How To Become A More Effective Marketer In Four Steps

By Ewen Chia
Posted Friday, August 20, 2004

You're always in the business of marketing no matter what business you are in.

Fact is this has become so intimate that personal success is often linked to how well we are able to market ourselves to others.

Similarly on the Internet, it's often how you market that matters most.

A good product can fail without the right marketing and a ba.d product can soar with aggressive marketing.

For small businesses and individual entrepreneurs, learning to employ effective marketing strategies has become extremely vital for success.

You need to become very good at marketing.

When I first started out, this principle was so firmly fixed in my mind I ended up spending thousands in materials monthly. These were well-spent investments for sure, but for most new marketers looking to make money online, such investments may not be a luxury.

There are other 'guerrilla-like' ways to acquire knowledge and marketing experiences without the regular outflow of money.

Anyone can apply the following four steps to gain better marketing skills and knowledge...and become a more effective marketer at no cost:

Step One: Learning from other marketers

One of the easiest ways to learn and improve your marketing is by learning from colleagues and competitors in your market.

If something's working, use it as a model as you don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Subscribe to newsletters, courses and ezines from established marketing experts and watch how they market. Read marketing books and guides in your library. You can surely pick up many good tips with this free method.

To search for marketing newsletters for example, visit ezine directories (like (http://ezinesearch.com), (http://bestezines.com) etc.

An essential exercise is to study promotional e-mails and sales letters that catch your attention. It's a powerful way to collect a series of swipe files for your own marketing campaigns.

Step Two: Reading articles

The ultimate no cost education you can find online is really from articles such as this.

Do not under-estimate the learning potential from articles just because they are free. Most articles contain usable and valuable information gathered from the writers' experiences. You can quickly reduce your learning curve from this one resource.

You can find articles from on many topics at article directories; here are some for your use:

(http://www.ideamarketers.com)
(http://www.goarticles.com)
(http://www.marketing-seek.com)

Step Three: Staying Informed

Information is power so stay informed of important events and discoveries. This empowers your marketing.

Do constant research using the search engines, marketing forums, discussion groups, and news site to be updated on marketing-related news.

For example one of my favourite sites is DM News focusing on direct marketing: (http://www.dmnews.com)

Here's a simple method to be kept updated on changes and news regularly on autopilot. Use the free resource provided by Google called "Google News Alerts"...

You can get it here by following the instructions to create an account:

(http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en)

Step Four: Keeping It Going

Remember, you've to APPLY what you learn to improve. The fastest way to learn anything is by applying the information and doing it. This is why some say information is only power when it's applied.

Something as simple as reading, writing an article or collecting swipe files can be extremely beneficial in the long-term. Practise makes perfect and action creates momentum.

Don't worry about making mistakes. We all will one time or another, just learn from them and move on.

Experience is a very valuable teacher so don't waste it!

About the Author
Ewen Chia has been marketing online since 1997 and is the owner of Instant Marketing Secrets Inc.For a limited time, discover how you can access $6,997+ worth of million dollar marketing secrets, interviews and audio recordings free at: (http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com)