In order to gain access to the building where my office is located I have an ID card that you swipe through a reader located by the front door. Without that card you can not get in.

Nothing is more aggravating when I get to the front door and, oops! I forgot the darn badge. I have to get back into my car, drive all the way home, use extra gas that I didn't have to had I just taken the time to make sure I remembered it before I walked out the front door.

One thing about the badge is, it is very beneficial to our work environment. It tracks who is coming and who is going for security reasons and it maintains a log as to when an employee arrives for the day and when they leave so they can be paid accordingly. Two benefits of the card reader that are very important, and huge selling points I am sure when the landlord of the building bought the product from the company that provides that service.

When you are advertising online and you put together this killer ad that you feel no one can resist, are you listing your benefits? If you are not, you better start. You have to give the reader an idea and make them understand why, what it is you are selling, is beneficial to them.

Does your product or service make life easier? Will it speed up a certain task? Will the service you provide free up their spare time or offer them piece of mind?

The business, products or services you are offering in your online advertisement has benefits you need to list what they are. I wrote an article the other day on using emotional word pictures or emotional statements to get customers excited about what they are reading. By listing your benefits and combining it with the technique of using emotions, it could be the one-two punch you were looking for in your ad.

Before you post your ad, spend some time and list the benefits of what it is your are advertising. Lets say you are a plumber and you are advertising your drain cleaning services. Take some time to list five to ten items that a customer can read and see why your service would help them out. Now narrow that list down to the best four to six.

As you list each item in your online advertisement, describe in an emotional way how it would benefit your customer. For example, by your customer having you clean their drain, it frees up time that could be spent having a catch with your son or daughter. Describe a clear and concise picture.

Not only are you listing the benefits of your service, but now you are showing why they should choose your business through emotional means.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

Advertising is not as tricky as some may think so as long as you put proper planning into it. Today with the explosion of the Internet, specifically the new hot term web 2.0, social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook can help increase your exposure for your business, services or product line.

If you haven`t heard about them or do not live in a society that uses computers then yes, you are alone. MySpace and Facebook are the two top websites when it comes to social networking. Social networking is a means by which you socialize via these websites by adding people to your friend`s list. There are other options that go along with MySpace and Facebook, but you get the idea.

So who is using it? Anybody and everybody. You can find profiles from Clay Aiken promoting his Broadway debut, to people writing about Britney Spears and her custody battle, up through Jessica Simpson, Poker and Pokemon games.

Whatever it is you are networking for, chances are one of those sites has it. The big question is though, will help you in your business needs. Sure it is great personal socialization, but what about advertising my business.

It absolutely can, when done correctly. If your personalized pages are set up to be too generic, too business like it will turn off a lot of people. Post a picture of yourself, your staff or your building to let people know who you are.

Once they can put a face with a profile they take you more seriously. Next make sure your profile is updated regularly with information about your business, products or services. MySpace provides a free blog area where you can write anything you want, so as long as it is clean.

Once you have your profile set up, join some groups. Groups are a collaboration of people on these sites centralized to a common topic. You will find groups that specialize in chatting and discussing such topics as Tiger Woods, Jessica Alba, and the latest technology like BitTorrent. The list goes on and on. There are a number of groups out there that specialize in what you do. Do a search and join them. Then join in the discussion, socialize and add new friends to your friend list.

Your friend list is your potential customer base. The more you have on their, the more people you can market your business to. In marketing to them, don`t be afraid to post on there where they can find other advertisements for your business, video tutorials you posted on YouTube and so much more.

Get in the MySpace and Facebook game. They are free to join and can offer a great deal of benefit.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

The magic of video has created a plethora of both good and bad means by which it is used for both personal and business reasons. A video in the form of a 30 second commercial aired on regular television, when produced correctly, could result in millions of dollars in sales. When done poorly it could cost the company millions.

But what about video online? Yes we are full steam ahead in the digital age. Everything is digital from pictures to appliances, and of course video. Due to the lowering cost of digital video recorders, anybody can be the next great film maker or commercial producer.

A commercial spot on television could cost a lot of money depending on how many times you run it, the geographic location and more. In steps internet video advertising and how it can help your business.

Unless you live in a closet I am sure you have heard of the web site YouTube. On this site you will find thousands of videos posted by amateurs and professionals alike. You can watch funny clips, people`s home movies, or Clay Aiken`s newest music video.

If you are into keeping up with the times, YouTube has given people the ability to post their frustrations about the press being all over Britney Spears, to Paris Hilton`s Champagne Birthday Party. It has truly become a magnificent web site.

How can YouTube help your business? Simply put you can post multiple video commercials about your business, products or services, how-to videos, and so much more. The best part you can sign up for free. YouTube has become such the video standard for online viewing, that we have implemented on our website the ability for our customers to embed their YouTube video directly into the online advertising promotions with a click of the button.

In order to get started I recommend that you go online to YouTube and search around and see what your competition is doing. Get a feel for what is working and what gets the most "plays".

Once you have a feel for what will produce the best results for the video of your business, product or service, go ahead and record it. Not sure how? Search online for people in your area that handle this, yes they are out there, and they are good at it.

Once your video is complete, upload it to YouTube; share it with your friends, relatives, business partners and current customers. If they like what they see they can share it with their friends with a simple click of the "share" icon that YouTube provides.

Next visit sites that allow you to embed YouTube video directly into online advertisements and promotions, and away you go. Your video, if done well, should be pulling in customers in no time.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

It has been said that the pen is mightier then the sword. If that is the case then why are you not using what could be the most powerful item to get noticed online?

When we started our website, we were not much different than anyone else out there. Our website went live and we worked to get all of our customers. One way we did this was work with other web sites that were similar in nature to ours and agreed to write articles for them.

These articles we wrote helped us build our customer base online and gave us the ability to get our expertise out there in written word on the world wide web.

Are you an expert in something? What does your company specialize in? Answer those two questions and start writing about them. To get noticed online give people what they want to read, information, and web site partners what they crave, content.

You should write about one article per week. If you have the time to write more that`s great, but once a week will do. Create partnerships with other websites that could use your content. For example, my friend runs a rental property repair business. He writes about an article a week on how to handle the small repairs, and other things of that nature. His content can be found on real estate investors, investment clubs, and landlord web sites and so on.

You get the point. After he writes his articles he then emails them to his contact and they do the rest. They post it on their website; even email it to their members in their newsletters.

Your article should be 500 to 100 words in length. Any shorter and it won`t be taken serious, any longer and no one will read it because it will be too long and take up too much space on your partner`s web site.

Your article should be informational. In other words it shouldn't be 500 words on why they should use your service or buy your product, but 500 words on what you are an expert at with some statistics if possible.

Finally, after the article is complete add an "About the Author" section where you tell people who you are and how they can get in touch with you. You can see an example of this in our own article here.

Articles published on the correct web sites will greatly improve your popularity online for your business and web site. The best part it only costs you some time.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

I recently watched an interview on cable television on one of those financial networks. The gentleman was interviewing billionaire Donald Trump.

I am sure you have heard of "The Donald". He is a very successful real estate mogul and businessman. Throw in the television show, "The Apprentice", and he encompasses what seems to be every aspect of business.

However did you know he didn't do it alone? Sure he made some excellent decisions, but without help from others there is no way he could be where he is. He doesn't drive the cranes that lift the steel girders into place in the high rise apartment complexes he builds, nor does he operate the cement trucks to poor the concrete for the foundations either.

But what he does do well is socialize and network. He meets the right people, gets to the know them, and fits them in to his plans to help make his company even more successful.

It takes years of excellent planning, maybe a little luck, definitely hard work and just importantly, the ability to socialize to get to Trump`s level. Whatever your business dreams and ambitions are, by socializing and networking, you can meet the right people to accelerate them faster.

In this article I want to concentrate on how to properly socialize online to help your business, and give you some examples of what you should do to build your "popularity" so to speak.

A friend of mine owns a rental property repair business. Most of his business comes from his local area, but that does not stop him from socializing online. One way he does it is to find chat rooms and social network sites that cater to his type of business.

In his downtime he heads online and answers questions people may have that he is an expert at. Because of the sites he is on allows automatic signatures, he has set that up to show his contact information. He says it has been a great way to get to know people and once and a while he will pull a customer from there. He says more importantly each customer he lands could grow into more customers through word of mouth advertising. The best part of this socialization technique is that it only cost him some of his time. Whatever your business is or whatever products your sell, get involved in a forum where you can share your expertise.

Next up are the social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Furl and Stumble. These sites allow you to post information about yourself, your business, and hobbies and so on. You also build a friend`s list. This list could potentially be your customer base.

Here on our website we participate in all of those social networking sites. We have built up a huge following because we contribute useful information to the business community. You need to do the same. Those sites are free to join and very popular.

So there are two great ways to increase your exposure for your business online. I can not guarantee that it will make you as successful as Donald Trump, but I can tell you with a consistent approach to building your following, you will be well on your way to finding new customers.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

I have a normal routine when I arrive at my house after leaving the office. Before I pull into my driveway I swing by my mailbox, which in our town is located on the opposite side of the street than my house. Probably set up that way to make life easier on the postal delivery person. Once I retrieve my mail, I pull into my driveway, and then proceed into the house.

It is not until I get inside that I look over the mail, sort it by junk mail and important mail, and determine which needs my immediate attention and which mail can wait until after dinner, walking the dog and so on.

Yesterday while browsing through my mail I came across something I thought was very interesting and a good topic to write about in today`s article. My local township is constantly having events, or making upgrades to schools, and a slew of many other items that I, as a local taxpayer, really should stay on top of.

What they sent out to all of the residents in the town was their newsletter. This newsletter was well written, very colorful so it would get noticed, and had all of the information in there that I needed to know to stay informed. It told me what they accomplished last quarter, what they are looking to get done for next quarter and what is to come by the end of the year. They also mentioned some local residents in there that had done some good deeds as well as some charitable donations.

So what am I getting at? Simply the topic of today`s article and that is, for your business and for your customers, you need to start a newsletter.

It doesn't matter if you are online or offline, you need to inform your customers as to what is going on in your business. It serves a multitude of tasks that will help assist your business. For starters, you can include useful information in the article that your customers can use in their day to day lives. In my township newsletter they put a helpful tip in there as to how get the most space out of the recycling container. You will have to tailor your tips to meet your business needs.

Your newsletter can contain some coupons that you put in there for discounts that you are offering, new product or services that you offer and so much more. The possibilities of what you can do with a newsletter are endless.

Depending on what your business does, you should send your newsletter at least quarterly. If you are busy enough to warrant a monthly or weekly newsletter, than that is even better. I strongly discourage sending out a newsletter more than once a week. Doing that may discourage your customers from wanting to read your newsletter to the point where they may ask you to take them off of your mailing list.

You probably receive newsletters now for businesses that you are a customer of. Learn from their newsletters. Find out what you like that they have and what you don`t like, then tailor yours towards your business.

Keep your customers and potential customers informed. Customers will gravitate towards businesses who run not only a respectable business, but one where they learn from.

By: Bruce Tucker

On occasion I visit the local library to do some research. As opposed to just surfing the internet at home, the Library is one of those places where it is quiet, has all the material I will need for whatever project I am researching, and it is filled with many expert librarians schooled on the art of finding information.

This got me thinking about what to write about in my next article that gets posted on our website and business blogs. We`ll get to more on that in a moment.

While talking to a couple of the librarians, I was shocked to hear that out of the 40,000 plus residents we have in our city, less than 20% of them actually have a library card. To me that card represents any, well almost any, piece of information I need to conduct my business.

That brings me to today`s topic. Using your library in conjunction with information that you already have from your own business to do proper market research can help you tremendously. Today I want to cover 5 tips you can use to do research that will teach you how to get to know your customers and competitors.

Customers
Start by asking you customers for information. Get them to fill out a card and return it to you. On that card, ask a few questions for the information you seek. Customers a lot of times are more than happy to provide this information.

Your Own Business
You have invoices, sales receipts, credit applications and a whole slew of other documents with pertinent information on there that can give you statistical data you need to make better decision about what direction to move your company to. See what these items tell you about sales and customers.

Trade Associations
Trade associations exist in your business sector and chances are there are many of them. This is where your local library and librarian can assist. Visit them and ask where you can obtain a list. They may have a book there that you can make copies of to help you with this research. According to S.C.O.R.E., "Use your trade associations. Read their studies and journals or call them when you need information."

US Government
Yes good ole Uncle Sam is there to help you. The federal government has so many programs and buildings full of information that many Americans don`t even realize exist. There are federal employees out there whose main job is to be the expert on a certain topic. I was reading a book the other day and it talked about how a person was starting a farming business and wanted to know about potatoes. He called the federal government in D.C. and eventually was put in touch with a person whose main job is to know everything there is about the business and agriculture information of potatoes. That information to that potential business owner was like walking into a gold mine. Uncle Sam has your information also; pick up the phone and call.

Advisory Board
I talked about this topic in another article that I wrote that can be found on our website. Create an advisory board. I won`t go into much detail on this subject since you can read the previous article. I will tell you this, an advisory board can help you with a lot of creative ideas and more information you need to excel your business.

So there you have it five useful tips to help you complete some market research. Implement these and you will be on your way to improving your business. Do not forget about the library. If you do not have a card, go get one. It is free (in most cases) and every library is worth their weight in gold.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

While watching some television the other night, I, as many of you probably do as well, was channel surfing. Instead of doing the obvious time saving technique of actually reading the weekly TV guide that comes with my local newspaper, I decided to sit in my chair and flip through each channel until I found something I liked. Why we do this, who knows? But it is very common I am sure.

While moving through each channel I stopped on a movie that I absolutely love called El Dorado. It stars John Wayne and Robert Mitchum and is a pretty good film.

During a commercial break there was an advertisement for the local cable company. The ad said something to the affect of, if I upgrade to digital right now along with a friend who is a new subscriber you get 3 months of digital programming absolutely free.

I was thinking that's not a bad deal. The only problem is, everyone I know already has cable television. Nevertheless I thought it would be a perfect topic for today's article and that is rewarding customers who refer new business. It's like marketing and not having to pay for it until you actually make a sale.

Whether you run an online business or brick and mortar establishment, this is a good way to generate more revenue and more importantly, build your customer base. Let's say for example you run a website that sells a monthly subscription to widget digest. It doesn't matter what widget digest is. Just know for now that you sell it.

In this example you can easily offer to a current customer that for every new customer that signs up that was referred to your company by them, the customer will receive 'x' number of months added onto their subscription. Depending on how much you charge for a subscription that could be a substantial savings. A savings that is sure to get your current customers motivated to work for you in obtaining new customers.

This is how the example would work if you had a monthly subscription. You could also tell your existing customers, that if they refer new customers, they will receive a gift card for a purchase at a later date of another product you might sell. If you are a service oriented person, such as you hang drywall for a living, you could offer to paint a room for them if they refer a person who needs some drywall work done.

As you can see, the possibilities with this type of marketing are endless. You can offer free products, coupons, further discounts, you name it.

Sit down and decide what offer will be best for your company to make it worth your while. Write up the plan and the execute it. If done properly you should be getting those new customers in no time.

Now let me see if any other good movies are on right now.

By: Bruce A. Tucker

Have you ever had this type of morning where you are at the office, there is meeting after meeting or you just can't seem to catch your breath because you are so busy?

That happened to me one day last week. It seemed as though as soon as I hit the office door I was off and running. A meeting at eight in the morning, followed by talking to some customers and potential investors, then another meeting and before I knew it, lunchtime had arrived.

Here is the problem; I had another meeting across town so there would be no time to stop in the lunchroom for a quick bite. I would have to get my food on the road.

Now it is not something I normally do, but I stopped at a fast food restaurant to get a quick bite of something so I would not pass out in the afternoon meeting. While there, I was exposed, reminded really, of a great technique that can be used in business to generate some extra revenue that you may not have known was there.

I was ordering a number three (or four, I really can not remember), and when I was done placing my order, the cashier asked if I would like to make my order an extra large for an additional twenty-nine cents. I declined as I did not see the need to drink what looked like a couple gallons of diet soda.

However, this sparked the topic of today's article and that is upselling. Upselling is the technique by which (as you can read above), someone offers you something else with your offer at a discounted price. In the case above, the restaurant was willing to give me about 8 more ounces of soda for only twenty-nine cents more.

This tells me that the cost for that amount of soda is less than what they are charging (must be a lot less at that price). They must have done their market research to know that people are willing to hand over that small amount at the time of their order.

Now this amount mentioned above may not seem like a lot, but since they are a chain, serving probably hundreds of thousands daily, if they get one to two percent of their customer base to agree on the upgrade, it may in turn add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra sales.

As you can see upselling your products or services can lead to extra income that you might not have thought about before.

If you are not upselling in your business, you should definitely start. First sit down and write up a plan as to what would be the best option for you to upsell. If you hang drywall for a living, consider throwing in to prime the drywall for an extra cost. Just make sure that extra cost covers your supplies. SO for instance if a five gallon bucket of primer runs you $90, offer the customer to paint one coat of primer on the drywall for $150. This covers your supplies and most of your labor. But in turn since you are already at the job site, you didn't spend any money on gas for your vehicles.

You get the point. Start upselling in your business. You will more than likely stir up some extra revenue you may not have know existed.

By: Bruce A. Tucker