In simple terms, Email Marketing also called Direct Mail Marketing or Bulk Email Marketing means sending emails to potential and existing customers about details of new and existing products and services. The extensive use of email marketing services to advertise on the Internet is for everyone to see. The number of emails sent out with the purpose of marketing is close to billions. At the same time the consumer’s inbox is overflowing with private, commercial, business and spam email. Hence, email marketing can serve its purpose only when it stands out among the crowd of other mails and manages to catch the eyes of the target audience.

Every online and quite a few offline businesses are resorting to bulk email marketing solutions because of its cost effectiveness and reach. Advertisers think that once a mail reaches a consumer’s inbox, it is natural that he will read it. But that may not be the case at all. Because of a flood of such emails, consumers do not know what to read and might ignore or delete them. The other aspect is that mostly such mails get classified as spam and hence escape the eyes of the target audience.

The important question here is that, is the mail actually reaching the target audience? The first step to email marketing is that the online company should clearly identify the target audience and then prepare a comprehensive mailing list, first of existing customers if any, and then of the prospective customers that constitute a part of the target audience. This will ensure that the email goes only to the right people. This step will also ensure that the emails are resulting in sale of products and services, since it is going only to those people who would be genuinely interested in them.

It is advisable to ask permission from the people before marketing to them. There is no point in flooding the inbox of a person who is not responding or who has not subscribed for their services, seeking permission to initiate direct mail marketing will also display the advertiser’s respect for his customers. Secondly, it is important to plan the direct mail marketing campaign with care with emphasis given to detailing of the content, design and web pages that are sent to the consumer. Consistently delivering value is another key to keep the customers subscribed.

For bulk email marketing to be successful it is important to connect with the subscriber and form a relationship with him. It is advisable not to follow the crowd and dare to be different. All these factors will add the much needed uniqueness to the email marketing campaign that will catch the customer’s eye and sustain his attention.

Aisha Danna is an Online marketing expert and has been associated with scores of successful marketing campaigns through the Internet in a long span of time. She is currently associated with ePurplemedia which offers a variety of Online Marketing Services [http://www.epurplemedia.co.uk], that will help websites rank at an enviable position & enables to fight online competition successfully. Their services include such as SEO Service UK, Search Engine Marketing Services [http://www.epurplemedia.co.uk/search-engine-marketing.html], Email Marketing Services, affiliate network etc

Perhaps a better question to ask would be “Why Not Network Marketing?”

Of all the various types of home businesses, Network Marketing has proven itself over the years to be the leading method by which the average person can achieve above average results.

Thousands of people, just like you, join Network Marketing companies every single day. Whether you’re only looking to make a few hundred dollars extra each month or create a large residual income, Network Marketing can help you achieve your goals.

“But what exactly is Network Marketing?”

Network Marketing is a method of moving products from the manufacturer to the consumer via word of mouth advertising. Instead of the middleman (wholesaler or jobber) taking his or her cut before moving the product to the retailer, the ability to earn that money is passed directly on to you, the Network Marketing distributor.

For example, a traditional brick and mortar business model goes something like this:

Manufacturer -> Wholesaler -> Retailer -> Consumer

The manufacturer creates the product and sells it to the wholesaler/jobber who then raises the price and moves the product to the retailer. Since the retailer is in business to make a profit, he too must raise the price. The end effect is that the consumer could be paying a lot more than they should be for that particular product.

The Network Marketing business model is somewhat different.

Network Marketing Company -> Distributor (You) -> Consumer

In this example you can see that the Network Marketing Company is selling the products directly to you, the distributor, and you move then on to the end consumer. This allows you, the distributor, to receive the difference in price from wholesale to retail, which would, in a traditional business model, be taken by the wholesaler and retailer.

But that’s only part of it. When you help someone else get started in his or her own Network Marketing business, you will receive an override, or residual, on the volume of business that person does, which can, in and of itself, end up being a large portion of your overall earnings.

“But I’ve heard that Network Marketing has a 95% failure rate.”

This is true of all small businesses, home and traditional brick and mortar, not just Network Marketing, but the figure tends to be incredibly misleading. People quit things all the time for various reasons, not just Network Marketing. Maybe they didn’t understand that Network Marketing does require work, or they don’t have enough time to build it right now, or possibly the time just isn’t right for them.

Whatever the reason people quit, they don’t want to admit to themselves why they quit, so they end up blaming Network Marketing in general or this or that company in particular. This is why Network Marketing gets such a bad rap in the media.

But thousands upon thousands of people worldwide are earning a portion of or a large part of their incomes directly from Network Marketing. So the business model does work…if you work it.

Whether you get involved with Network Marketing or not is your decision. I’d recommend that you keep and open mind, do your due diligence, investigate several different companies, and then make your decision, based not other people’s opinions, but your own research.

The most liquid market in the world! We’re talking about the currency market, money market, or ‘forex market’ meaning foreign exchange, of ‘FX’ for short. The highest day volume recorded on equity markets such as the FTSE, Dow Jones or NASDAQ are only one tenth of that recorded on the FX market. That makes the money market very big and more importantly very liquid. A liquid market guarantees buyers and sellers for even the biggest transactions.

Online forex market

Forex trading was not available to retail investors originally when online spread betting first started in the 1960′s. Only banks and life insurance companies had the resources. As spread betting companies developed their operations they began to offer online forex trading. The growth of spread betting and online gambling has made is simple for retail investors to take part. Many spread betting companies now operate in the forex market. Such competition has led to companies offering user friendly trading platforms with simple order systems, charts, and technical support. It is worth shopping around. A spread betting company that allows you to stake small amounts is a good starting place. Forex markets are priced to four decimal places. This means a very small move can result in very big wins or loses. To start your journey into forex markets it’s advisable to start with small stakes.

Forex Opportunities It’s simple really: you can spread bet a currency pair to either increase of decrease with one increasing in value against the other. Fixed odds bets on forex markets are also available. Website’s like betonmarkets.com offer you fixed odds bets on various markets. For example, you can bet a currency pair will not hit a level defined by you or that it will trade within a range set by you.

So why trade forex markets? Traders in any markets tend to determine the trend of the market. Traders in the forex markets have very large trading accounts and are led more by price action. This tends to cause self forfilling trends, for example, the more a currency moves in one direction the more the traders will push it in that direction. This can also be known as momentum trading. The fundamental drivers of currency markets, for example interest rates, inflation, balance of trade and a countries current account deficit or surplus can be active for years. Forex markets do not move in connection with equity markets or bonds. Trading currencies is an excellent way of creating a diversified global trading portfolio. Diversification is important because if equity markets loose value you have a chance to gain from forex markets.

The most frequently traded currency in the forex markets are the dollar and 6 others. The droller’s forex symbol is USD. You can also choose from the euro, EUR; the Japanese Yen, JPY; the British pound, GBP; the Swiss Frank, CHF; the Canadian dollar, CAD; and the Australian dollar, AUD. Each currency even has it’s own nick name, for example, the dollar is called the greenback, the British pound – aka cable, the Swiss franc is called the Swissie, and the Canadian dollar is called the loonie.

The worlds central bank hold the largest proportion of their reserves in dollar denominated assets….making the US dollar the worlds reserve currency. This means he dollar has a pivotal roll in many markets. The oil market is priced in dollars as are most commodity markets. If you want to import goods form Asia you can bet they’ll be priced in dollars. This means countries must hold dollars in order to purchase goods, trade in goods, or trade in raw materials. You will find that most spread betting companies will quote in terms of dollars. Always bear in mind which way the currency is being quoted, as it’s direction will represent either an appreciation or depreciation against the dollar. For example, a rise in the value of JPY/USD – expect to see the line of a forex chart moving upwards – means the Yen has gained in value against the Dollar. A rise is value of USD/JPY means the Dollar has gained in value against the Yen – again the line on a forex chart would be moving up.

Some Public Relations purists seem to be giving a derisive sniff to all of the attention paid to Word-of-Mouth and word-of-mouse marketing. They contend, and rightly so, that new innovations have always had vocal early adopters, and publics have long sought out communities of interest to help them make important decisions.

The complaints revolve around the fact that other related but sometimes competitive disciplines – advertising, direct marketing, Web marketing, research and even management consulting – are “stealing” the Word-of-Mouth Marketing concept and calling it their own.

Get over it. The time you spend complaining is time you should be spending polishing your Word-of-Mouth Marketing skill set.

Earlier this year, we arranged a meeting with six of our colleagues in the Worldcom Public Relations Group to compare notes on each agency’s Word-of-Mouth Marketing programs. In reviewing each firm’s Word-of-Mouth marketing formal and informal programs, we found a common thread that runs through all our effective Word-of-Mouth Marketing efforts.

Below are a few of the most prevalent themes:

You Can’t Do It Without Research
Quite possibly the biggest difference between today’s Word-of-Mouth Marketing and Social Media programs and the ones conducted in the past is the ability to ground the program in research that improves the likelihood of its success.

Bain Consulting Group has pioneered a “Net Promoter Score” that assigns a score to a company’s recommendability based on a single question: “How likely would you be to recommend this company’s product or service to someone else?”

Kaizo has created a research methodology that identifies the reasons why an individual would make that recommendation. This same research methodology could be used to understand why employees refer employers, or why investment analysts recommend securities.

Getting into the hearts and minds of an organization’s biggest fans and worst detractors is critical to creating your cadre of Word-of-Mouth marketing advocates. Without research, you’ll be guessing, and you’ll likely be wrong -more importantly you will be missing an essential metric to prove if your efforts are paying off.

Social Media – A Built-In Outlet for Word-Of-Mouth
Don’t get hooked on the fact that WOM stands for Word-of-Mouth. It might just as well stand for word-of mouse. If you’re a homeowner or do-it-yourself type, you probably have a can of WD-40 on a shelf somewhere in your basement or your garage. The product has been around for more than 50 years, and people have been recommending it to friends, neighbors and colleagues for just as long to solve problems ranging from a squeaky door hinge to removing tar and dead bugs from bumpers and windshields.

By creating an online WD-40 Social Media Fan Club, the company with the help of Nuffer Smith Tucker Public Relations, was able to give those passionate fans a more efficient way to share their experiences through Social Media. The power of that fan club became evident when the company polled its members to identify the top uses for the product. The company had originally hoped to generate a list of 200 uses. It got back more than 360,000 submissions that led to a final list of 2,000 with more coming in every day.

Word-of-Mouth – It’s More Than Marketing
As ad agencies and direct marketing firms have jumped on the word-of-mouth bandwagon, most of the focus has been on use of the technique for attracting consumers. However, members of the Worldcom Group agreed that companies just getting started on formalizing their Word-of-Mouth efforts can be equally well-served focusing on more specific publics or audiences.

B2B marketing, for instance, clearly has significant opportunities to become more disciplined at Word of Mouth Marketing. A number of studies have shown that the higher the risk associated with the purchase decision, the more likely the customer is to rely on friends, colleagues, and experts for advice rather than impersonal channels like traditional advertising and direct marketing (e.g. Social Media).

It stands to reason, then, that B2B Marketing products and services, which generally are “make or break” propositions, are more apt to be adopted through word-of-mouth than many consumer products, where the consequence of a bad decision is hardly long-term.

The Non-Profit Sphere
And don’t forget Word of Mouth in the non-profit world. As one component of a broad-based Social Media program, Padilla Speer Beardsley created a MySpace (Social Media) page for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). A MySpace presence provides an opportunity for patients, families, donors and others to share their stories, and invite others to become a friend to the NMDP.