I am finding the same issue with Dealfind© as with Groupon©. The original deals, even a year or so ago, were real deals and worth the time to purchase. Now, personally, all I am seeing is deals that are worded “save over 50%” etc. but in fact, inflated pricing is reduced to normal pricing and this is the saving portion.

Let’s take today’s deal from Dealfind©  as an example. It was for frozen food products and the Deal stated…” Get 200 dollars worth of product for 25 dollars”. Wow, that is a great savings right? Well here is the fine print:

-$200.00 was 4 coupons of $50.00 each (not to be used at the same time)
– Had to buy @ $240.00 worth of product to use the $50.00 coupon PLUS @ $30.00 in shipping would be added. So you pay @ $270.00 (with shipping) and take $50.00 off and you save a grand total of @ $20.00!!
– How they justified the ‘deal’ was to state a normal price for their meat product, but if your bought the required 8 packages, you got a reduced price. So really your coupon was based on the lower price.
It get’s better! The lower cost on one product, frozen sirloin steaks, turned out to be OVER $25.00 a kilogram for the steaks at the special price!! Heck, Costco © sells AAA beef strip loin for @ $17.00 a kilogram all day long.

In reality, allot of these coupon deals end up with a net savings between 10-25%. You know what…Department stores do this all the time and it is annoying. The amount of restrictions are also increasing and the novelty of “bulk savings” by having allot of people participate, just does not add up anymore.

Maybe I am alone in my thinking but I don’t think so.

Larry J Clark

P.S..I asked for a refund once I did the math. Now what do I do with my credit?

I was reading Genesis 19 this morning and in case you are not familiar with this chapter in the bible, it is when God has sent 2 Angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. God has mercy on Lot and his family and the Angels took them out of the City before hand and warns them to ’ ...don’t look back but flee to the mountains”.

Well, as they are moving forward to the next closest City, Lot’s wife looks back and turns to a pillar of salt. Wrong move.

What is the significance of this story and how does it relate to us today? In the case of Lot’s wife, they were fleeing immoral society that God had decided to judge. Looking back, maybe she was curious but I believe she was looking back at her old lifestyle and couldn’t move forward to where she was told to go.

In our lives, we are meant to move forward at all times and while I am not saying we will turn to salt if we look back, it is imperative that where you have been does not dictate where you are going.

Sometimes there is actual danger in focusing on your past.  If you accumulated some bad habits in the past life or in business and have moved ahead, it is really easy when times get tough to fall back on those “comfort” zones. Whether it is financial, work ethic, or something else you said “you would never do again and have learned your lesson from”... have you noticed how easy it is to think back and think those weren’t as bad after all? YES THEY WERE! Who wants to backward again to try and go forward? Not me!

I know there are daily lessons in life and today’s was for me to share what I was reminded of. Looking back with longing cost Lot’s wife her life. Don’t allow yourself to caught “looking back” when there is so much to be gained in moving forward.

Kind Regards,

Larry J Clark

There are really only 2 competitors out there when it comes to free online classified ad’s for the most exposure. I have been using both for quite awhile now and I will explain the what the benefits of each is as well as the downfalls. Here we go…

Craigslist is the most established of the two and is is independently owned, so is not overly ad driven or does not have the annoying ‘feature ad’s’ that are on Kijiji. Craigslist also has more categories in which to target your ad’s to your prospective clients. Both Craigslist and Kijiji are Geographical meaning they are set up for specific regions and Cities so ad’s can be added to your specific area or Region. Great for the garage sale items! The downfall of Craigslist is the erotic section still available in Canada, you cannot pay for a better position, you cannot renew your ad for 48 hours (depending on how many people post in your category, your ad could be on page 4-5 in no time), and that they allow people to ‘flag’ your ad if they feel it has been mis-categorized. This just happened to me where I had actually posted business products for sale in the Business category and someone flagged them ALL! Yup, gone within minutes. Craigslist will not respond if you complain that your legitimate ads are flagged, so you have to deal with the people who have nothing else to do but flag ads. More about this when I conclude.

Kijiji on the other hand has some great features. One, it is very popular and I have had great results for selling domains. Kijiji also has a ‘hit’ count on the bottom of your ad so you can see how many people have clicked on your ad. Great for research as well as you can look at other ads or products and see what people are interested in based in ‘hits’ to the ad. Kijiji is owned by Google so it is ad driven. The good news is that it offers the poster a free ad, or the the opportunity to purchase a “position” in a category. For as little as $1.99, you can ‘bump up’ your ad on the page so it doesn’t disappear down the pages. With ad’s being a revenue stream for Google, allot of ads on one page is annoying. Kijiji allows you to delete and re-post your add at any time but the downside is you will spend time doing this frequently as it has a tenancy to drop your ad quickly due to the amount of people posting. I guess this is good for Google as they get more people to buy positions. I have been testing this lately and will post my results in a subsequent post.

Let me conclude with my personal opinion…I am loosing patience with Craigslist for their lack of concern for over zealous ‘flaggers’ who are bored and flag ads for removal, even of they are legitimate. Not sure how to fix this but it makes me not want to spend time posting ads. If Craigslist allowed paid ad’s like Kijiji, this could be eliminated. Spam is an issue with Craigslist as well and they will check your ad to make sure you do not have a live email address in your post as spammers will get you! Not an issue with Kijiji so much. So, I will lean more to Kijiji and it’s features as it is all about getting results for your efforts and so far, Kijiji win hands down

To your selling success,
Larry J Clark

Just worked on a new site for a Calgary client helping them get a higher ranking in their field. I did this over the last couple of days with a new program and wanted to test it.

You will notice that it gets to the point and is keyword optimized and has contact information on all but 2 pages. I always suggest a ‘call to action’ on every site to guide your potential client to what you would like them to do.

Posting here on my blog will also get them indexed faster in Google. ( a little marketing tip for you)

Kind Regards,

Larry J Clark

After meeting and working with a few clients lately, I have noticed that old habits die hard. Companies are so ingrained with outdated marketing and sales techniques and have not noticed that the marketplace all around them is changing.

There are not as many potential clients out there as in past years and these clients have more choices then ever before. So how do you compete today?

1. Don’t stop investing in marketing. I see it continually, especially with home builders, the first thing they cut in a down market is marketing and sales investment. Wrong answer.  Consider the fact that if there are less clients out there seeking your product or service and the same amount of competitors, you had better be forefront on the clients list perspective choices or you will not be considered at all. Keep in mind as well, that print ad’s and other advertising mediums will more likely be more cost effective in a down market as well. If budget is a concern, be creative and use more online techniques like blogs, facebook etc. to get your message out.

2. Sell Benefits Instead of Features. There is an widely used statement in marketing today…”what’s in it for me?” Very true in today’s market as well. Businesses have a tendency to brag about how great they are, how many awards they have won, and take it for granted that their reputation will carry them through. What they forget is that the buyer is the the ‘drivers seat’ today and you had better wow them with how your product or service will benefit the client, not you. Explain how you will make the clients life easier, have less concerns about after sales service and warranty, and overall will improve their life and that you have exactly what they are looking for.

To wrap up…adapt to the market and the changes in the way people are buying these days. Make your offer or product irresistible to a potential client by showing them how it will fit their needs and benefit them. Lose your thinking of “that is how we have always done it” and ride this uncertain marketplace to a certain success.

To your future growth,

Larry J Clark

Well it’s been just over a week since the marriage of my oldest child, “my little girl”, Courtney to her new husband David.

Courtney and Dave have been dating seriously for just over year and we are thrilled to have Dave in the Family. The wedding was spectacular and the venue at Redwoods Golf Course in Langley BC was over the top. Even with just over a 100 people, it seemed it was a grand formal affair and the food was excellent. Hat’s off to the Redwood’s and your staff. Job well done.

You can see some pictures from Red Handed Photography here: http://www.redhandedphotography.blogspot.com/

It was also a blessing to have family and our friends from Vancouver there to share our special moment with us.

Here’s to you Mr. and Mrs. Sondergaard. May God richly bless you all the days of your lives together.

A proud Daddy,

Larry J Clark

Here is a new video I did for a client in Calgary. Ranked first page on Google in one day. Had fun making it with Keynote and some video programs.

Astro Transmission Calgary Video on YouTube

To your video future…

Larry

While I don’t usually spend too much time viewing or analyzing commercials on the “tube”, I did view a TIDE detergent commercial that I felt was sending the wrong message.

It shows a teenage girl asking her mother if she has seen her green blouse. The screen shows the Mom flashback to where she (the Mom) is wearing the blouse and had spilled something on it that left a stain. No big deal right? Just tell your daughter you borrowed it but will clean it right away with your great TIDE product…nope. The Mom in the Commercial lies to her daughter and says she has not seen it. The commercial goes on to show the Mom wash that bad stain out of the nice green blouse with the great TIDE detergent. The ending has the daughter being asked by the Mom “oh, I see you found your top” Daughter “Yes, must have been hiding in my closet somewhere”.

What kind of message is Proctor and Gamble thinking they are sending to the Mothers and daughters of the world? It is O.k. to lie to your children yet you raise your children not to lie to you? This commercial message is ultimately wrong and misguided. I am not sure who P&G hires to do these commercials but the marketing department for Proctor and Gamble should have realized this was not the message their Company or brand should be portraying and rejected it.

I will be sending a note to P&G this week and let them know my thoughts. I doubt it will make a difference at all but maybe suggesting my wife change her brand of detergent might.

Stand for something or fall for anything.

Regards,

Larry J Clark

I was invited by one of the owners of Laratta Homes, Tony, to join him for a round of golf at Redwood Meadows Golf Course in Calgary.

This was my first round of golf I have played in over a year and the very first since I moved back to Calgary. I got there early so I decided to hit some balls at the range. At first it was not pretty and very inconsistent and I am sure the regular members of the Redwoods were probably thinking “who is this guy?”. I started to get back in the swing of things and felt more confident.

Then came the putting green..ugly and then the first drive. Straight left into the trees about 50 yards out! YIKES! Now I am sure Tony and the others in the foresome were probably thinking…”who invited him?” I managed to get a few good drives in during the round and even one birdie on a par 4. Broke a hundred but just barely. The good news is I really love to golf so I was not dissuaded, the course was in excellent condition, the leg held up right up to the last 2 holes and there was a buck deer feeding on one of the picturesque par 3’s. (picture above)

I hope to get more rounds in this year and adapt to my new surroundings here in Calgary.

Regards,

Larry J Clark

I have new agreement with Laratta Homes, a Custom New Home Builder in Calgary.

Laratta has been building custom designed homes in Calgary since 1978 and has an excellent reputation for building infill homes, acreage homes as well as high end renovations.

My position will over see sales and marketing of our current Development commitments: Willow Creek in Bearspaw, Coppers Crossing in Airdrie for our new semi-custom line…Artigiano Developments, as well as other acreage area’s and custom infill clients.

I look forward to the challenge and hope to make a big impact on their growth into the future.

Kind Regards,

Larry J Clark