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By Marv Lincoln Imagine: An ongoing advertising, marketing and publicity campaign for your small business that succeeds beyond your wildest expectations. The cost: Pocket change. Fantasy? Hardly. Such a scenario is not only possible, but is happening all across America today. The technique is called Guerrilla Marketing, and it is being utilized more and more as advertising costs soar and media options expand in a marketplace that is volatile, unpredictable and fraught with risk. Consider this: The average advertising-marketing expenditure for large corporations and big businesses in America today is a little under ten percent of annual gross income. For small businesses, the average ranges from 10 to 25 percent. That’s a lot of money for any size business. And much of the advertising-marketing budget is wasted on the scattershot approach, which means untargeted ads in newspapers (a crap shoot at best) or direct mail (in which a 1-2 percent return is considered successful). Fuggedaboutit! Guerrilla Marketing means never having to say you’re sorry about having a next-to-zero ad budget. It means using unconventional ways of promoting your business. It means using your energy, creativity and ingenuity to bring about the desired results without gambling next month’s mortgage payment. In this ongoing series, I will present several examples of successful Guerrilla marketing campaigns as well as time-tested ideas for promoting your small business for next to nothing. Example one: Entertain the public. Everyone likes entertainment. Especially when it’s free. For a client in Sedona, my firm ran a series of small, visually entertaining ads in the local media featuring an attractive young woman who is a model as well as an aspiring singer-songwriter. We’ll call her Susan. The client sells carpets and other home furnishings. It’s a tough market with a lot of competition. The ads didn’t cost much for the quarter, probably under $1,000. Our model was always depicted with the product, saying lines that were takeoffs on familiar ad campaigns or cultural icons: “I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse!” or “It’s All About Youand Your Home!” For a Labor Day promotion, we had Susan come to the shop in Uptown Sedona to perform on keyboard and vocals, meet the public and sign autographs. Although most people outside Sedona haven’t heard of Susan — yet — the people were lined 20 and 30 deep to meet her and get her autograph. Sales for the Labor Day weekend were up more than 300 percent over the previous year as a result of this promotion. Susan was paid a token sum, about $100, for her personal appearance, but she sold dozens of copies of her first CD, got lots of local radio airplay in connection with her appearance, and is now in Los Angeles making the necessary connections to become a Country & Western star. That’s Guerrilla Marketing: Minimum investment, local talent, free entertainment, major action at the cash register, and everyone benefits. More to come in our Guerrilla Marketing 101 series. Stay tuned! Look for a company that can create ideas and provide the tools for your Guerrilla Marketing campaign: Call on Thunder Mountain Productions for all of your copywriting and marketing needs. Creative Director Marv Lincoln has years of experience as a writer, reporter, advertising and PR executive, book editor, and published book author. He has been published in many national periodicals. Visit http://www.sedonapr.com/ for more information. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marv_Lincoln http://EzineArticles.com/?Guerrilla-Marketing,-Part-2:–How-to-Succeed-on-a-Next-to-Zero-Advertising-Budget&id=400598 approved electronic cash fast business organization no credit check cell phones credit-loan-fast-easy unsecured loans poor credit

By Karen Lavender Looking for something to entertain the kids when it’s raining or too cold to go outside? Child crafts can keep kids busy for hours- and best of all, child crafts can be educational. There are child crafts you can make with kids of all age groups, from preschoolers right through high school aged teenagers. When the weather isn’t cooperating, give your kids a variety of child crafts to work on. Clear your kitchen table off and gather some basic supplies- it’s time to get crafting! Some kids prefer to come up with their own child crafts; letting their imaginations take over and making things out of miscellaneous supplies like toilet paper rolls, paper, yarn and glue. Other kids prefer to have instructions and patterns for making specific child crafts. You can find child crafts ideas in magazines or online if you aren’t feeling creative enough to make up your own. Popular Child Crafts for Preschoolers Before getting started making child crafts, gather all the supplies! As your preschooler is running around the house, go on a search for paper, glue, crayons and safety scissors. Child crafts can make use of nontraditional items as well, so look for empty shampoo or dish soap bottles, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, string, shoe boxes and paper bags. Let your imagination be your guide. Child crafts for preschoolers should be fairly simple to make, as well as quick in order to hold their attention. Help them make binoculars from toilet paper rolls, or puppets from old socks and markers. Add yarn hair. A favorite child craft of many children is creating yarn masterpieces. Give your child glue and different colored pieces of yarn. Let the child place glue all over their paper (gluesticks work great for this project) and then lay out pieces of yarn over the glue in whatever shape they want! It’s like painting with yarn. Child Crafts for Older Children As children get older, they are capable of more detailed child crafts. Let grade school children create a city out of cardboard boxes. Flatten a box or two to create the city ground, and using smaller boxes, egg cartons, and construction paper, let your child build a city. Draw roads with markers, make trees and houses. Drive matchbox cars through the city, or make your own cars out of egg cartons or other objects. Children love clay and play dough. You can follow child crafts recipes to making your own dough for the kids to play with. Other child crafts that involve food are potato stamps and macaroni necklaces. Create musical instruments with coffee cans, and elbow macaroni. Make your own bubble solution with equal parts dish soap and water, and let your kids blow bubbles in the bathtub for a special child crafts treat! Warren and Karen have been involved in the internet for a number of years and run several websites. They are most interested in providing opportunities for people to connect with information relating to business, health and creativity. Check out their Child Crafts blog for more information. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karen_Lavender http://EzineArticles.com/?Child-Crafts&id=177420 low fee faxless payday loans hard money lenders in virginia money and educational loans uk loan lenders that gives out personal loans to caribbean people

By Janice Buttitta Now that you have decided to go into the alpaca industry are you sure you know how to get noticed? Remember that people need to know you exist before they can come knocking on your door. Marketing is a very important aspect of every business. Here are 10 ways to help get your ranch known:Join AOBA (Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association) and your local affiliate such as ABA (Alpaca Breeders of Arizona). Directories are sent out yearly to all members and your ranch name, address, type and number of alpacas are included. There are yearly membership dues for joining the associations. Volunteer your time. Whether you are helping out a nearby ranch or giving your time at a show will get you networking with other alpaca ranchers or wannabe alpaca ranchers.Send out direct mailings. The consumer needs to see your name on average seven times before making the move to contact you.Take your fiber and fiber made products to farmers markets, crafts, and fairs. Make sure you have some kind of catalog or flyer to give away, so the consumers know how to contact you for a later buy.Hold ranch tours and accept visitors. You want people to come to your ranch and see the alpacas first hand. It will be hard for some to walk away. Always be courteous and informative. Remember that word of mouth can go a long way.Hand out your business cards to everyone. Stick them in your return mailings for bills. You never know when it might catch someones interest enough to contact you.Create a website. We live in a digital world. Less and less people pick up the actual yellow pages, but are searching away on the net. You can go global by creating a website for your ranch.Advertise in magazines. Be sure to know who your target market is and advertise only in those magazines. Ads can be expensive and you will want to measure your results, so you can see which magazine is worth advertising again in the future.Participate in shows. There are alpaca shows in almost all levels being held nationwide. If your alpaca is given a ribbon you are instantly recognized. Shows are great for networking and meeting new people. Most shows are free to the general public, so be prepared to answer lots of questions.Educate your consumers. These days there are still plenty of people who do not know what an alpaca is or the benefit of their fiber. The more we educate the more demand we will create for the animals and their fiber. Education can be done by offering seminars, writing articles or ezines, or writing a monthly newsletter. Some of the items listed above are simple to do while others will take time to think through and strategize. Coming up with an overall marketing plan and budget will help you getting your ranch known. Janice Buttitta owns Desert Mountain Alpaca Ranch with her husband in Hereford, AZ. They breed, raise, and sell huacaya alpacas and alpaca related products. Please visit the website http://www.desertmtnalpacas.com or http://www.alpacanation.com/desertmtnalpacas.asp for more information. Desert Mountain Alpaca ranch welcomes visitors and can teach you the alpaca business. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Janice_Buttitta http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Ways-to-Get-You-Noticed-in-the-Alpaca-Industry&id=248128 micro money loans personal secured loan finance bad credit small loan loan for rv with poor credit