Getting Your Products to Market!

The number of entrepreneurs participating in affiliate marketing programs is exploding—and with good reason: it's a fantastic opportunity to earn money from your own business. You've already invested in a partnership with Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) that allows you to offer high-quality products that are valuable and beneficial to your customers. If you take the time and effort to implement a successful marketing campaign, you can attract new and repeat customers and reap great financial rewards.

With the idea of helping you to grow your business, TSC is publishing to the TSC Affiliate News blog a series of posts that will help you to develop an effective marketing plan. We want you to prosper. After all, our success is based on protecting and growing your business!

We'll start the series…at the beginning, with…

Branding

Marketers view a brand as an implied promise regarding the level of quality of a product or service. Your brand may increase sales when prospective customers make a favorable comparison with competing products or services. Ultimately, brand management is the extended process of carefully cultivating a reputation that develops over time. However, there are a few steps you can take immediately that can help to drive business your way.

Pick a Great Name

The first impression that prospective customers have of your business is usually its name. Try to select a name for your traffic school that will attract a broad audience. We encourage you to pick a name that inspires an idea of fun and/or high quality at an inexpensive price. You might stay away from names that are insulting or offensive, unless you make very clear that it's meant in fun (the _____ for Dummies series of books successfully exploits this concept). While you might try to develop a brand that suggests exceptional quality or exclusivity and luxury without regard for price (think Apple Inc. or Prada), be aware that this could limit your audience and that the best strategy in this industry is generally to appeal to as many people as possible.

An Image is Worth a Thousand Words

You may not realize it, but the images you choose for your website (and other marketing materials) tell your customers a lot about your business. The images should always be of high quality, of course; you don't want your customers thinking that you run a shabby establishment. But the content of the images tells a story and creates a feeling as well. Be conscious of what narrative is expressed and what emotions are inspired, and thoughtfully select images that are attractive to your intended audience and in concert with your name and other branding efforts.

Copy is Not for Copying

Be sure to customize your site with your own text as well as images. The website templates that TSC provides free of charge to affiliates contain some basic text, but don't be afraid to change what's there and to add your own. Communicate to your customers in your own voice. By being authentic to your brand and conveying an air of professionalism, you'll inspire confidence and trust—and encourage sales.

Your Affiliate Manager is Here to Help

You are present in and have a good handle on what will work in your community. There may be marketing ideas that you haven't considered, however. If you're not making the number of sales you'd like, there's no shame in asking for some help. Contact TSC's Director of Affiliate Programs, Gloria Verver (1-800-252-9488, or email to gloria@trafficeducation.net). If she can't assist directly, she can refer you to someone in the organization who can help.



We hope that these suggestions and the tips we'll provide in the posts to follow will help you to boost your business. TSC is your partner, and we're always here to help!

Welcome, New Jersey Affiliates!

We at Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., would like to take this opportunity to welcome our New Jersey affiliates to the TSC Affiliate News Weblog/Newsletter. We’ll be posting periodically to keep you up-to-date on new products and developments at TSC headquarters, to offer helpful suggestions on managing and marketing your traffic school, and to inform you of industry related information that could affect you and your operations.

Because the blog is ultimately intended as a means to disseminate useful information to you, our affiliates, we’re open to your input. Feel free to add a comment to any article you see here (comments are moderated). If there are topics that you would like to see covered here, or if you would like to contribute a post to a future edition of TSC Affiliate News, please feel free to email Rick Ehlers with your ideas and suggestions.

New Laws for New Jersey - 2010

Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) routinely updates its curricula to account for changes to the regulations governing drivers. The following changes have recently gone into effect in New Jersey:

• Provisional licenses are now referred to as probationary licenses.
• Seat belt use is now required for all vehicle occupants—including adults in the rear seat, who were previously exempt when an adult was at the wheel. A seat belt violation is a primary enforcement violation, except for an adult, rear-seat passenger, for whom it is a secondary enforcement violation.
• Drivers must now yield not only to pedestrians already in a crosswalk (or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection), but also to pedestrians waiting to enter a crosswalk where traffic is not regulated by traffic controls.

For affiliates offering TSC's Online Defensive Driving Course, these edits have already been incorporated into the Internet-based curriculum. For those of you who are offering live courses via a classroom, Donna will be contacting you about updating your materials.