Branded online games are being used more and more as an advertising medium by everyone from small businesses to big worldwide brands, but can branded games really help as part of your marketing efforts?

Branded online games (or Advergames as they are commonly known) can be one of the most effective viral marketing agents, if used correctly. Unlike traditional advertising and marketing methods, Advergames can engage your audience and encourage repeat interactions with your brand, making the campaign far more memorable and greatly increasing your chance of making sales. You can also guide your audience (and make it easier for them) to take the desired action. Web links can be directed to an online store selling your product or service and a ’send to a friend’ function can be incorporated to not only encourage passing on, but make it much easier to do so.

An Advergame can be successful on it’s own merits. If the game is good, people will want to play it and pass it on. If that game happens to incorporate your marketing message then you’re looking at massive brand exposure. A good viral Advergame can expose your brand to millions worldwide, for around the cost of a couple of glossy magazine adverts. Plus they don’t expire like most forms of traditional advertising. After the initial cost they will continue to work and provide a return indefinately. Despite the advantages over more traditional marketing, Advergames do have their pitfalls.

It’s always important to focus on creating something of value to the user. Many Advergame developers focus on the advertising part and make the actual game a means to an end, just a way to get the advert circulated. The resulting poor game provides not only little incentive to play and interact with your brand, but a poor brand experience for the user. This is why it’s always important to hire an Advergame designer who has the specialist knowledge of video game design and development needed to create a great game for your brand.

Another crucial part of any successful viral marketing campaign is the distribution process, or ’seeding’ as it is known. Without this process your Advergame will probably just end up sitting on your website, getting very little exposure, regardless of how good it is. Any experienced viral Advergame developer should be able to launch your campaign with a bang, get it out in front of an initial audience of hundreds of thousands and guarantee it’s success.

Many businesses are still sticking with the safe option by allocating the bulk of marketing budgets to traditional advertising and marketing channels, despite the fact that a large proportion of these costly methods are known to provide limited exposure and minimal return. Companies taking this route are missing out on the massive worldwide exposure that viral Advergames can provide. As long as you use a developer who is experienced in both the development of Advergames and the viral seeding needed to make them a success, they can put your brand in front of millions worldwide and provide a great longer term advertising opportunity for small and big business alike.

Simon Walklate is co-owner of Bristol UK based Flash Animation and Motion Graphic Designers The Motion Monkey who specialise in Viral Marketing and Advertising with Advergames.

• 0 Comments

Currently, many employees are on the go. They have to travel from one place to the next in order to conduct their business. Companies have realized that all of the traveling is a marketing opportunity. By giving them custom computer cases, the employee has a nice product that will help promote the company he works for while on the go.

Less and less business is conducted in the office. Now, employees find themselves out amongst the world, conducting their business at other companies, and at WiFi hot spots. When employees use custom computer cases they are showing the world the company that they work for and that they are proud of their company. It is the kind of advertising that can push one company ahead of another.

A nice looking bag can be cost effective advertisement. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on a large marketing campaign, business owners can allow these types of bags to do all of the advertising that they need at an affordable cost. Also, the advertising will continue well after the bill has been paid.

Custom computer cases come in all different styles. They can be plain or fancy and everything in between. Some are on rollers, while others go across the shoulder. No matter what the style, they offer invaluable marketing. The style can be chosen based on the company. A more casual company may not want to have a leather bag and might go with something simpler instead. Whatever the taste, many options are available to companies.

Companies can get bags for their employees that can hold everything they need for meetings on the go. That way, employees can grab their laptop and all of their other items when racing out the door. They will not forget any of their things, because they will be all together.

Companies are able to make their businesses a household name by using this method. Nice looking custom computer cases with the company logo on them will attract attention and cause people to begin to recognize the company name. They may even start to ask questions about the company to the employee. This will allow for word of mouth about the company to spread, which is an incredibly powerful advertising tool.

These products can compliment the worker who has to travel constantly. He will appreciate having such a nice item, and his company will benefit from it as well. The bag will serve two purposes in that way, which means that it will be a success for both the employee and the company. That success will make it well worth the cost of purchasing the product.

My Logo Imprinted offers promotional merchandise at affordable prices. They have a wide variety of products, and they will also create products that their customers want but are not in their inventory. The company has a fast turnaround service and the best imprinting capabilities in the business. Many companies go to them to get their logo imprinted on merchandise. For more information or to make a purchase, visit them online at www.mylogoimprinted.com.

We are proud to provide you with 1,000

• 0 Comments

When at a trade show, a business is expected to give away products. However, that can get incredibly costly. On one hand, they want to distribute something that will have their branding information on it. On the other hand, they want to be able to afford what they are distributing. That is why many businesses have started usingpromotional mugs to market their company.

Promotional mugs are popular for a large amount of reasons. They are incredibly cost effective. When bought in bulk, companies can cut the costs of them even more. This makes them an affordable marketing tool. While other items might be very expensive, an item such as this can be given away at a trade show without the company risking a huge loss. It is the type of advertising that manages to pay for itself because of the low initial fee.

They are also highly useful. Promotional mugs can be taken out by customers first thing in the morning when they pour their coffee. When they see the company branding information, they will immediately think of the products and services that company offers. That connection causes them to be more inclined to seek out the company when they are in need of the type of services the company offers.

These types of items can be used by anyone. While certain items are only used by certain people, these items are able to reach everyone. Most people take out a cup to get something to drink in the morning. With a giveaway such as this, that cup can have company information for the world to see stamped right on the side of it.

Promotional mugs are not only for home use. They can also be taken to work and brought on trips in the car. Friends of the customer will notice them and ask questions. This kind of talk can be incredibly helpful for a business. It can generate positive words about the company that are invaluable when trying to lure customers.

These products offer a lot of advertisement for a small price. Products such as these continue to advertise for the company for years. Every time the product surfaces, questions can be asked and answered, and more customers can find their way to that business.

It is not only about marketing, though. It is also about getting a connection with the public. Free items such as these can help to create the connection that is needed in order to do well. Customers feel as if they are being treated well when they are given free items. They are prone to remember the company that gave them something at a trade show or other event. When they need a service that the company offers, they are then more likely to go to that company.

My Logo Imprinted offers well made products at an affordable price. They have the best imprinting service in the business, and they offer stellar customer service. Their products help businesses advertise in an affordable way. For more information, visit them online at www.mylogoimprinted.com.

We are proud to provide you with 1,000

• 0 Comments

Throughout the last year I’ve tested many different ways to build my optin list. Some worked well, others didn’t work at all. An overview on the best methods to build a huge opt-in list can be found in this article.

Have you ever wondered how those Top listbuilders got their huge lists? Don’t wonder, read this article and you’ll understand why some people struggle to get signups and others are getting tons of signups each day.

There are different methods to build your list and as a beginner you should start with the most basic methods. The listbuilding beginner should set his first goal of getting 1000 opt-in subscribers. Once you have a list of 1000 people you have more marketing power and your list will grow much faster. The best methods to be used for getting the first 1000 subscribers are Traffic Exchanges, Credit Based Safelists and Giveaway Events. With these 3 simple methods you can build up a list of 1000 subscribers in as little as 2 months.

The next step is to set your goal to 10.000 subscribers. This of course needs some more marketing techniques. Once you have a list of 1000 subscribers you can start to do ad-swaps with other marketers so that each of you gets more signups. You should also start your own Giveaway Event or even your own Membership Site.

For me the 2 best listbuilding methods so far were starting my own Giveaway Events and launching my own Membership Sites. The reason why these 2 are so good is because they include an affiliate program. Affiliate programs are great listbuilders for the owner but also do they offer huge benefits for the affiliates.

If you want to build up huge lists of 50.000 or even more subscribers, then you need to have your own products or membership sites. Through a product or membership site launch you list can grow by 10.000 signups in one week. Also will these give you a steady growth of your list, because finally it all comes down to how many signups you get every day.

So I hope you like the here described methods for building your opt-in list. Once you have experienced the power of a product launch, you’ll agree that this is the most powerful listbuilding technique on the planet.

All you need to do now is to take action. Go out there and get the signups for your opt-in list. It’s a lot of work that you need to do once but the profits will be there for months to come because you can always send out a promotion to your list and make sales for an affiliate product. Also several promotion methods will result in long term traffic which means you get more and more signups to your list.

An increasing number of signups means more promotion power and more income for you. Imagine having a 40k list… what kind of Joint Ventures you could do to easily grow your list to 100k.

So it all starts out slowly but it can grow to a huge income. The money is in the list, that’s what everybodys says and I won’t tell you different!

The latest Affiliate Marketing Blueprint from a well respected author has just been released. Read my review here: Affiliate Payload Bonus and the review of my fellow marketer here: Affiliate Payload Profits

• 0 Comments

If you are looking for three key methods to boost your lackluster sales as an affiliate marketer, then you will want to pull up a chair for this article. Specifically, we will discuss finding your target audience, marketing directly to this target audience, and we will discuss giving your audience a reason to buy from you, instead of your competition. After reading this article, you will be able to precisely home in on your target audience, and rather than marketing to their brain, you will be able to market directly to their pocketbooks.

When marketing any product, you must make sure you are marketing directly to your target audience. Before you can do this though, you must find your target audience, find what they are looking for, and give them what they want. If you don’t have your target audience nailed down from the start of your campaign, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Knowing who you are marketing to goes hand-in-hand with knowing what they want. After you know what they want, don’t hesitate to give it to them!

After finding your audience, You must market directly to this audience. Rather than creating a broad sales page that covers a large but vague audience, create a page that markets directly to your target audience, which will be the audience that will most likely have their credit cards in hand.

Give your audience a good reason to buy from you. What makes you think you are the only one marketing to a specific audience? You must face the fact that most often, there are hundreds of people targeting the same audience that you are. How do you get around this? Give your audience a reason to buy from you, over your competition. A simple way to do this, is to offer a bonus. Create a report, video series, or “bribe” your audience in some creative way.

To sell to your audience, you need to have a product that your audience will want to buy. Do some market research. What problems is your audience facing? what do they want a solution too? Browse message boards and Internet websites in your market. Find out what people are complaining about and make a list. After you have made a list, do some research and come up with a solution to some of these problems and compile it into a report. Remember, people work for their money and they aren’t going to buy from you unless you have something that they really want.

Finding your target audience will put you directly on the path toward your goal. Marketing directly to this audience will speed up the process by which you reach this goal, and giving your audience a reason to buy from you, rather than your competition will assure you a hefty paycheck at the end of the month.

Remember, your audience is ready, and you are putting on the show. If your performance is lackluster in any way, your audience will go on to the next guy. Make sure your audience gets what they want by applying these three tips today, and enjoy the benefits tomorrow!

Affiliate Payload has more tips on bringing your Internet marketing business to the top of the game. These three keys are just a minuscule portion of the Internet marketing world. More can be found at http://www.theaffiliatepayload.org/ Paul Ciara - SEO expert and Internet marketer.

• 0 Comments