3ML Briefcase: Marketing

Welcome!

If this is the first time you have visited the 3 Minute Learning Blog, below you will find the unique 3ML Briefcase. Over the first 8 days of every month, summaries for all 32 articles appearing in the current month’s online magazine will be presented. Articles are presented free of charge and rotate every day with 4 new articles appearing in the respective subject areas. To read articles, go to the 3 Minute Learning home page.

While you are visiting the 3 Minute Learning home page, check out the news, sports and business videos and the special feature articles. All content is refreshed on a daily basis.

ARTICLES on MARKETING

1) 3 Major Ways to Build Massive Lists Of Active Subscribers by Andrea McClure

Do you have even a small list of good, subscribing customers? Are people subscribing to your newsletter or ezine? Are they buying from you? Most importantly, is your traffic and list active? Offer value and give them a burning reason to keep coming back to you and your products/services.

2) Citizen Media: The Future of Internet Marketing by Chris Malta & Robin Cowie

Social bookmarking and tagging are relatively new online marketing techniques but they're quickly gaining ground. User-generated content sites, like Digg, are exploding all over the Internet.

3) Traffic Secrets of a Savvy Super Affiliate by Willie Crawford

On March 27th, 2008, Jeff Walker released his much-awaited Product Launch Formula 2.0. Numerous affiliates promoted the product and it did VERY well. However, some affiliates were much more effective than others. As one of the affiliates who made dozens of sales, please allow me to share with you what I consider the "traffic secrets" that made the difference. Hopefully, you can apply some of these techniques in your own marketing.

4) Easy Postcard Marketing Checklist by Bob Leduc

Generating website traffic, sales leads and even sales with postcards is easy when you follow a proven system. This 10 point checklist lays out a simple step by step process you can follow to get your postcard marketing campaign off to a fast start and produce highly profitable results.

Visit 3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2008 3 Minute Learning LLC

3ML Briefcase: Business Articles

Welcome!

If this is the first time you have visited the 3 Minute Learning Blog, below you will find the unique 3ML Briefcase. Over the first 8 days of every month, summaries for all 32 articles appearing in the current month’s online magazine will be presented. Articles are presented free of charge and rotate every day with 4 new articles appearing in the respective subject areas. To read articles, go to the 3 Minute Learning home page.

While you are visiting the 3 Minute Learning home page, check out the news, sports and business videos and the special feature articles. All content is refreshed on a daily basis.

ARTICLES on BUSINESS and MANAGEMENT

1) 10 Mistakes Business Owners Make Online by Andrew C. Clacy

I have listed 5 of the 10 mistakes that business owners make when they go online seeking information and resources. Part two featuring the other 5 mistakes will be offered next month.

2) 10 Ways to Save Money on Advertising by BIG Mike McDaniel

Everyday it seems I get asked about ways to save money on advertising. I've been asked if cutting the size of the newspaper ad or the frequency will still get the same results. One question was a scheme to use newspaper one month, take a month off then use radio for a month and take another month off and so on.

3) Business Education 2-Pack by Sam Miller

Presented are two articles to assist you with your business acumen:

(1) Keeping Score with Marketing ROI and,

(2) Productivity Benchmarks and the Process of Benchmarking

4) Customer Loyalty: The Ultimate Road to Profit by Dan Mercurio

When we think of the term “Customer Loyalty”, it is usually describing the behavior of repeat customers, who offer good ratings, reviews or testimonials about your business. In a marketplace such as automotive new car sales, it is critical to build strong customer loyalty. A one size fits all approach to selling and retaining customers does little to fend off competitors and create loyalty.

Visit 3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2008 3 Minute Learning LLC

3ML Briefcase May 1, 2008

Welcome!

If this is the first time you have visited the 3 Minute Learning Blog, below you will find the unique 3ML Briefcase. Over the first 8 days of each month, summaries for all 32 articles appearing in the current month’s online magazine will be presented. Articles are presented free of charge and rotate every day with 4 new articles appearing in the respective subject areas. To read articles, go to the 3 Minute Learning home page.

While you are visiting the 3 Minute Learning home page, check out the news, sports and business videos and the special feature articles. All content is refreshed on a daily basis.

ARTICLES on LEADERSHIP

1) Articles for Inspiration by Steve Goodier

Presented are 6 short articles to inspire you everyday. The story titles are:

(1) How Is It With Your Soul?

(2) Changing the World, One Clip at a Time

(3) When Life Gives You A Kick

(4) No Future in The Past

(5) Nudging Without Nagging

(6) Where Change Begins

2) Four “D” Words Are Needed To Be Successful by Gordon Bellows

In order to achieve any amount of success in your life, it is important that you understand four basic characteristics. Let's call these four attributes the four D's of success: Desire - Decision - Determination – Discipline

3) 4 Essential Steps You Must Take To Succeed With Anything by David P. Allen

I believe there are 4 essential steps you must take if you want to succeed with any project. A project is anything that requires a plan. It can be simple like making a plan to go to a movie or more complicated like setting up an Internet business.

4) 5 Personality Traits That Define a Natural Born Leader by Donald Griffith

Are leaders born or made? There is evidence to prove that there is a personality profile that exists that is a natural born leader. In fact, there are 5 specific personality traits that define a natural born leader. A natural born leader is someone who is willing to lead and has the social ability, self confidence, assertiveness and boldness to take on team responsibilities and lead others.

Visit 3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2008 3 Minute Learning LLC

More March Madness

Follow-Up

In the last blog, the issue was using college athletes for profit without any obligations to these students. In the current issue of Time magazine, this point is driven to the basket.

Only one (1) university of the top four (4) seeds will graduate more than 50 percent of its players. According to Time, the programs at Kansas, UCLA and Memphis are below 46 percent. The payoff? The projected TV ad sales for the tourney will be $545 million.

There are new plantation owners in the US and they are called university presidents.

8 and Out

It’s time for the US to adopt the industrialized world’s approach to education and end mandatory schooling at the 8^th grade. By then students will have had 10 years of formal education and the basics of reading, writing and math should be deep-seated. If not, another 4 years won’t make a difference as the majority of high school graduates are only competent at an 8^th grade level as measured by standardized tests.

So what are the options? First, students with the aptitude and desire can enroll in private schools that will prepare them for an academic future and attendance in higher education. Parents, now paying yearly tuitions, will demand results from the school and place the appropriate expectations on their son or daughter. The learning environment will be enhanced by a clear focus, smaller class sizes and fewer disruptions.

Second, students who are creative (arts, music) or industrial can enroll in schools that will build on those strengths. In addition to traditional vocational programs, other offerings would include marketing and design, entrepreneurialism, small business skills and virtual skills such as call center specialists.

The third and final option is military service. While it is unlikely that any pre-18 year old will serve in a war zone, these students will learn the basics of soldiering including physical fitness. These military schools will be supported via tax dollars and students will serve a mandatory 5 years beyond the 4 years of “high school.” Every student will earn the equivalent of an academic or industrial high school degree that will allow them to compete in the non-military world. As an added bonus, any honorably discharged veteran with an academic degree can attend a college or university at no additional expense for up to 160 credits.

Finally, the US Congress can dissolve the US Department of Education as the past 50 years of programs and laws that provided billions of tax dollars have failed. The agency is just too out-of-touch to respond in a timely manner to the needs of business, industry or the country.

Standardization of education through the 8^th grade is a state function. Privatization of “high school” will have standards that will exceed those currently in place. The military option will have national standards as set by the oversight committee of the US Armed Forces.

It’s time for the US to make education competitive by eliminating the antiquated thought that every child has the right for 12 years of education. Actually, some children should be “left behind” for the good of those who can excel.

Visit www.3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2008 3 Minute Learning LLC

Super League

The Return of the Student-Athlete

It’s March and the annual college basketball “March Madness” is hitting college campuses, sports networks and business offices across the country. College students set aside homework and other academic projects, TV networks blast an endless barrage of advertising and productivity in corporate offices falls faster than Dow-Jones stock prices. Maybe this is all harmless fun until you realize the actual outcome: the exploitation of gifted Black athletes.

The major sports, football and basketball, are significant revenue generators for a university with modern football stadiums and basketball arenas. Tickets, TV contracts, sales from concessions and parking and logo licensing are big revenue producers. Colleges profit on the backs of talented young men and women and offer very little in return. In major sports, scholarships that lead to college degrees are less than 50 percent of the total student-athlete population and even lower for Black athletes. The US is the only country in the world that turns its young people into sports slaves and addicts.

It’s time for colleges and universities to take back athletics and return them to an appropriate place in the academic experience. It’s time to recognize the return of the student-athlete who plays sports as a complement to academics. However, because college athletics is so tightly linked with the economics of this country, a compromise would be the creation of a super league of universities. Just as Ivy League schools represent the top tier of academics, there would be a top tier league for athletics.

In both football and basketball, there would be a selection for a league of teams based on a historical number of athletes that make it to professional ranks. These teams would be known for their true intent: preparing athletes for a career in professional sports. In football, the super league would have 20 teams; basketball would have 40 teams. The competitive schedules would only include teams in the league. The NCAA would have no jurisdiction over this league; these participants are not student-athletes; they are semi-pro athletes. They would be governed by the same rules of any pro athlete.

The twist would be a “super-fund” created by the participating universities and matched by the respective professional leagues that would go to supporting education for these athletes. Each athlete would be given 5 years of sports eligibility and, if drafted, could turn pro at any time during those 5 years. At the end of 5 years (or sooner), should the athlete fail to make a pro team, the super-fund pays for that athlete to re-enter college as a student.

The super-fund comes from regular season ticket sales, playoff games, TV contracts, licensing of products and the match from the pro leagues. Even though the athlete is not getting paid directly, there would be room and board, training and medical coverage, travel accommodations and year-round access to training facilities.

While this sounds like the current system, the difference would be that the athlete is not going to suffer from delusions about their chances for a pro contract. They are playing in the top semi-pro league; if no pro team is showing interest, it’s time to get out and get a degree.

The athlete should realize that education is the key to his or her future and has 4 years, tuition-free, to get that done. The current system wastes that tuition-free opportunity by making the student sacrifice academics for athletics during the 5-year scholarship period.

For the tens of thousands of other athletes across the country, playing collegiate sports is now for the “love of the game.” College athletics would still provide an outlet for competition and social activities but it is not the focus.

For the “top-shelf” college athlete playing in the super league, it won’t take long to realize any pro potential. The big difference is now they have a chance to develop a productive career should an athletic not be realized.

Visit www.3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2008 3 Minute Learning LLC