Niche with Passion

IN THIS ISSUE
1.  Niche Marketing Secrets
2 .  Marketing Mailbox
3 . What's New at Marketing Idea Shop?
4 . Quote of the Week
5 . Resources for Entrepreneurs and Marketers
6 . A Little Fun
7. Smell the Coffee
8 . Highlights from Our Next Issue



This ezine is for anyone who wants to attract more customers, close more sales, earn more revenue, boost their bottom line, and drive their competitors
crazy.

Don't forget to tell all your friends and business associates about this informative newsletter! You don't want to be the only smart one in your group, do you?

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SUCCESS SECRETS EZINE IS HERE

If you want the inside secrets of how women just like you propelled their businesses to levels they never dreamed possible, sign up for my new "Success Secrets of Women Business Owners" ezine, which started last week. Each issue profiles one successful woman business owner and includes her top five (or more) tips for creating a successful business.

When you sign up for "Success Secrets of Women Business Owners Ezine," I'll give you a free special report, "Build Website Traffic by Writing Articles: Top 10 Sites to Publish Your Articles" ($9 Value). Subscribe here by clicking on this link and sending me an email.

Read the first issue, profiling Rowena Fullinwider of Rowena's, Inc., plus the expanded profile by clicking on this link.

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1. Niche Marketing Secrets

One of the keys to creating a successful business is finding a market niche that is small enough to corner the market but big enough to make money. Let me tell you about a few people who have done that well, and why it works for them.

Tony Cox, Catalog Solutions: Tony only focuses on small specialty foods catalog companies. He's found a niche that is very profitable and he has developed a national reputation for being able to grow customer lists and improve profitability for these small companies. This works for him because there are plenty of small specialty foods companies that need help, and he is able to significantly make a difference in their return on investment and he knows how to drive more business their way.

Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, shares her publicity expertise every week with over 10,000 subscribers. By concentrating on how to get terrific publicity, Joan specializes in something that every small business wants and needs. She has become "the" publicity expert, and is sought after for her public speaking and articles. When companies ask her to write a marketing plan (a complementary need), she refers them to other specialists because doing a marketing plan would take more time for her than the project would be worth. It's out of her specialty.

Annie Jennings of Annie Jennings PR, focuses on book publicity for authors, speakers and experts. Her unusual pay-for-placement method of generating publicity is different than what most publicity firms offer, creating a niche market for her services.

Tom Antion at GreatMarketing.com concentrates on teaching people how to become better speakers and make more money by using creative marketing techniques. Although these same marketing methods would work for anyone, Tom focuses his efforts on speakers who want to improve, which winnows the niche market to a reasonable size. Consequently, when people think of training for speakers, Tom's name often comes up.

None of these folks is in business simply because they can make money at it...although they DO make money. They have the skills, knowledge and passion needed to create a successful business.

How can you find a niche for your business? Take an inventory of all your skills, abilities, interests and passions. Which ones most excite you? What do you LOVE to do? What needs in this marketplace aren't being met? How can you meet those needs?

Remember, you have to have passion about what you do or you'll never get anywhere and you'll be unhappy all the time. So put your passion to work and discover a niche you can make money with in an online business. The smaller and more specialized the market, the better.

My passion is women business owners. I LOVE to help them improve their businesses. That's why I'm launching my new website at the end of this month and writing a new ezine, "Success Secrets of Women Business Owners." I truly enjoy talking to and learning from other women business owners, so writing my new newsletter and developing this website is a lot of fun for me. Come join the fun! Subscribe to "Success Secrets of Women Business Owners" by clicking here.

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2.    Marketing Mailbox

In response to last week's "Tangibilize" article:

"I've enjoyed several issues of your newsletter, but something about this issue simply makes me want to say "You Go Girl" and keep up the good work. You seem "tangible" enough to me. (I love it!)

"Yours is one of the few newsletters I don't delete until the next issue arrives. Thanks for being you."

Sincerely,
Joseph Porter
http://www.higher-self-improvement-pursuits.com


:-) Thanks, Joseph!


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3. What's New at Marketing Idea Shop?

We have added to our resources page. Click here to visit and check it out.

Our Article Bank has many new articles to help you improve your business, including:

Be the One that Got Away (No Phishing) by Dave Owen
Create Powerful Joint Ventures Step by Step by Christophor Strobel
Your Mission: Brand by Dave Dolak
35 Tips on Starting and Naming a New Business by John J.O'Callaghan
Explode Your Sales With Free & Exclusive Content by Isaiah Hull

Marketing Idea Shop Article Bank, Click Here



I'm always looking for good, informative business articles. Get a link to your site from mine and improve your search engine ranking by submitting an article for our Brainy Article Bank. To send it in the body of an email to me, click here.


WE'RE LOOKING FOR PARTNERS
You can also improve your ranking by cross-linking with Marketing Idea Shop. We have a Google page rank of 4/10, which is pretty good. Let me drive MY customers to YOUR SITE and improve your search engine ranking. If you would like to link to us, please send your request for cross-linking via email (click here)

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AND NOW, A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS...


What's your definition of success?
Email your comments to me.


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4. Quote of the Week

"There are only two ways of spreading light—to be the candle
or the mirror that reflects it."

Edith Wharton, Novelist
(1862-1937)


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5. Resources for Entrepreneurs and Marketers

• "Subcontracting and Teaming in the Federal Market," Sept. 28, 2-5 pm, presented by the National Women Business Center’s new Procurement Institute, at NWBC's offices, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 919, Washington, D.C., $150. To register, call 202.785.4922, send an email here or to sign up online, click here.
  
• Women's Leadership Summit & Gala, Washington, DC, Oct. 25-26, Marriott Wardman Park Washington DC Hotel
  
  Two days of fabulous networking plus keynotes from Stedman Graham (Oprah's sweetie and a well-known entrepreneur and author), Marsha J. Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, and others. Don't miss out. To register now, click here.
  
  
• Free teleseminars from Principal Financial Services Corporation. The next one, "Seven Marketing Mistakes Every Business Will Make (and How to Avoid Them)," will be held Oct. 8. To find out more and register, click here.
  
  C*lick: https://www.teleclassreg.com/ClassMenu/default.aspx
  
  
  
• Free teleseminars from Annie Jennings PR. Every week Annie Jennings PR offers free teleseminars to help you improve your book publicity and business. To s ign up and attend, click here.
  
  Then click on "free teleseminars" on the left.
  
• Do you have a book you want professionally reviewed? Check out the new BookWire Reviews program. The cost is $300 and it includes a professionally written unbiased review, a PDF of your review, the opportunity to add your review to your R.R. Bowker Books in Print® listing, and an enhanced listing on www.BookWire.com.
  
  To begin the review process, call 1-888-269-5372, ext 0073.
  
• DiversityBusiness.com, a small business Internet portal, will hold its 5th annual "Top Small Businesses in America" survey to determine the Top 500 Small Businesses in the United States, the Top 500 Diversity-Owned Business in the United States, and for each State the Top 50 Small Businesses and Top 50 Diversity-Owned businesses. The winners will be announced on October 25, 2004 and will be honored at the 5th Annual Multicultural Business Conference in March 2005. The awards are based on annual sales volume. All Small-, Women-, and Minority-owned businesses are encouraged to register. The deadline to enter is September 30. Click on the link below to visit::
  
  http://www.DiversityBusiness.com
  
  
• Women's Entrepreneurship Conference, October 15, 2004, 8:00 am - 3:45 PM, Governor Dodge Inn, Platteville, Wis., $45 (includes lunch and snacks)
  
  If you are thinking about starting or expanding a business and you live in Wisconsin, this is the conference to attend. It's a full day of workshops to help you succeed, and my good friend, Jo DeMars of DeMars & Associates, Ltd. is one of the presenters. To register, call Kathy Polich at 608-348-8888 or email Sunny Kessel.
  
  
• Women's Leadership Summit & Gala, Washington, DC, Oct. 25-26, Marriott Wardman Park Washington DC Hotel
  
  Two days of fabulous networking plus keynotes from Stedman Graham (Oprah's sweetie and a well-known entrepreneur and author), Marsha J. Evans, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, and others. Don't miss out. Click here to register now.
  
• 2004 Venture Funding for Women Entrepreneurs Available
  
  Are you looking for venture capital? Here's a terrific resource for you! In this 400-page downloadable ebook, you'll find all of the contact information for 200 venture capital firms and investors who recently invested in companies that are women-owned or women-led. You'll also have access to all contact information for the 671 women-led companies that received funding. This is a wonderful tool for you. And you get it all for just $249. Click Here to: Read more about it or buy it here and begin your financial investment ride.
  
  
  
• Do you like these resources? There are plenty more like these in my ebook, BUSINESS SUCCESS SECRETS: HARD-WORKING TACTICS & RESOURCES. 37 pages, packed with ideas you can use immediately... to get more business, generate more traffic to your website and improve your bottom line. Over 135 hyperlinks that can take you directly to marketing resources or ideas you can use right now...so you can save time and money. Beginning and advanced tactics to really make a difference in your marketing results...and you can make more sales with much less effort. Learn to save money on your advertising. Get a list of websites that would LOVE to post your articles. Click here to: read more about it or buy it here.

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6. A Little Fun

Today is "International Very Good Looking, Darn Smart Woman's Day", so please forward this ezine to someone you think fits this description. Please do not send it back to me as I have already received it over fifty thousand times and my inbox is jammed full! ;-)

Help keep the smiles coming ... please send me your marketing, PR or sales jokes. I'll be happy to give you credit and list your website! Email me.


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7 . Smell the Coffee...

The rains came in on Thursday and continued until Saturday afternoon. Then it cleared up and has been beautiful fall weather ever since. Surprisingly, I got a lot done during the rainy days. I usually don't have much energy if it's dark out.

The weekend was pleasant. I began my "Traffic Secrets" course (author: John Reese) and it's loaded with great ideas for building website traffic. It's a whopper, though. There are 13 CDs or DVDs, 2 books and a workbook. Whew! I'm going to be SO SMART when I'm done with this. Watch me zoom! If you'd like to get your own copy, you can learn more about it here, c*lick: http://www.trafficsecrets.com/lfay

Don and I went to seek Kim Basinger's new film, Cellular, this weekend. It dragged a bit in the beginning but it ended up to be a pretty good movie. We enjoyed it. Have you seen anything worth spending $20 (including popcorn) on lately?

Lois


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8 . Highlights From Our Next Issue...

Next week we have some good things in store for you! You'll learn:

• How to put your fear behind you and learn to network for business.
• Plus, as always, you'll find several new resources in our Marketing Resources section, a fun joke or puzzle, an enlightening quote, and a little bit more about me.
  
  So, tune in next week..."same time, same station."
  
  
  Back to Top

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Published by:
Lois Carter Fay, APR
Marketing Guru, Marketing Idea Shop, LLC
411 Rainier Road, Massanutten, VA USA 22840
Voice 540.289.3840 or 800.203.8660

Visit our blog.

© 2004 Marketing Idea Shop. All rights reserved.

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Please tell your friends and associates about this newsletter. It is written for anyone who wants to attract more customers, close more sales, earn more revenue, boost their bottom line, and drive their competitors crazy.

We value your privacy and keep your email address and other information private.

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