Lots of golf fans out there in the world of marketing!

Lots of people with very definite ideas on mixing marriage and business.

And one of you is about to win a very cool Apple TV.

Here’s what you had to say:

1. Improve conversion or dollars per visitor.
2. Reduce Pay Per Click costs.
3. Do some natural SEO
4. Get more traffic
5. Find more affiliates!
~Ross Goldberg

Put price of product in Google ad copy. This will eliminate tire kickers (save money) while most likely not affecting total number of sales.
~Matt

Here’s a novel idea: Go offline to drive traffic to their site. Golf is a huge industry and there are many ways to get attention in even a crowded market. If they took a portion of their PPC budget and spent for one classified ad in a golf magazine for the bulk of the season, they would be able to reach an entirely different mindset.
~Russ

Approach people who sell golfing goodies offline and ask them to insert a flyer in their packages they deliver to customers or piggyback on their mailings. Give them a split of the profits. Your flyer can be your tested opt-in page. Drive them online and put them into your funnel. Explain to your new partners how they have a unique tracking code for each customer sent to them, and alleviate their concerns of not being paid.
~Ian

• Test higher price points on their current product. If you’re not getting 2-5% returns you’re not charging enough.
• Do cross promotions with complimentary golf web site owners to get more new traffic at absolutely no cost.
• If they can afford it, use SRDS at local library & see what it’d cost to mail offer to list of recent golf buyers that most closely matches their target customers.
~Michael D. Walker

And the winner is….

1. I’d keep using Google Adwords, but I’d also focus on less competitive, and less expensive keywords.
Think of other things that golfers use in their daily lives. What else would they buy before or after buying a golf info product? So, using Wordtracker or Google’s keyword tool, I’d find keywords related to golf, but not the more expensive, competitive ones.

And I’d do it by thinking like a golfer and finding the other things I’d buy or use as a golfer, then I’d target those keywords. So, maybe golf shoes, golf clubs, golf magazines, golf videos. Instead of thinking of the obvious, more costly and competitive keywords, think of ones outside the box, in other areas of golf that someone would use before/with/or after your product you sell.

2. Also, try to joint venture with complimentary, but non competitive websites who can do an endorsed marketing campaign to their lists. Again, think of doing joint ventures with golf clothing companies, golf shoe companies, golf club companies, or any other companie that sells a golf product or accessory. Heck, golfers are such rabid and passionate people for their sport, you could probably even JV with competitors, and the prospect would still buy both your products.

3. If they can afford it, rent a mailing list of targeted people who have recently bought a similar golf product in the last 30 to 60 days. Send out a short direct mail campaign targeted to the most likely people to buy, that is, those that have just recently bought something similar. Bypass google this way, or at least supplement it.

4. Try to get some remnant display ad space in targeted golf magazines and try to offer a free report in those magazines to get people back to his site. There are a ton of golf magazines that would probably offer some cheap remnant space, try to get people back to your site from a small display ad in a golf magazine.

5. Set up a Youtube account and film some short golf tip videos. use TrafficGeyser to get your video out there. Ditto with Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. Get some content on those sites, including written articles and videos, making you guys the obvious experts in your niche.

6. Target natural seo by writing articles based around your targeted keywords and then submit the articles using articlemarketer.com or a similar service. I think the best bet is to create multiple sources of traffic coming in, so if one of them dies out, you still have others to fall back on.
~Shawn LeBrun

Congratulations, Shawn! Email us at tactic7 [at] gmail dot com with your mailing info.

Oh and by the way: When you submit your comment, you need to include your email address and/or web address. Our Winner from Week 1, Colin James, still has not claimed his iPod shuffle!

Win an APPLE TV (!!) for submitting the best solution to this week’s Tactic 7 Marketing Challenge.

Meet Harry and Sally, a married couple that works together in an online business. They sell information products and digital expertise related to golf through a number of different websites.

Although neither Harry nor Sally is a golfer, ghostwriters created their products. And judging by the very few returns or negative comments they receive, their clients are satisfied with their purchases.

For a long period of time, Harry and Sally got most of their online customers through various PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns or affiliate traffic on Clickbank. Now, it seems to be getting more difficult to get traffic from Google at a reasonable cost.

They KNOW they’re in a competitive niche. Every time Google hits their credit card, an audible gasp escapes Sally’s mouth. They’re slowly building a list and e-mailing it regularly. But their online business is far behind expectations.

They’ve bought and tried a lot of tools for increasing traffic to their website. But the payoff in dollars never seems to be worth the time and other resources they invest.

Plus, truth be told, they both feel they’re working too hard for the money they are making. (Sound familiar?) Harry recently said that he feels like a goldfish in a bowl where someone keeps throwing more and more goldfish in so there’s less room to swim.

They’re thinking of tossing in the golf towel unless YOU can help them. Can you work your magic for them? What should Harry and Sally do and why?

The best answer wins one of those new fancy-schmancy Apple TVs that lets you instantly download and watch movies (and even YouTube videos) right on your television. You will instantly be the envy of everyone you know who learns about your Apple TV. Your kids will consider you a god and Harry and Sally will thank you forever!

Submit your suggestions as a comment by Sunday 5/10/09 at 5PM Eastern.

Jane is crushed.

She was sitting in a restaurant and saw across the room a huge collection of big-name Internet Marketers sitting around a big table, eating a great meal and laughing it up.

She recognized John Reese, the Traffic Secrets Guy, Ed Dale from The 30 Day Challenge, Jeff Johnson, the King of Affiliate Marketing, John Carlton the legendary copywriter and his business partner Stan Dahl, Perry Belcher, the Social Media King, Jeff Mulligan who dominates ClickBank, Jeff & John Walker, the Product Launch Superstars and Ryan Deiss from the Continuity Blueprint.

Jane gasped in amazement when Harlan Kilstein, the Jedi copywriter and marketing consultant, raise a toast with these surprising words:

“Here’s To The Recession!”

Everyone raised their glasses and laughed, heartily toasting and drinking to that one.

Jane couldn’t believe her ears. Her business selling a unique product line of handmade jewelry wasn’t going anywhere at all.

And not for lack of trying….

She was sending emails to her list with no response at all.

She had lots of content…and she thought it was good.

She had a pretty website.

Her bank account was approaching ZERO…fast.

She couldn’t understand why these marketers were toasting the Recession.

To Jane, the Recession was The Enemy.

To these Internet Marketing superstars, the Recession was a gift.

Their businesses were stronger than ever.

If you could transplant one key concept into Jane’s brain that would enable her to turn around her business now, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Submit your answer as a comment to this blog post. Be sure to include your full name and website. Our winner, who will be chosen after the Sunday at 5pm Eastern deadline, will win a Flip Mino HD video camera (it’s white, by the way!).

The good news is that this iPod Shuffle contest was just the first of many Tactic 7 contests for you.

The not-so-good news is that we could just pick one of you. And as we told you yesterday, you gave us some really, really awesome advice. (Are you taking your own advice? Just askin’…)

So without further ado….our first winner of a brand-new iPod Shuffle is…..
Colin James from ProfitMarketingSecrets.com.

Here is Colin’s submission (edited slightly):

The first thing John needs to do is re-structure his business model. He’s so busy chasing around going to client’s homes and not making effective use of his time. A much better strategy for profit is to start doing group bootcamps as a way to introduce his programs. Then instead of only seeing 4-5 clients / day at $100 / hour, netting $500 / day, he can now charge $60 x 10 students for 90 minutes. Now he makes more in 90 minutes than a full work day.

John, hope this is helpful for you. All the best in your venture. Colin James

[Colin, email us your address to tactic7 (at) gmail dot com and your iPod will be in the mail to you!]

Up next is a chance to win a Flip Mino Video Camera (those things are really cool!). This time, Jane is in need of your advice….she is waiting! Meet Jane tomorrow.

People wanted to get in on the contest but they are telling us that either they don’t have a business or they are just in the start-up phase.

So….we wanted to open this wider.

In addition to showing us how you solved a problem during the recession, you can also offer your suggestions and insight to the scenario that follows:

John would like to work full-time in Internet Marketing but he still needs a day job to bring home the family income. His wife encourages him to work online but knows that he is not yet ready to make that the primary source of their income.

John is a personal trainer whose clients get really good results. They lose weight, they get fit and trim and they enthusiastically recommend John to their friends. John trains in his clients’ homes and at the end of the day, he is physically (and mentally) exhausted, and, often, too tired to work on his Internet business when he gets home.

His website offers a 30-day training program that will allow people to jump-start their fitness and weight-loss goals. He offers effective diet and exercise solutions that people can do at home. He wrote the sales letter on the website himself and hired a graphic designer to lay out the site. He has lots of great information…but has no time to market and share it.

John thinks his biggest problem is that the weight-loss/fitness niche is too competitive and that there are many trainers offering programs similar to his.

He tried pay-per-click (PPC) but because the niche is so competitive, he couldn’t afford to stay in the running for long.

He doesn’t get enough traffic to his site to even evaluate whether his sales letter is effective.

So…here is the question for you:
What three specific steps should John take to bring traffic to his site and expand his online business so he can ditch his exhausting day job once and for all?

Please enter your suggestions below as comments. Be sure to leave your name so we can announce the winner!

Now It’s Your Turn….Show Us Your Stuff!

You know all of the great information we have given you over the past few weeks? Like the real and practical stuff, not the pie-in-the-sky theoretical stuff? We want to know what you have done, how and why. And, most importantly, we want to know your results.

How are you marketing during this so-called recession and still managing to rock it!? Some areas you may have focused on could include:

• Your Mindset
Example: I stopped watching the news and listening to negative talk radio. I re-evaluated the people in my life and stopped associating with the negative and toxic ones.

• Customer Service
Example: I called into my Customer Service number as if I were a client and I listened to the way my representatives handles a difficult problem. I made some changes in how we react and respond to these situations in the future.

• Connecting With Your Target Customer/Market
Example: I started a forum on my website for existing customers to use for questions, challenges and requests. The forum is password-protected and for existing customers only.

•Honesty In Your Business
Example: Salespeople in my company had been “stretching the truth” and I had been getting hit with high refund rates. I re-wrote the sales pages in question to make them more in line with realistic experience.

And we need some proof of your smashing success stemming from taking action….your proof can be in the form of a video, an email you sent, statistics, a new product…something you can give us to prove what you did and why. We expect the competition to be pretty tight here, so we need to make sure that we are able to verify all of the responses and results.

What do you have to lose? Not much…unless you count more money in your pocket.

We are going to be notifying people via email, so make sure you are on our list (sign up to the right). Your entry, which must be submitted as a comment at the bottom of this blog post, must contain your name + website address.

Deadline for submission for this week’s contest is Friday, April 24 at 5pm Eastern U.S. time.