Posted on March 6th, 2010 — in Great Media Tips, Marketers Den, Marketing, Promoting Stuff
Voice Over Jobs
When some folks imagine voice over jobs they consider acting. This is definitely one of the potential prospects of this career field. Acting work where you are heard but not actually visible could encompass anything from commercial work, advertisements, radio, even movies. We have all viewed movies, or television programs where the players are heard but not visible. All of the voice over work for these TV shows and pictures was most likely done in a voice over production studio by a team of voice over talent. Acting can be one very essential aspect of voice over jobs .
Another area where people are taken for voice over work is for radio and TV advertisements. It does not matter if it is radio or TV, someone had to recite the speaking part that you hear. Guess how uninteresting a TV adverts for a car would be without a representative in the background distinguishing the attributes of the car. Voice over work is even more important for radio advertisements. Without voice over actors, products and businesses could not be advertised on the radio, since radio is exclusively sound. You can occasionally even hear different voices in advertisements that are becoming more and more common online. Without a voice over narrator, there would be nothing for you to hear.
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Posted on February 13th, 2010 — in Finance Resources, Marketers Den, Marketing, Promoting Stuff
SRCList.com is a service that insurance, investment or mortgage field sales reps can employ to help them ascertain prospects. In the highly competitive business climate of today, these salespeople look for resources that can help them establish their book of business in an effective manner. SRCList offers leads of potential customers who already know that they have a special demand for financial services.
SRCList.com accumulates up-to-date lists so financial services sales reps can spend their time planning and rendering acceptable sales presentations. This allows a sales rep to focus on the actual selling aspect of their occupation as opposed to hunting down sales lead lists. This contributes to sales reps using their time wisely, which helps them earn select clientele that likely help them develop their income faster.
Thus, if after contacting the full list provided, a sales representative doesn’t earn a minimum $1,000.00 for every 100 names bought during the first ninety days, SRCList will refund one hundred percent of the purchase price. Their allegiance is to their customers’ needs, just as a financial service sales representative’s commitment is to their clients needs. This truth in business operations benefits all parties involved.
SRCList’s mission is to assisting salespeople fulfill the sales targets they have before them. Roughly, 20,000 reps have set appointments with an average ten percent of the people in the Company’s files.They work to deliver quality contact lists, with current information on prospects, to help sales reps redeem time by spending more time presenting their financial services.
SRCList.com proceeds to furnish services that help Insurance, Investment, and Mortgage Field Sales Reps improve their conversion ratios. They understand that having quality sales lead lists is important to financial services sales representatives’ success. SRCList’s commitment is to always supplying contact lists that contain the names of those who can afford, and have an inclination towards purchasing financial services products.
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Posted on February 11th, 2010 — in Great Media Tips, Marketers Den, Marketing, Promoting Stuff
Voice over jobs are not just about going into a vocal booth, articulating a few lines, then going home. It is about getting direction from various people at once, without taking it personally or feeling defensive. There are real skills involved in maintaining a voice over career. These are skills that usually not everyone is born with, regardless of how pleasant their speaking voice may be. You have to be the complete package to rationalize earning your paycheck. And before you even begin your career as a full fledged voice over talent, you must first begin with voice over training and a vocal coach. This education is indispensable for anyone determined to have a career in the voice over field.
The greatest recording engineer in the universe may be able to help you with mixing and dubbing, but ultimately it falls on you to present the professionalism and vocal skills promised to the client. First, you must have the acting chops to know how to articulate your lines. Then you have to cultivate on your accents, as well as your intonations. Various words should have different emphasis placed on them, but words that are spelled the same may not necessarily have identical inflection when said every time. It is fundamental to know this before you get in the booth and start recording. Otherwise, this can be a waste of the client’s time and put a tarnish on your reputation.
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Posted on June 15th, 2008 — in Promoting Stuff
Some people think that publicity is all about paparazzi snapping photos of celebs and intruding into their private lives — or as Woodward and Bernstein blowing the lid off of a government scandal. But, as a small business owner, publicity is actually one of your greatest allies! People who read about you in the newspaper or hear an interview with you on the radio will sit up and take notice — much more notice than if they simply see a flier of yours posted at the Laundromat. But you have to be in charge of your relationship with the media, and make sure that it is a good one!
FINDING YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS
The first step to securing some good free publicity is hooking up with the right people. Sending information to a generic address at every major media outlet in your area is almost always a waste of time. You need to find someone who is ready, willing, and able to get your story covered. You should be able to purchase a “MEDIA GUIDE” from local PR firm — choose a large one with a good reputation. This will provide you with the names and addresses of editors, staff writers, producers, and other key contacts for print, radio, and TV.
WHO SHOULD GET YOUR PRESS RELEASE?
Make sure you send your press release to the APPROPRIATE DEPARTMENT at whichever media outlets you select. So if you are writing an article about organizing a business, send it to the business editor — for cleaning out a closet, direct your release to a staff writer in the home and garden department. But don’t limit yourself to publications that specialize in your field of expertise — you never who will see your story as something unique and worth covering.
AVOIDING THE TRASH BIN
Editors and publishers are bombarded by tons of publicity requests each day — and unfortunately, many press releases get tossed before they are ever read. But you can improve your odds by PERSONALIZING your package. It’s usually best, at small offices, to send your piece to the editor or producer. However, at larger newspapers, magazines, and radio stations, you may have better luck getting a staff writer or columnist to review your proposal. Always VERIFY your contact’s name (check the spelling!) and department. If you send a press release addressed simply to “editor” or “producer,” your package will probably go straight into the trash! No matter how much time or energy it takes, it’s always better to target a specific individual.
MAKING YOUR COMPANY ATTRACTIVE
It’s not going to do you any good to send out a press release if no one looks at it! Your job is to make your company as attractive to your media contacts as possible. A great way to stand out from the crowd is to include SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS to entice your readers. Include tips related to your area of expertise, quote relevant statistics, share hero stories about clients you have helped, and throw in a few fliers about your business. Slip in a few photos of your products or your work — or better yet, a demo tape. You might propose a SPECIAL OFFER (”call in and mention this article to receive $25 off!) to be run in conjunction with the story.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Reporters are most easily impressed with PREPARATION. Call first to let your contact know that you are sending a press release — this alerts them to your presence even before they get your submission. Always double check your facts and figures before submitting your press release. Be sure to call all for the organization’s submission procedures — don’t expect to send in a press release about spring cleaning in April if your target magazine has a deadline three months before publication! And practice your INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES before hand — you have to learn to think on your feet and articulate your thoughts clearly and concisely. Think in terms of sound bites and easily-quoted phrases.
IT’S ALL ABOUT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Working with media contacts is like working with clients — it’s never a one-shot deal. You have to STAY IN TOUCH with your media contacts and build lasting relationships before they will feel comfortable handling your story. Rather than simply mailing your press release, take the reporter to lunch to discuss how you can help them find a good story. Send your media contacts tidbits about possible stories that you think might interest them. Offer to make introductions. And always follow up with a PERSONAL NOTE. You are no longer a “grabber” — you are now part of a symbiotic and mutually beneficial professional relationship.
PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF
You aren’t going to get bowled over with publicity right away. Accept that fact from the beginning, and you won’t get disappointed. Publicity is a “NUMBERS GAME” — the more people you contact, the more press releases you send out, and the more often you send them, the better your chances of getting some good press. So let people know of every interesting move you make with your business — they will become familiar with your company and eventually find a way to include your story.
Ramona Creel is a Professional Organizer and the founder of OnlineOrganizing.com — a web-based one-stop shop offering everything that you need to get organized at home or at work. At OnlineOrganizing.com, you may get a referral to an organizer near you, shop for the latest organizing products, get tons of free tips, and even learn how to become a professional organizer or build your existing organizing business. And if you would like to read more articles about organizing your life or building your business, get a free subscription to the “Get Organized” and “Organized For A Living” newsletters. Please visit http://www.OnlineOrganizing.com or contact Ramona directly at ramona@onlineorganizing.com for more information.
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Posted on May 31st, 2008 — in Promoting Stuff
Early in my career as a public relations consultant, I remember standing in a group of people at a business function and listening to one man’s tale of woe. It seems the founder and president of a small and growing business was bewildered about his lack of media attention. He organized an event to launch a ground-breaking new product and couldn’t understand why no one covered the event.
“Why didn’t they (reporters) come?” he asked. “I sent out press releases!”
I smiled sympathetically.
This is not an isolated incident. Too often, many notable products and services are ignored by reporters and subsequently, by the public. Time and again, small business owners believe they can run the publicity activities for their companies. How hard could it be anyway?
The problem is, performing the mechanics of publicity tasks without understanding it will not achieve desired results. There’s more to PR than sending out a press release.
And trust me, the quality-or more accurately, the lack thereof-of releases I have seen lately from do-it-yourselfers ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous. It would make any professional publicist nauseous!
As a PR consultant for many years, I have often wondered why people want to do it themselves. After much thought about this phenomenon, I attribute it to one justification: a cost-cutting measure. This is a common pitfall.
PR is not something that achieves an immediate return like running a two-for-one sale. It is a long-term commitment that often can’t be quantified. Publicity is one aspect and often, instead of letting a PR professional develop an integrated campaign, releases are sent haphazardly with an eye on costs rather than results. Piecemeal publicitysporadic releases or placements, often after the factis rarely effective. Sound public relations is a concerted effort and an investment a company makes in itself. Consultant’s fees are based on time and activities required to build a comprehensive program.
The idea that companies even think they can take this in-house and delegate it to an administrator without hiring a PR professional is deceiving.
I once asked a career consultant about this. Her reply was startling. She responded by saying that some people are so technically expert, they make it look easy enough for others to take on their duties! This probably explains why there was a huge increase in duffers at golf courses after Tiger Woods won his first Masters. It also explains why there are so many people taking on their own home repair and decorating projects since HGTV became a cable mainstay.
The truth is Tiger Woods and other pro golfers work at their sport the way most of us work at our jobs, and home repairs and decorating are far more time-consuming and complicated than a version compressed into a 30 minute segment.
The same can be said of publicity . . . and that’s the relatively easy component!
What if you’re on the negative end of publicity? Do you really think you can handle that alone? Remember, a lawyer will protect you legally; who will protect your image and reputation? After the tragedy of September 11, I remember an interview with a very emotional company executive caught up in the moment. Several of the things he promised in an excited moment came back to haunt him several months later. If he had a PR consultant, he never would have been permitted to give an interview, let alone promise anything, at that time.
Even if you think you’re just sending out press releases, there’s more to writing them and emailing or snail mailing them. It’s called pitch and place. There’s also a vetting process which, to summarize, prevents amateurs from crying wolf. Not everything you do or accomplish is newsworthy!
If you do-it-yourself, potential customers are likely to think you’re penny-pinching because you have cash-flow problems, too impoverished to hire a consultant or an appropriate employee to adequately accommodate your needs and staff your operations. They can also question your business acumen if you think you’re proficient enough to do this properly. This alone can make or break your future growth.
If you think you’re saving money by doing-it-yourself, you’re not. A good PR program with an experienced consultant is far more cost-effective than doing-it-yourself. Remember, perception is reality.
You’re vying for attention and credibility in an overcrowded marketplace. People have to know you exist before they can beat a path to your door. Good PR can enhance your operations so your products or services are accepted.
© 2005 F.N. Rosenstock. All rights reserved.
For more than 20 years, F. N. ROSENSTOCK has worked in the field of public relations holding a variety of positions before starting her own consulting firm. Rosenstock has served as a presenter on panels and at workshops, and has produced seminars and given instruction about public relations.
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Posted on May 28th, 2008 — in Promoting Stuff
Buying gemstone jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you’re considering a gift of gemstone jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here’s some information to help you get the best quality gemstone jewelry for your money, whether you’re shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.
Gemstones
Natural gemstones are found in nature. Laboratory-created stones, as the name implies, are made in a laboratory. These stones, which also are referred to as laboratory-grown, {name of manufacturer} - created, or synthetic, have essentially the same chemical, physical and visual properties as natural gemstones. Laboratory-created stones do not have the rarity of naturally colored stones and they are less expensive than naturally mined stones. By contrast, imitation stones look like natural stones in appearance only, and may be glass, plastic, or less costly stones. Laboratory-created and imitation stones should be clearly identified as such.
Gemstones may be measured by weight, size, or both. The basic unit for weighing gemstones is the carat, which is equal to one-fifth 91/5th) of a gram. Carats are divided into 100 units, called points. For example, a half-carat gemstone would weigh .50 carats or 50 points. When gemstones are measured by dimensions, the size is expressed in millimeters (for example,
7×5 millimeters).
Gemstone treatments or enhancements refer to the way some gems are treated to improve their appearance or durability, or even change their color. Many gemstones are treated in some way. The effects of some treatments may lessen or change over time and some treated stones may require special care. Some enhancements also affect the value of a stone, when measured against a comparable untreated stone.
Jewelers should tell you whether the gemstone you’re considering has been treated when: the treatment is not permanent; the treated stone requires special care; or the treatment significantly affects the value of the gemstone.
Some common treatments that you may be told about and their effects include:
• Heating can lighten, darken or change the color of some gems, or improve a gemstone’s clarity.
• Irradiation can add more color to colored diamonds, certain other gemstones and pearls.
• Impregnating some gems with colorless oils, wax or resins makes a variety of imperfections less visible and can improve the gemstones’ clarity and appearance.
• Fracture filling hides cracks or fractures in gems by injecting colorless plastic or glass into the cracks and improves the gemstones’ appearance and durability.
• Diffusion treatment adds color to the surface of colorless gems; the center of the stone remains colorless.
• Dyeing adds color and improves color uniformity in some gemstones and pearls.
• Bleaching lightens and whitens some gems, including jade and pearls.
For more information on jewelry and gemstones, we cordially invite you to visit http://www.morninglightjewelry.com to pick up your FREE copy of “How To Buy Jewelry And Gemstones Without Being Ripped Off.” This concise, informative special report reveals almost everything you ever wanted to know about jewelry and gemstones, but were afraid to ask. Get your FREE report at http://www.morninglightjewelry.com
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Posted on May 24th, 2008 — in Promoting Stuff
1. Negotiate
Have you noticed that some people seem to always get the best deals? Yeah, you pay full price and think you did OK until they show up with the same thing, only they paid several hundred dollars less. It really get your goat! How do they do it? They’re not afraid to ask for an extra discount.
Yep, don’t sell yourself short because you didn’t ASK the next time your advertising rep makes an appearance! Even if you’re already getting a discount, ask for a bigger one. You have not…because you ask not.
2. Trim
Bigger is always better…or is it? When it comes to advertising, don’t be surprised if some of your short ads meet with more success than larger more expensive ads. Trimming down on the size and cost of advertising doesn’t mean you’ll be trimming the results!
3. Exploit the Freebies
What’s the difference between advertising and publicity? …who’s doing the talking. Yeah, when you sell yourself, it’s advertising. When someone else is selling you, it’s publicity…and it generates credibility and interest that you don’t want to miss out on.
Think about the different ways you can get your business in the spotlight. Do you have some news… write a press release? Write some “how to” articles with a short byline at the end and release them to ezines, magazines, newspapers, and other publishers. Why not promote the product of a non-competitor in return for them promoting yours…think of the totally different market they affect!
Yep, there are a lot of ways out there to get free advertisement that will benefit your business. Of course you won’t be able to rely solely on the freebies, but hey, you can get a little extra for nothing!
4. Improve Your Offer
Is your deal too good to pass up? If not, you need to improve it. Hey, I’m not talking about cutting prices even more…you’ve still got to make a profit. You can make the deal sweeter just by increasing the readers knowledge of the value of the product, or adding bonuses that are perceived as valuable, but cost you little.
Motivate buyers with expirations. Yeah, an open ended offer encourages procrastination…which leads …yep, nowhere. When the customer knows he has until Saturday to purchase an item he’ll pay more for on Sunday, he’ll make it a priority to head for your shop.
Advertising doesn’t have to wipe out your bank account to be effective. When you learn to negotiate, know when smaller ads are as effective as large ads, ask for discounts, and create an irresistible offer, you’re on your way to skyrocketing profit margins!
Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers. Allyn is a marketing and sales fanatic, providing measurable marketing solutions that drive huge results for small-to mid-size business clients. Allyn is the owner of AllynCutts.com and works personally with clients to design and deliver off-line and on-line direct marketing strategies that focus on measurable results.
Submitted with Article Distributor.
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Posted on April 29th, 2008 — in Promoting Stuff
Determining keywords is a critical step in web design. If your website and meta tags do not contain related keywords, web surfers will be unable to find your website when they conduct searches.
The formula is a little tricky - you will need to locate terms that are popular and relevant to your site. These terms may or may not be terms that *you* feel are relevant terms. The optimal terms in a site should be terms that a potential customer would use when searching for a website with your content. In order to achieve success your website should be optimized with terms and phrases that are descriptive, related to your content, and which receive a significant amount of searches. The caveat, of course, is that you want to find terms and phrases where there is little competition, so you quickly achieve high ranking in the important search engines.
relevant + popular with searchers but not with competitors = success
Markets saturated with other sites competing for search terms make it difficult to find quality keywords. Sometimes it is better to optimize for a less popular term, one that is more targeted at your visitor, as it will likely have a higher conversion rate than a less specific popular term. The first step to determining keywords is brainstorming a list of logical terms and phrases that relate to your product or offerings. This should be done by a number of individuals; sometimes people have very different ideas for search terms and by identifying a variety of people and their search terms you may tap words that hadn’t occurred to you. There are a number of free and low-cost tools available online and for download that will allow you to expand and research terms that have been brainstormed. The results typically vary with the tools but overall the tools will assist you in determining where to focus your keyword efforts. The tools will often assist with pay-per-click engines, creating expanded, related keywords or phrases that can be bid on.
In addition to examining log files to see what terms customers are using to find a website, visit competitors web sites and examine their meta tags for additional terms, use a thesaurus to find related terms, include misspellings of keywords in your meta tag keywords, and optimize for various forms of nouns and verbs, including tenses and plurals.
Keyword Tools -
KeywordTumbler - KeywordTumbler takes existing keyword phrases and generates multiple variations, reordering the words. This allows you to build a large keyword list in seconds.
http://www.keywordtumbler.com
TheDowser - Overture Keyword Tool, Google Keyword Sandbox, Keyword Harvester, Google AdWords report analyzer, Google AdWords optimization tool, log file analyzer, conversion tracking and optimization tool.
http://www.thedowser.com
WordTracker - Wordtracker helps you choose the right internet marketing keywords that will help your search engine placement and ranking. Use Wordtracker for keyword research. Web marketing is all about search engine ranking, and that starts with the proper internet marketing keywords. Get a free keyword report and web site promotion information!
http://www.wordtracker.com
Keyword Suggestion Tools - A handy little tool will show you the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture for determining which phrases are searched most often. Enter a search phrase below to see how often it’s searched for, as well as get suggestions for alternate (but similar) keywords.
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
Keyword Ranking Tool - This utility can be used to check search engines for keyword ranking and track search engine ranking for your various keywords over time, which, as you probably know, is critical when doing search engine optimization.
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/keywords/
Overture Keyword Tool - After entering a keyword or phrase, Overture provides a list of related phrases that have been searched on. The tool provides a count that indicates the number of times the phrase has been searched on.
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Topword Tool - Topword Tool is a free online tool that analyzes a complete web page and counts keyword occurrences, as well as keyword phrases (number in brackets), equal to or above that set in the Minimum Occurrences setting. It supplies a list of keywords and keyword phrases which are most likely to achieve the highest rankings on a major search engine. The tool will also analyze your meta description/keyword and title tags and then, through color coding, inform you of words/phrases which should be included. The main use for this tool is checking your optimization and tweaking existing web sites to rank well.
http://www.abakus-internet-marketing.de/tools/topword.html
Google Suggestion - The Google Suggestion is a new online tool for webmasters. As you type into the search box, Google Suggest guesses what you’re typing and offers suggestions in real time. This is similar to Google’s “Did you mean?” feature that offers alternative spellings for your query after you search, except that it works in real time. For example, if you type “bass”, Google Suggest might offer a list of refinements that include “bass fishing” or “bass guitar”. Similarly, if you type in only part of a word, like “progr,” Google Suggest might offer you refinements like “programming”, “programming languages”, “progesterone”, or “progressive”. You can choose one by scrolling up or down the list with the arrow keys or mouse. The tool provides a number that indicates the number of searches a specific word or phrase has had.
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
Keyword statistics give webmasters a way to tap into what is on the minds of Internet consumers. When you can match your marketing efforts to the various ways people locate their items of interest on the net, potential customers will be streamed to your site like ants to a picnic.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing and publishing RSS feeds and NotePage, Inc. http://www.notepage.net a wireless messaging software company.
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