September has been quite the month. In between keeping busy with my Street Smarts Marketing mentoring class; working on several Internet based projects (be looking for a big announcement on October 18^th); being a featured speaker at two incredible conferences and continuing to explore my new locale, the time has flown by. 

The month began with a trip to Orlando, Florida for a women’s conference. Not only did I enjoy speaking on one of my favorite topics and to one of my favorite groups, Executive Women International, I had the opportunity to enjoy a bit of nostalgia by staying at the ultra-fun Disney Contemporary Resort. Yes, I actually saw Mickey Mouse.

The Contemporary Resort is one of the two original Walt Disney World resorts. It has often been said that by simply stepping foot inside the Magic Kingdom one can experience the true essence of Disney magic. (This trip brought up memories of a family trip to Disneyland nearly 50 years ago.)

Opened in 1971, the unique theme park has lasted more than three decades of changing cultures. The Magic Kingdom has maintained its charm by staying true to the original vision of being a place where families could gather in a clean and safe environment. Many a business could benefit greatly from this one simple lesson. Stay true to your vision and you may last all the ups and downs a business will face.

My most recent trip was to Philadelphia. What an incredible experience that was. I was a featured speaker at a dental conference hosted by one of the leading dental laboratories in the nation. I had the privilege to share the platform with Dr. Joe Capista of Williamsburg Dental.

While in Philadelphia, I had the opportunity to enjoy a night on the town. My clients were the premier hosts as they eagerly showed myself, Dr. Capista and his wife a great night on the town. It was one of the most fun-filled, high-energy evenings I can remember having in a long, long time. Between a visit to Buddakan, The Rouge, a horse driven carriage ride, and a peek at the Liberty Bell, all the while in the company of some great folks, I couldn’t have asked for a more memorable evening.

Just a bit about the two nightspots we visited. The Buddakan is a must see for anyone who wants to experience one of the finest spots in Philadelphia. Stephen Starr’s Buddakan is a spectacular restaurant featuring exotic flavors of modern Asian cuisine with creativity and drama. The Buddakan is a place where you can enjoy a great meal or a quick refreshment on your way to other hot spots.

The ever-trendy Rouge is one of the city's most colorful restaurants, which really adds to the fun. The big draw is the incredible view of Rittenhouse Square. In warmer weather outside dining in one of the city's most chic districts creates the feeling that is definitely that of an evening in Paris.

In between the Buddakan and the Rouge, we enjoyed a carriage ride while getting a great history lesson from our driver.

When not traveling on business I did more exploring in my local area. One of the most spectacular experiences was a visit to Salt Peak Falls. Just gazing upon the magnificent waterfall made me realize how truly awesome nature can be.

A fun exploration was that of covered bridges in the surrounding areas of Eugene. This area is known for some great bridges.

Another true find was Winchester Bay where not only did I enjoy a quiet afternoon on the beach with my dear one and two friends from Utah, we all enjoyed whale watching. An unbelievable site.

What I am really enjoying is the balance between my business and my personal life. Although not always an easy feat, I am experiencing continued growth of my business as well as quality time with family and friends. I contribute it to the fact that with vision, belief and action dreams do come true.

Though I rarely publish other people’s articles in my newsletter, this month I made an exception. Adam Urbanski aka The Marketing Mentor wrote an outstanding article entitled, How to Avoid Being Ripped Off By Fake Marketing Gurus. It is one of the best pieces I have read on the subject.

As a marketer myself, I often deal with the frustration of the “fake gurus” who take advantage of the unsuspecting. After reading the article, I felt it was of such great value to my readers, I just had to publish it. Although longer than most of my own articles, it is well worth reading.

Enjoy the month, enjoy your friends and family and most of all, enjoy your blessings. 

How to Avoid Being Ripped Off By Fake Marketing Gurus by Adam Urbanski aka The Marketing Mentor

A marketing rip-off that makes me sick! If you are interested in learning how to better promote your business, there are hundreds of "gurus" out there ready and eager to RIP YOU OFF! These "con artists" are savvy, slick, and highly skilled in the area of emptying your wallet! Fortunately, with a bit of education, you can avoid being their next victim.

For example, recently I received a phone call offering to help me make my site #1 on google. Intrigued I continued to listen. The caller told me that his company has "cracked the google code" and can easily make me #1 - leaving all my competitors in the dust.

Well, "cracking the google" code was the first tip-off - if these guys were so good at being found on google why the hell are they still cold-calling me? I kept on talking, but now I started asking questions.

"That sounds interesting. What's your website?"

Knowing a little bit about what a marketing savvy website might look like, I new that a peek at their site would help me get a better feel if this company is for real. But instead of getting a domain name, the caller told me to go to google and type in specific keywords. He said his company would be in the top three spots.

I followed his instructions... Well, with some minor modifications...

Instead of heading straight to google's search page, I stopped by Overture's Keyword Suggestion page to find out how popular that keyword is.

Do you know what I discovered?

In the entire previous month only 17 people used that phrase to search the Internet! Now, being in the top three spots for these words suddenly didn't seem like a very big deal.

The caller seemed a bit unhappy about my discovery. But still, he offered that I search a different phrase. Following the same routine I found 42 searches in the past month. Whoopi! What a deal, right? At this point the caller simply hung up on me!

But several of my friends were not so "lucky". They are now two or three thousand dollars in the hole. And unfortunately for them - they will never see this money again, and their site will keep getting the same lousy traffic it was getting before! What saved me was a bit of know how to properly evaluate the offer.

Because there are so many professionals and business owners who want to achieve "cheap and instant marketing miracles" the most popular scams seem to offer driving traffic to your website, helping you achieve good positioning in popular search engines, showing you how to build a massive email list, and revealing secrets to quickly making a lot of money with your own information products.

These are all needed services and good information on these subjects is invaluable to your success. Problem is how to evaluate if what you are getting is the real stuff or a bunch of bologna?

Here are a few clues to look for.

1. Use your common sense. If the offer is too good to be true - it probably is! It never hurts to ask a few of your trusted businesses advisors to take a look at it before you commit to pay any money for it.

2. Do you own homework. Don't take what the company or person tells you for granted. Heck - we all put our best foot forward in our marketing materials. Research both online and offline.

• Take a good look at the website. Does it follow the basic rules of good marketing design? Does it have good Alexa ratings? Has it been online for a good length of time?
   

• Can you find out any case studies, customer comments, or endorsements from reliable sources? And for testimonials - anything that shows me just the first and last name initials and name of the state the person is from - I completely ignore as not credible. Look for full first and last name, city and state in the testimonial. If you can find audio and video testimonials that's even better.
   

• Ask around to see if you can "dig out any dirt". Ask business associates in the same industry if they have heard of the company or the person. Check out industry related discussion boards for any negative feedback from past customers.
   

• You can also contact consumer protection organizations like Better Business Bureau, but I found that they are often more interested in protecting businesses who pay them an annual fee, than really looking after consumers' best interest.

3. Ask a lot of questions. Don't let them intimidate you with pre-canned answers. You are about to part with your money - make sure you know exactly what you are getting.

• If the company is offering you search engine positioning - check their own results for popular and competitive keywords. (You can easily find this out with free tools like the Overture keyword popularity at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion or this simple free software at http://www.goodkeywords.com )
   

• If they want to help you with your pay-per-click - ask to see their own pay-per-click ads. Find out how many different ads are they testing at a time, and - again - are they using keywords that someone is actually searching for.
   

• If they offer to drive traffic to your site - ask how it will be done. They should give you at least a very good idea even though they may not want to reveal all the details. Ask how targeted the traffic will be. Find out how the results are measured; in "unique visitors" (good) or in "hits" (bad) And these are just the basics...
   

• If they offer to make you a lot of money with teaching you how to start your information selling business - find out if they themselves sell any products outside of the "how to sell your products" ebook or course... You get my drift here, right?
   

• If you are hiring a consultant or a coach to help you out - do they have business experience and successful track record with projects like yours or did they just read an ebook about it last week. (Now, some people are just great teachers - and that doesn't make them wrong - just know that the information will not be as hands on and real-world-tested as you might want it to be.)

4. Can you easily find the contact information? That's a big red flag for me. When I find great deals online but I can't seem to find the company's mailing address or a phone number and all I get is an email - I typically walk away. I want to know that if anything goes wrong I can find the person, and pick-up the phone and try to resolve it. But it's hard to do if they hide behind just an email.

5. Trust your instincts. OK, I know this one is highly un-scientific. But if things just don't feel right - it doesn't matter how good the offer is - give yourself some time to cool off and take a second look at it when you can actually think logically about it.

Fact is, because there is a huge need for marketing information and marketing help, this market attracts a lot of people who couldn't spell "marketing" yesterday but today are eager to share their advise with you - for a lot of money.

If there is one simple answer to help you stay safe and avoid being ripped off, I believe it can be summed up in two words: COMMON SENSE and EDUCATION.

If it looks and feels unreal - it likely is. And the more educated you are about good marketing and how it works, the less likely you'll be to waste your money on shady offers.

One final thought; if you have enjoyed reading my marketing tips so far, and are looking for a good place to start or continue your marketing education take a look at some of the training programs I've put together for professionals just like you.

(c) 2006 Adam M. Urbanski  All Rights Reserved.

The author, Adam Urbanski, helps service professionals and business owners develop marketing strategies to increase sales and profits. His website offers more how-to articles and free tips to create a winning marketing action plan

Kathleen Gage works with organizations who want to increase their market position, sales and level of achievement by thinking and taking action beyond the obvious.

• Keynote Speaking – Conferences and conventions

• Business Advising – Sales and Marketing and Authorship Programs

• Corporate Training – Sales, Marketing & Promotions and Achievement  

• Internet visibility coaching and mentoring programs

To book Kathleen call 541.654.0426