Local Business Advertising – Small Businesses and Online Advertising

Many businesses, both large and small, spend abundance on advertising on newspapers and other local business advertising. Even more money is spent when it comes to advertising on a popular channel on TV. Yet, many businesses aren’t aware or simply ignore the fact that the internet is a very powerful marketing tool with many benefits and little costs.

The main benefit of online advertising is its price. Typically, the form of online advertising that is most often used is pay-per-click. This is where a company pays a certain amount of money whenever an ad is clicked on. Doing large advertising campaigns may become a little pricey, but it is often nothing when compared to the amount paid for television advertising. The price of online advertising is brought lower every day, which means less money spent by businesses trying to market their products and services.

Online advertising can be easily targeted to ensure better results. You can make it where a different advertisement will be shown to potential customers on a gardening site than on a gaming site. Advertisements that are more relevant to a person are more likely to entice. This means more people clicking on your advertisements, and more people purchasing your products and services, or at least being aware of them.

Most offline advertising is limited to only local business advertising. Or, the advertising may only show during specific times. Yet, online advertising is shown to potential customers and clients every day at every time of day. It doesn’t matter if these potential customers live in the USA or if they live in China. Because of this, you will find that more people are being exposed to your products. You will also receive a wider variety of customers or clients with different personalities and interests.

For small businesses that don’t have much money to invest in advertising, they can easily use email marketing to garner more customers or clients. Email marketing is where companies send useful emails that both inform the reader and entice the reader into purchasing their products or services. Companies may need to hire someone to write emails that encourage converts, but other than that, there are no other major costs.

Do You Have an Internet Home Based Business Idea?

Now that you have had that internet home based business idea and have decided to start a business from home, selecting the right business opportunities is as easy as 1-2-3, well maybe 1-2-3-4!

1. Decide to Market a “Consumable” product

When trying to decide which internet home based business idea you should develop, just think about this for a minute – every time anyone gets out of bed each day and goes to work, someone makes money. Every time you pick up the telephone, someone makes money. Every time you eat, turn on the water, start your car, use a bar of soap, or get a haircut, or go on a vacation, someone makes money. Imagine transactions of hundreds or even thousands of dollars and also millions of $3 or $4 sales several times a month, year after year, after year.

The ideal internet home based business idea which develops into a turnkey home business is one that markets consumable products or services in such a way that after your initial effort is done; repeat orders, sales and commissions come to you for that effort on a continuing basis.

2. Be ahead of the major Market Trends

A “Market Trend” is really an economic movement, meaning that large masses of people’s spending habits are moving in a uniform direction. The effect the baby-boomers have had and will have for years to come on the American economy is a good example.

One leading economist likened the effect the baby-boomers have had on the economy since birth to a basketball running through a garden hose! That fact along can be a major factor in generating profitable home based businesses and should certainly be considered when developing our internet home based business idea.

When developing our internet home based business idea, the question we must ask ourselves is: Are we positioned in front of the basketball or behind it?

History shows that those who identify these trends early, and are able to meet the needs of these trends, are able to create abundant wealth for themselves. In essence, they get in front of an economic wave and ride it to financial freedom!

The key is timing. Get in front of the wave and take the ride of a lifetime.

Current research shows, that what most people want out of life is feeding the current market trends and should be considered in your internet home based business idea:

1. Owning Their Own Business

2. Having Tax Advantages

3. Being Financially Independent

4. Being Healthy

5. Being more environmentally conscious

6. Having A Rewarding Career

7. Owning Their Own Healthy Home

8. Looking & Feeling Younger

9. Losing Weight

10. Traveling

11. Improving Their Lifestyle

12. Personal Development Training and Support

Mega-Trends

These are the wants and needs of some very large consumer groups. In fact, some very large trends are gathering momentum as you read this. They are so large that they can accurately be called “Mega-Trends”.

One of the mega trends is in the area of Health and Wellness- An Internet Home Based Business Idea Because of the economic influence of the Baby-Boomers, economists are predicting that this industry will be the next Trillion dollar industry within the next ten years. Paul Zane Pilzer, an internationally known author, college professor and economic advisor to two presidents, predicts that there will be 10 million new millionaires in the Health and Wellness internet home based Network Marketing industry within the next 10 years. Now that could be a basis for an internet home based business idea!

I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is: Will we be one of them?

Another of those trends is in Travel – an Internet Home Based Business Idea and recreation. Some estimate this industry to be 7 trillion worldwide with expectations to double within the next 6 or 7 years which is over 20% faster than the US economy. Other experts estimate that travel in the US along exceeds 1.3 trillion.

I have read that there are more cruise ships to be built within the next 5 years than in the previous 45 years total. Baby-boomers are swarming to the luxury resorts around the world and this activity is expected to increase as the boomers experience the inheritance of their parent’s money and also begin to draw on their own retirement plans.

With the baby boomers currently retiring at the rate of about 1 per second and increasing, increase in travel could very well be the largest mega-trend we will experience in our lifetime!

The combination of these Mega-Trends is causing one of the most explosive economic waves in history. Now there is another potential internet home based business idea! All Wealth is first created in the Mind and then transformed into reality by the application of known Principles! – Think and Grow Rich! – Napoleon Hill

3. Leverage your time

Leverage, through the process of duplication and multiplication, allows us as entrepreneurs to develop a successful internet home based business idea, part-time, around our busy lifestyle. In essence, leveraging our time allows us to get more done in a shorter period of time with less effort. This concept applied in your home based business means you can accomplish more than you could normally accomplish on your own.

When effectively incorporated into an internet home based business idea, computer and internet technology can multiply leverage thousands of times. That means in the right system, networking and internet technology can do the work of thousands of people, and you get paid on that work! Imagine developing a business part-time, which can grow to a full time career, that wouldn’t interrupt your present circumstances, and provides you a flow of income while you spend time with your family, travel, go to the beach, or even sleep! That’s the power of leverage.

4. Market Selection

Before choosing the right internet home based business idea, one must first identify the fastest growing industries as well as the most profitable home based businesses. Some of the fastest growing industries today are:

Greeting Card Industry – 7 billion greeting cards are purchased every year. Annual retail sales of greeting cards are estimated at more than $7.5 billion. Nine out of every ten households purchase greeting cards each year.

Working From Home – $401 Billion Dollar Industry.

Internet Marketing – exceeds $523 Billion according to a study done by the McCombs School of Business and is expected to reach 7 Trillion within the next 3 years.

Mail Order Marketing – $350 Billion Dollar Industry and growing.

Wellness Industry – $200 Billion Dollar Industry and expected to reach $1 Trillion within 10 years.

Nutrition Industry – $4.2 Billion Dollar Industry and exploding.

Weight Control Industry – $33 Billion Dollar Industry fueled by epidemic size obesity levels. An estimated 70% of the U.S. population needs to lose 10 – 50 pounds.

Personal Care Industry – $72 Billion Dollar Industry.

Cosmetics Industry – 8 Billion Dollar Industry – and steadily growing.

Travel and Vacation – $860 Billion and growing.

When developing an internet home based business idea into profitable home based businesses, it is not necessary to pick an industry which we already have an affinity for, although it certainly is desirable. However, as you will see in upcoming pages, if you have the Desire to build a business and new lifestyle, there is a fit for you out there. Again, the challenge is to select the right business and company when you start a business from home.

Not only should the market and marketing concept fit you, but in order for a business to be real it must have the right: Product, Market, Timing, Management, Company, Compensation, and Benefits and Rewards.

We should not look for get-rich schemes! If you are serious about your goals of personal development and building a long-term residual income and work diligently towards goals you will succeed.

How Important Is the Fundraising Auctioneer to the Success of Your Event?

I want you to think about the term “Fundraising Auction”.

A “Fundraising Auction” is an event where items of value are gathered, and then sold in a competitive bidding situation, either in a Silent Auction format, or in a Live Auction format by a Live Auctioneer. And since typically the best items are saved for the Live Auction, arguably it is the Live Auction that should generate a significant portion of the proceeds in any Fundraising Auction.

So why do so many non-profit groups consider the Fundraising Auctioneer to be the least valuable component in a Fundraising Auction?

The Hosting Facility gets paid.
The Printer gets paid.
The Caterer gets paid.
The Liquor Store gets paid.
The DJ gets paid.
The Florist gets paid.
But the Auctioneer … the individual who is expected to raise the lion’s share of the event’s proceeds… is expected to work for Free. And is usually under-appreciated for the professional services he/she provides.

I’m not trying to underscore the value of the invitations & programs, food, booze, music, and decorations. All are important in their own way. But each of these are “Expenses”. It is the Auctioneer who is going to bring “Revenue”… and thus, the “Profits”… into any event. Which is the ultimate objective of any Fundraising Auction.

Here is a real-life example of how under-appreciated the Auctioneer can be. In two comparable events we worked last year, during the dinner portion of the event one non-profit group sat the Auctioneer (me) at a table with the DJ, the Interns, the Volunteer Staff, and other event “Help”. The 2nd non-profit group sat the Auctioneer (me) directly next to the CEO of their organization, where we chatted about how important the pending revenue would be to their organization. Which group do you think valued the services of the Fundraising Auctioneer more?

Don’t ever under-estimate the value that a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can bring to your event. The Auctioneer adds value as a pre-event consultant. And the Auctioneer can change an event from a moderate to a huge success.

A Case Study Once I was scheduled to call an Auction for a major local non-profit group. They represented a very good cause and they had a strong and dedicated following. Their event was sold out, quality Live & Silent Auction items had been solicited, and the Special Pledge Appeal had been choreographed and was ready to go. The facility was first class, the appropriate caterer was booked, and the food was ready to cook.

But quite unexpectedly, some unseasonably inclement weather forced the event’s cancellation. Despite all of the committee’s hard work, cancelling the event was the proper decision considering the circumstances.

So the Event Committee scrambled to re-schedule the event for the following weekend.

They confirmed with the Hosting Facility.
They confirmed with the Caterer.
They confirmed with the Liquor Store.
They confirmed with the DJ.
They confirmed with the Florist.
Since they already had the Mailing List of those scheduled to attend, no new invitations had to be printed as all were contacted by email or telephone. So with everything in place, the group went ahead and re-scheduled the event for the following weekend.

But guess who they failed to confirm? You got it… the Professional Auctioneer. They thought so little of the Auctioneer’s contribution that they “assumed” that the Auctioneer would be available and at their beck and call.

But the Auctioneer already had another Fundraising Auction booked for that date with another non-profit group. It was only hour away from the re-scheduled event, and things could have been easily worked out. All Group #1 had to do was start their event one hour earlier, or one hour later, than the Group #2, and the Auctioneer could have helped both groups on the same day.

But because Group #1 failed to anticipate a possible Auctioneer conflict, because they failed to confirm with the Auctioneer before re-scheduling their event, their preferred Auctioneer had to bow out and they had to scramble to locate substitute “Volunteer” Auctioneer only days before their event.

And it cost them.

Learning Points

The Live Auction is usually where the profits are made at any Fundraising Auction.
A Professional Fundraising Auctioneer can be vital to the success of any Fundraising Auction.
The better Fundraising Auctioneers usually get booked quickly.
You need to recognize the important contributions that a good Auctioneer can make to your event.
Michael Ivankovich is a Bucks County Fundraising Auctioneer based in Doylestown PA, and serves the Great Philadelphia PA area. He has been a professionally licensed and bonded Auctioneer in Pennsylvania for nearly 20 years, has been named Pennsylvania’s Auctioneer of the Year, and has considerable experience in conducting Fundraising Auctions. Michael loves helping groups raise needed funds for good causes and one of his specialties is the “Special Pledge Appeal” or “Fund-A-Cause Appeal” which usually enables clients to double their revenue in a single evening.