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Issue 1 November 2005
In ‘An Ideal World’ this month we’ll be looking at a mixture of marketing and business ideas. This e-mail is the first monthly newsletter designed to help clients of the Ideal Marketing Company and past delegates from marketing seminars, as well as visitors to the website who would like some ideas and advice on their marketing. If you have any subjects you would like to see covered in future issues, please e-mail news@idealmarketingcompany.com

Forthcoming low cost marketing seminars:

The next one day seminar is in Market Harborough on January 17th from 10am till 4pm. If you have already been, please forward this e-mail to a friend in business that could benefit from some of the fresh ideas for generating new clients or retaining existing clients for longer. Full details of the seminars are at the end of this e-mail, or go to the seminar page of www.idealmarketingcompany.com
Lessons in life: this month ‘commitments’

“If you want to stay happy in life, keep all of your commitments and don’t expect other people to keep any of theirs.”

Making a commitment means giving ‘our word’. This should not be taken lightly. When we fail to live up to ‘our word’ we start to mistrust ourselves. Over time, the effects of broken commitments build up. It is where a lot of self doubt comes from, and leads to strong feelings of being ill at ease with yourself, tiredness, confusion and lack of clarity in life.

Don’t make commitments you’re not sure you can keep.  If you’re not sure, say you’re not sure.  It’s better to say no at this point than give a definite maybe.

Only make commitments that are important to you. If it matters to you, make a commitment, if not – don’t.

Learn to say no. Don’t make a commitment that is important to somebody else, but not to yourself because you are afraid of hurting his or her feelings. It’s better to say no now than break your commitment later.

Write down your commitments with others. Write them on a piece a paper or schedule them into your diary. This will help remind you and force you to make time for them.

Always write down all your commitments to yourself. 'All commitments with myself must be put in writing. Everything else is just a good idea.'

Forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for all the broken commitments that you have made to yourself and others in the past. You know now how harmful these are to your image of yourself and how damaging these are to others. Now if you choose to, you can start to do thing differently.

3 reasons why we’ve broken commitments in the past

Approval. We say we’ll do something that we really don’t want to do because we’re afraid of the disapproval of others, either individuals or the crowd. We just go along with things.

Comfort. It’s easier, more comfortable not to bother keeping the commitment. For example, if you are on a diet but eat a cake, the post cake eating discomfort is likely to be greater than not eating the cake in the first place.

Rebellion. Breaking agreements for rebels is a knee-jerk reaction to feeling hemmed in, limited or tied down in any way. Rebels feel this way in particular towards authority figures and ultimatums. Unfortunately, going against ‘doctors orders’ can be fatal.


“We can secure other people’s approval, if we do it right and try hard; but our own is worth a hundred of it."
Mark Twain


Listen to Alastair’s ‘Lesson’s in Life’ slot each month on BBC Radio Derby with Sally Pepper Saturdays between 12pm till 2pm on 104.5 FM or online at www.bbc.co.uk/england/radioderby
5 tips for better direct mail

 Bring the passion that you feel about your product to your direct mail letter. If you are bored reading your letter back, the chances are that your reader will be bored too.

 Direct mail is a great way to test new products or new appeals for existing products. I would always recommend that you test out your central idea for a brochure on a direct mail campaign first to evaluate its value.

 If you can’t sell your product as a direct mail letter, then either the product is too complicated for customers to understand, or you don’t yet understand its main benefits well enough. You should be able to sell any product, or help close any sale via letter.

 If you were writing a letter to a friend you would have a central purpose to it – even if the purpose was only to keep them up to date with changes and developments. Every letter you send to prospects or customers should have a clear and unambiguous purpose.

 You only have a few seconds to interest somebody in your letter, so you must grab their attention straight away with a strong headline.

We’ll cover headlines next month…
PR tip of the month
Remember that a news release is NOT an advert. If your press release takes the form of an advert it will end up in the bin rather than on the page. Your article must contain information of interest to your target audience. The more focused you make the release and the more newsworthy the subject, the better the chance of it gaining coverage.
Client of the Month Offer

Each month I’ll let you know about a special offer or service that’s available from the clients of The Ideal Marketing Company that I am happy to recommend. This month it’s
from web design company Caged Fish.

How well is your website performing? Is it attracting the volume of traffic you want? Are enough people converting from enquiries to sales? Is it clean, modern and up to date?

Caged Fish, web designers based in Market Harborough, offer a FREE 5 point assessment of your website to determine how well it is performing in key areas such as search engine visibility, design and functionality.

To request a free, no obligation assessment of your website, e-mail steve@cagedfish.co.uk or call
01858 46 99 88 for more details.
Details of low cost marketing seminars held in Market Harborough

For the last 2 years I have been running bi-monthly low cost marketing seminars aimed at start-ups or businesses that are looking for ways to get the most out of very limited marketing budgets. These seminars come with a 100% money back guarantee if delegates don’t feel that they were applicable and useful to their business. The event costs £97 plus VAT, including lunch.

If you would like your business to be more successful in 2006, I would like to invite you to join me at this one day seminar. You will learn how your company can be more effective at attracting new customers, become better at retaining existing clients and find new ways to generate more profits. Marketing doesn’t need to take huge amounts of effort, just apply a few of the ideas you will learn regularly - and you will notice a huge difference in your business during 2006.

Topics covered on the day include:

• The 6 ways that positive media coverage can help your business
• Using direct mail to launch products and generate income
• Creating a simple marketing plan for your business
• Do you really need a brochure? Some effective alternatives explained
• The importance of customer care

Plus dozens of underused marketing secrets that will help your business grow in 2006.

For more details or to book your place – or book a place for a friend – call 01858 44 55 43 or e-mail seminar@idealmarketingcompany.com

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