Consumer mailing lists are well-known and enjoy high popularity among direct marketing specialists. To establish a one hundred percent winning strategy to set up overall marketing goals a complete market research with possible consumers allocation should be carried out.

The idea of a whole market research and its further segmentation with a deep analysis has not been new and has been used by marketing specialists, sales-managers and even operation officers for years, but a professional market research service has been provided by a few number of companies that specialize only in this sphere.

No wonder, there is no need to invent a bike when there is so much invented in developing marketing strategies and markets analysis. Thus, there are firms that specialize in promotion of their clients’ services and goods. Moreover, they are always trying to develop new steps, methods and ways of advertising that would finally result in a complete twofold satisfaction: the client company and it’s consumers.

A common market research strategy can be viewed or divided into several essential parts where the next step can not be taken before the previous one. How does it work?

First of all, an identification of your target audience is a must – there is not need to focus on, for example, on teenagers if your products are addressed primarily to the aged. The next step is segmentation and pinpointing the ideal prospects – even the aged category can be further subdivided by different attributes. When these steps have been taken there comes a choice of distribution channels: direct mail, telemarketing, online distribution. In order to awake the end-clients’ interest the form of goods or services’ presentation should be unique, flashy, easy to grasp and remember. If direct mail has been chosen as the initial distribution channel you are to think over the best printing and packing possibilities in order your advertising goods and services not to become ignored. Mail delivery is the ultimate goal that can be achieved easily by referring to market research strategy companies that have already comprised consumer and business mailing lists and save you a great amount of time.

Well if you are anything like me you’ve been searching around for some time trying to find the perfect system or resource that would do exactly what it promised re bring you that first elusive affiliate commission. There are so many so called “gurus” out there promoting this product and that product that it can seem too much at times.

Very often these packages are aimed at people who have already mastered the basics like creating a website, a capture page, autoresponder and all the usual tools that enable you to capitalise on any promotion you do with your affiliate marketing campaigns.

But I’m sure the bulk of the people purchasing these products will be new to affiliate marketing “newbies” and they can often feel overwhelmed with the amount of things they need to do often on their own, and simply end up not following through on the tasks required within the programs. This leads to no results so the new affiliate marketer simply blames themselves or the product when in fact it may be unfair at that stage to look to blame anything other than a lack of planning.

Before you begin any sort of online business, you need to set out a plan of what resources do you currently have to contribute to the business, what other resources can you get either free or paid, also what is your specialised area going to be…what interests you, any hobbies or business skills that you can share valuable information on.

Next how much time can you devote to the business, be honest here if you can only spare an hour or two a week then it may not be realistic to be looking at earning big bucks straight from the off. If you are looking at going full time with your business you will need a minimum of a couple of hours daily from the beginning, as things progress and you automate more parts of the business you can gradually pull back on the amount of time you need to devote to certain areas. This will vary from each business model.

Once you have mapped out what area or niche you intend developing your business around then do some basic research using the internet. Remember never bring a product or service to the market just because you love it and think it will sell! You need to gauge whether there will be a demand for it first, and usually if you offer a product or service that fixes a problem or offer a solution for the end user then you are more likely to make sales than simply offering something that you think sounds greats but it does not meet anyone’s needs.

Try and stay within area’s that generate a minimum of 10,000 searches per month on most of the main search engines re Google, MSN and Yahoo, anything less than 10,000 could well mean yes you could dominate that search term a lot easier lets say something like “planting bonsai trees” but you may be missing out on a far greater amount of traffic that would be caught within the term “bonsai trees” which as it is a broader search term will generate more searches than the first one.

It’s often better to start off targeting the bigger market where you know there are people looking to spend money on products within your specialist area, or who would appreciate someone offering free advice on this topic or area. Remember even with affiliate marketing the most successful players out there are those marketers who build up a relationship with their prospects either through building a customer email list or directing any prospects through to their blog or website.

In Part 2 we shall look at researching areas in more depth and look at the main affiliate product sources to partner up with, and what to look for when choosing your products.

Most online marketers know about the extreme importance of staying in contact with their subscribers and customers. Consistent contact with your customer builds a relationship that can significantly increase your profits. That is the key to the super internet marketing profits and earnings that you probably dream of. Establishing trust and a good relationship with your clients and subscribers is one of the most important things that you can do with your internet business. But establishing a relationship with your subscribers and clients can become a problem when a large portion of your emails do not get through. Therefore, it is necessary that you understand the powerful mechanism of desktop marketing and how it can skyrocket your income over night.

Desktop marketing is when you are able to send a direct, instant message straight to the desktop of your target market. This is a powerful marketing medium because you can send something directly to the computer desktop of your client, thus improving the response of your marketing messages.

The best thing about desktop marketing is that it overcomes all of the major problems that email marketing brings. For example, when sending a message directly to your target market’s computer desktop, you are completely bypassing all of the email and spam filters that will prevent your message from getting through if you were to send it via email. Therefore, you can expect a much greater open rate, as well as click through rate when you send your message via desktop marketing.

Also, the great thing about desktop marketing is that your clients or subscribers don’t have to login to their email accounts to receive your marketing message. Most busy people do not login to their email accounts multiple times a day. As a matter of fact, it can take a few days for someone to actually go and check their email inbox. People are just too busy these days. Therefore, the best way of instantly grabbing their attention is by sending your marketing message directly to their desktop. This way, you know that as soon as you send your message, if they have their computer on, they will instantly have access to your marketing message.

The marketing aspect for a real estate Agent has become very confusing to Agents who are trying to grow to the next level. We have so many different “magic answer” type marketing companies reaching for our wallets that it is hard to know which one is the most effective. In some cases it is difficult to evaluate the return on the investment. Here are a few rules that I applied when evaluating the many opportunities to “get my name out there”.

Rule #1: The best form of advertising, in my opinion, was always a sold sign in a client’s front yard. To me that showed a job well done. It showed a market presence and had the ability to bring in future income with little expenditure. The more active listings and actual sold properties, the better my exposure. We would always affix a sold sticker right after the repairs were negotiated. I used sold stickers that no one could miss. They were large and bold.

If there could be a rule 1A, that would be to be liberal in your use of directional signs. Any and everywhere you can place one do so. We would often have four or five directionals for every one listing. By using a volume of direction signs, you give the perception that you have half of the town for sale. We always used regular signs and affixed my name and an arrow to them. These signs increased exposure and made it easier for the prospect to find the property. Doing the small directionals has limited impact. Using your signs well, I believe, is the most effective and financially efficient form of advertising.

Rule #2: Develop a strategy and budget for marketing for the whole year, then review it quarterly as to the results. I often see Agents change programs, focus, philosophy, scope and purpose of their marketing plan as often as they change their shirts. First, take the time to create an effective strategy. Evaluate the strategy from all angles before you commit to implementation. Create the strategy for the long haul, not the short run. Start developing your strategy with your end goal in mind, then work backwards to today.

For example, Nike created “Just Do It”. They ran with that strategy on their print and television commercials for over three years. Nike applied it to everything they did during that span. I can assure you that Nike spent considerable resources and time evaluating the campaign before they launched it. Make sure you are long-range planning your business and marketing strategy.

Rule #3: Before you advertise on billboards, television, shopping carts, bus benches and all other forms of institutional advertising, look for opportunities for third-party endorsements. The third-party endorsement has the power of the referral from a past client. There are many opportunities to get a third- party endorsement. To be elevated as an expert in real estate or recognized as a “top gun” Agent by that third-party will do more for your career than any advertising you create for yourself. The consumer reading the article on you or hearing the interview with you or watching you in action will be far more convinced of your ability than he would be by you telling him how great you are via a you generated piece. It is better to invest your advertising in third-party endorsements then to spend your marketing dollars in the institutional realm.

Rule #4: Gage the shelf life before you buy. Many advertising opportunities have a limited shelf life. They are tied to a season or specific event or specified one time occurrence. That is why newspaper advertising has limited pull. It is a one-time purchase for one specific day. Once the Sunday paper is read the effectiveness is gone. The Home and Land type magazines at least have a 30-day shelf life. Your web site allows for repeat impressions. By using your site as a resource you are able to get people to visit your web site again and again. Invest your money where you can get repeat impressions out of one purchase.

None of us has the marketing budget that McDonalds has. We need to use marketing products that have the ability to give repeat performances and can be used over time with the same results.

Start your marketing plan and create a budget today. Apply the four rules of marketing to your marketing plan so you will be the recognized Champion Agent for your marketplace.

Dirk Zeller is an Agent, an Investor, and the President & CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 250,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. He’s the widely published author of Your First Year in Real Estate, Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies®, The Champion Real Estate Agent, The Champion Agent Team and over 300 articles in print.

Real Estate Champions is a premier coaching company. Training covers a wide spectrum from new agents, to seasoned, as well as those interested in real estate marketing or real estate investing.