Here is the last of my 3 Articles on becoming a Master at Marketing. I urge you to keep these 20 Techniques handy (along with the first 40) and review them at least twice a year.

Here are 20 Advanced Marketing Tips and Techniques to use when you have the time and money to compete at the highest level and dominate your Industry.

[1] Characters produce Cash:

Consider a Spokesperson (real or animated) to "front" your Product, Service or Company. This could be an Animation such as the Geco from Geico Insurance, a nationally known Sport figure such as Dale Earnhart Jr. for Wrangler or possible just a Voice Over such as Gene Hackman for Lowes. These images or at least the voice actually demands your attention. You can always start small with someone who is well known in your area of the Country for a lot less money.

[2] Split Testing:

A great way to determine the success of any Product, Service or Promotional Campaign is to conduct a Split Test to different parts of your Prospect and/or Customer List. Try Long Copy versus Short Copy, try different Price Points, Headlines and even Colors before rolling out the complete Promotion.

[3] Surveys:

Surveys give you a great idea what your Prospects and Clients and thinking. What are their likes and dislikes? What do they want in the way of Pricing, Packaging, Specials, Terms and Guarantees? How do they compare you to the Competition? What do they need this year that they didn't last year? It also truly shows that you care about their opinions, feelings and feedback.

[4] Raffles:

Most people love the opportunity to get something of value at no cost so you might consider this once a year or so. Your Customers could get one Entry for each Order or one Entry for each particular dollar amount they spend. You could giveaway one of your Products or Services or better yet, get a Vendor or Supplier to donate something of value at little or no cost to you.

[5] Joint Ventures:

A Joint Venture is any combination of Companies where one Company promotes the Product or Service from the other Company to their Client and/or Prospect Lists or possibly both Companies co-promote each other's Product or Service to both Lists. The benefits include reduced advertising costs, added credibility from the other Company's Testimonial plus all of the new found Business you obtain.

[6] Clone Yourself:

One of the most popular Shows in Vegas was Siegfried and Roy with their Magic and famous White Tigers. Unfortunately Siegfried and Roy’s lifetime gig at The Mirage ended when Roy had a Heart Attack and was carried off stage by one of his Tigers. They had made no other contingencies, the Show closed down and their business was gone.

Another extremely popular Show is the Blue Man Group. It's a group of 3 guys painted electric blue from head to toe, who splash paint and make weird sounds with a live Band playing Rock music behind them. Their audiences love them and from a business or entrepreneurial point, there are a lot of things to learn here.

The realized early on that they could leverage what they were doing by hiring and training other actors, painting them blue and starting another show. Currently, their live stage shows can be seen in New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, Berlin, and Tokyo plus they have one or more touring Groups. The biggest lesson here is leverage. Siegfried and Roy never figured out a way to get paid beyond their personal performance where the Blue Man group leveraged themselves by duplicating their performances. I challenge you to figure out ways to leverage yourself or your Products and/or Services, without painting yourself blue.

[7] Gift Cards:

Depending on your Product or Service, this might be a way to add some Pure Profit to your bottom line. First they add additional Revenue before you actually need to fill Orders. Second, they build Brand loyalty. Third, they are a convenience for your Customers. Fourth, they can bring you new Customers to your Business. Last and possibly most important, depending on which survey you believe, anywhere from 30 to 50% of all Gift Cards are NEVER redeemed.

[8] 2 quick Tips for Direct Response Ads:

First, when you instruct the Prospects to call a toll free number, explain that they will only be listening to a Recorded Message and not talking to a "live" Person. This will help put them at ease since they might be afraid that a "live" person might try to Sell them.

Second, ask them to leave their Email Address for additional details rather than their Phone Number. Again, this will disarm many Prospects who might be concerned being bombarded with follow-up phone calls.

[9] Media Interviews:

Some of the best publicity is the kind you can get for Free. There are hundreds of Newspapers, TV and Radio Talk Shows, Magazines and Newsletters which are always looking for a good story. It may be about your Products or Services, a Donation you’ve made, a Community Service you have performed, a Company expansion, acquisition or additional location planned, etc.

[10] A Slogan for Branding:

Almost any Marketing Guru knows the value of creating a Slogan for Branding purposes. Consider Don't leave Home without It, The Greatest Show on Earth, Just Do It, Let your Fingers do the Walking, It's the Real Thing, They're Grrrreat, I'm Lovin' It, Imagination at Work, I can't believe I ate the whole thing, Have It Your Way, Put a Tiger in your Tank, So Easy a Caveman can do it, The Quicker Picker Upper, or The King of Beers and the odds are you immediately think of the Company or Product behind the Slogan. What can you come up?

[11] Is the Wrong person writing the Right copy:

When you put together a Cover Letter, Email, Ad Copy, Web Page, etc., do you have a Sales Expert write it or at least ok it before it "goes to press"? I didn't say Marketing Expert, I said SALES Expert. There is a major difference and every Sentence and yes, even every Word can be critical. Let your Marketing people do what they do best with their layouts however it's critical that you have the Copy written by a Master Sales Pro.

[12] Know your Numbers:

There's a great saying that "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up someplace else". Allow me to paraphrase that by stating "If you don't know your Numbers, you probably won't go anywhere". With any type of Advertising, you need to know your response percentage, cost per Lead and conversion rate, etc. Once you have accurate stats it becomes easy to know what needs to be tweaked for improvement, When I do Consulting, many times I've found that we only need to improve certain numbers or percentages by 5 or 10% which results in a dramatic 50 to 200% overall positive impact to the Bottom Line.

[13] A different LOOK means more LOOT:

Have you ever noticed that major Corporations change their Slogan, their Jingle and even their Logo design from time to time? It's simply so their Customers and Prospect don't become bored. If you watch carefully, they also change the Colors in their Ads, the Headings and even switch their Ad Copy from Long to Short and back. Yes, the studies show that it takes 5 to 8 impressions before the majority of Prospects are ready to make a decision. However, I constantly run into Companies that have been using the same "Look" for years . . . if not decades.

BTW, this philosophy certainly applies to Salespeople. The great majority are still using words, phrases and techniques which are so worn out, used and abused that they actually turn off their Prospects. Many Salespeople have been in their profession for years . . . if not decades however they don't have years or decades of experience. They have one year's experience 5 or 10 or 20 years, over and over and over again.

[14] Build an Army of Affiliates:

One of the best opportunities to grow and expand your Business is to build an Army of Affiliates. There are thousands of people who make their living by simply marketing Products and Services from other Companies, or at least providing highly qualified Leads for them. In most cases these Affiliates earn 60 to 80% of the Commission and in some cases, up to 100%. Of course, any Sales they make for you are "found money" and your main concern should be the profit you receive during the life of each new Client or Customer.

[15] Don't OVER POWER your Product

I originally wrote this on a Sunday night as I was enjoying the American Music Awards. Being a former Musician, Talent Agent and Record Producer (see my Autobiography), I enjoyed many great Performances, Vocals and Choreography from a magical collection of today's most popular Musical Entertainers. I also witnessed every conceivable Lighting, Pyrotechnic, Video and special effect known to man and therein lies the challenge. As magnificent as the effects were, the great majority of the time they completely overpowered the Act and ended up being more of a distraction instead of a compliment.

When you advertise and/or promote your Products, be careful that other things on the Page don't complete with or overpower what you are trying to sell. Make sure that the colors, photos, art work, testimonials, special effects, type styles or even size are complimenting and not competing with your main offer.

[16] Continuity means Cash:

Most Companies miss one of the best opportunities for Cash Flow there is, which is a Continuity Program. What Product or Service do you have or could you develop that your Customers or Clients would gladly pay for month after month after month?

[17] What else can Make you Money:

I see many Individuals and Companies who have become very proficient at something other than their primary Product or Service and don't do anything to turn that into an additional Profit Center. Personally I started as a Telemarketing Sales Trainer. I always mixed in a little Humor and Motivation and one day a Client asked me to do several Keynote Addresses at a Convention they were sponsoring. He wanted pure Motivation and as a result of those appearances, we booked 80 Dates to Owners and Managers from attending Companies as a Motivational Speaker. I had just created an additional Product to market.

Another owner liked the production I used on my Training Videos and asked me to produce a series of Videos for his Company. That led to another mini-career which was writing and producing Corporate Image Videos, short and long form Commercials and even several 30 and 60 minute infomercials.

In the late 90's a few Clients asked if I could share some ideas that would help them do what they do better, faster or cheaper. Since I had worked for and had visited hundreds of Clients they figured I would know what worked and didn't work. I now have a Client base which pays me to Consult and Mentor them via weekly Conference Calls while sitting at Home in my Shorts and T-Shirt.

[18] Cross Promoting:

Last November I was looking for a few new Haunted Houses to visit and I found one called Warehouse 31 in St Augustine. I checked their Web Site and was impressed enough to make the Drive. Wow... was I blown away. It was first class all the way and I highly recommend it. A few weeks later I received a Survey from them asking for suggestions on ways to improve. In the Survey they also asked how I heard about them. Their list which is one of the best examples of Cross Promotions I've ever seen. They had used 3 Radio Stations, a Facebook Page, Facebook Ads, Cable TV, Commercials before Movies in the local Theaters, Ticketmaster, a MySpace page, Billboards, Post Cards from McDonalds, Flyers at local H.S. Football games, their own WebSIte, Posters, H.S. Paper Ads, News Stories on TV, a Newspaper Article plus some of their Monsters visiting Businesses around Town. Of course, they Sold Out every night they were open.

[19] Become Creative:

I saw a TV Ad recently for Office Depot which really drove home how this can crush your competition. It showed a local Barber Shop who considered going out of business when a national chain opened up across the street and advertised $6 Haircuts. The owner had a large Banner created and hung it above his front door. It said: "We Fix $6 Haircuts". Within months the national chain was out of business.

Here’s one of the best examples of creative copy I’ve ever seen read; SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, race unimportant. I'm a very good girl who LOVES to play, take long walks in the woods, ride in your pickup truck, hunt, camp out and even go on fishing trips. I love cozy winter nights lying by the fire and candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work wearing only what nature gave me. Call 404 000-0000 and ask for Daisy. Over the next few days over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society about an 8 week old black Labrador retriever. Ya gotta luv creative thinking.

[20] Don’t try to Ride a Dead Horse:

Many Companies continue to use a Marketing technique, Advertising campaign, or even keep a Manager or Employee long after it or they have ceased to be effective. In other words they continue to try and ride a Dead Horse. Do any of these sound familiar?

1. We buy a stronger whip.

2. We try changing riders.

3. We threaten the horse with termination.

4. We appoint a committee to study the horse.

5. We lower the standards so that dead horses can be included.

6. We reclassify the dead horse as "living impaired."

7. We hire outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

8. We harness several dead horses together to increase the speed.

9. We provide additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse's performance.

10. We rewrite the expected performance requirements for all horses.

11. We do a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

12. We determine that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line than do some other horses.

13. We promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.

14. We keep reassessing the horse in hopes that it will rise from the dead.