Marketing Promotion Ideas

Take Risks And Be Unique To
Stand Out From The Crowd

Some time ago, I went whale watching in Bar Harbor, Maine while
on vacation. I remained in the large, main deck cabin with my
seasick infant son when a whale was finally spotted.

The Captain announced, "Whale to the starboard", and a mini-
stampede of about 70 tourists scampered over just in time for the
briefest of glimpses as it quickly submerged again. Everyone jostled
and jockied for position to get the perfect camara shot for when that
darn whale resurfaced.

But of course, it wasn't going to work out this way. "Whale to the
port side", announced the Captain, and the stampede to the other
side literally tipped the boat. Naturally, the whale had disappeared
by then as well.

This went on this way -- back and forth -- for about twenty minutes.
The whale seemed to be toying with human nature -- the tendency for
people to do what everyone else was doing.

And everyone was zigging when they should have been zagging.
There were no 'individuals'. They moved as a group in their futile
quest to snap off a clear and revealing shot.

Then, guess what my wife did? She took a chance and went to the
OTHER SIDE of the boat, alone! Sure enough, the whale popped
up for a few seconds, she got the shot, and that was the last that was
seen of that whale, or any other, for the rest of the trip. There were
alot of unhappy tourists grumbling on the way back.

What has any of this got to do with your internet business? Well, if
you observe your own internet market, it's very likely you'll find that
the vast majority of the 'crowd' are doing the sames things in the same
ways -- and they're also getting the same poor results.

This presents a golden opportunity to be noticed by doing things
differently.

Marketing and promotion is all about grabbing and maintaining
attention. Observe the competition and observe your own marketing
work. Are you distinctly different or are you just another member of
the crowd?

Successful entrepreneurs, both online and off, are innovators and risk
takers. They *experiment*, *evaluate* and *evolve* until they
successfully convey that both who they are and what they offer is
unique in the marketplace, despite all the competition.

To separate yourself from the pack, you need to look at every aspect
of your marketing and promotion efforts and ask yourself, "What's
unique about this?" And, "How does this contribute to my own
unique presence?"

Here's some promotion areas and ideas you want to take a good
hard look at to get started.

* Have you given your prospects reasons to look at you,
personally, any differently than the rest of the crowd?

* How about your ezine? Is it similar to countless others or is
there a unique theme or tone that consistently runs through it?

* While your ads may be well written, is the overall message
very much the same as so many others?

* How is your sales page unique? And have you given it a
measured dose of your own personality?

* Are you playing it safe and trying to please and sell
everyone, and consequently selling to almost no one?

* Why should your prospects believe YOU when they are
skeptical of so many others?

This process of developing unique marketing strategies is subjective,
involves risks, takes work to implement, and time to evaluate and
change again if necessary. But in doing so, you will develop the
factors crucial to successfully setting yourself apart in a very
competitive marketplace.

Stand out from the crowd. Move to the empty side of the boat --
and you'll get your pictures of the whale.