Business Boosting Articles II

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A chance meeting, a strange twist of fate, lives changed

As I recall, the year was 2000.

I was on stage in Boulder, Colorado at Jonathan Mizel's
Internet marketing blowout.

You know, sometimes you just get in a zone. And that year,
I reckon I was in one.

Zip back in time two weeks before.

I was sitting in a movie theater watching a flick on
screen that initially I didn't want to see. You see, it
wasn't in English and you had to read subtitles the whole
movie.

But everyone raved about this movie. The social proof was
overwhelming. So there I sat.

Eyes glued to the screen.

Mesmerized.

The movie was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And the most
important part of the movie was the end. It left you
breathless in more ways than one.

Fast forward 2 weeks. I'm back in front of the room of
Jonathan's seminar. Doing a rendition of all the stupid
marketing mistakes I've made in my life.

And talking about the path to becoming a marketing Ninja.
Mixing that with flying through the air like they do in
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Well, not exactly. When you're 6' 4 1/2", you don't
exactly fly through the air. It's a speech that is now
infamous.

Anyway, the audience was in total stitches. Falling on the
floor laughing. That was ALSO the speech in which I
revealed that Sandford Wallace told me over dinner he gets
his best ideas in the shower.

Come to find out later, a LOT of people get their best
ideas there.

Anyway, in the middle of the speech, two people get up and
walk out. They thought it was the worst speech they'd ever
heard in their lives!

For others, they sat mesmerized. I got a standing ovation
for what it's worth.

Later, out in the hall, I was talking to a guy. I guess
you could call it a chance meeting.

We chatted a bit and I told this person (I don't remember
the conversation in retrospect) that all they needed was
self confidence. They had all the talent they needed.

I could tell this from a brief chat. He had all the talent
in the world. All he needed was confidence.

Later that person became a really, really well-known
Internet marketing -- one of the best.

His name I'm proud to say is Jim Edwards.

For the record, I'm NOT taking any credit for Jim's
success, other than that I was at the right place at the
right time with a word of encouragement a very talented
person needed.

Now, what if Jim hadn't gone to the seminar? What if he'd
not spent the time or the money. What if he'd not gone
because "the speakers sell products and do pitches" (God
forbid THAT anyone should sell anything at a marketing
seminar...the GALL!)

But Jim Edwards took a chance. He went. And Jim would tell
you that a chance meeting and a few well-chosen words in
the hall changed in his life that day.

I swear Jim'd tell you that if'n you asked him.

Thing is, that speech wasn't video taped. There's no
record of it. You know, at seminars, often the most
important things don't happen on stage.

They aren't video taped.

They're the people you meet. The things you hear. The
things you say to others.

I'm pretty much an ordinary guy. Not much different than
you other than I only work about 30 minutes a day most
days, depending on what you call work.

I spend my time doing what I personally enjoy. Which is
reading and learning. I'm not a millionaire (I don't work
hard enough for that.) But I make more money than most.

But I have a good life. And a good living. I have control
over my fate. Freedom to do the things I want. And a few
good friends I've met along the way.

This is a good business.

I recommend it to you.

Best wishes,
Marlon Sanders

P.P.S. In a strange twist of fate, Jim has given me some
GREAT ideas for my business.

What goes around comes around.

If you want to get your hands on some great ideas for
your business just head on over to:

2 Free Ways to Get Customers to Come to You - Not the Other
Way Around

Here is a powerful tip on how to substantially increase the traffic to your
business weather it's online or bricks & mortar. The best news is that it's
totally free! You will get more targeted traffic to your website and more
customers through your front door.

I've used this technique for my $1.7 million bricks & mortar business and
several of my websites. I can tell you it works, and it works well! You can do it
too! It's more effective than advertising and won't deplete your marketing
budget.

The technique is the power of publicity. Free publicity is easy to get and is
extremely effective. Publicity is usually viewed by most consumers as more
credible than advertising. You can get publicity in many forms but two of the
best techniques are press releases and submittals to publications.

Both of these can put your business in front of thousands or millions of
prospective customers. Almost every market is served by one or more
newspapers, magazines, e-zines, newsletters or websites. These let you get
super, targeted traffic. Almost all of these publications take press releases.

You can use press releases to announce a new website, product, personnel
change, or business milestone. They work great and are almost always
accepted. In online venues you can include a link to your site. Many
businesses use these on a regular basis to keep their firm in the news. It's
solid gold!

Here are five things you should remember when writing a hot press release.

1)        Make sure it is something people will really want to hear about. With so
many niche markets, you are almost sure to be able to target your product,
service or website to one of them. If you can’t, it’s probably time to rethink
your niche anyway.
2)        Make it simple. You want to write the way people really talk. Don’t use
a lot of fancy language. Make it as easy for people to get what you are telling
them as possible.
3)        Remember, you are trying to get free publicity. Be sure to include all
the contact information about your company. If you are using an online
release, make sure you include a link to your site, an e-mail link, or both.
4)        Just the facts, ma’m. You need to have all the facts pertaining to the
product, service or business you are announcing with just enough sales
sprinkled in to make it interesting. Don’t over do it. It’s a press release, not an
ad.
5)        Put the news at the beginning, and then follow with who is releasing it.
Make sure it is news that will grab people and make them want to read further.

Most e-zines and newsletters are hungry for good content. If you are what's
known as a SME (Subject Matter Expert), they will be happy to take your
submission. As a condition of your submission some will even pay you for
your article. Most however, will not pay you but will include a tagline with a link
to your website. It builds quality traffic and your credibility at the same time!
It's an extremely powerful combination. In most cases it's far better than
anything you could pay for.