The astute and very pleasant Direct Sales Consultant, known by the handle The Traveling SalesWoman, asked the following question of me?
You were the person who encouraged me to join Twitter, and I’m so grateful for that!  Can you share some further thoughts about Twitter and why home party business owners should join in that conversation?

Are you are brothers and sisters fan?  If so you have not missed the obvious connection between Sarah Walkers’ Greenotopia company and its’ many references to social networks and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter!

And if you don’t know by now, you are no-one if you are not on twitter.  I was amused to find that my vocabulary  has changed considerably over the past year!

I am  Youtubing, plurking, Facebooking, tweeting, blogging, linking, MySpacing, texting and a host of other things too!  All these are some of the most popular social media sites and as you can see things can get pretty hairy, so I definitely recommend that you have a social media system.

Direct Sales Home Party Marketing Tip: Any task you do more than once NEEDS a procedure, system or checklist!

Before Bill Gates, no one had a personal computer!   One man single handedly revolutionized the world with a dream…his dream was that every home would have a computer!  His dream was to provide value to every single household in the world!

Even after Bill Gates created such an incredible tool, that gave rise to the Internet, Easy Online access & E-Commerce; it STILL amazes me just how many people refuse, are afraid and/or have not taken advantage of the power of the computer and the Internet! Computers as far as I am concerned are the best social media tools (of course for the obvious reason without one you cannot access social media ?, yep)!

I told the Travelling saleswoman that social media and social networks are all about relational capital.  And like any thing social media marketing is an art form. The question I often get asked by home party consultants and direct sales reps. Is why don’t they buy my product.  The answer is simple, you have written a check, which came back with the red stamp mark, insufficient funds! (thanks Martin Luther King Jr. for that one).

You see people buy because:

i)    they know you,
ii)    they trust you
iii)   they believe that you have the solution the problem which the face and
iv)   for status

People don’t buy a product, nor do they buy a feature and the benefits are as they are decided upon by the story they tell themselves.   Your juice drink mwy help me loose weight.  But the story I am telling myself is that I am going to look sexy, finally that size 0 pair of jeans that I have seen on display for a year will be mine.  I am going to get hit on by men….you get the picture?  So if your pitch is not in line with my story…

How does all this fit into social media and social marketing?  Simple, you are building relational capital, by depositing in the bank of getting to know you, getting to know all about you!  And you are not only doing it with one person, no you are reaching out to many in one shot!

There are people on these sites that follow you, there are those that interact with you and those that want to see what you are about.  The cool thing about social outlets is that you are King and Queen of your own little internet real estate  King/Queendom!

Social media and social marketing is all about building that relational capital that gives you the all access pass to make your direct sales pitches to those who are ready, able and willing to hear what you have to say, and have the money to spend on what you have to sell.  Do not under-estimate the power of relational capital! 

How else do you think Pres. Barack Obama did it?  I will be holding a special in a week or so about “the Pres. Obama Social Media Effect : How You Too Can Go From Zero To Hero!

For more on social media, and how to use it effectively, just google “social media blog!”

Patricia Kagwiria Makhulo
http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/direct-sales-home-party-plan-marketing-information-how-can-social-media-benefit-my-Business-735380.html

Social media strategies continue to prove their relevance in today’s Internet age, and as a result, the traditional online newsroom – a set of static Web pages that support one-way delivery of information that is protected by passwords and made available only to the likes of “official” journalists and industry analysts – is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Taking the place of these old-school information portals is the new social media newsroom, a more dynamic, open, and flexible Web-based newsroom that encourages broad, bi-directional communication and information sharing among a more diverse audience.

With the new social media newsroom, a company’s official content is easily accessible to not just members of the media, but to all those the company wishes to communicate and share information with, including prospects, customers, Business partners, and investors.

These potential targets can subscribe to, review, and utilize timely and relevant news and other announcements from the organization’s public relations department, as well as related image, audio, video, and other multimedia files.

But what makes the approach of the new social media newsroom so innovative and unique?

The answer lies in is its ability to facilitate collaboration and direct conversation with the end information consumer.

While traditional online newsrooms allow for only one-way information flow, social media newsroom readers are encouraged to participate in open discussions and freely share their thoughts, feedback, and opinions about individual news releases and other available content.

These comments are posted directly to the newsroom, for all visitors to see and reply to. Additionally, any content within a social media newsroom can be easily tagged, emailed, or added to any social media book marking site such as Technorati, digg, or del.icio.us.

“Corporations are eager to participate in the Social Media era but are still evolving from a broadcast-oriented, one-to-many paradigm, towards a model in which they adapt to a new reality – their voice is just one-of-many,” states Todd.S. Defren, principal at Shift Communications, a fast-growing, high-tech public relations agency with Offices in Boston and San Francisco.

Delivery of online content that is more targeted is yet another major benefit of the new social media newsroom. Instead of browsing through pages and pages of outdated or useless content to get to what they want – as is often the case with traditional online newsrooms – visitors of a social media newsroom can easily access, receive, or share only the information elements that are most important and relevant to their specific interests and needs.

The new social media newsroom also allows marketers to more effectively interact with those who directly influence consumer perceptions and preferences. For example, quotes and comments from various company spokespeople that are published in blogs and other social media vehicles can be publicly tracked and monitored, then posted to the social media newsroom. This allows journalists and other site visitors to understand the company’s position on important and frequently-discussed industry issues, and to see what type of impact the company has on content across the Web.

Those companies that develop their own social media newsroom should also consider creating a secure, password-protected micro-blog that can be easily added to an RSS reader. This would enable media representatives to preview on-going story ideas created by the company’s public relations department.

P. Headrick
http://www.articlesbase.com/Marketing-articles/inside-a-social-media-newsroom-132072.html

Social media optimization is nothing but the various methods that are utilized for making a site easily accessible to visitors on the web. In this internet age, instant information and gratification is what people look out for and the faster visitors can access your site the more popular you will be on the web. After all, search engine optimization is all about becoming popular on the web and if you can do it really well, it will be a tremendous boost for your product. There are several means that can be implemented for doing social media optimization and doing this is very crucial for you if you are really serious about the success of your business venture.

Some of the ways through which you can implement Social Media Optimization for your online business site are discussed in this article. Increasing the links of your site is one of the simplest and the best means for you to go about increasing your web popularity. Exchanging links with other relevant websites and also sites that have a good page rank will surely help your site in becoming famous.

Having great content on your site is not enough. You must undertake ways and means to ensure that the content Travels really fast to relevant places on the web. There are many sites that are on a lookout for free content on the web and you can let such sites use your content on the condition that they provide a link for your site. So, it is very important to write articles and contents that will appeal to different kinds of readers because the web caters to a very wide audience.

Increase the inbound links of your site as this is one thing that must be done on a priority basis for social media optimization of any online business site. Writing blogs for your site is a great way of increasing the inbound links of your site on the web. In fact, the number of inbound links is the parameter for being successful on the web. So devote all your resources in implementing these things as this will surely take your online business venture to unexpected heights.

The basic idea is to optimize an online business site in such a manner so that your site is linked to other sites that are more visible in the social media search category. While undertaking social media optimization, you must keep in mind that each business has different needs and requirements. and consequently you must know your business requirements. Your business can become a success story only if you are fully aware of your Business requirements.

Search engine optimization is constantly growing and to keep pace with these changes you must be in tune with all these things. Social Media optimization is the newest entrant to this field. Before you go about undertaking social media optimization for your site, make sure that you know exactly what this is all about and what all things you will need to do for popularizing your online business site on the web. Social media optimization has the capacity to give a tremendous boost to your business.

Steve Waganer
http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/social-media-optimization-gives-you-online-business-that-extra-boost-95009.html

The purpose of the online Media kit is the same as the printed media kit – to improve the accuracy of journalists by providing the information that can’t be included in a press release. It provide of the convenience of finding the needed information 24/7 via your website. The online media kit provides the same information your printed media kit does.

Your online media kit should contain:

*Contact Information. Include the company’s address, direct phone number and email address to the company’s spokesperson. Be sure to use a real email address instead of generic ones like pr@… or media@… so that journalists know their request will be responded to.

*Company Background. In your company description include statistics about your company like the year founded, number of employees, annual sales, etc. Don’t use company or industry jargon. Your company description must clear and understandable by all.

*President/CEO’s bio. Include photos as well.

*Photos. Include downloadable photos key employees, company logos and product photos. Remember to include download instructions.

*Press Releases. List all of your press releases on your website starting with the current press release.

*Pass News Coverage. Link to all coverage about your company and key employees. Include print, audio and video coverage.

*Backgrounders. Whitepapers, Awards & Recognition, Speeches, fact sheets. Even streaming media of press conferences, speeches and demonstrations.

*Upcoming Events. List upcoming tradeshow involvements with booth numbers, speaking engagements, conferences and seminars.

*Story ideas & Industry trends.

A few more tips to make your online media kit journalist friendly.

*Have your information in both PDF & HTML format

*If your media kit has a lot of information make it searchable

*Don’t include things the media wouldn’t want to see

*Provide a link to online media kit from your home page

*If you can’t write get a copywriter. I recommend SOHO Support Solutions

*Don’t make journalists have to register to view your media kit

*Offer a way for journalists to request updates

*Make sure your online media kit is easy to navigate

Beryl Powell; Business Manager, Small Business Trainer, Coach and president of the Completely Virtual Group, focuses on assisting, directing, inspiring, and motivating Independent Professional Business Owners to empower them to start, operate, promote and grow a success business.

Beryl Powell
http://www.articlesbase.com/Marketing-articles/online-media-kit-must-haves-133147.html

Whether you call them media players, jukeboxes, mp3 apps, music managers, or whatever – we all need a proggy to listen to our digital music with, so we decided it was time for the Online Music Blog media player shootout. For the sake of this article I am only going to discuss players you can get for free and I am not going to go into p2p apps.

So with that, lets dive right in. For my money there are are only 3 choices – Winamp, iTunes, or Windows Media Players – but I’ll talk a little about RealPlayer 10 as well. All of these applications share baseline features – playing various media files, cataloging digital media, etc. We’ll focus on things about them that are different.

Back in the day, we had Winamp, and it was good. Unfortunately the original Nullsoft team has all moved on and instead of the hacker cred that Winamp used to have back when Justin Frankel et all were on the job it is now just another corporate media player with a hazy future.

Winamp lost a lot of momentum that it had when it released a ( very ) bad Winamp3 – but with the release of Winamp5 they seem to be back on track – it is useable, responsive, and has a lot of plugins and skins created for it.

The major problem is that for all of it’s features it is not much, if any, better then the two dominant media players that are tied to successful music stores iTunes and WMP. Additionally you have to pay $14.95 to get the pro version that add features that iTunes and WMP include for free. One of the bonuses of using Winamp is the ability to tune into all of the cool shoutcast radio stations.

iTunes is, of course, is the digital jukebox front end for the iPod and the iTunes music store from apple computer. The iTunes music store was the first to get pay for digital music downloads right and it still has the largest legal downloadable catalog on the net giving the iTunes jukebox a hefty advantage.

If you are using a Mac then it is a no brainer – you should be using iTunes as you media player, but even if you are using Windows iTunes provides an attractive alternative. The iTunes store is superior ( imho ) to the Windows Media based stores such as Napster and with the legendary Apple ease of use in full effect iTunes makes a great Windows based Jukebox. Noteworthy is the Apple Lossless codec that allows one to rip CD’s to the ACC format that sound as good as the CD itself to our ears. On the negative side, the iTunes jukebox feels heavy on moderately powered PC’s compared to Winamp or WMP. It runs a little slower, seems to use more resources, etc.

Last (of yea, except for RealPlayer… ) Windows Media Player 10 is one of Microsoft’s best pieces of software and is some much better then the last generation of MS media players. The jukebox itself is stuffed with features such as its ability to monitor changes to your digital media files and update itself, simple sync and burn, ratings, and the auto tag features are all very nice.

One of the changes in V.10 is the ability to rip files if the format and with ( or without ) the DRM of your choice. You also get the ability to listen to Internet radio streams with WMP, and although they tend to be more corporate then the hip shoutcast radio you can still find some good music. WMP also features a lossless ripping of CD’s but I was less impressed with the results then I was with Apples Lossless.

And finally there is RealPlayer. The free RealPlayer 10 is better then previous version although that is not saying much imho. It still takes over your file formats by default, tries to force you register, runs in the background (phoning home ?) unless you can find the settings to tell it not to – all of the problems that it has always have. I say stay as far away from Real as possible even if you can use “Harmony” to use your iPod with the Real store. While I may be being over critical of Real’s jukebox – I do think that there are other alternatives that are less intrusive and have better feature sets.

All in all I think that either iTunes or WMP is a solid choice and far and away the best Media players available. Winamp is a okay too as long as you don’t need to rip music or burn it back to a CD – but it is worth the download and install just to listen to Shoutcast stations from time to time. Personally I use WMP at work and iTunes are home, so take that for what it’s worth. I think that I like WMP a little better, but not so much that I would take the time to switch my iTunes set up at home.

John Pawlett
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/media-player-shootout-93603.html

As the prevalence of social media continues to rise, its use in a business environment is becoming just as important as its use in personal settings.

Organizations of all types and sizes are recognizing the ways in which social media can help them better understand, respond to, and attract the attention of their target audience.

As a result, Businesses are now jumping on the social media bandwagon at a rapid pace, embracing blogs, social networks, wikis, and other vehicles to achieve their marketing and public relations goals.

What types of benefits can corporations achieve with an effective social media strategy?

* Get the Message Out Faster – and To More People

Social media enables more rapid sharing of information. It may take hours, or even days, for a new announcement to reach the end consumer through traditional channels. Why? Because when a press release is issued, a journalist or writer must first wade through all the sales and marketing lingo to find the key points. Then, the content must be re-purposed in article format, and sent it to an editor or proofreader before it is published.

Social media vehicles, on the other hand, allow for instantaneous dissemination of not just news, but images, audio, video, and other multimedia content as well. And because releases geared toward social media outlets contain only key highlights, pertinent facts, and hyperlinks to related statistics and quotes, the information they contain can be imMediately picked up and posted by bloggers and other online journalists.

Social media also provides more widespread coverage, enabling breaking news to reach a much larger and broader reader base than standard media outlets alone.

While magazine readership and the number of available print publications continues to decline, the number of consumers using the Internet to access and share information continues to rise sharply. For example, one recent study showed that almost one out of every four Internet users – over 41 million people total in 2006 – visits MySpace on a regular basis.

* Improve Branding

Social media, and blogs in particular, can be a highly useful tool for enhancing both awareness and image. Blogging can help “spread the word” about a company, its products, and its services to more people, dramatically increasing brand recognition and awareness.

Additionally, social media can enable executives to gather input and feedback directly from their target audience, and use that intelligence for more effective reputation management. Insight into why people like – or hate – a brand is needed to help change and control audience perceptions and preferences.

* Boost the Impact of Direct Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a key component of today’s direct Marketing and lead generation strategies, and social media has proven its ability to significantly complement SEO initiatives.

Many social media techniques – such as frequent use of common jargon and key phrases, title tags, ticker symbols, and links to blogs and other relevant Web content – can help dramatically improve search engine rankings.

Additionally, while SEO relies on just a handful of popular search engines such Google and Yahoo to drive target prospects to a site, social media expands the potential audience by creating alternate channels.

For example, when content is published to a site, and that content is then linked to from del.icio.us or reddit, it can generate a tremendous boost in Web traffic. Many companies also find it much easier to generate compelling content that is likely to be picked up by bloggers, than it is to keep up with the “rules” required to rank high in today’s popular search engines.

P. Headrick
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/how-social-media-benefits-corporate-america-132097.html

When you think about it, there are only 2 things that people are looking for in Social Media. It does not matter if you are in Real Estate, mortgage banking, insurance, or even in marketing of some type. People are always looking for something.

You just need to make sure that you know what those things are.

Most people in the Social Media arena are progressive thinkers and progressive people. Most are ahead of the curve in the web 2.0 world, and most have a focus of being ahead of the pack. The early adopters of Social Media, which I am one, started on the Social media scene 5 years ago. There as not much there, but what was there, was used as best as it could be used.

People then, and people now, are still the same. They always will be. But in the Social media arena, they are looking for 2 things that will help them.

Help them feel better about whom they are. Help them feel better about what they do. And help them feel better about where their life is going. All people are in some way looking for that forward focus. That is why in the social scene, there are 2 things people seem to be seeking more than anything.

Only two.

1) CONNECTION.

Most people in Web 2.0 ville are looking for Connection. They want to connect with people, information, new ideas, new trainings, new events, new groups, new videos, but whatever they are looking for, they want to CONNECT.

Connection is part of the culture we grew up in. People in real estate understand the person want to feel emotionally connected to a house before they purchase it. People want to feel connected to a car before they decide to buy it. And people want to feel connected to something before they start building that bridge of trust with you. You must make an effort to connect in a way that they will respond to in social media.

IN Social Media Marketing, Connection is NOT Correction as so many people think. They are NOT looking to be told that their life is not any good, or is lacking. They are not looking to be told their home is too small for them. They want to Connect to something or someone that will make them feel better about themselves and where their life is headed. You do that in conversations on twitter, facebook, myspace, orkut, moli, LinkedIn, and the like.

They want to feel GOOD about a conversation with you, no matter the social network. They want to feel FOCUSED ON and Tied into a conversation that will help them feel more a part of something that can increase and enlarge their life and future.

CONNECTING with people is simply reaching out and taking their hand over the internet and letting them feel PLUGGED IN to something and someone that can help you connect to new possibilities and to new destinies.

THAT is simple and the truth. Keep the Connection authentic and real, and they will listen to what your conversation is about and start drawing closer to you and your message.

2) Elevation.

People want to feel like they are being lifted higher in their life. They want to feel like their life is going somewhere and means something. We all do. We all are looking for that special feeling that we are special, and as trite as that sounds, it is the truth.

What can you do to create that feeling that they truly believe they are walking on air?

Life them up by noticing something g they said that has helped you.

Compliment them.

Give them a kind remark about their efforts in what they are doing in Social Media.

Ask questions they might know the answer to show you appreciate their knowledge..

Send them new ideas on their passion.

Notice something about their conversation that you can totally appreciate and let them know about it.

Empower them with encouragement.

Thank them for learning something from them.

WHY?

It will make them glad they talked to you in Social Media. And they will remember you the next message, tweet, or conversation. They will move from the Awareness stage, to the Appreciation stage in Social Media.

As a realtor, you will see that they can start to trust you, and even start referring possible clients to you as people they know are moving out or into – your area.

Remember- it is NOT what you said. But how you made them feel by Connecting with them and Elevating their hope and future in the Social media Marketing arena.

blessings…doug

Doug Firebaugh
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/social-media-Marketing-training-the-two-things-that-everyone-is-looking-for-in-social-media-681829.html

Media and arts influence our society in ways we are often not aware of. Growing up surrounded by television, radio, and movies, we often take the images and information they present for granted. Do you ever stop to think about how your interests have been shaped by what you see and hear through electronic media? Have you ever pondered on how your taste in music or arts developed?

Now, more than ever, the possibility of finding almost any information we are researching for is in media. Various sources such as newspaper, radio, television, Internet, and many others, are available almost anywhere.

Different forms of media, indeed, have become a part of everyone’s life. They shape and sometimes dictate or dominate our culture and interests. The mass media is undeniably of great impact to the society as it instills information in our minds that we use in our daily living.

Mass media has different roles in the society. One of these is its substantial role in the music industry.

How do people become interested in music? What makes them sing or become interested in playing musical instruments?

The answers to the questions mentioned rely to role the media plays in the music scene. Music is heard through the radio; thus, it triggers the music interests of its listeners.

Have you watched any television programs that involve competitors aiming for a singing title or a television singing program that shows the training of the contenders?

Television programs like what I have mentioned are usual these days. We expect music to be played only in the radio but with media around, proliferation of music through television and the Internet (singing competitions, music videos, etc.) are also possible.

Having said much of the possibilities that the media can bring to people, it largely contributes to the music teaching aspect of the industry. Media instruments, such as those mentioned earlier, are highly considered as music teacher resources for it supplies them information regarding music.

There are television programs that show trainings and rehearsals of the candidates. Through this, they can share to the viewers the different techniques of developing their singing talents. Few of these techniques that I have watched are the facial exercises done before the proper singing so as to relax the muscles that affect voice belting. Maintaining proper posture and body alignment while singing are also observed. Air supply is very important to reach low and high notes, and many others.

In general, music teacher resources can mostly be found through media in the form of visuals and audios. Other music teacher resources include personal encounters of music teachers during their classes, and those that are not in media forms.

Learn great facts and tips about music teaching; log on to our Music Teachers Blog.

Music Teacher
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/the-role-of-media-in-music-teaching-730114.html

We are hearing more and more that readers believe the information contained in Blogs is more reliable than the print news media. (I don’t think a direct comparison between the electronic Media and Blogs makes much sense, so my comparison is direct: written material vs. written material.) While I find this shift in ‘believability’ to be somewhat surprising, I must admit that I don’t think I personally know anybody that reads the newspaper without a nagging suspicion and a bit of doubt. Even more, I continue to be amazed at the growing number of people I know that do not even bother to read the newspaper.

Well, how does this relate to the subject of ethics?

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a person who serves on a national group that investigates allegations of breach of conduct by the news media. As a professor of journalism, it was clear to me that he wants the profession to uphold the highest standards. When does a misquote become more than a minor issue? How about reporters that leave out details because they don’t understand them or don’t believe their readers could understand them? Or, editors that cut out segments of a reporter’s story and completely lose the intent? And, headline writers that mislead the readers by sensationalizing the story? Worse still, how about reporters who know that their information and their sources are tainted? Do these issues rise to the level of an ethical breach?

While I am very new to blogging (and admit some consternation about putting my thoughts into writing for the world to see), I am extremely fascinated that blogs offer the opportunity to say whatever you want — in your own words — without any opportunity for misquotes, editing, media bias, etc. This is what our First Amendment rights are all about. I know of one elected official that has launched a blog for the purpose of making sure his positions on issues are not taken out of context, twisted, turned — or, even, unreported — by the news media. This is a very interesting approach! If the media wants his input on an issue, he plans to post their question and his answer.

Perhaps the question remains: what does the print media need to do to regain the public trust and perform consistently in an ethical manner?

Like most complex issues, I believe trust and ethics are directly related to the quality of the individual and his or her commitment to excellence in their professional life. Thirty years ago, I was a corporate media spokesperson at a frighteningly young age. I took the time to get to know the reporters, rely on them for guidance, explain the subject in great detail; similarly, the reporters took the time to understand the issue and double-check facts and figures. Intriguingly, I was never misquoted. Never. Not once. I considered these individuals to be seasoned professionals, mentors, and true professionals. No, their reporting was not always to my liking, but the manner in which they performed their job was beyond reproach.

But, that was then and this is now. What has changed? Everything.

I will offer one perspective on the issue of blogs vs. newspapers. A blogger, like me, is taking the time to write about an issue that I want to write about and that I feel passionately about. Question: so, what about the subject of ethics? Answer: I do not have a deadline, I have no editor that is biased, and I even get to write my own headline!

If we were to agree (for the sake of argument) to remove any allegation of intentional breach of ethics by the media, I would say that today’s journalist does not have the same commitment to the profession as their predecessors. They seem to be in too big of a hurry, they don’t take the time to get all the facts and double-check them, they are not well-versed in what is going on in their community and therefore have no context, institutional knowledge, or historical perspective. They very quickly make a public impression of themselves as either a credible reporter — or, one that won’t be in that line of work much longer…

Poor reporting, just like anything else, becomes a behavior that the public ultimately recognizes — and then the public reacts accordingly. For example, if the editorial page editor is extremely liberal, the public picks up on that, and filters (and, maybe, even ignores), the columns written by that individual (or his or her editorial team). Likewise, if a news reporter consistently ‘gets it wrong’ the public will pick up on that as well and tend to discount (or at least question) whatever that reporter writes. Once the public trust is lost, the situation spins further out of control because sources of information to the reporter become less and less willing to waste time with them; and, reporters, not knowing anything about the story they are required to write by their editor (to be fair), continue to turn out a work product (in this case, a ’story’) that would be considered inferior by the standards of any other industry.

In the end, just like with any other job or relationship, you can forever lose your ethics in just a brief moment of lapse in judgment. Weirdly, this critical issue does not seem to apply to reporters — or maybe reporters just think they can say whatever they want to say without consequence or accountability — but, in reality, they are ultimately personally responsible (although not liable) for conducting themselves in an ethical manner.

As for me, I think the opportunity to say what I want to say about whatever issue is of importance to me tends to indicate blogging is the best source of information available to the thoughtful individual, both today and in the foreseeable future.

Rob Glenn
http://www.articlesbase.com/Business-articles/what-is-more-ethical-blogs-or-news-media-676179.html

The idea behind being a media buyer sounds simple enough: media buyers are responsible for buying up advertising time and space in a number of different Advertising arenas. Simple right? Not even a little bit!

There are two types of media buyers: General Marketing media buyers and Direct Response media buyers. More often than not, as an advertiser, you will be working with General Marketing media buyers.

General Marketing media buyers are people who will base your ad buy on a number of published factors: the price of the advertising in various local markets, the availability of advertising in local markets and the likelihood that your advertising will see a return in the areas available. These buyers rely on information provided to them by the different markets: media guides, station rate cards, etc. Often this material is outdated—media rates change quickly! Sadly, while hiring a general Marketing Media buyer might seem like a great way to save yourself some time, it will actually be better for you to contact each market directly and work with them individually. That way you can make sure that your price points are accurate.

If you get the chance to work with a Direct Response media buyer, however, you should absolutely do it. Direct response media buyers are buyers who have in depth knowledge of the different markets that you are trying to target. They know which areas will show the greatest rate of return on your advertising investment. They have built up relationships with the various media outlets and can often get you a far better deal than a general marketing media buyer can get. What’s more, Direct Response media buyers will know how to adjust your media plan to make sure you aren’t wasting money.

The truth is that both General Marketing media buyers and Direct Response media buyers are both “middle men” who act as the go between to connect your product (and advertising budget) with the markets you wish to target. They will work with radio station managers, television station managers, newspaper sales departments, local periodicals, etc. They save you the time it would take you to do all of the research yourself.

The trick is, though, that usually the media buyers take a percentage of your media budget to pay for their time and services. Depending on how large your target market might be, you might be better off doing this yourself and saving some money.

Really, it’s up to you. There are plenty of media buyers in the various advertising agencies out there who will tell you that hiring a media buyer is the only way to make money with your advertising. In some markets this might be true. In your market it might not. Do your research before enlisting anyone to help you. That way you can be sure that you won’t be taken advantage of. Remember, media buyers are trying to make money too! Making sure you know your market is the best way to ensure that you won’t get taken advantage of.

For more information on advertising, visit http://www.advertisingandmedia.net and http://advertisingnetworkonline.com.

John Parks
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/working-with-a-media-buyer-679946.html