafts store has one third of the goods it sends out returned for refund. That’s a large percentage but it is something one has to factor in when considering the online business model.

I’m going to give you 6 ways to convert old leads into cash paying customers. Call it your very own instant direct marketing solution. Basically, I’m going to show you how to turn trash into treasure. Call it what you want: Money for nothing; Money out of thin air; whatever you want to call it, converting old lost leads into customers is a PROFITABLE strategy. Make this a priority this year.

6 Ways To Convert Old Leads Into Cash Paying Customers

1: Start the process again. Re-enter old leads into your marketing funnel as if they were fresh leads.

2: Different products. Offer these old leads different products. Offering a low-cost, low-time Evening Seminar has worked well in the past for my clients.

3: Same offer, different media. Here your pitch is the same, you just change the media and or format. Use CDs, DVDs, Tear Sheets, Fax Broadcast, Tele-Seminars.

NOTE: CONVERTING OLD LEADS VIA TELE-SEMINARS: Several of my Clients and Members are testing tele-seminars to convert old leads into members/customers. We’re doing it here at Crocodile Marketing too; and I’ll fill you in on the results in the months to come. Anyway, the strategy is a simple one… and many have proved its effectiveness. You contact your old leads, via many different media (Email, Fax, Post) offering a FREE tele-seminar. On the call, give some good, solid “what-to” information, prove what you say is true and then make them an offer they can’t refuse.

4: Same product, change offer. Here you’re selling the same product, but you change the offer. Usually, the stronger the offer, the more sales you’ll get.

5: Same product, different angle. There are many angles you can take in copy; many different benefits you can highlight. Say your lead angle was “make more money”, you then test a new angle such as “save money”, “work less for your money” and so on.

6: Swap or sell them. There are other companies targeting the same market as you. You can swap old leads with them or sell/rent your list.

This will take some work and lots of careful testing and measuring although the rewards on offer far outweigh the time and effort.
Think about this for a minute. The more ways you can find value in your old leads, the more you can afford to aggressively generate leads in the first place. Let that sink in; then smile.

I’m always pushing all my clients to generate more leads using ALL available media; to diligently follow-up; to create a game plan for old leads that puts money in the bank. I’m not going to come round to your place checking up on you to see if you do this or not. We’re all adults here. But if you’re smart, you’ll go back over the list I just gave you and highlight which techniques you’ll be using. There’s money in your old leads. My advice is go get it.

There are countless ways in order to promote businesses and products alike. The internet alone has given us a chance to showcase goods and services worldwide. Email marketing as the main marketing strategy may be the most effective way of doing so. This method enables the promotion of products and businesses in the easiest and probably the most effective way possible. Having this kind of scheme may be more effective than actual mainstream advertising methods bombarded across different media channels. This is because when people go online, they tend to open their emails before proceeding to browse through other websites. With that, there is a greater chance that promotional materials sent to people’s emails would first be noticed than anything else.

The most important thing for any business to know when making use of Email marketing as a marketing strategy is to lay out certain tactics on how to get it done right. The content of the mail being sent out should be straight to the point and informative. The body of the text should incorporate the product or service being sold and some facts which may help get people to buy. The key is to give as much information to the reader as possible, in order to increase their interest in the business. Email marketing is a very good scheme in letting others know that such a business exists. Not only does it promote, it is also a very direct marketing strategy that can reach not only your target market but other consumers as well.

In order to promote the business through Email marketing, one should first take into account the importance of seeking out the permission of those whom the mail would be sent to. This is to ensure that your messages get directed to their inboxes and not flagged as spam. If sending direct mail is not an option, another way to reach them is through other people’s email. This marketing strategy falls under the previous one, but might have higher chances of accurately reaching your target market and expanding your range with less effort on your part. A small ad space in another company’s newsletter is an example of such.

In doing business online, it is important to first determine your business’ target market, what would interest them and the kind of sites they tend to visit. This way you know how to reach your potential customers with higher success rate. It is also important to find the most affordable way of promotion because after all, you did opt for this method because traditional means of advertising are costly. The point of doing business online is to keep your expenses to a minimum in order to save financial resources for more essential company needs. In this manner, promotion and the growth of the business would not be a financial hindrance.

Can you really make $100 a day through article marketing alone? Is it enough, on it’s own to generate the traffic, the interest and the SALES to sustain a viable, valuable and enduring long term business? I say it IS…and I’m going to explain how you can PROVE it for yourself, immediately below!

First of all…..there are MANY people who are making a REAL full time living from article marketing alone, and that means a whole lot more than $100 a day!

But you have to remember, it’s just a traffic TACTIC, not a strategy. You can write the very BEST articles in the world, but if you sending your readers to BAD affiliate offers, to BAD landing pages, or to poorly written and thought out email sequences, you are going to struggle for certain.

Here is what I RECOMMEND for starters.

Pick a really good, high performing affiliate program that has an EPC of OVER 75. (earnings per 100 visitors you send) I prefer affiliate offers that pay OVER 40 per sale too, and if possible, a “free trial” offer is optimum for this approach. (just make sure it’s a reputable offer)

Either send your visitors to a ONE page review style site…..OR simply re-direct them to the merchant directly using a root level redirect.

The net result? You should be able to generate, in aggregate 100-150 people a day to ANY solid offer that has a big, broad appeal. (offers like weight loss, dating, divorce, family stuff, etc) If you KNOW for every 100 people the average affiliate is already making 75 or UP (the EPC) all you need to do is moderate your traffic levels to accommodate the average…and you should earn the very same thing.

Review pages CONVERT better than re-directs, but EVERY re-direct sees the merchants offer, and only 20-50% of your review page visitors will click through to the merchant, so you need to test this for your particular market and pick what works best for you.

Remember….it’s all about the math. Find offers that you KNOW are converting, figure out how much YOU want to make and then create enough content to ensure you are getting enough visitors to the landing page of the offer to make it happen.

One last thought…..

The absolute EASIEST way to build your business is to build your list, and you can (and should) make a whole lot more than the above with time. You can do that with article marketing the exact same way….I just find that most people get intimidated with that approach until they actually DO the affiliate steps above, so that’s where I recommend you begin until you are comfortable with expanding your approach!