2. Online Video. . Studies show that video can boost click-throughs 50%. It also boosts your search engine visibility. That’s why smart marketers are starting to use video in eMail, eNewsletters, microsites, press releases, and in advertising and awareness campaigns on sites like YouTube and Facebook. During 2009, experiment with using video! Some ideas: product demos, testimonials, introduction to your website, special report, a status report (e.g., progress on a project or how you’re renovating your offices), etc.

3. eCommerce. Online sales continue to grow. More and more customers are staying in the comfort of their own home and saving the gas to make purchases. If you do not sell online. You really should.

Online sports properties have the perfect ingredients to engender the kind of customer engagement that all businesses crave. “Sports sites have a built-in audience of passionate fans who are loyal to the teams they follow,” says Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer and author of the new report, Sports Site Marketing: Ad Revenue Models Pull Ahead. “These fans have an insatiable thirst for facts, figures, statistics and trivia—and they like to share their knowledge and opinions with others.” Most importantly to marketers, sports fans are willing to pay for premium content and merchandise, and are used to the presence of sponsors and advertisers around sports events. “As the Internet continues to evolve toward ad-supported models,” says Mr. Verna, “sports sites will follow suit.” eMarketer estimates that total revenues for

“The increase will be largely due to the growth of ad-supported sports content models,” says Mr. Verna. eMarketer estimates that US sports site revenues from advertising will rise from 55% in 2007 to 66% in 2012.

“Additional revenues will come from ancillary sources such as ticket sales, merchandise and memorabilia, partnerships, and Website and production services that sports sites provide for third parties,” says Mr. Verna.

That spending increase has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is likely from offline efforts. Among DMers, 30% spent less than $100,000 on offline campaigns, up from 23% in 2006 and 18% in 2005.

The move to digital marketing should continue: 84% of those surveyed anticipate their online spend will increase during the next 12 months, with only 1% foreseeing a decline.

Part of this may reflect the relative youth of the online space, but part may also reflect marketers going where the customers are. Only 44% of all marketers said their offline spending would increase, compared with 52% in 2006 who expected it to rise. The number expecting decreases was 11%, identical with 2006.

Aside from boosting their online spending, two-thirds of all marketers said they were allocating additional resources (such as headcount, man-hours or research) to database and analytical functions. Forty-two percent are putting more resources toward digital efforts, and 39% are investing more in process and operational functions.

Survey respondents are also embracing specialists for certain marketing functions. Forty-five percent outsource creative design to agencies, while another 41% rely on vendors for e-mail campaign execution. Nearly four in 10 (37%) turn to list companies to manage their files, and 35% use outside database and analytics firms. Seventeen percent have outsourced their campaign management functions.

But as marketing departments embrace a wider variety of channels, their ability to coordinate all their functions through a single management system has dwindled. Seventy percent of all marketers use at least three marketing applications to accomplish their responsibilities, and 20% rely on seven or more.

Alterian’s survey was conducted during October and November 2007 through online questionnaires and in-person interviews at direct marketing trade shows. The study incorporates responses from 852 marketing professionals.

Spend more time on e-mails. If you want your e-mails to be valued by those on your list, put more time into them. Are you giving yourself enough time to think about what you’re trying to accomplish? Are you giving your best effort to creating content that is interesting and useful to your list members? Do you have great ideas for e-mail promotions that you haven’t put to work yet? Let this year be the year. The little bit of extra time and energy you spend on creating your e-mails can get a big return.

Keep a clean list. Doesn’t it feel great to sleep in clean sheets, eat in a clean kitchen or put on a clean shirt? We love when things are clean, but it takes work to get them that way. It’s the same with your e-mail list. It might take some work to get rid of old e-mails and hunt down the issues for those being blocked, but it’s worth it. And once you’ve spent the time to do a deep cleaning, the upkeep is easy. Make it your goal to give a little bit of time to list cleaning each month so you can get that good feeling that comes from having a sparkling list made up of people who want to hear from you.

Test, test, test. Testing is the best way to determine what you can do to get optimal results from your audience. By testing, you can learn what day and time of day to send, what subject lines get the most opens, and what topics, promotions, offers, and calls-to-action get the best responses. Your open and click-through rates will give you the answers. By testing and using your findings you’ll be better equipped to create highly effective e-mails. Make sure to take good notes.

Segment your list. Dividing your list into categories based on interests, shopping habits, geographical locations or any other criteria you choose is an excellent goal for this year. Targeted marketing can make a huge difference in the responses you get from your e-mails. If you can communicate with your contacts about something that you know is of interest to them, you have a much better chance of getting them to open the e-mail, read it and act on it. The more targeted the message, the better the response.

My understanding of these fundamental laws came years ago when I had the privilege of working for one of the all-time advertising success stories; NordicTrack. NordicTrack’s advertising was based on flawless execution of fundamentals.

According to Small Business Administration, 5% of an entrepreneur’s gross sales should be budgeted for advertising. A 5% small business advertising budget can only help if you understand the laws of advertising.

6 Laws of Small Business Advertising Success

1. Use One Message: A high response rate ad usually conveys a single message.NordicTrack’s message of the "World’s Best Aerobic Exerciser" was simple and compelling. Your small business advertising needs to quickly communicate its core message in 3 seconds or less. If you are fearful and overwhelmed by technology, which computer book do you buy? "DOS for Dummies" began a best-selling phenomena because its message was easily understood and to the point.

2. Add Credibility: It has become human nature to distrust advertising. Claims need to be real and credible. Roy H. Williams, best-selling author of the "Wizard of Ads" says, "Any claim made in your advertising which your customer does not perceive as the truth is a horrible waste of ad dollars."

NordicTrack added enormous credibility from a University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse research study, ranking the cross-country ski exerciser first in the areas of weight loss, body fat reduction, and cardiovascular fitness. Ivory soap’s advertising success was attributed to its credible statement that ivory soap is the 99-44/100% pure.

3. Test Everything: Large businesses have a greater margin to waste capital and resources without testing advertising. Small businesses do not have the luxury. Use coupons, codes, and specials to measure the headline, timing, and placement of your ad. Test only one item at a time and one medium. Testing can be as simple as asking every customer for several weeks how they heard of your business.

4. Be Easy to Contact: Every single brochure, box, email and all company literature should have full contact information including: website and email address, phone and fax numbers, and company address. It seems simple but is forgotten by most companies. At NordicTrack, every box a ski machine went into had full contact information and the "World’s Best Aerobic Exerciser" tagline. Be everywhere.

5. Match Ads to Target: Successful business advertising speaks to one target market only. At NordicTrack, the ads were tailored to each market. An ad in a medical publication preached the cardio-vascular benefits of cross-country skiing to heart patients. Ads in women’s magazines discussed the weight-loss and calorie burn from cross-country skiing. Focus the message to the target group.

6. Create Curiosity: Successful business advertising does not sell a product or service. NordicTrack’s ads sold the free video. Once a potential customer watched the video, they contacted the company for more information. The end result, millions of dollars of sales. Create ads that generate interest and make the customer want more information.

Having a poor response is not the medium’s fault. Often the problem is the message. Small business advertising is not a quick fix solution to marketing your company. It takes planning, testing and constant exposure to have an impact on your small business. Done correctly, small business advertising can be a winning strategy

As Americans become desensitized to traditional media, marketers are finding new places to capture their attention. The new frontiers of advertising are as varied as the old–from ad panels on employee uniforms to laminates on airplane tray tables–which means there are opportunities for both small startups and national brands.

Here are five of the newest places to pitch your brand, service or product.

1. Tray tables in the sky
Imagine having hours of a consumer’s rapt attention. It’s just your ad and their eyes; they can’t leave, and they can’t use their phone. They can use their computer, but that will likely bring their eyes right back to your ad.

Advertising has finally hit airplanes in a more in-your-face way than the in-flight TV programming or magazine. New York-based Brand Connections SkyMedia has already lined up contracts with America West and US Airways to put laminated ads on airline tray tables.

"This is the anti-clutter," Brian Martin, CEO of Brand Connections, says. "It’s purely captive." He says the ad space is ideal for brands with high-ticket items.

2. Employee uniforms (not your own)
Bartenders can hold a lot of sway over what people choose to drink. A talented mixologist at a trendy club suggesting an açaí berry liqueur is a powerful way to get consumers to drink acai cocktails. So imagine if the bartender’s shirt bore a giant, color-rich, graphic panel advertisement of a particular liquor or mixer.  

That’s the marketing concept behind Los Angeles-based Eye Level Marketing. The company is pitching the interchangeable shirt panels to theme parks, stadiums, shopping centers and retail stores.

3. Golf cart hubcaps
Golf club and golf clothing makers have long had the monopoly on golf course branding. Tournaments have offered opportunities for corporate exposure, but often the visibility for hole sponsors is minimal at best.

Enter Static Media Group and its non-rotating golf cart hubcaps. The Woodstock, Georgia-based firm launched the concept in Atlanta in November.

"It’s going very well," says Neil Johnson, director of sales. The company is expecting to launch in six markets, from Southern California to Tampa Bay, within the next three months, Johnson adds. The concept is appropriate for any company targeting high-end consumers, from beverage companies to mortgage lenders.

An executive playing at a recent golf tournament told Johnson, "You know, I can’t tell you who a single hole sponsor was, but I can tell you who was riding along on the wheels."

4. On your shirttails
Most companies have ponied up for T-shirts that feature their name and logo, whether for employees to wear at promotional events or as handouts to customers.

But aside from a company’s name, the shirts don’t offer much additional information. Montoloking, N.J.-based Telme Clothing, however, has been helping companies get a more personal message across to customers.

The company sells customized tees bearing the traditional full-front or left-chest logo, but it adds an unexpected twist on the inside back bottom of the shirt. There, a company can include several paragraphs of its mission statement or all of its contact information.

Owner and President Kevin Shane says Telme’s main market is in promotional shirts for companies, and they’re a hit with smaller firms. "We don’t have minimums," Shane says. "We don’t like to turn any business away."

5. Around town
Keep an eye out for advertising opportunities on the municipal vehicles, city-owned buildings or recycling bins in your area. More municipalities are considering ways to boost revenue without hitting up taxpayers and are seeing advertising opportunities on local infrastructure.

Allentown, Pennsylvania, for example, is exploring ways to raise revenue by selling municipal marketing space. And the police cars in Toledo, Ohio, will soon host the logos and phone numbers of sponsors. The ad sponsorships are the city council’s solution to a deteriorating fleet.

1. Targeted
Your brand must start by being appropriate to your market and product. Microsoft is a great brand, but if you were marketing to kids and mothers, you wouldn’t want to emulate Microsoft.
Every great brand you can think of clearly communicates who the audience is: Apple nonconformists; Nordstrom upper class, by wealth or tastes; Toys”R”Us annoying, but obviously kids, kids, kids.
I recently worked with a company to develop a logo and brand strategy for an electronics engineering resource site. The company had started with an idea for fun and hip. But the more we worked from that angle, the farther we got from the audience. Engineering tools just are not fun or hip. We ended up doing an about-face, and defined a brand that was clean, efficient, simple, and bright.

2. Clear
What’s the message? From the logo to the collateral, are you communicating an instantly comprehensible message? Look again at the example of Toys”R”Us. You can instantly recognize the message: kid-oriented and kids only, fun, everything a kid could want.
Test your own messaging. Show several of your marketing pieces (ads, collateral, business cards) to a total stranger. Do they describe the company traits the same way you would?

3. Meaningful
The message about your company must be meaningful. If you base your image on excellent service, you must deliver on that promise. If the customer’s experience doesn’t match his or her expectations, the image will become negative. You will lose the customer’s trust, which is a very serious problem that is difficult to fix.
List the strengths of your company. Does this match your brand? List the weaknesses. Are you trying to use image and branding to deny or rectify any of these weaknesses? The brand should talk about what’s great about your company. It should then become a mission statement unto itself.

4. Consistent
You have established a clear, meaningful message. Now repeat. Don’t change the message; and communicate it consistently through everything.
My favorite aspect of the Nordstrom brand is that they use their message perfectly. Look at the catalogs, the ads, the retail space, the merchandise, the Web site: The message is perfectly consistent across media, across targets. They may market to kids, to teens, to women, to men, to mall shoppers, to Web shoppers, but they never stray from the core image of quality and service.
Look at your advertising, collateral, communications, and environments. Are you consistent, or does your message waver? Note that the more often you change your message, logo, and branding, the harder it is to apply.
One of my clients had a tough time deciding on a message, and kept tinkering. This left the client with outdated collateral, ads, press releases, and Web sites that did not communicate a consistent message. Consistency means both consistent application of the message, and longevity.

5. Recognizable
Crafting a message is an important process. But once you have that done, the tough part begins: getting the message out there. This is the Zen of branding. If a brand is good but no one knows about it, is it really a good brand?
Good branding can work to establish recognition if you target it to customers, then consistently repeat it until they memorize it. So start that repetition in advertising, press releases, and collateral. Consistency, clarity, and repetition build recognition, the real brass ring of all branding.

6. Actionable
The point of branding and gaining recognition is to drive action. The action should be built into the message: “We are the fastest and cheapest (so buy from us).” “Trust our service: we’ve been in the news industry for 30 years (so visit us regularly).” “We are cool enough and serious enough for competitive athletes (so you should buy our shoes, too).”
The brand we developed for the electronics industry site communicated this concept: “Our service will help you be more productive, more organized, and more informed.” This message revolves around the users’ self-interest.
In other words, does the customer care about what you’re saying? It may be a great message, but the whole point is to motivate sales. Does it do this?

Designing and printing direct marketing postcards, for example, with standard promotional language will only go so far in increasing sales leads and conversion rates. Ultimately, the most effective postcard will speak to the unique messages of your customer base.

Strategic messaging should be a routine exercise for any home business. If customers prefer convenience, then focus on language that will best elevate the need (i.e. “hassle-free” or “user-friendly”).

If they prefer variety, then consider terms such as “choice” and “flexibility” in your materials. These seemingly simple techniques can make a huge difference in whether you resonate with your target audience(s).

In order to differentiate your business from the litany of competing materials, you need to give customers a reason to trust your brand. Your marketing materials only represent the beginning of a much larger dialogue with your customers. Here are a few tips for initiating and growing this relationship.

Needs before Leads. Any marketing piece can have a ‘call to action,’ reaping short-term benefits. It’s just a matter of dangling the right incentive. But the best organic sales growth comes from the quality of your leads, not the quantity. Keep your messages connected to the fundamental needs of your customers.

Education over Assumption. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. They probably require more information to truly appreciate the merits of your products and services, even if they appear ready to sign the dotted line. Whether it’s having a comprehensive website or a friendly voice answering the telephone, you should always promote ways to create a more informed customer.

Be honest and set realistic expectations. There’s nothing more off-putting to customers than seeing unsubstantiated claims in a promotional piece. Even if you think the tactic will raise revenues, consider the cost of losing trust and credibility. Customers need to know what your products and services can and cannot do because, in the end, they will discover the truth.

Initiate the Commitment. You may be seeking a commitment from the customer, but it’s the commitment you make to them that matters most. Customers want to see that you can fulfill your own promises – whether it’s promising to respond to a sales lead within a precise time frame, demonstrating an genuine interest to listen to the customer’s needs, or offering a quick turnaround time on work quoted.

Successful football coaches always come prepared with a playbook – helping them know which tactics to employ in any given situation. Your next direct marketing campaign should be approached with similar precision – specifically, determining which messages to convey to the appropriate audience.

Those strategic messages will define both the integrity you bring to your profession and the confidence you instill among your customers.

If you’re the sort of entrepreneur who considers a marketing claim or strategy acceptable once it passes your attorney’s critique, you’ll need to ramp up your standards to satisfy Upshaw. Stretching the truth legally doesn’t pass muster. He doesn’t even like so-called "weasel words"–like saying a food is "virtually fat-free"–that some marketers use to exaggerate claims or minimize weaknesses of products and services.

Marketing with integrity, Upshaw says, requires recruiting everyone in the company to adhere to a high level of truth and honesty in all customer  interactions. He also prescribes a comprehensive approach to measuring your investment and return on integrity-based marketing. Apparently, virtuous marketing doesn’t come easy. But, as the numerous anecdotes and studies he quotes illustrate, relying on truth in your marketing can pay you back richly with greater customer loyalty, lower costs and other benefits. Virtue, it seems, is not the only reward when it comes to marketing.