A few more gifts, goodies and “best of” marketing advice for you….
By Brett Lloyd Abbott, MYM Austin Inc.

Well, if you were one of the 237 people that checked out the “productivity video” I recommended last Friday, I hope you enjoyed it. Because it got me in BIG TROUBLE

I sent that e-mail mid-day Friday, New Year’s Eve. On Sunday 2 p.m., I got a panicked call from my web hosting company, telling me that in a day and a half, I had burned up my entire allotment of website bandwidth for January!

Ooops.

I forgot that (1) videos take up a lot of bandwidth, and (2) every time someone clicks the video, it starts whirling the bandwidth meter. (Since Sunday, my web host company and I have “made nice,” and he has allowed my website and the video to stay online a little while longer. But I had to promise to never send out that video link again Which is why you won’t find that link in this e-mail.)

Meanwhile, if you did happen to view that video, you’ll remember that one of the key secrets of improved productivity was to get yourself a 50 minute “countdown” timer. I found a great little FREE timer for your PC here.

And while I’m in the mood to give stuff away for free, I thought I would share with you a few more gifts, goodies, and “key marketing tips” from last year. So here you go:

BETTER PHOTOS: If you want to “clean up” any of your photos cheap, fast and easy, I highly recommend you download this FREE software from IRFANVIEW. It’ll save you the $600 expense of Adobe Photoshop, and you can start using it effectively in less than five minutes. (Personally, I wouldn’t live without it.)

BETTER PHOTOGRAPHY: If you want to take better photographs of your backyard projects, send me an e-mail, and request my FREE “How to Take Better Pool Photos” guide.Or check out my post on taking better photos.

BETTER PHOTO PRINTS: If you want to print some high quality photos for your walls, I highly recommend the folks at Nations Photo Lab. Excellent quality, and about 75% less expensive than what you might pay a local printer. Ditto on high quality sign frames – you can find those at FramesUSA. (More info on printing & frames here.)

BIGGER PHOTOS / BETTER HOME-SHOW BOOTHS: If you want some HUGE photos (like 4′ x 8′) to hang in or on the walls your home-show or trade show booth, I highly recommend you ask your local sign company for a price quote on “full-color digital printing on foam-core.” A simple, plain Jane homeshow booth costs thousands of dollars. But you can instantly make it drip with stunning beauty for just a few hundred dollars more, by investing in these super-oversized panel photos. (More info on “Big Photos” and “Home Show Strategies” here.)

BETTER WEBSITE ANALYTICS Remember that you can get FREE, world-class website analytics from Google, just by signing up. (More info on Google Analytics here.)

SUPER-CHEAP EMAIL / POSTCARD FOLLOW-UP For those of you who can’t afford MYM Austin’s super-awesome, world-class $2,000 automated follow-up system, here is an alternate system (from another company) that does 90% of what mine does, for only $15 per month. No kidding. I know the owner and his team, and I highly recommend them. They do a great job, and they’ll design an e-mail template for you for FREE if you tell them MYM Austin sent you. (More info on eSentall here.)

BETTER SOCIAL MEDIA If you’re still not sure what to do with Facebook and/or Twitter, check out my Facebook Strategy for Pool Builders here (and more recently here).  The strategy for every business is different. But I have a very specific strategy for pool builders. And it’s FREE.

BETTER SERVICE BUSINESS If you’re looking for ways to grow your service business, you should re-read my post on that subject here. Not only is my advice on this FREE, but the cost to implement the strategy is FREE too!

BETTER COACHING PROGRAM Okay, this isn’t exactly free, but I have added a 60-day money-back guarantee to my new “Marketing Coach” program. So if you DON’T LIKE IT, it’s free. That’s how confident I am that you’ll find the program is worth every penny, plus ten times that. More info on the Marketing Coach program here.

Whew! That’s a lot of stuff! It seems the new year has put me in a benevolent mood. I hope you find great value in all of the above goodies, freebies and tips. And I truly hope 2011 turns out to be one of your best years ever.

Brett

2011 Brett Lloyd Abbott / MYM Austin Inc. May not be used without permission.

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