We hope the New Year will bring you a lot of joy and dreams to fruition.

From all of us here at BuzzBooster, Happy Holidays and an incredible New Year!

Shahar Boyayan, Nashlah Boyayan, Veronica Andrade, Mary Lingao, Jonathan Jacinto, Susan Senoro,  Iris Isaguirre, Phoebe Joy Corbin, Subham Shaw, Sebastian Codrut, Leah Obillo, Sarah Kean-Price

and of course Apple and Banana

This video gives you a pretty good idea about Google Plus

Google Plus Video

That is what I did today. Asked for the guy about the book, he pointed me in a direction and mumbled it should be over there. I did not find the book and came back. He looked in the computer, said they were out of the book but they could order online and I would be able to pick up in 7 days. Well, Amazon delivers at my door in less than 48 hours.

Then I went to look for some magazines and decided I would sit down to check which I would buy. The couches were gone. No more place to sit and relax while you browse some buying options.

This and the fact that bookstores usually carry generic titles with mass appeal and not a lot of niche specific.

I’m really sorry for the 11,000 people loosing their jobs at Borders but it is really difficult to find a reason to visit a bookstore theses days.

This week’s episode of BuzzBooster TV is, you guessed, about continuity programs and membership sites.

Watch right now and leave a comment.

Watch BuzzBooster TV now

Watch BuzzBooster TV now

There was a session for everyone, no matter in which stage they are in social media.
I attended some amazing sessions. Declan Dunn on the session “How to turn friends into fans and customers was one of my favorites. He stressed the need to create a community around your business and the use of frequent e-mails.

Tom Webster with “The Current State of Podcasting” showed very good data about podcasting consumption that I will share later.
Lewis Howes was a nice surprise. His tips on how to give webinars where awesome. He uses lots of pictures and not a lot of text and a strong follow-up series in the 2 days following the webinar.
The session “Is internet radio alive or dead” was very interesting. Some nuggets I’ve got from that: Women have more ear time than eye time. Voice is emotional and voice tells a story.

Another very interesting session was “How to hire a social media agency” . The speakers shared a lot of their experience and showed different ways they measure roi.

Todd Cochrane did an awesome job in his session The triple streaming, podcasting and blogging.
He shared some stats from Roku that owns 10% of the US Market, that 66% of users are between 36 and 55 years old. Do you create content for this audience?

The session “This is not your father’s YouTube” with Paul Colligan as the moderator was fun and informative with lots of prizes. They stressed the importance of being active on YouTube and treat it as a social network and to have your videos answering a problem. I was very impressed with all inputs from Julie Perry.

Most keynote sessions were fine but the one on social media and the mid-term elections.

On the trade show some nice surprises. Techmunch with presentations and topics related to social media and food. A look inside Google TV, and Kodak which in my opinion rocked. They had a challenge using QR codes, partners, education marketing and engagement on social platforms they are present in a very clever way. We did a show on this strategy and an interview with their interactive marketing director. This is the kind of strategy business owners could do with their audiences.

The parties were fun, I specially liked the first one by the pool and the kareoke at the last party.

I think BlogWorld has matured and combined the best for hobbysts and professionals. Way to go, I’ll be there next year.

I’ve compiled some more facts to you:

Online video marketing will help you a lot with traffic generation since some videos will rank in the search engines. People watching videos in different video sharing sites will also visit your site.

Because they rank in search engines, they will help you with search engine optimization.

Online video marketing will help you create more visibility across different social networks.

They will allow you in mobile marketing too.

Not to mention they create awareness for your brand and position you as an expert.

85% of the US population watches videos online.

There are over 79 different places where you can submit a video. Of course YouTube is the big player in this market.

Here a few more things on YouTube:

43% of US population watch videos on YouTube.

YouTube has 144 million viewers and 1/3 are americans.

The average person watches on average 100 videos a month, that is about 15 minutes a day.

YouTube provides content in 60 days in the same amount that took TV 60 years.

When you submit a video to YouTube you can at the same time post on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc.

Isn’t this the best time for you to start attracting more clients with online videos?

Here are several tips for securing talent that will save your project time, mistakes and money when choosing a Marketing Consultant:

- Meet 1 on 1

- Look at their work product, PR, past strategies, designs

- Ask about the products they have launched themselves

- Check the Alexa Rank and Page rank of their websites.

- Check their presence online.

- Ask about their revenue models online and check examples given.

- Have they won or been nominated for  industry awards?

- References are nice, but really, who gives bad references?

- What specific, off-the-cuff strategies does the consultant propose?

- Do the strategies proposed seem cogent, offer fresh perspective?

- Check if what he/she is offering are real strategies or just a bunch of tactics you could learn from a book.

- Do they have hands on experience in business?

- Don’t price shop. Good consultants are not cheap. Here the saying “you get what you pay for” really applies.

- Listen to your guts.

Not only we’ll be working with you we’ll also allow you to look over our shoulders to see how we create online profits.

This will be in Salt Lake City on the last week of June

Check it out right now: Profit Magnifier

Commissions are very good! Contact us by e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

“Prenotification Negative Option” or simply “Negative Option” practices in particular, have fallen under intense scrutiny. The advertising rules are defined and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission “The Prenotification Negative Option Rule”, for all avenues of marketing. Negative Option has been defined as a “category of commercial transactions in which sellers interpret a customer’s failure to take an affirmative action, either to reject an offer or cancel an agreement, as assent to be charged for goods or services.”

FTC Rules apply to all marketing channels, including mail or telephone orders (MOTO).

IMPORTANT NOTE: The following is NOT legal advice – Please consult your attorney before making any decisions.

DIRECT RESPONSE BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR MERCHANTS
TRIAL OFFERS

Marketing models that employ “Free-Trial”, “Deferred Billing” and/or “Shipping Only” are considered trial offers for purposes of this communication. Consumers must be receiving a tangible good or contracted service in exchange for charging of payment cards. Incentivized discount offers are acceptable when the cardholder is receiving goods or services in exchange for payment; however we will be unable to support accounts engaging in hidden or delayed charges and ‘free’ offers that are not truly free.

1. Avoid using terms in your marketing and offer presentation such as “Free”, “Risk Free” or any similar and potentially misleading phrases when consumers will be enrolled in a monthly continuity program at the end of a trial period, or will be paying a deferred charge for the trial period. The phrase “Free Trial” is prohibited unless there is truly no cost or obligation incurred by the consumer.
2. “Shipping & Handling Only” offers must be a fair and accurate shipping charge reasonable to be accrued by the merchant for providing the product.
3. Trial offers must be extended for a minimum of 10 days.
4. Trial periods should not begin until the product is shipped to the consumer.

MARKETING

1. Avoid creating a ‘false sense of urgency’ for the consumer. Unless the consumer’s ability to order is genuinely taken away after a specified timeframe or order count is reached, this practice is prohibited. Use of applications such as countdown clocks, tickers, or language such as “Offer Expires Today!” is also prohibited.
2. Product claims, by law, must be truthful. Claims regarding effectiveness must be substantiated by clinical research conducted to support the claims, and consistent with the formulas and ingredients in your product
3. Qualifications for trial periods of a product should follow pre-determined rules disqualifying consumers who do not meet parameters, including but not limited to: Age, Weight, Height, and Location.
4. Unreasonable claims or guarantees are prohibited. Examples of claims considered unreasonable are: “Flushes Pounds”, “Flushes Toxins”, “Builds Muscles”
* Stating that use of a product will result in permanent weight loss
* Stating that a product will cause the consumer to lose a specified amount of weight in a specified timeframe
* Stating that a product will cause substantial weight loss no matter what or how much the consumer eats.
* Stating that use of a product can cause weight loss (or muscle growth) in specific body parts

“Free Money”, “Instant Money”

* Stating that the product can substitute the income of a full time job
* Stating that money can be earned with little to no effort or investment
* Stating that use of a product will earn you hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars

Additional examples include:

* Stating that the product has been successfully used by an unrealistic or unsubstantiated number of people
* Stating that a product will secure the consumer a job, either at the product’s company or another company
* Stating or implying that a product is endorsed or in any way associated with President Obama or a government entity.

ENDORSEMENTS/TESTIMONIALS:

1. Endorsements and testimonials of user experiences must reflect the true and honest opinions of the endorsee(s).
2. Endorsements and testimonials provided must present a clear picture to consumers of realistic results of using the product. If advertisers do not have substantiation of a specific claim or endorsement, then generally expected results must be clearly disclosed and backed by substantiation of any claims.
3. Blogs used for promotional purposes must be in compliance with published FTC guidelines, representing an accurate and full representation of the endorsee, or clearly designated as a fictional story if developed internally for marketing purposes.
4. News Sites published in marketing materials must be in compliance with published FTC guidelines, and must be clearly presented to the consumer as an advertorial. Written consent should be obtained from a media outlet prior to using the logo.
5. Implied celebrity endorsement by use of an image in your marketing is prohibited without express legal written consent.

AFFILIATE MARKETING (CPA) NETWORKS

A significant contributing factor to Historical Excessive chargeback violations has been the utilization of CPA Networks. Transactions generated from internet traffic and all other lead sources must be managed and monitored for potential fraud using an approved system. Third Party service engagement may be a requirement for account approval.

1. CPA Networks should contractually be held accountable for monitoring traffic generated from participating marketers.
2. Merchants must have monitoring plans in place to detect suspect traffic and monitor Affiliate and Sub-Affiliate performance.

BILLING TERMS DISCLOSURE

The FTC has recently published guidelines regarding “Negative Option” enrollment programs and is taking a very aggressive position against merchants utilizing/employing this business practice. Recommendations taken in part from the FTC’s website may include but are not limited to the following:

1. Negative Option disclosures must be clear and conspicuous to the consumer and comply with published FTC principals.
2. The full price of products sold must be within reasonable “fair market value”
3. Under no circumstances should consumers be billed for a product or service not disclosed.
4. Consumers must be required to validate understanding of the terms of the offer twice during order submission.

The first validation can take place with the initial offer presentation prior to submission of credit card information, and the second during the checkout process. The confirmation order page must also require consumers to acknowledge that they agree to the Terms & Conditions and authorize the merchant to charge the credit card for the disclosed dollar amount. Terms must be displayed adjacent to the “submit”,”confirm” or any other “call to action” button confirming the order. The price must be within 100 pixels of the “submit”,”confirm” or any other “call to action” button.

* Terms must be in a minimum 12-point “easy to read” font.
* Avoid visually distracting graphics from the display of terms.
* Pre-checked boxes must never be used.
* Consumers should be required to actively and individually select each offer or bonus during the checkout process when there are multiple offers or up sells presented. No offers or up sells should be pre-selected or pre-checked.
* Consumers should not be able to move forward in the offer or checkout until the box acknowledging the terms is checked.
* Verbiage must clearly disclose the enrollment into an ongoing membership with no distraction. An example of an acceptable disclosure is: “By clicking “Submit” you acknowledge that you understand you are being enrolled in a 10 day trial for $4.95, and after expiration of the 10 day trial period you will be charged $59 per month until you cancel your service”
* All products or services purchased when the call-to-action button is clicked should be billed as a single charge unless the order is fulfilled at different times requiring multiple charges.
* Shipping and Handling should not be billed separate from charges for the product or service.

BILLING TIMEFRAMES

1. A merchant may not bill a consumer the full price twice in a 30-day span. An acceptable billing cycle example would be:

* Day 1 – Consumer signs up for a 10 day trial offer with paid shipping of $4.95 charged at the time of order.
* Day 11 – The first monthly order is shipped and the consumer is billed the full price of $59.
* Day 41 – The second monthly order is shipped and the consumer is billed the full price of $59.

2. Consumers should not be billed prior to shipment of products.
REFUND POLICIES

Merchants must not make it difficult for consumers to exercise the disclosed cancellation procedures and all cancellation requests must be honored in accordance with the stated terms of the transaction.

1. Refund policies must be disclosed prior to the sale completion. Establish a clear, concise statement of your refund and credit policy. Your policy should be consistent with the objectives of your business and the products or services sold.
2. Merchants must not require return of any trial offer product samples in order for the consumer to receive a refund, or cancel their ongoing subscription.
3. “Full Money Back” or “Full Satisfaction” guarantees are considered false and prohibited unless the offer provides a full refund on all products, including but not limited to Shipping & Handling charges.
4. Refunds should be for the full amount charged including shipping and handling
5. All future billing to a customer should be canceled when a refund is issued.
6. All future billing to a customer should be canceled when a chargeback is received.

BACK END OFFERS, AKA UP SELLS OR CROSS SELLS:

All sales should be directly between the business entities (merchants) processing the transactions and the consumer, with consumer authorization for all purchases.

1. Under no circumstances can consumer data be shared with another company as this is a violation of Brand
Regulations, including but not limited to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.
2. Forced and hidden up sells are strictly prohibited
3. Up Sells with recurring charges are prohibited, regardless of consumer opt-in or acknowledgement of the offer.
4. A one-time bonus offer may be extended to the consumer for an additional product offered by the same company as the initial transaction. The price of the bonus offer must be clearly disclosed and the consumer must acknowledge the terms of the sale prior to providing credit card information for completion of the sale, and again at order confirmation/ submission.

DESCRIPTORS

1. ALL MERCHANTS DEFINED AS OFFERING A DIRECT MARKETING PRODUCT WILL BE ASSIGNED A DESCRIPTOR FORMATTED TO COMPLY WITH VISA REQUIREMENTS, TO INCLUDE AN *.
2. Billing descriptor should be consistent with the website name, marketing materials, purchase confirmation, and shipping notification (if any) sent to the consumer.

FULFILLMENT

1. Orders must be fulfilled in a timely manner. It is recommended that all products be shipped within 48 hours (2 business days) from the date of order.
2. A confirmation email should be provided for all online orders with physical shipment, within the prior 5 days to shipment or 2 days following shipment, including the following information:

* Merchant contact information (at minimum a consumer service phone number)
* Order information including purchaser’s name, unique order or customer ID, summary of item(s) purchased
* Terms of the order, including initial amount billed and future billing schedule (this should be stressed)
* Cancellation and refund policy
* Delivery confirmation / tracking information

3. An invoice should be included with the product including the following information:

* Merchant contact information (at minimum a consumer service phone number)
* Terms of the order, including initial amount billed and future billing schedule
* Cancellation and refund policy

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

1. Multiple methods of cancellation must be provided for consumers to cancel or request refunds, including at least two options of contact. Example of acceptable service channels include: phone, email, mail, and online chat. Phone support is strongly recommended as one of the options.
2. “Contact Us” information including contact methods and hours of availability should be prominently displayed in all marketing, offer and payment pages, as well as included in purchase confirmations, invoices and any other communication with consumers.
3. Customer Service must be easily accessible and available during reasonable business hours
4. Refund and Cancellation Policies must be followed as disclosed to the consumer at the time of order
5. Hold times to reach Customer Service must be less than 2 minutes.
6. After hours voice mail should include a greeting that properly identifies the merchant to the consumer, provides hours of Customer Service availability and an expectation for call back.

RESOURCES:

The FTC has published the regulations along with many resources online for businesses and consumers. A few helpful links are included below:

Commercial Practices Part 425, Use of Prenotification Negative Option Plans

Pre-notification Negative Option Plans

Advertising and Marketing on the Internet

Dot Com Disclosures

You also want to plan your online marketing. Make 2010 be a year where you don’t waste time online or on social networks. That is very easy ti happen. Plan your strategy with online tools before jumping into them. Think what is the outcome you are looking for: branding, generating leads, more sales? You need a specific strategy for each.

Pay a lot of attention how you are going to advertise this year. If it is not working, don’t keep doing it. Look for channels where you can really track the outcome or think of resources that gives you control. Ask if your business is really at the point where you want to advertise to brand your company or if it would be wiser to look for other resources.Trying to advertise to brand a small business can eat a lot of money. There is a right time to do that and on a first moment you may want to use direct response marketing which brings you direct results.

Talking about direct response and online marketing, we now have a strategy that combines local search, seo, and online video and that really puts you on the first page of Google in a matter of days generating leads on a constant basis. The best part is that you don’t have to do anything. We take care of it all. If you are a local business and wants a flow of new clients, check our program to get new clients at Clients in a Flash.com.

BlogWorld stands out from other events for several reasons. First, if you are in an industry that puts live events, seminars, workshops or expos, you need to see what the folks at BlogWorld do. They have the right formula to mix information, tradeshow, networking and entertainment like few I’ve seen so far. Over the years they have also mastered creating an event for a diverse group of people, from the young techie crowd to seasoned entrepreneurs. They have also increased the reach of topics from blogs to new media to an almost full scope of having a Web 2.0 business.

I usually avoid attending the panels because they rarely go deep into the subjects and most of the time they turn into a lot of jokes or go out of topic. This year there were a few exceptions. The panel about the new FTC rules and the one on social media customer engagement and customer loyalty were good. The last had the audience participating a lot with good questions and good answers.

Among the speakers, my favorite this year was Paul Coligan with 7 Proven Monetization Strategies For Podcasts and New Media Producers. This was a presentation full of content, no B.S. and to the point. Tim Street on video and cable television was amazing and Jason Van Orden on how to build a large audience was also very good. The tracks that covered continuity programs and membership sites were not well attended, maybe due to the titles not being very creative and/or enticing, but the content was very good. Again the audience had lots of questions on these topics. I give here a suggestion to topics related to member retention in continuity programs. Lots of questions on this topic were left unanswered.

I missed the presentations on new media and book publishing but heard good comments about those. Only the closing with Guy Kawasaki and Jenny the Bloggess was a little disappointing. I understand that after 4 days, something funny would go well, but that one bordered bad taste for jokes. The trade show was interesting with some new companies we need to pay attention to. The highlight for me was the company MediaFly a delivery platform for content networks and all the possibilities it gives small businesses and online video for the near future. Yubby.com has an interesting concept where you find, collect and publish videos that we still need to take a deeper look into its features.

I wish I could have attended all the parties but I had a bad cold during the four days and that did impact my ability to network and party. I went to 3 of them and they were fun! The organizers at BlogWorld did an amazing job with the last party by the hotel pool. For the first time in 3 years we were in an environment that we could move around, sit at different tables, talk and get to really know people. It was a great night to finally sit with some colleagues and to meet new people. No loud music, lots of room, big tables. This was the best night for us!

This is a month we plan for the new year and BlogWorld is on our A list!

Now, back the the subject.

There really isn’t a lot of place in the market for businesses that don’t stand out, and I don’t mean that only in the sense of having exposure. Today you need to take care of every detail in order to succeed and be remarkable.

Have you ever been to Disneyland? I haven’t but I’m an avid student of how Disney markets. I know the place is really clean, every paper is picked up by any employee and they see this as part of marketing and it is. Every detail in the process counts.

One point where most businesses are less than remarkable, especially small businesses is during the sales process. There is no system for the sale itself, no upsells or downsells and many times there is not even a call for the sale itself. It is interesting how people many times feel guilty to ask for the sale, try to upsell is almost a sin. But we are in business for profit right? We also tend to judge our audience and decide for them if they can or cannot buy from us. If you don’t take anything from this article, take at least this: Don’t judge your audience! Let them figure how they are going to pay you and if they can or cannot afford your prices. Take another thing: Create a structure for your sales, think about upsells and downsells and create a follow-up process. It is really naive to think you only need to talk to a person once to make the sale and to think they are not willing to buy more things from you. More on this topic on our call Thursday. See you there!

Sales will follow.

The power of stories in our lives is greater than we think.
Stories put the audience in a world of sensory impressions where it combines reality with the story. We feel like we lived trough the experience even if we only heard it.
When we listen to the storyteller, we get a subliminal message that he/she cares for the audience. One can say that stories equal caring.

We as business owners and leaders need to master storytelling and we need to acquire the ability to tell stories and motivate people to act.

You can tell stories with your voice, picture, packages etc.

Here are a few points to consider:

You may use stories from any source as long as you can tie them into the world of your prospect.

* Your story needs to have a point or it will be a waste of time.

* Make the story personal and add passion to it.

*Contrast what your prospect’s life was like before your service and their life after.

* Present specific, tangible benefits.

* Diagnose the pain

* Highlight the gain.

One simple way to tell a story with pictures is the before and after pictures you see in weight loss programs.

By looking at the contrast of the before and after, the story is told, it is personal, since you see the picture of the person, it shows the pain before and the gain after the product was used.

I always like to give the example of a great story told in a package using the packages of Vosges Chocolates.

In every package the company call you to use your 5 senses when trying their chocolate. You should take a look at one, because it is a very good example of business storytelling and how it can engage consumers.

Many reasons there but one main reason is that tools like Twitter allow people to have a mass 2 way communication and this is very powerful for people and for businesses.
It is the one to many and many to one era.
Instant feedback is another powerful reason.
We can also say that many people look for leaders to help them live a better life and Twitter allows them to listen and meet other people.

The possibility to meet people is another big reason. Kind of the same reason you would go to a party. To have fun, meet people and learn more about them.
Here is where most businesses fail not only when using Twitter but other social media tools.
They meet someone and the next second they are either trying to sell you something or offering something for fre@.
People are not interested at this moment in getting things from you, they just want to know you better and maybe start a new relationship.

Do you invite friends to a barbecue and right when they get there you try to sell them Tupperware?
Same common sense goes here.
Sales will happen later when they get to know you better and the trust level is higher.
All you really have to do is let people know you better. At least a little better than they know your competition.
Did you know that 63% of people on Twitter follow people that have a nice smile?

Do you approach a guy with a sad face at a barbecue?
One frequent question we get is: But what do I do there on Twitter?
Perry Belcher, a heavy Twitter user says that 30% of the time, you should tweet about things that would make people’s life better, 10% you would compliment people. (that is something we all need more of), 20% try to make people laugh and 40% of the time you would provide good content. When you provide content you can add some soft sales calls.
I believe that is a good mix.
You should try Twitter. Twitter can be a great marketing tool in your business.

We all feel comfortable doing the things we are used to do but you need to remember that in this new economy, just trying to do more of what you have been doing thinking that will do the trick is not an option. It is like running faster on the same path trying to get to a destination when the destination is in a different place.

Like this Belgian television stunt done in a train station to promote a TV show looking for someone to play the leading role in the Sound of Music

Can you count how many people have cameras and cel phones recording and broadcasting this?