I am starting a production company and have a 10 minute short film that I want to market and sell for download what is the best way to market?

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Jay’s Answer: Perhaps the simplest way would be to create a 1-minute short of your film, and upload it to the various free video sites (YouTube, etc.). The short gives a sample of the movie, perhaps with some testimonials, but with your website featured prominently.

Your website itself will have the short, plus stills from the movie, and more testimonials (on why it’s such a great movie, who learned what from it, etc.). If you have supporting material (blog, ebook, etc.) you can attempt to build a network around the movie, providing something of value.

Lastly, don’t overlook selling it on iTunes, Amazon, etc.

I am a Life Advisor with years of experience helping families, teenagers, co-workers, and executives on Wall Street with life issues. I have a good reputation with my clients who continue to use my services. Now I have my Life Advisor business on line were you pay a fee for one e-mail and I respond to the question within 24hrs. I need ideas on how to market my business to all people in person and on line.

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Jay’s Answer: You have a big challenge. The internet is full of people who are happy to answer questions (for free) on a wide variety of topics. To get people to pay for your services, you need to show them that your information is not just worth it – it’s a huge bargain. You’ll need to build your testimonials on your website to show the types of people/problems you’ve helped with (and their concrete results).

Once that’s all in place, you start by working the network of past clients (perhaps creating an monthly online newsletter about live issues in general, etc.). Your website needs an opt-in form to receive the newsletter so you can regularly reach out to people who are interested in you and your offering.

As for in-person, you don’t want to mention the email route initially. Why? Because you’re standing in front of them – human-to-human. Keep this connection alive by telling them about how you help people. And if they’re interested, they’ll ask about your services. Then you mention email as an option.

What unwritten rules should I as a marketer be aware of as I enter social media (such as blogging, Facebook, etc.)? I obviously have an eye toward generating leads and building credibility, but I’m told it’s easy to alienate potential clients if they suspect a “hard sell.” How do I strike a balance?

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Jay’s Answer: You actually mention two separate (but similar) goals: building credibility and generating leads.

To build credibility you need to show up online and keep showing up, answering questions (online, if you don’t post you’re invisible). When you do post, make sure that if you have resources to back up your position you provide them. This makes you stand out not just as someone who knows something, but is open enough to let the intelligent online reader decide for them self. Given all things equal, people purchase from those they trust. By posting online (networking in person), people can start to build that trust through your interactions.

To get leads, you need to either ask for them or give them a reason to contact you. When posting, if you have some information that’s more appropriate to discuss off-network, encourage the connection. If you have a report or article, offer that (as a bonus for opting-in your email list).

To make a transition from the social network to your website, create customized profile pages for each social media site you’re a member of. People that read your comments online might be curious about you, so instead of pointing them to your home page, point them to a page that talks about how you business fits into MySpace, or what you love about MySpace, etc.

You can’t sell something if you don’t know what people need. Listen, ask, and when the time is right, offer a solution to begin the sales process.

I wanted to solicit your opinion on how to promote a site that I recently launched: (www.goosca.com). This site is a social networking platform that allows its users to purchase real gifts for themselves or for other users (without knowing the recipients addresses in the latter case). Our company or affiliated vendors will do the delivery. Users who do not object to receiving gifts from others provide their addresses at the account registration time. These addresses will be kept confidential and will be used only for gifts delivery purpose. In your opinion, what would be the best way to promote the site and its ideas?

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Jay’s Answer: As you know, creating a new social networking platform isn’t hard – attracting people to it is. There are a huge number of sites competing for people (for example)

It appears that the sole purpose of the site is ultimately ecommerce (and the way you generate revenue) – sending/receiving gifts to people whose address you don’t know. Your privacy policy doesn’t adequately describe the safeguards you place for ordering and storage of confidential user information.. Also, sizing / color choices will be hard for people. Ideally, you want to say, send my new friend this thing, and have the friend choose the color/size to make sure the gift will be received in the spirit it was sent.

To build an online community, you first need critical mass – enough people online (of your target demographic) to attract more people of the same demographic via word-of-mouth. The first round can be your friends, people you know in a club, etc. You want a new visitor to visit and see lots of “action” online.

I’d strongly suggest teaming up with an existing networking site that already has active membership, and attempt to integrate your Goosca patent into their environment.

For a new business, it’s much easier to improve an existing offering than trying to create a new one from scratch.