1. Followers do matter: Let’s play the numbers game. How many followers do you have on twitter ? Fans on Facebook? Connects on LinkedIn? Follow the leaders on these sites in your industry to see how many they have. Next, compare interaction levels between both your sites. Having someone follow you is cool, but it doesn’t really count if they are inactive and their presence static. It’s how your users behave which is important. Take the following two examples with Twitter and Facebook, and apply them to any social media tool you use, including blogs, YouTube, MySpace etc.

• Twitter: Do your followers retweet your message? Use your DM box? Follow you because you follow them, or because they are interested in your services? Act on your offers?

• Facebook: How many have signed up and has it been for a particular campaign? Do they comment/like your posts? Are they active on the wall?

2. Test them: Gather the information you receive and test them. The simplest way to do this is to DM your community a message which allows you to gather their email via opt-in. Once you have gathered them legitimately, do a test run via your autoresponder provider (ePost work well to create test runs) to see response rates.

2. Measure visitors once they arrive: You can also measure audience using tools to capture page views, time spent on site, frequency of visit, and conversion rates. Web analytical tools like Google Analytics provide an easy means to gather information in one go.

3. Redefine your end goals: They might change over time, but keep up with the changes and consider the following: Social Bookmarking– who is adding your posts to sites like Delicious, Stumbleupon and Reddit? Your web analytical tool might allow you to track visitors who do so, or you can bookmark these sites and keep checking for your URL on a regular basis.

4. Cross-analyze linking to your site: You can also measure how many people are subscribing to your RSS feed, or link back to your site (WordPress has a feature which allows you to check this), or by checking on Technorati.

5.  Take note of less obvious measurement benchmarks: These are the good old fashion customer service tools to see if your customers are really happy with the services you offer, your SEO rankings, leads and referrals you receive etc.

6. Don’t forget the more obvious calculable ones: Like the investment that’s gone into your online marketing campaign, and the actual sales you’ve generated from it. Revisit your profits to see if your budgets can be sustained and need to be redirected.

7. Make PR your friend: Business owners often forget about public relations in its free or paid form, yet it can be a very strong measure of how well your business is capable of doing. Nowadays, PR and Marketing are almost becoming interchangeable, as what better way to get your message across than to brag about it on your blog or post it on twitter. If you can measure PR, you will be a strong position to measure social media.

Not much has changed since then- a good marketing strategy continues to be essential to any business. Without one, any efforts to attract customers and brand products and services will be ineffective. Before you write your marketing plan, you need to know the difference between a strategy and plan. A marketing strategy has been defined in many ways, but simply put, it’s one that’s shaped by your overall business goals and supports your end needs. Its sole purpose is to identify and communicate the benefits of what your business has to offer your target market. It outlines the approach you’ll use to meet your objectives.

A marketing strategy should include a description of your products and services, a target profile of potential and current customers, and your company’s stand with regards to competitors. It should also define strategies you’ll be using to build your business such as ‘improve online communication’ or ‘build brand awareness’ etc.

A marketing plan or a marketing tactic as it’s sometimes known, is a practical application of your marketing strategy. You have the means in place via a strategy, now all you have to do is apply them via a plan. A marketing plan cannot exist without a marketing strategy. In the above instance, your plan could be ‘sign up to social media sites and discussion forums to improve online communication’, or develop a newsletter to build brand awareness’.

A good Internet marketing strategy can do the following for you:

• Improve market visibility
• Build brand awareness
• Promote your services to the right target
• Gain customers
• Brand you as an expert
• Make your products/service more trustworthy

Before you begin drawing up your strategies, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is our industry going through any changes? Can I take advantage of them?
• What are the company’s strengths and weaknesses as defined by a SWOT analysis?
• What do customers really want?
• How can I target the right audience?
• Can I improve my customer service?
• Can I adapt or modify my products or services?
• Is the price right?
• Are my distribution channels enough, or do I need to explore further?
• Do I have tracking tools in place to ensure my campaign is being carried out correctly?

Running an online marketing campaign is obviously quite different from running one offline in say print on television. In some ways however, it’s easier as there are plenty of tools to help you do the job effectively and cost efficiently. Online marketing strategies follow traditional marketing campaigns in that they have to be both short term and long term.

• Short term strategies could include forum discussions, signing on to search engines etc.
• Long term strategies could include a well crafted website, blogging, social networking sites, opt-in lists etc.

A credible Internet marketing strategy focuses on where consumers are – in most instances, Google search engines can help you identify this. All searches start with a single keyword or key phrase, and your website’s ranking will be determined by Search Engine Optimization (SEO). So the bottom line is to know what your customers search for and tailor make your campaign around this search criteria.

The following are some of the top Internet Marketing Strategies adopted by successful online companies over the past two years. In the great wide world of online marketing, things move fairly quickly and what’s new today might be very old news tomorrow. Having said this, the following strategies stand the test of time, and are easily adaptable to new technology which may arise.

Organic search results: Organic searches are results by indexing pages based on content and keyword relevancy, rather than from advertisements or from those who’ve paid money to gain rank, such as with overture.com. Google, Yahoo, and Bing are the top search engines, which provide both organic and non-organic search results.

Keyword research: There’s no getting past it; keyword searches are vital to the success of your online campaign. If you enter the wrong keywords, chances are customers will find it hard to find you. By targeting wrong keywords, you’re not only throwing away your money, but also the chance to gain a higher rank.

Social media like Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn: more and more companies are putting top dollars into social media with remarkable results. In 2009, results showed over 150 million active users on Facebook, 76 million for MySpace, and 50 million for LinkedIn.

Video marketing: In a recent blog post I wrote, I mentioned 90% adults, 18-30 years explore video-sharing sites like Youtube. If this is your target audience, can you really afford not to use video sites?

Public relations sites: You might have heard the saying ‘any publicity is good publicity’. While this is not always be the case – negative publicity can hurt your business – free publicity is another marketing strategy worth researching. And press releases rank pretty high up when it comes to free attention. Use the many public relations sites available to push your release forward and draw attention to the particular theme you’re promoting.

Blogging : There’s not much to say about blogging which this post, Is Corporate Blogging Right For Your Business? doesn’t already cover. The best part about blogging is that it allows you to built up a steady stream of loyal readers who will be willing to act on your advice.

Link building: Search engines adore popular sites, and one way to build popularity is by linking to other relevant posts and sites.

Web design: A good web site is designed around attracting and keeping audience attention on it, and allows visitors to be guided to choices they may make. It’s easy to make mistakes while designing a site so in this instance, investing in the services of a professional is a good idea.

PPC: Pay per click has become one of the most important online marketing tools, to the extent hundreds have  built businesses around it. The key to PPC advertising is to use attractive key words and key phrases; and the benefit in doing so? An easy and convenient solution to your marketing needs, with high returns.

Newsletters and email marketing: And last but not least, newsletters or ezines have blasted onto the scene allowing even the smallest of businesses to attract a large client following. Their main purpose is to keep clients and potential clients informed about products, services, and the latest happenings in the industry, but they also use to subtly guide the client into making well informed decisions such as investing in an ebook, buying a newly launched product, or signing up for a new service.

The following list is by no means comprehensive. In fact, if you have a particular ‘niche’ you are interested in, this site should help you get to something more specific. The list I’ve compiled is general, and includes sites which are a must-follow, if you are to learn more about how to use social media, how to network effectively, and what popular and current topics being discussed are. While all of them will provide you with fresh ideas you can adopt on a daily basis, some of them can be used in turn to promote your own products and services, brands, and website.

Note the list is of English speaking sites. If you are interested in learning more about social networking in other languages, this post on link building is a good place to get started. And if you want to see who’s using what in countries around the world, this here. Brian Solis takes the same one step further in his post, The State of Social Media Around the World 2010.

So here you go, 8 excellent sites to explore and get hooked onto right away:

Mashable: One of the top 10 web blogs and with a following of over 2 million, it’s a comprehensive guide to social media. Founded in 2005 by Peter Cashmore, it has today among its guest post authors, Geoff Livingston, Brian Solis, Sarah Evans, and even San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom. As the guest posts are unpaid, you’ll be certain they are written because their authors are passionate about topics they select.

ReadWriteWeb: ReadWriteWeb was created in 2003 by Richard MacManus and has grown to be a popular site for in the tech savvy community. It explores emerging trends and offers daily Internet industry news.

Social Media Examiner: As its tagline says, it’s a ‘guide to the social media jungle’, and covers everything social media related, including case studies and interviews with top players in their field. It was started by the ever popular Mike Stelzner, author of the book Writing White Papers, and man behind Social Media Success summits.

Chris Brogan: If you want to hear from someone who really knows what he blogs about, Chris Brogan is your man. He’s said to be one of the top social networking gurus, yet his style is friendly and down to earth. Chris recently authored Social Media 101 (link).

Brian Solis: And speaking of men who know their stuff, Brian Solis is another blogger to follow. His blog has been ranked top 10 consistently, and he’s considered one of the original thinkers who paved the way for social  media. With such credentials, can you afford not to subscribe to his posts?

The Social Media Marketing Blog : Scott Monty is head of social media for Ford Motor Company and this is his personal blog. But don’t be fooled. It covers all you should know about social media in the real world setting, and more.

Social Media Explorer:  The site can at times get a bit ‘salesy’ but overall, it provides fresh insight into common social media issues and concerns.

Kikolani : The name is catchy and so is the blog. It’s a great site for bloggers and social media enthusiasts to check out.

There are a number of other sites like Technorati and Digg, whose powers should not be underestimated. Learn more about them here and enjoy transferring this knowledge to your own applications.

People are also  more willing to download free eBooks, pay in full for courses, and attend seminars and lectures delivered by ‘experts’ in the industry? Remember though while marketing and media can get you ahead of the pack, it’s knowledge and true expertise which will keep you there. As an expert, you’ll need to continue to learn and grow before being in a position to teach others to do so. But first, let’s examine what you’ll personally gain from an expert status.

The benefits of being an expert are numerous. Apart from the above listed opportunities – promote your products and services, being one step ahead of your competitors, gathering fans and subscribers – you’ll also have the satisfaction of helping others along the way. An expert status helps you:

• Help others
• Become a trusted source
• Stand out from the crowd
• Get publicity for your own business
• Make selling your own products and services just a little bit easier

Social media is key in today’s online world, in helping companies and individual entrepreneurs get their name out there. The following are 5 ways by which to get your name recognized, your status appreciated, and your following built, by using social media tools appropriately.

1. Select a specific niche: Experts have their own niche, around which a keyword rich domain is built. It’s hard to compete with everyone, but easier to select a few to stand out from. Yaro Starak is one such example: in a short while, he built on his niche, bloggers and internet marketers, to become a multi-million dollar success story. Here’s his take on niche building: In today’s e-commerce landscape, content is the driving force behind traffic and purchasing decisions online, so topic selection is a big deal. You have to learn how to choose a niche before even choosing a niche!

2. Be active, daily: This doesn’t mean simply adding daily posts to your blog (though that would help). What it does mean is to work with selected social media sites on a daily basis. This could include a post, a couple of twitter messages, updates on Facebook, a note in MySpace, comments on other blog posts, and chats in forums. The more a person is online, the greater the chances of interacting with newer and targeted audience. Length is not an issue; the focus is not on creating 1000 + worded posts daily, but rather on providing timely and valuable content, even if it’s a 140 character tweet.

3. Learn from the best: To be the best you need to learn from the best and this means reading books and visiting sites of experts in the field. It also pays to participate in forums and chats- ask questions, contribute your own knowledge, and get the ball rolling.

A note here about accreditation: does it really help? Think of all the qualified medical practitioners offering online health and wellness guidance. Certification does help and it’s wise to upgrade knowledge with the latest that’s being offered in your field. There are plenty of online courses and distance education classes available; just ensure you learn from a reputable organization which you’ll be happy to attach your name to.

4. Pay special attention to branding: Branding is a powerful visual tool, which relays the company’s message across all sites. Spend time on creating and designing your brand before you launch the company. Your brand should be consistent across all social media sites (and you can take it offline too), so eventually people will recognize your logo, colors, and images, as much as they do your name.

5. Give as you receive: Experts give back as much as they receive. While the ulterior motive might be to sell your products and services, you can do this only by sharing generously the knowledge you’ve accumulated along the way, via social media sites, and also online courses, videos, and teleconferences. There’s no quicker way to be recognized as an expert, than by acting like one.

It takes a while to gain expert status, but as you work through these steps consistently, you’ll find yourself getting into the swing of things, and as you grow, and your brand gets established, so too will your client base grow. The satisfaction you derive from that, along with the money your company earns, will make it all worthwhile.

• 90% of Internet users between 18-29 years use video-sharing sites
• 46% of adult Internet browsers use YouTube
• Google spent $1.65 billion in 2006 to acquire YouTube
• In one month alone, YouTube has seen figures as high as 13.1 billion with regards to videos being viewed
• According to a survey done by Bloomberg, YouTube has seen a 10% increase in web advertisers
• Video ad spend growth is around 40%.
• 35% of web users say they’ve viewed online video content

With figures like the above, can your business really afford to avoid a crowd puller like YouTube? Add to this the fact that unlike a lot of video marketing tools, YouTube is free to use and easy to upload and share, and there’s simply no reason not to experiment with it.

But like any tool, free or otherwise, YouTube has to be used correctly to guarantee maximum benefit. How do you ensure your brand stands out when competing with 65,000 videos which get uploaded daily, and what will your share of the 100 million views per day be? Top video marketers will agree that for any brand to be noticed, your video has to be different. Here are some ways to do this.

1. Focus on your USP. In the past, USP’s or Unique Selling Points were the highlight of most marketing campaigns. Companies bewildered by the lack of success in their video marketing campaigns, should check to see if they’ve targeted the right audience, with the right message. What makes you differ from your competitor? Ensure the point you need to get across is clear and upfront.

2. Be true. The promise or offer made, if any, needs to be real. Backing out of a deal, fudging an offer, or enticing an audience with false claims are serious offenses, and most clients will not fall for them twice.

3. Keep it short. I clicked on a video of an offer I thought I might be interested in. I had 10 minutes to spare to view and analyze it. The video continued to run to over 20 minutes. By then, I had minimized the screen and started to work on something else. In the end, even though I was interested, I signed out with the promise to view it again when I have more time. That was five days ago, and I haven’t returned. Most people don’t have the time to view long winded accounts of anything, so keep your videos short and to the point.

4. Don’t stop with one. If your first video is a hit, expect your audience to come back for more. And don’t disappoint them when they do.

5. Use the inbuilt features to enhance your videos. YouTube’s content is organized by tag words or categories, so take some time to select the right ones for you. You may need to experiment with a few tags before you get to the correct ones. But remember, unless you’re a popular user, the only way visitors will get to your videos is through a search using keywords. In addition to categories, look at the other options YouTube provides. For example, as of March 2010, YouTube now allows audio captioning for the hearing impaired. You can also set up an option to moderate comments and delete spammy ones, or ones that have offensive language in them, before they get posted. And you can use YouTube tutorials to edit your videos for a more professional look. These are only some of the many features YouTube offers for free. Use them wisely to increase your target audience.

6. Don’t abuse the system. Over the top comments for example, are distracting and even annoying, so leave them out unless they really add value to your video. The same holds true with fake headlines. Sooner or later your audience is going to get fed up and leave.

7. Make it as interactive as possible. Get viewers to participate in a contest, send in their comments, or even help them develop their own videos; anything to create a two-way flow.

8. Build and promote. It’s hard to capture an initial audience without any promotion, so every time you post a video, share the news through emails, your blog, tweets, Facebook updates or any other social networking sites you use. You can automate your twitter and Facebook posts on YouTube, which leaves you more time to promote your videos via other means. Don’t forget to comment on other sites. If your comments are thoughtful and valid, you’ll get more people interested in what you have to say, and the videos you have to say it in.

And finally, remember to stay focused. The problem with selecting too many online marketing options is that in the end, some of them suffer neglect. Usually, it’s the easiest to let the video marketing option drop off, since it’s more time-consuming to develop a good video than it is to post blog content. Of the millions of videos uploaded daily, a large percentage fall by the wayside. Make sure if you are using YouTube as a marketing choice, to stay on top of things, even if you feel it’s not bringing in immediate results. As with all marketing plans, it takes time and effort to see figures.

Using social media will allow you to:

• Attract more relevant visitors to your site
• Create a stronger and more visible online profile
• Upload a viral campaign
• Market your products and services at half the cost, with twice the impact
• Network with suppliers, customers, and potential partners

Social media can be time consuming, but if implemented correctly, will prove highly effective in building your business. Some examples of social media which just about any business can use, include YouTube, twitter, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. Tools like twitter are microblogs which allow you post short 140 character messages in real time. Others like MySpace and Facebook allow for greater social interaction, as you can upload your profile, web content, news and updates, and build your following. Your clients and potential customers are probably using networking sites not only to get in touch with their friends and colleagues, but also to outsource potential buying leads. This is your cue to jump in and be a part of the action.

We’ve already seen how important it is to get your website ready to attract customers with easy to use URL’s, short web pages, and navigation-friendly tools. Now it’s time to look through your site and see how best you can tap into social media’s networking and resourcing capabilities.

If your site is brochure-style static, and not interactive, that’s your first signal something needs to be changed. Interactive sites are sites which allow visitors to communicate in real-time. This two-way communication is perhaps the key to a successful website. By adding regular content and allowing visitors to read and use this content, you’ve automatically given potential clients an ‘in’ to your business.

But fresh content is not enough. It’s what visitors can do with it that’s important. Can they sort through it and find what they want easily and in a timely manner? Can they bookmark the pages and come back to them? And if they like the information on your site, can they opt to receive it via RSS feeds or add your pages to social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon? Can they retweet the posts they like so others may share this information? Your site should allow you to link to other sites, and allow others to link back to your sites. This dual functionality will allow for more traffic.

Does your site have a media page with links to press releases, news updates and the latest offerings? If not, you need to create one immediately. This saves people from having to search your sites to learn more about who are and what you do. You should also post a contact name and address and allow visitors to leave a message, write a review, or comment on a product or service.

A site can be as simple or as complicated at you’d like it to be (though simple usually works better). It should however at its very basic enable the following:

Allow visitors to receive fresh content, and search for topics they need. To do this, add  a search feature such as the one here on to your site.

All sites have codes which you can use to easily upload their icons onto your site. Share the content you create through these icons. A good site to check out is AddThis.com, which offers simple ways to upload sharing buttons on your site. Another site to check out is Sharethis.com.

With the thousands of site options available, it is quite easy to get overwhelmed and unsure about the right choice for your site. Research however shows that it pays to use networking sites to increase your business. The questions then is, should you design your site yourself, or pay someone to get your site social media ready?

Most networking sites have easy to upload widgets which even a beginner with limited coding knowledge can use. If you are familiar with twitter, YouTube and Facebook, then chances are you will not find it hard to follow their instructions and load their applications onto your site. Having said this, not everyone is media savvy or has the time to learn how to effectively use social applications. If this is the case, hiring someone to do it for you simply makes good business sense. Social media is here to stay and it will continue to grow and evolve as time progresses. Learning now how best it can be put to use for your own business is one of the wisest decisions you can make for your company today. By researching, planning, budgeting, and using these tools carefully, you will be in a position grow your sales and potential audience base in a cost effective and timely manner.

If used correctly, social media can allow you to slash your marketing budget by a sizeable figure and build up your potential client base in a quicker and more efficient manner. Think of the success blogs, and sites like twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have had. Because most of them are free to create and use, it does not however mean that it’s easy to gain a large client base simply by signing onto them. In fact, tapping into the right social media for your business can be quite challenging, so before you throw out your traditional marketing plans and replace them with an online presence, here are a few things you should know:

Start slow with a few easy to use sites: Use free online services such as twitter and Facebook to suss out your target audience and build up around this. Your messages should always offer value to your readers, even if they are short 140 character tweets. If you’re new to the social media scene, twitter is a great way to begin- just sign up an account and you’re ready to go. If you find it hard to tweet daily, use tools such as Tweet Later and twitterfeed which allow you to type in your messages for an automatic delayed relay. LinkedIn and Facebook require a greater time investment, but it’s well worth the effort, as both are more flexible and allow you greater interactive options.

Invest into your efforts: Along with the time you’ll be spending on these sites, it’s wise to consider investing some money, which you can pull out of your traditional print budgets. These can be used to buy targeted ads on the social media sites your audience frequents. However, as with print advertising, you will need to research the sites you select thoroughly. Do so by being a constant presence on them, responding to messages you receive, and contacting people you think might be interested in what you have to offer.

Check out the competition: Don’t know what to write on your blog? Not sure which e-newsletter provider works best? It’s time to play detective. Start with typing in the keywords and phrases people will use to find your services into a search engine like Google and Yahoo. Select the top names which appear, and go through their sites. Find out what they do to attract their audience, and try and emulate them. It’s no point reinventing the wheel when it already works perfectly fine. You can always put your own stamp on your site, in fact, you should. But the basics can be adapted from existing leaders.

Be interesting and to the point: The most viewed sites are the ones which have something interesting to say. It could be funny, intellectual or even rude, but it should appeal to your audience. Take the site WebMD. It’s is one of the most popular sites when it comes to health care. The content in it is informational, with little humor. But visitors who come here are looking for facts, not laughs, which is precisely what the site offers. Your profile and content should be more than just about you. If you can’t find anything to write about, don’t hesitate to use sources like YouTube to source interesting videos for your blog..

However, the above won’t work unless you are consistent in your efforts. There’s nothing worse than having customers come back to your blog two weeks after their initial visit, to find no new content. A lot of social media sites will allow you to store content and use it later- take advantage of these features to build up content storage and ensure you reach your customers on a regular basis.

Social media and conversion marketing may be new names to your sales game, but their methodology works like no other communication tool ever has. Using them transforms the fundamental nature of client-brand conversation. While historically, most companies have sought more traditional forms of marketing such as television and print advertising, and direct mailing techniques, social media at its most basic form allows you to target twice or thrice the audience, at a much lower cost. As consumers begin to get more savvy thanks to an influx of online information – for free- more and more businesses see the need to target a wider range of audience. Using social media to leverage this growth allows companies to build newer, tight relationships, and create stronger trust bonds.

At the same time, if your company is new to social media, you might face similar challenges offered by more traditional forms of marketing. For example, how do you know which social media is the correct one for your company? Which networks target your audience most effectively? Which ones offer the maximum bang for your buck? This is one of the key reasons creating a social media plan is not so much an option, but a consideration most net-savvy customers will ensure they enforce.

If you are including social media in your game-plan, and we’ve seen it’s wise to do so, you need to ask yourself –Are you using it as:

• A networking tool?
• To grow your business?
• To sell a product or service?
• As a future investment for growth?

Different sites offer different tools to get the job done correctly, based on what your final outcome aims to be. In order to identify which ones work for you, you’ll need to plan for the following:

Creating brand awareness : One of the first rules to social media networking, is that you need to be consistent with your brand. Your brand could be your company’s name, your name or even a website or blog link. This will be your ‘username’. Decide on what you’ll be promoting and make sure it’s the right one for you- you will invest a lot of time in brand building, so it’s important to get it correct the first time.

Finding reasons for your networking : As mentioned earlier, you need to define the purpose of your networking. Why will you be on the sites you select? The reasons can be numerous: are you building a buzz around a particular product? Building more traffic? Increasing your sales leads?  Also, it’s important to predetermine the time and money you’ll be investing into a campaign. It’s easy to get carried away on social media sites. If you are hiring someone to do the job, be specific in your demands with regards to the time-money correlation. And enforce guidelines on the appropriate way to engage in an online conversation. No one likes pushy or rude salespeople, and the same applies to networking site communications.

Determining your customer base: Most social media sites have a specific user audience. Which one’s you’ll use is decided by who you want your customers to be. Signing up for the wrong ones can cost you a lot in terms of time and effort, and give you poor or no results to show for it. Research ahead of time a few specific sites you think will be worth your while. Remember too that each community operates in a different manner and by a different set of rules.

Measuring your success: No marketing plan would work if you can’t measure and tabulate its success. The same holds true with social media marketing. You need to identify your goals and challenges at the outset, and the means by which you’ll be measuring results. Can this be done by blog comments your posts receive? Conversions? The number of followers gathered? Increasing brand awareness across the web? Did you learn something from potential customers that you didn’t know before? If you can’t measure your goals, there is no specific way to tell if the social media you’ve tapped into is working for you or not. One such site that can help compare topics and track your company against others is www.trendpedia.com

In the end, in order for any marketing plan to succeed, you need to know who you are, what you want and how you are going to achieve it. With social media marketing, the vast options available will render a plan incomplete and useless, if the above criteria are not determined ahead of time. However doing so will allow your company a better sense of how they are perceived by their target audience, and will open a two way dialogue that can be converted into quick sales.