Anyone working in business will tell you (and if they won’t, I will) — watch what your largest customers are doing.
What killed the video store? Online movies, On-Demand, NetFlix, iTunes, etc. Now I was a once a week rental guy, if that. But when their 7 day a week movie fanatics (the guys or girls that waited at the door for the latest release) went to 4 a week to 3 a week, to one a month — the signs were there, but was anyone listening?
Those loyalists are your foundation — absolutely critical relationships. Blockbuster is still playing catch up from their bricks and mortar strategy to a clicks, order and mortar strategy. Stubbornness, did someone not act, or a case of rolling over and playing victim? Even better, let’s blame gas prices and the economy!
Your loyalists may not necessarily be fans — if you’re providing convenience and someone else enters the marketplace with more convenience, you’re history. I refer to that as loyally screwed.
Convert your loyalists to fans for a stronger foundation and begin to LISTEN.
You can see your own future, your crystal ball is at your fingertips — all you have to do is listen. You may be able to determine the next curve in your industry through these relationships — pay very close attention.
Let’s face it. There’s been a lot of talk about Snuggies in pop culture this year. “The blanket with sleeves” came out of nowhere and gripped the nation. From themed bar tours to the Washington Post’s annual Peeps diorama contest, you’re never far from Snuggie’s influence.
And if that weren’t enough, the brains that brought you the outstanding three-color collection have upped their game and expanded their product line to include… collegiate licensed Snuggies!
If you haven’t seen them in their full glory, take a gander:
Picture Source: Blanket Wars (Even better, this picture is from a blog post entitled “OU Will Choke Versus Texas.”)
How does one make an eyesore like the Snuggie even more hideous? Make it look like it was made from the contents of the clearance rack at the fabric store. That fabric ain’t just for pajamas anymore!
Though I’m not (yet) a member of the cult of the Snuggie, I understand why people would buy them. Who doesn’t like being warm? And being able to eat whilst wearing a blanket? Or the ability to change channels without exposing bare arms to the draft of a room?
I also understand why people would want collegiate Snuggies in particular. Every sports fan relishes the opportunity to show off a little team spirit. I mean, if I got a Snuggie, you’d be darn sure I’d get a college team one. (Looks like I’d have to get Texas though, because the makers of Snuggie don’t offer a UVA one. Good research on that one, I must admit. They know their audience, and UVA alums likely wouldn’t bother with a Snuggie: it would clash with their ties or pearls.)
Well, instead of continuing to mock Snuggie, I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf and offer a design suggestion: K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid.) Good design should be minimalist, simple and straightforward. Not cluttered.
How should Snuggie go about this? Pretend to make team sweatshirts, just with tons more fabric. Like this:
Or this:
Yes, UVA can have its own Snuggie after all!
Texas should prominently display the Longhorn logo on burnt orange. Carolina the interlocking NC on its signature Carolina blue hue. Virginia Tech would use the interconnected VT. Florida: the Gator. The Jayhawk for Kansas. You get the picture. Make it simple. Make the primary team color the star, not the blinding repetition of several logos.
How would you redesign the collegiate Snuggie? Would you make them like replica jerseys with the ability to personalize a name and number on the back? Add a belt in a contrasting color? Build in a foam finger at the end of one sleeve? Share your ideas in the comments section!
Pe când mergeam în lumea mea cu căştile la urechi, îmi lovesc ochii de o maşină mare pe care trebuia să o înconjor, pentru că dragului de şofer i-a fost mult mai uşor să parcheze pe trotuar să descarce marfa decât acolo unde ar trebui regulamentar. Pe când m-am apropiat de gigantul cu motor şi bujii, m-a plesnit în faţă motto-ul ce scria pe maşină. “Ca să trăieşti sănătos, trebuie să consumi pită de lugaş”.
Am eu aşa o “fiţă” să studiez motto-urile astea, să găsesc greşelile şi să “sancţionez” pe cei care se cred “profesionişti” şi nu folosesc diacriticile. E păcatul meu şi merg cu el.Asta e.
Dar să revenim la “pita de lugaş” a noastră. După ce am citit, recitit, oprit şi belit ochii la motto, mi-am urmat drumul şi mă bătea un gând. “Ca să trăieşti sănătos, trebuie să consumi pită de lugaş“.
CONSUMÁ vb. 1. a folosi, a întrebuința, a utiliza, (înv.) a metahirisi. (A ~ doi metri de sfoară pentru…) 2. v. pierde. (Și-a ~ toată ziua reparând bicicleta.) 3. v. mânca. 4. v. bea. 5. a cheltui. (~ energie.) 6. (fig.) a înghiți, a mânca. (Soba ~ multe lemne.) 7. a intra, a merge. (Se ~ mult unt la această mâncare.) 8. a (se) epuiza, a (se) isprăvi, a (se) sfârși, a (se) termina, (reg.) a (se) găti, (fig.) a (se) topi. (A ~ toate proviziile.)
PÍTĂ, pite, s.f. (Reg.) 1. Pâine. 2. Fig. Hrană necesară pentru trai; mijloace de existență;
Poate că încă nu vi se pare relevant sau chiar normal dar pe mine unul mă cam calcă pe nervi. Ţăranii(respect) şi chiar şi noi, cei care trăim în oraşe şi ne credem orăşeni că doar avem o facultate şi ne credem culţi, folosim acest termen pentru pâine/pită. Îl folosim când suntem undeva într-un cerc unde ne permitem să fim “ţărani”, un cerc mai familiar, un cerc mai relaxat, DAR acolo unde încercăm să fim ca toţi cei din jur şi nu e “normal” să folosim cuvântul “pită” folosim termenul de “pâine”, că doar ne facem de râs sau ne scade popularitatea. Deşi dacă stăm să ne gândim, pâine sună mai dulce decât pită, dar pită e mai familiar decât pâine şi mai ales că “pită” e de la mama ei de acasă.
Dar să revenim. Cum poţi folosi cuvântul “a consuma” în aceeaşi propoziţie cu “pită”?
Am ajuns să trăim această boală a “crizei” pentru că am consumat mai mult decât am produs. Deci. Negativ
Cum e posibil să pui un cuvânt folosit ca regionalism cu un cuvânt care e folosit deobicei în termeni economici şi nu numai?. Adică, ţăranul care foloseşte “pită” nu se va gândi el “oare consum prea multă pită?” sau oricare alt gând unde există în aceeaşi propoziţie “a consuma” cu “pită”.
Poate că “idiotul” sau “idealistul” sau “cel cu idei” sau… a vrut ca să-l urbanizeze pe “pită” dar să nu cumva să îi iasă din brand. Dacă e “pită de lugaş” atunci lasă d-le ca toate cuvintele din motto să fie pe aceeaşi lungime de undă, brand-uieştel cu regionalisme şi crede-mă că vei fi mai respectat decât dacă încerci să-l urbanizezi.
It’s that time of year again when everyone is counting down the top moments of 2009: the top movies, the top songs, the top news stories, etc. In the spirit of the season, this week’s post is dedicated to the most read articles posted on my blog this year. Without further ado, here is the Top 10 Posts of 2009:
1. How to Setup a Facebook Business Page
2. Twitter Your Way to New Clients, Part One
3. Worksheet: Using LinkedIn to Market Your Business
4. How to Construct a Marketing Plan & Budget
5. How to Use LinkedIn to Market Your Business, Part One
6. Worksheet: Twitter Your Way to New Clients
7. A Social Media Marketing Success Story (Guest post by Cathy Curtis, CFP®)
8. Touch Your Clients 24 Times per Year without Breaking a Sweat
9. Four Marketing Mistakes Every Advisor Should Avoid
10. Social Media Marketing for the Everyday Advisor
I look forward to helping you prosper in 2010 by providing you with more great marketing tips and strategies through this blog. Happy New Year! Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, a firm dedicated to providing marketing strategies and support for financial advisors. Kristen works with independent advisors to develop effective marketing plans and provides the back office support required to implement the strategies. For more information, visit www.wealthmanagementmarketing.net.
as i wrote earlier, i had this project on my mind for over three years. now i’m constantly hitting reminders of the fact that i may have hesitated for too long …
first i hit that with the name/domain issue. then we found out there is a similar project launched by a university team on a non-for-profit basis and funded by government grants. now, after we developed a marketing concept, we have discovered that the same idea is embedded into the university project as well.
now i have another dilemma. i like our concept. we have developed several characters with different profiles like age, interests, reading preferences and so on. each profile has a cartoon “personality” and is to be linked to parts of the portal content so that it’s easier for users to navigate. and now i found out that exactly the same scheme is already implemented (may in a less sophisticated way, but the main idea is still the same) in the university project.
so the dilemma is – if i stick to our marketing concept, will it look like we are plagiarizing the university project or is it possible to make it work anyway?
What make a consumer buy? This the core question of any business….and everything is business. Don’t mistake that. You are always selling something. Maybe you are selling attendance to an event, or a line of sweaters, or tax advice or yourself to get a new job. No matter what you are always selling.
So the major question of every endeavor becomes…..what makes a person buy?
The answer is quite simple and complicated at the same time. People buy a good story.
As humans we are all connected to our emotions, so more, some less. But all connected none the less. When we tell an effective story, one that combines our passion, our product, our beliefs, our struggle and our success…our listeners become engaged. They want to know more and they want to participate.
The greatest teachers I have ever had were great storytellers. The were able to wrap wisdom and learning into a great fable that answered the “Why’s” and “How’s”. I would also say the same of the greatest sales professionals I have ever met….and the greatest entrepreneurs.
Take a moment and think of Steve Jobs. He is responsible for selling the story of Apple. He has the most fanatical users and has established his company as an innovator by telling a story of the triumph of design. He is known as being ruthless on design specific details. His keynotes are riddled with references to poor design and it’s even prevalent in the uber-famous “Mac vs, PC” commercials.
His story is consistent and engaging. It speaks to a niche population but invites in anyone who may be listening with a small amount of interest. Mostly though, the story is authentically Steve Jobs. Some will argue that the story then will die with Steve Jobs. I challenge that it is too soon to see where the story will lead.
When you choose to root your business strategies in the art of storytelling, you are opening your business to be flexible and to grow. A traditional fable takes twists and turns, embraces new characters and takes on new risks. But it also has a core set of values. These are what guide the customer through the transition of characters and ultimately drive the engagement with the product.
In this day and age, a business cannot be nameless and faceless. Consumers are demanding that “Oz” be revealed. Let the world see that you are behind the business. Let them understand and relate to you as a person. Share your successes, failures, dreams and accolades. Your story is the story of your business.
Here are 3 steps to crafting and sharing your story.
1. Determine your core values – What do you and your business stand for? Many a motivational and business speaker have discussed virtues of having defined values. They were right. I’ll also say that these values should be realistic and able to be upheld. Identify 3 strong values that your customers can count on receiving each and every time they interact with your product. From “Fun” to “Honesty”, take the time to Identify and Define these.
2. Define where and how you communicate - Really these two are at the core of all marketing plans and should be at the core of your business strategy. If you don’t have a pre-determiend path you’ll spend all your time looking for the right path. Forget “right” for now and focus on movement. Will you reach your customers via Social Media, print ads, Radio, direct mail, phone call, horse and buggy, lighting of lamps….you get the point. Figure out where you want to put your focus and then start applying your values to that message. Think “soft sell” in this part and leave the hard sell to the so called advertising professionals.
3. Listen to the story you are telling – Too many business owners and professional marketers get caught up int he details of what they are trying to share. do yourself a favor, go find a six year old and ask them if they understand what you are saying. If they get it and are excited by it, your on the right track…if not, time to re-evaluate. Keep it simple and focus on the big picture. What gets people excited about your product? What builds engagement? These will lead to the deeper questions down the road.
Your ability to tell a great story will have a profound impact on your business if you take the time to build it. These tips and this concept is not a simple “How To”. This a concept and mind set that you must adopt….for the long term.
Salah satu iklan Walls yang istimewa, Saya selalu suka iklan ini. Menurut saya, iklan ini berhasil menarik perhatian saya, karena pada akhir iklan tersebut berhasil membuat saya tersenyum “nyengir” tidak jelas.
Iklan ini ditujukan untuk kaum muda atau lebih tepatnya remaja. Hal tersebut dapat kita lihat penggunaan RAN sebagai lambang dari anak muda yang dinamis, kreatif dan aktif. Saya rasa penggunaan RAN tersebut adalah hal yang tepat. Kenapa? di satu sisi RAN cukup digemari remaja dengan aliran musik mereka yang ringan dan ceria. Hal ini menjadi salah satu keunggulan tersendiri dari RAN, karena aliran musik tersebut cocok dengan remaja yang tidak menyukai hal-hal yang memusingkan diri mereka.
Hal kedua yang menjadi titik kecocokan antara walls connelo dengan RAN adalah tema dari keda belah pihak yang mengusung tema “cinta”. Tema tersebut terlihat dari bentuk skenario drama sang cowok mau nembak sang kekasih, yang notabene menggunakan cara kreatif. hihihi, lucu banget iklannya..
Hal menarik lainnya dari iklan tersebut adalah konsistensi penggunaan lingkungan taman. Tempat ini adalah sarana paling mudah untuk menggambarkan suasana ceria, tempat orang untuk melakukan berbagai aktifitas, dari mulai berolahraga, santai untuk menyegarkan pikiran, sampai dengan tempat menyatukan dua hati, sebagaimana tema walls “2 become 1“. Walaupun terkesan kurang kreatif, karena tema ini juga digunakan di iklan Walls negara lain, menurut saya iklan ini cukup berhasil meningkatkan “brand awareness” dari calon konsumen es krim tersebut
The fourth in series of ten posts in a series titled: 10 Essential B2B Sales Rep Attributes (and their 10 Essential Opposites).
If you have not seen the first three seasons of Mad Men, buy them from iTunes, go to the library and borrow them, or set up your DVR to record them. It is one of the best ever television shows on sales and selling. The main character, Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm), is a great communicator. The character has a tremendous ability to communicate ideas that persuade the prospects and clients of his advertising firm, Sterling Cooper, as evidenced here.
The Great Communicator
One of the most valuable attributes a salesperson can possess is the ability to clearly and effectively communicate ideas. Great salespeople have this ability and the accompanying benefit of being able to use it to persuade or influence people. Salespeople with poor communication skills (both oral and written), have a tougher time making their message clear and lose the trust and confidence of their prospects.
What happens when a salesperson can’t come up with the words or the message that would influence the prospect to take action? A lost opportunity. What is the result when the great communicator with a mediocre product or service goes up against the poor communicator with a great product or service? The great communicator often wins.
But the dark side of this powerful attribute is that the great communicator uses this skill too much. Because they can speak, because they can entertain, and because they can tell a great story, they do. Heaven forbid they get too excited about their product or service; there is no stopping them. Because their skill is in speaking, they speak when they should do something else equally or more powerful.
The Great Listener
Listening is a form of communication with a more powerful impact than speaking. When you listen you convey they message that the person who is speaking is important and that what they have to say is interesting and important to you. Listening is one of the most powerful ways we communicate that we care about the other person and their ideas. The person speaking can see and feel that you are truly listening. This generates a trust and a confidence that is difficult to match by anything you might say.
What is the danger for those that don’t (or can’t) listen? They convey an important message too, one they may not mean to convey. Their message is: “What you have to say is not important enough for me to listen to.” Too often this is the curse of the great communicator: they are working on what they will say next instead of listening with the intention of of understanding and demonstrating that they care.
Conclusion
A great salesperson must possess the ability to communicate. This includes the ability to communicate that they care, which is done most effectively by listening. As in each of the prior the three essential attributes, this is a difficult balancing act.
One of my great mentors in sales had the ability to ask three or four questions on a sales call, saying very little, but expressing how much he cared by listening. He made more deals with fewer of his own spoken words than I believed was possible then (or now). At the time, I struggled to understand how he won deals without communicating our ideas or our value proposition. It took me years to learn that he communicated something far more important. Something he communicated without words.
Questions
How much time on a sales encounter do you spend speaking? How much listening?
Divide the first number by the second number. This is the Caring Ratio. If it is higher than 1, you are talking too much.
Are your speaking skills what they should be? Have you joined Toastmasters?
What is the message you are communicating when the prospect or client is speaking?
What could you do to convey a more powerful message when the client is speaking? Who would you have to be in order to convey that message?
This whole 10 part series was put together by S. Anthony Iannarino, please check out his blog for more great info Thesalesblog.com
I’m a person who really likes to get involved, with anything, really. I have a wide range of interests, and often like to find out more or get some hands on experience. That’s why I write for the school paper, tried and am training for both track and rugby, singing in choirs, work at several places, am learning chinese opera, volunteer for events, and now, it may seem, I’ve got myself involved with the local asian canadian theatre.
I think it’s a lie when I say I don’t plan to be this busy; to some extent, I do. I like seeing new things, and meeting new people, so I put myself out there. Being with the paper definitely taught me a few things in meeting new people and making things happen for yourself, which is terrific. But I digress.
What I really want to talk about is, the curious nibbet of realisation I’ve had so far. So I had emailed the volunteers coordinator for the local asian canadian theatre about volunteering, maybe with the lighting or sound, something I’ve always wanted to get better at. I get an email to meet up with the founder of the group, and so I did.
And I kind of expected what happened next. Besides being told what the group was all about and checking what my availability was, I was also somehow roped in to help with the marketing, aka put up posters and tell my friends to come watch the shows.
The same thing happened with my other group. They were all so keen for me to get onboard, so I could get my friends to come watch the shows.
To be honest, most of my friends are immensely broke. I lived with some of them, and I was also as broke as them. For an entire month, I survived on rice and onions because I couldn’t afford groceries, though that was a bad month. But you get the idea. No one was going to pay $30 unless it was a really good show. And really, if they did pay that much to watch a show of yours, they would only do so if you were one of the leads at the very least.
I don’t mind helping with the marketing, but I can’t gurantee anything. I hate feeling like I have to do it, being pressured into doing this. And I barely know these people. I hate how they get super excited and optimistic when they tell me how it’s so hard to sell tickets now, and how would I feel asking my friends to come for the shows?
The lady I met with talked about how it’s so hard to get kids from my generation to come out and watch plays, but I don’t think it’s true. Well, not entirely true. I, personally, find it extremely hard to get out of campus and sit on the transit for hours just to catch a play. I usually can’t afford to watch the plays (writing reviews for your school paper = free tickets), and I usually also don’t have the time or energy. I do watch plays, but only if it’s by a really good company, a really good play, or on campus. If plays were more affordable, I would go more often.
All the theatre groups I’m involved with are very niche-d groups; they kind of only cater to a certain type of people, which isn’t bad. It’s just harder to push for sales.
Oh well. I guess that is a problem with most independant theatre groups. It’s all about earning at least just enough so you can put up another show after the last.
Ok. I realise there is no “point” to this post, so I’m going off. Studying for finals really put my off me regular sleeping schedule.
Thanks to REIWired, obtaining useful online information about real estate investing is faster and easier. Because of the website’s extensive database of educational materials, it would be easier for a real estate investor to learn new strategies and boost his or her skills.
If you are one of those people who want to make huge money in the real estate market, then you should head over to REIWired.com. Priding itself as the “largest wired network of real estate investors in the planet,” the website can give you the chance to become one of the students of some of the best and the brightest investors of our time.
Learn the basics of wholesaling houses from wholesaling guru Mike Collins as he explains various hints and tips on how you can earn big profits with no money, no credit, and no risks. And if you are wondering what makes a successful wholesaler, watch the videos of Preston Ely. The “King of Wholesaling” will show you the secret to making millions of dollars without setting up an office or hiring employees.
Click Here To See More Related Articles
Aside from being a wholesaler, REIWired is also the perfect website to visit if you want to learn various strategies on rehabbing homes, buying foreclosures, marketing, and financing. Other real estate investing and marketing veterans like Than Merrill, Steve Cook, Tim Mai, Chris Chico, Mark Jackson, and Heather Seitz are more than willing to share their expertise on the subjects.
If you are fond of reading articles and write-ups on investing in real estate, don’t worry because REIWired.com has exactly what you need. The website’s article database is being updated regularly to help budding investors enhance their knowledge on the business. In addition, the website has audio recordings of various tele-seminars that discuss the nuts and bolts of real estate investing. All the things you will learn from these audio streaming files are a great addition to the information you will get from the informative write-ups.
Because REIWired is a one-stop shop for you real estate education needs, you don’t have to spend countless hours surfing the Internet. You also don’t have to travel to the other side of the country just to attend seminars and lectures on being a successful real estate investor. Because all the information, hints, and tips that you need are located in just one place, you can save more time, money, and energy.
So if you want to become one of the best and the most successful investors in the country today, log on to www.REIWired.com now.
Businesses & consumers have begun to embrace online videos in recent months more than ever before, with viewers reaching 168 million in September. And with the online video surge, arrives a distinct business investment splurge on video advertising. The research firm e-Marketer projects a 35 to 45% growth in online video advertising for each of the next five years.
YouTube, the renowned media marketing giant, acquired by the mega-marketing internet search engine, Google, has contributed much to this evolution. How?
Posting a YouTube video incurs a $0 investment. As a business marketer, you can align your promotion with your company marketing budget to create the appropriate video advertisement. Some techniques include: infomercials, presentations, trainings, testimonials, property tours, and video blogs.
YouTube’s “feedback analysis” tools persistently co-developed by the technical brilliance of Google, allows automated consumer behavioral analysis for businesses to target their internet marketing investments. YouTube & Google technicians are also testing the ability to add video captions to all online videos, allowing businesses to search engine optimize their video posts using the familiar techniques utilized by businesses to attract users to their online portfolio(s) & network(s).
YouTube accounts for 40% of all online video views. It is essential for businesses to identify their target consumer, grab their attention, elicit reaction, and escort them to take action. And unlike TV advertising, this does not necessarily call for professional production(s).
Internet Marketing specialist, Rohit Barman President of DPS America boldly claims that, “YouTube is the stepchild of social media marketing, with significantly more marketing potential than his sister social media networks”.
By Bruce Lacey
“A 2.5 hour interactive training, Digital Promotions Strategy, beginning in January and based in New York City, is the first of its kind to incorporate the entire spectrum of creating, engaging & expanding a business’ online network. Extracted from online scientific principles, the live seminar will provide business professionals the knowledge, structure, and tools to track consumer behavior & campaign effectiveness – an internet marketing strategy that will give attendees the confidence to manage their online marketing in-house.
The seminar follows the life cycle of creating a convincing online presence, while identifying the key components of branding, drawing an audience to a firm’s online portal, engaging an established network through viral promotions, and expanding consumer base through extensive internet marketing campaigns.”
Ernest Hemingway was famous for his sharp, sparse prose, but he never pretended it was easy. He once confided to writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, “I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit.“
Hemingway’s influence on modern writing is staggering. Couple that with his bullish, machismo persona and it’s no wonder his advice and his work continues to haunt writers to this day.
In a nutshell, he seems always to have believed that less is more when it comes to writing. It’s been a while since I read his work. A few years ago I read all of his novels in succession, but I haven’t revisited them since. I remember being awestruck by the amount of detail he was able to convey in the dialogue between characters.
Hemingway had this theory that writing should be like an iceberg:
If a writer of a prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.
Knowing that Hemingway was all about economizing words, I always felt that his heavy use of dialogue (in comparison to other works of fiction I’d read with the exception of say, Raymond Carver) somehow fit that purpose, but I never understood how until I read his iceberg theory.
If you want to know a person as quickly as possible, do you go ask their friends to describe them for you? Isn’t the fastest way to know a person to speak with them directly?
One hundred words of intensely personal dialogue could take a thousand words to convey with description and by then the impact will be diluted. Then again, I don’t write fiction, only bullshit. I don’t get a lot of opportunities to write fictional dialogue.
Can you think of ways to use more dialogue into your writing? Are there other writing tools you employ that allow you to say more with less?
If your business or organization has to reach hundreds and thousands of people everyday, the best solution is TEXTING.
PowerText 2.0 Multi-Connect made it easy!
What is PowerText 2.0 Multi-Connect?
It’s a new user-friendly application software application for text messaging or SMS as a new communications tool for business communications, marketing strategies and customer relations. All you need is just simple PC/Laptop and a Cellphone and you are ON-THE-G
PowerText 2.0 Multi-Connect features!!
Setup an office TEXTLINE Besides landline, fax and e-mail, you can now add one or more textlines to make your office and business available to the country’s million of texting customers!
Use TEXTLINE for Business
Market products and service s directly to customers by texting; new product offerings; availability of stock; price quotations; product features; and discounts and promos.
Enhance your Customer Relations Text goodwill messages and greetings; after sales support messages; and invitations for seminars to your customers.
Improve your Business Communications
Send reminders for bills by text, recieve field reports and queries, contact field personnel, send notices, transfer information fast, and call applicants for interviews.
See how it works on our website: http://www.sgwebworks.net/powertext/
For any questions and information, contact us on the following details. Thank you and kind regards,
Looking for a good way to jumpstart your real estate investing business? Then why don’t you equip yourself with quality real estate education first before you delves into the lucrative world of investing in real estate? Good thing there is a website the can provide you with the thing that you need the most.
If you like this article you might want to visit this à more articles.
Boasting of an extensive database of various instructional materials and learning tools, REIWired is committed to providing quality real estate education for those who are interested in becoming competent real estate investors. By signing up for the website’s special training program, you can give your business a much-needed boost.
Are you interested in wholesaling houses? If you are, you might want to learn from some of the best wholesalers in the country today. Through the guidance of Preston Ely, Mike Collins, Andy Massaro, Chris Chico, and Gary Boomershine to name a few, you can easily master the ins and the outs of the wholesaling business. You can also learn various techniques on how you can improve your career as a real estate investor.
Perhaps you might want to try fixing and flipping properties? If you want to be a rehabber, then you should learn valuable hints and tips from “Flip This House” star Than Merrill, Steve Cook, and others. Larry Goins can also teach you important lessons about the process of buying and selling investment properties, while Glen Gallucci will give you an important pointer about rehabbing foreclosed and distressed properties.
If you want to learn cool marketing strategies, don’t worry because REIWired will grant your wishes. Marketing experts Mark Jackson, Dan Stojadinovic, and Heather Seitz are some of the mentors who will share various marketing techniques that can help you find great deals and generate good leads. By implementing the systems you have learned from them, you can easily attract the attention of your target market.
By joining REIWired.com’s training program, you don’t have to surf the Internet for countless hours since all the information and learning tools you need are located in one website. In addition, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to buy separate instructional materials, including CDs, DVDs, and books, which will only collect dust in your bookshelf.
So if you are ready to give you real estate investing business a great push, visit REIWired and be part of the “largest wired network of real estate investors in the planet.”
More marketing tips can be found at: www.attractcustomerslikecrazy.com … Marketing Strategy Strategies Small Business Consulting Services Markeitng plan ideas marketing know-how Teleclasses Pound independent service professionals sell services to more customers with professional business plan writing me my free content coaching mentors Adam Urbanski
See Also : DIY home management.blogs.thaihealth.net project-management.blogs.thaihealth.net strategic-planning.blogs.thaihealth.net
I know a guy that is never wrong. Ever! I kid you not, if he hits a curb pulling into the grocery store, it is the @#$% engineer’s fault for not knowing how to design a parking lot.
Now, before any clients or prospects get the wrong idea (sorry, I could not resist) allow me to explain what I mean when I say I love it when I am wrong…I am not talking about ‘not in accordance with what is morally right’ but rather ‘in error’.
The reason I enjoy being wrong is that, through the years, as I have often been wrong, I learn and grow from each experience where what I thought to be true, turned out not to be so.
Therefore, in order to share my “growth” experiences, here is a list of things where I was quite wrong.
Sushi – I use to think that the only reason anyone would eat sushi is so they could say, “I eat sushi.” That there was no possible way it could, in fact, be something somebody would want to eat.
I was wrong.
Napoleon Dynamite – The friend who told me about this movie, in my mind and at the time, way over-sold it. There was no way it could be as brilliant and funny as he described and, to be honest, the first time I watched it I was only ‘half wrong’. However, after the second, third, fourth and fifth times…I revel in its humor and brilliance. (Vote for Pedro!)
I was wrong.
Bob Chinn’s Crab House – I have many favorite eating establishments in Chicago but one in particular was a Polish restaurant on Milwaukee Avenue called ‘Irene’s’. Years ago, before children, I happened to be in Chicago on business at the same time Lane, my wife, was and we both wanted to go to our favorite place. At that time, her’s was a place called Bob Chinn’s Crab House. I was convinced here was no way I would enjoy my meal there as much as I would Irene’s. Naturally, I lost that argument and am glad I did.
I was wrong.
Nirvana and Green Day – I will lump both of these together because, no pun intended, they are the same song, different verses. The popularity of each band preceded anything I had heard from either regarding their music. I convinced myself that there was no way there could be an ounce of real talent amongst them before hearing one single song.
I was wrong.
Time Management Course – I enjoy telling people that I have found a way to make a fairly decent living out of my ‘healthy amount of OCD’. Back in the day, before Palm Pilots were the rage, we were all encouraged to sign up for a time management course with a local company and the ‘trophy’ from attending was being able to walk around with this HUGE leather, three ring binder.
If you can remember Dr. Suess’ classic, ‘The Star Belly Sneetches’ it was very much a local case of ‘those with stars and those without.’ I prided myself on being organized ‘without’.
Push came to shove and I did end up taking the course, getting my large binder and loving the processes I learned then and still use today.
I was wrong.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu – I had a passing fancy in high school and college with Tae Kwon Do and Aikido. Then, about ten years ago, I started reading about this family from Brazil, the Gracies, who had developed their own form of jiu jitsu and my first thought was, there is no way this new martial art can be all that. In order to keep this blog offering from going on and on and on…I will just say that my passion for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has yet to find its match as far as items on my list of activities that are not work related.
I was wrong.
I could offer many more concrete examples of where I thought I knew the truth only to be shown otherwise. I am happy to report that the amount of time between such incidents has grown because I have learned to be more open-minded to new thoughts and ideas. I know this past year, I have learned a great deal that has helped build my business in ways I would not have though possible…thanks in part to those gentle reminders of when I was wrong before.
I believe 2010 will be a better year business-wise than 2009…but I could be wrong.
If your sales are down or you have hit a sustained revenue plateau or even losing market share, what are you doing differently? What do you plan to do differently? Have you pulled out your business plan and reviewed it? Do you have a business plan or are you one of those who plan on one day having a business plan?
In today’s economy, as we try to build new business, is there any better time than today to look at new ways of doing things, listening to new ideas, trying new techniques, moving towards the 2.0 version of your company and/or yourself?
I don’t believe there is a better time than now to possibly prove ourselves wrong. I also don’t believe I am wrong about this one.
——————–
Bobby Darnell is the founder and Principal of Construction Market Consultants, Inc. An Atlanta based management consulting group specializing in business development, sales, marketing and profitability as well as executive placement for the Architectural, Engineering and Construction industry.
http://www.cmconl.com/
Bobby can be reached at bobbydarnell [at] cmconl.com
By Quak Hiang Whai, a Potato Mobile executive consultant
For many organisations around the world, mobile newsletters are already proving to be the way forward.
Once optimised for the mobile platform, these digital newsletters offer a more interactive and impactful way to communicate with your multiple stakeholders.
They let you promote your brand and deliver your message to everyone, from your current employees to your future customers, with two-way engagement processes.
Many corporations are already evolving to tackle this mobile opportunity, because they realise the benefits of this smart technology:
They’ll have a dynamic and interactive way to showcase their company’s executives, events and products, on a multimedia platform.
They’ll have the ability to send their company newsletters to customers anywhere in the world.
And they’ll potentially be able to tap into a worldwide base of 50 million smart phone users, and reap the benefits from this.
Imagine all this potential at your fingertips, made possible through a mobile touchscreen device.
It’s a good example of how technology is constantly forcing businesses to evolve.
Do you already recognise that your customers, shareholders and employees all want you to communicate in a smarter way, with richer media?
If you do, then you’re definitely ready to enter this new age of corporate communications.
Welcome to the mobile economy!
Quak is a veteran journalist and former news editor of Business Times. He also used to head the United Overseas Bank Group’s group communications and investor relations divisions. Quak is the author of “No Comments And Don’t Quote Me! — Media Fiascos, Crises And Lessons”.
It was a short-lived celebrity status Tackfilm had bestowed me. In the early hours of Sunday morning I noticed Tackfilm had suffered and subsequently resorted to radical measures:
Thank you for visiting our International Hero Movie Application! Unfortunately, we’ve been forced to close this site for non-Swedish users due to the huge amount of visitors.
It seems, united we crashed it. United we mourn the short-lived existence of virtual heroes we were. Or perhaps we just flock to the next interactive video…supposed we find another one that promises just as much fun as Tackfilm had managed to give us.
Of course, Tackfilm is still available on its Swedish domain Tackfilm.se. Use Google Translate in case you can’t make sense of the Swedish instructions. If you use Google Chrome you will be able to access the site by help of a new incognito window, in case your non-Swedish IP address excludes you.
Yesterday, I had also trouble accessing Stopp.se’s website, the producers behind Tackfilm. More details on them in my previous post about Tackfilm.
A September 2009 survey of 5,000 moms conducted by The Parenting Group reveals that while 60% of moms have used social media in the last 24 hours, they are four times more likely to purchase through direct referrals, than proposals through social networks.“When it comes to influencing brand perception and purchase decisions, the data shows that social media still has a long way to go,” said Stephanie Molnar, Work Place Media. “Most of our meaningful recommendations continue to be old-fashioned, word of mouth recommendations from friends, co-workers, and/or family.”
While consumer analysis seems to challenge the effectiveness of social media in internet marketing, businesses continue to invest in this tool, reporting significant gains.
In April, Ford loaned 100 top bloggers their new Fiesta for six months, on one condition – they wrote about their experience driving the car. Comcast, the cable company, has invested in Twitter marketing for the last year, using this social media bigwig to supply their 28K+ consumer base with news updates, while collecting feedback & analyzing their behavior trends. Social media marketing has also been a success for Dell, which reported $3 million+ revenue from consumers who clicked through Dell’s Tweets, funneling purchases.
While only a few businesses have demonstrated a clear ROI on their social media marketing efforts, it would be silly for most to ignore this latest trend -Facebook has 250+ million website users, while Twitter is up to 40 million consumers. As we approach 2010, social media marketing has proved to be a tremendous asset to businesses who utilize offline promotions to offset internet marketing campaigns, engage consumer audience through service expectations, and create strong business strategy that delivers immediate consumer purchases.
Also this week, our regional business magazine, Lancashire Business View picked up on a previous post of mine and have used it on their e-shot and their website. It’s called ” To pitch or not to pitch?” . It’s obviously a subject close to the hearts of marketing agencies like ours. If you’ve a minute you can read it on this link..
The marketing page includes market analysis, similar books, and what you, the author intend to do to market your book.
Market Analysis:
This is the section where you tell the demographics, target audience, of who would be interested in your book. Include age, gender, interests, religion, or anything else you think might narrow it down. Don’t write that everyone would like this book. You want to narrow your niche.
Similar Books:
This is usually the hardest part to do. You aren’t looking for books that are the same as yours. List novels that have some similarities. For instance, if you’re writing a romance about the Revolutionary era, list other romances from that era. Don’t be afraid to list movies or crossovers. For one novel I said it is Redeeming Love meets Outlaw Josie Wells. This is that important to get exactly right. You’re just giving the agent or publisher an idea of what kind of people this story will attract.
Marketing:
This is where you list what you, the author, is willing to do to market your novel. Here’s some ideas of what you could list here.
So, its been a while since my last post and I apologize for that. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and gave thanks for the opportunity to have a business and the ability to serve others. Speaking of serving others, what are you doing to keep your regular customers/clients happy? Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of it all we pay more attention to forging new relationships and forget about the people that consistently come back and take advantage of our offerings. I’ve said it before, but it is worth repeating, people don’t care what you know until they know that you care. Your existing customers/clients are worth the effort it would take you to remind them how much you appreciate them. I know we have become a society of emailers, tweeters, and facebookers, but I promise you, a nicely written (I did say written) note would go a long way. How often are you sending coupons or providing some sort of customer loyalty experience? We get caught up in the “Advertising” of it all and forget the best form of advertising is “Word-of-Mouth”. When you existing customers/clients are happy, they will spread the word. Those are the best kinds of referrals. While doing my daily reading, I came across this great article that reinforces this post. Take a look and tell me what you are doing to “keep the regulars happy”.
Dave Snowden told a good story at a knowledge management conference a couple of years ago about the sailing ship. In the early 19th century, mighty sailing ships with giant masts and sails were the dominant form of sea transport in the modern world at that time. Along came ships constructed of iron and powered by motorised engines which were more efficient (they could power along whether the wind blew or not) and became more reliable and versatile shipping vessels. The sailing ship industry responded with even bigger ships with more masts and more giant sails but in the end the sailing ships were doomed by a new technology that made sea transport more efficient and effective. Perhaps the sailing ship may make a return in an oil-depleted and global greenhouse environment in the 21st century but that’s another story…
And that poor old bird, the dodo, was no match for the slaughter by humans, and by invading pigs plundering their nests and territory. Alas, they were unable to adapt to the ravages brought upon them in such a short space of time and they became extinct.
Which brings me to this article in the Sydney Morning Herald about a conference in India at which the media moguls of the 21st century are battling to stay in the game in a world enriched and informed via the World Wide Web. The World Newspaper Congress is hearing from embattled media moguls about how unfair the internet is making the news and information business since they haven’t been clever enough to work out a successful business model for the changed world media environment.
Like the 19th century sailing ship industry, the newspaper moguls are desperate to keep alive a form of business that is actually being surpassed by more modern and disruptive technologies. The internet and social networking is changing the way content is published, consumed, and valued. Content on the internet is more immediate, more personal, more varied, and more versatile compared to traditional newspaper publishing. Not only that, but people these days do not have to rely on newspapers for their dose of worldly information since much of the information out there on the internet is provided by people for free and can be accessed for free! Even newspapers and television news programs seek out these stories from ordinary folk who witness events first hand or who have some other form of newsworthy story.
Of course, the newspapers are indeed part of the problem. Over the past twenty years (at least) newspaper proprietors have dumbed down journalism and investigative reporting so much that newspaper content is hardly superior to much of the informed news and information provided by ordinary people. In fact, it is ordinary people who actually have something interesting to say, without the caveat of having to say something that will generate advertising revenue or hanker for the bouquets from supporting ideologues.
Reading newspapers these days is like reading a bevy of opinion pieces; the opinions being no more informed or relevant than that of bloggers and social networkers. Instead of lifting quality and gaining some comparative advantage this way, newspapers have taken the easy route and proffered a multitude of opinion, loose reporting and drivel that can be easily replicated anywhere.
At the same time, newspapers continue to search for more “eyeballs” to convince advertisers that newspapers are still relevant. Newspapers still want to be found on the internet to capture these “eyeballs”, yet they want to determine and control the method and channels of being found. They want to use the 21st century technology but only in the manner of their 20th century world view of dominance and control of the news. Even advertisers are shifting their world view. Advertisers are increasingly using new methods of messaging and advertising utilising the new communication mediums available via the internet, social networking, and other forms of communication channels.
At least the newspaper industry hasn’t had it as bad as the dodo. The dodo had relatively little time to adjust to the ravages of invading species before they finally met their final and irrevocable end. Newspapers have had plenty of time, and had plenty of warning about the competitive content available via a host of alternative sources.
Newspaper organisations are like the 19th century sailing ships trying to battle their way forward using their existing tired techniques and old-century attitudes, and failing to confront the new realities of a brave new world. Like those 19th century sailing ships, newspapers as they exist today will die off and be replaced by a more efficient and effective form of news communication that does not rely on old thinking and old technologies.
Newspaper moguls can whine all they like but they need to accept the new communication realities and make the necessary adjustments, or go the way of the sailing ship and eventually, the dodo.
Looking to communicate in a way that gets attention and connects? Try a pie in the face and a hand buzzer. No, that’s both annoying and much too time consuming. How about writing that connects and grabs the right people’s attention?
Several years ago when I started out in marketing/corporate communications, I began to hear comments like: “Wow! You really captured the essence of the project/product that we’ve been trying to tell people about.” That’s actually how I found out I have a knack for writing. Sometimes you don’t know you have a strength until somebody points it out. So I’m reflecting on what makes for strong marketing writing and sharing a bit of that here today.
Lesson One: Listen
Listen to the client. I was describing a project to a local reporter once, being diligently, obnoxiously clear about who our target audience was. When I read the news report the next day, the description of our target audience was the exact polar opposite of what I had described. Come on! Just listen, ask some clarifying questions, and then get feedback. In a client relationship, you’ll definitely get feedback, so being a careful listener up front will save some headaches along the way.
Lesson Two: Features are Cool, But Solve a Problem
How will your product or service solve a customer/client’s problem? This is basic, and you probably know this, but it takes some finesse to get your message out this way. In listening to a client recently, I discovered that they were perhaps the one remodeler in the universe who absolutely stays on budget. That solves a big problem! The customer’s pain of “How much is this new sunroom REALLY going to cost me?” is solved. That is a unique position in the marketplace and should be shouted from the mountain tops. So that’s what I encouraged the client to do.
Lesson Three: Less I/We language, more You Language
Related to solving a problem is to focus on the customer. Uber copywriter Sonia Simone gives the advice of writing to one customer. She suggests developing an “avatar” a specific customer to whom you direct your attention. I hadn’t thought of it exactly that way, but it’s a great idea. Make your copy personal. Say what you need to about the company, product, or whatever you’re selling – but it’s really about the customer. Write to them and about them as much as possible.
Lesson Four: Don’t Be Precious
This just came up for me in a meeting last week. There are LOTS of ways to say something. Don’t be precious about your writing. Maybe you’re a genius. Maybe you love the little flourishes you put into your copy. But you’re probably working on a team, and if not, you’ve got a client to please. Choose your battles. Don’t die on every hill over whether to say “you’ll be pleased as punch,” or “you’ll be happy as a clam.” It probably isn’t going to break the campaign. If you’re 1000% sure it will, that’s the battle you should choose!
Ok, that’s all for today. More ideas may come, but I hope this is helpful for you. Let me know!
My grandfather was a really smart dude. I never got to have a really strong relationship with him, largely because he died when I was 8, but through stories that others have told me, I’ve learned a lot about him and what made him so successful. He used to say to his friends all the time:
“Your business only benefits when your customer benefits first.”
I really believe in that saying, not just for my own business, but as something I believe should be a fundamental concept of business and marketing as a whole. Focusing on other people means focusing your communications to speak to the customer. Not at the customer.
In marketing, there’s only one word you need to know: “You”.
Every post/ad/web site/blog/white paper/brochure should be purposefully aimed at the needs and wants of others. After all, you only benefit when the customers benefit first, right? When it comes down to it, “you” is by far the most compelling word in the English language. In the end, people are most interested in fulfilling their own needs. It might sound rough, but unless you give people real value with your marketing collateral, don’t expect them to care about you at all.
But when they do start to care, look out, because amazing things begin to happen. People spread your word for you. Create content that is focused on the person who is reading your piece. Use ‘you’ as often as possible while taking great lengths to eliminate the ‘me, me’s’ from your collateral.
I know you’ve read a thousand ‘about us’ sections on the internet that start with the good-old, generic “Since 1884, we have….”. No one cares that you have been in business forever. No one cares that you’re an industry leader’ because everyone says that. Focus on the people that matter: your customers.
When you’re done writing, read it over and look at the number of times you said ‘you’ as opposed to “I” or “me”. If there is more of the latter, consider re-focusing your work.
In a nutshell, fashion marketing is a profession that takes the latest trends and designs in clothing and communicates them to a target market in such a way that the consumer is not only aware of the product, but wants to and ultimately does buy the product. A target market is a sector of the consumer market to which a company wishes to sell (i.e. market) its clothing. To fully know what fashion marketing is, it is important to understand that marketing does not stop at ads in magazines or commercials on TV. The world of marketing is just as dynamic as the world of fashion. Marketing clothing includes elements such as determining which stores the apparel should be sold in, what price the clothing should be sold for—all the way to how the in-store displays should look. Fashion marketers often are as savvy about business as they are about fashion and popular culture.
Fashion marketers are creative. At the core, the profession is about connecting with the image—the lifestyle—the consumer wants. For example, in the fashion industry, comfort, style, material, color, symmetry, and usability are just the beginning of a list of elements designers must consider when developing a line of clothing. Fashion marketers take the task a step further by determining the best way to promote the characteristics of the clothing to the consumer and to which group of consumers to promote it to. What a 65 year-old female is looking for from a piece of formal eveningwear is completely different from what a 21 year-old male wants from casual everyday wear. Consequently, fashion marketers must stay abreast with the latest fashions as well as know what styles will be successful for a variety of occasions, age groups and demographics.
Fashion marketers play an essential role within the fashion industry because they are the link between designers and the public. The success of a line of clothing does not rest solely on its design. Often, successful marketing is just as crucial, if not more so, to the line as the actual clothing itself. This is because marketing is the tool through which the designer identifies with the public, and the public identifies with the designer. Without this exchange, it would be difficult to establish the consumer base required to have a successful line of clothing.
Ultimately, fashion marketing is a fun profession—changing and reinventing itself just as often as the clothes it promotes. It integrates the artistic nature of fashion with the creative aspects of business—making for a highly rewarding career to the ambitious and innovative.
I recently had the honour to be interviewed on South Africa’s national Afrikaans radio station, RSG. Before the interview they supplied me with some questions that made me think about what is this thing called “marketing” anyway?
Marketing is not only about big budgets and huge tv campaigns, even the small pie stall at the local market or a charity-drive needs marketing…
The traditional definition of marketing is to fulfill the needs of your consumer profitably. I would like to add to this definition that marketing is about fulfilling your consumer’s needs profitable in a way that they want it satisfied. So whether you’re marketing a pie stall or a luxury product such as perfume, one should talk to your consumer in a language that he/ she finds acceptable and appealing.
In the current marketing landscape the playing field has become more equal with the addition of internet and online marketing. Small businesses now also have the opportunity to market themselves without spending millions of rands on a marketing budget. Having said that, traditional advertising still has huge role to play, and this is where one should be clever by using the right combination of the marketing mix.
How do you rise above the competition?
We are all aware that there is an over-supply of products and services, and to be better than the competition is probably the biggest challenge faced by marketers. The most important strategy is to ensure that you know exactly what it is your consumer wants and to then offer your product or service in such a way, that they want it, and ensuring what you’re promising, is what the consumer gets. Rudi Giuliani said in his book, Leadership, “under promise and over deliver”. What makes a business truly successful, is the ability to walk the extra mile for your consumer.
What are all the elements to think about when you want to market your business?
Marketing is a strategic process. One cannot randomly develop a product and think people will buy it. You start by understanding your own product incredibly well, the product life cycle, the possible product extensions, etc. One should also take the business’ strategic goals and objectives into consideration. One again, understanding the consumers’ needs, is fundamentally the most important element. Also look at what your competitors are doing. Understand and plan how you are going to get the product to the consumer, what your pricing structure is going to be, and which elements of the promotional mix you will be using.
What is the most effective form of marketing?
The most effective form of marketing depends on your consumer and what you are offering. Pamphlets will work if you have a pie stall at the local market. If it is a luxury product, traditional marketing elements will be more effective. Each company can benefit from having a great website.
There are a few important factors to consider in order to have a great website:
Search Engine Optimatisation
Layout of the site
Ease of navigation
Having your contact information visible
Other online communication options such as e-mail marketing, newsletters, and the use of social media is also extremely important. And more importantly, is having the knowledge to use it effectively.
What is a definite NO when it comes to marketing? Seth Godin, marketing guru from America, wrote a book, Permission Marketing, in which he states ” permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to p,eople who actually want to get them”.
Marketers are in the fortunate position to communicate directly with their consumers, but with that ability comes responsibility. Make sure people opt-in to receive communications from you.
How do you market yourself without annoying the consumer? If you understand your client’s needs, and how to speak to him or her, you will not be perceived as being annoying. I think one of the most important lessons I’ve learnt in marketing, is to always look at what value you can offer to the client. Be certain that what you’re busy communicating, is relevant to the client, and that it will add value to their lives. Don’t just send out marketing material because “today is sending out marketing material day”. Always ensure what you say and do, has value.
Recently I conducted interviews for an open position on my marketing team. During my interviews, I was struck at how many of the interviewees complained “I only do sales support, I’m tired of it, I’m looking for a more strategic role.” That sounds so George Constaza. While that’s funny on tv, I cannot help but to wonder if the person is not equipped with a broader set of skills, and therefore, not capable of assuming a larger role.
BUILD A STRATEGIC MARKETING SKILL SET
None of us is born to be a marketeers. We tend to gravitate towards a job like this because our personal skill set (creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, etc.) lends itself to this discipline. So when we get out of b-school, none of us has the practice to walk into a world-class organization and demand to work on the most strategic company imperatives. We all need to crawl before we run.
LEARN THE BASICS OF MARKETING EXECUTION
In my humble opinion, you need at least 2 years of basic marketing training – regardless of what business school your diploma is from. So if you find yourself in this stage, embrace it and know that down the line, you’ll be able to speak from a position of credibility. Your strategies will have a greater opportunity of success because you will not undermine the details of execution, down to the lowest levels.
We need to “cut our teeth” doing basic marketing jobs, like developing PowerPoints, answering sales requests (no matter how small), and dealing with ALL the execution details. I recall with fondness my first marketing job where I would literally stuff envelopes, create sales tools with word documents and excel spreadsheets, and serve as a the on demand pre-call coach for new representatives. That is HOW I LEARNED the basics. Marketing executives who’ve skipped this step fail to motivate, as they tend to oversimplify execution, leaving their teams disconnected and discontent.
TAKE OWNERSHIP FOR YOUR DEVELOPMENT
No one is going to come to your cube one day and say “you’ve done such a great job, we’d like you to lead our new ABC initiative.” You really have to put yourself in a position where the company has no choice but to select you – usually because YOU have a unique skill set. In my personal experience, this best accomplished by doing.
Volunteer to take additional roles that stretch you strategically. Start doing jobs, without asking for permission. Take a class, teach a course, mentor others (even if you’re not ready – you will be), select good role models to mirror… etc…. just do it!
Colleagues, I certainly don’t know everything nor do I profess to be an expert. I’m a simple marketeer, who makes a living through the practice of marketing. But one tip I do offer, the next time you’re interviewing for a marketing job, don’t say “I only do sales support, I’m tired of it, I’m looking for a more strategic role” – if you avoid saying this you’ll avoid sounding like George Constanza and I promise you, you’ll have a better chance of landing the job!
One of the biggest contributors to obesity and environmental degradation in the past 35 years has been the increasing sophistication of all facets of marketing to create an environment where highly processed and energy dense food is easily available to those living in developed countries. Although it is typically argued that lifestyles have become more sedentary over this time, it is a fact that consumers have been encouraged through highly sophisticated marketing activities, including supply chain management (e.g., easy access to convenience and processed food), pricing (e.g., reduced costs, better “value” and longer perishability of processed foods), as well as integrated advertising campaigns, to purchase and consume foods that provide a high fat, high sugar, and high salt “hit”.
While these foods give an instant reward, overconsumption has a cost to both the environment, and to individual health. New findings by Kevin Hall and his colleagues at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in the US and published in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS One that a “push” effect of marketing has contributed significantly to obesity and environmental degradation do not come as a surprise. However, the fact that they have been able to calculate the actual dimensions of the effect of food waste and energy dense food consumed by Americans provides compelling evidence of the extent of this effect, and easily translates to Australian lifestyles.
Ultimately, what this means is that politicians and commentators need to do more than blame consumers, telling them to “eat less” and “exercise more” and start to recognise that not all consumption is good for the economy. While we have increased our energy intake over the past thirty years by more than 1000 kilojoules according to Hall, other research suggests that physical activity has not significantly declined over that period. So, we are eating nearly 25 per cent more “food” over the past three decades, but have not really changed our activity levels (either way) over that time.
Indeed, marketers themselves need to recognise that their activities have an effect far beyond simply selling products. When consumers make choices in their local supermarket, it is the highly processed and packaged foods that have a powerful “push” effect. For example, although a 625 gram block of cheese (promoted as the same price as 500 grams) is presented as “good value”, the consumer will buy (and consume) 125 grams more cheese than they had planned, regardless of the discount for buying in bulk, simply because it was part of the deal.
Similarly, consumers who are asked whether they “want fries with that” are being manipulated by a psychological effect called prospect theory – where they feel the pain of loss more than the satisfaction of gain – that ultimately leads them to consume more than they actually need.
The push effect in this context is similar to the wealth effect, where we adapt our lifestyle to suit our income, rather than simply saving more as we earn more. Ultimately, access to highly processed, energy dense food has meant that we have increased our purchasing and eating behaviour (and our belts outward) to catch up with its availability, rather than continuing to consume as we always have. The effect is devastating to both the environment and to our health.
Marketing is the communication and representation of your brand, company, image, etc to your customers and general public. What employees in your business are doing the marketing? And what controls do you have in place?
The companies we work with are small to mid-size businesses that may or may not have a marketing director. Regardless of having a marketing director many of the people in the organization are facilitating the marketing. For example: one business we work for has 9 different people in the company running the marketing in different departments and there are 9 different messages, different images, no consistency in brand management, and very little communication between these departments. This is a major issue because it is confusing to the customers. It is very important to protect the brand of a business and put in place controls to ensure there is oversight as to what can and can not be done.
There are many marketing channels that businesses utilize to get the word out: Social media, events, direct mail, cross promotions, website, media, partnerships, collateral, etc. All these initiatives need to have final approval and sign off by the most experiences marketing person to ensure controls and consistency of image and message. If 9 people are running marketing in their silos without oversight then your brand is getting beat up! All 9 of those people should have to seek final approval to print, publish, distribute, etc any and all marketing material and projects.
How many people can run marketing initiatives in your business without controls in place?
This commercial truly sells it’s product. I know when I watch it I certainly feel like I could use a shot, and I don’t even really drink. Orson Welles did another commercial that’s famous for him getting his drunk on, which has been covered to death. This one however is definitely an iconic celebrity overseas commercial and deserving of an entry. It’s also one of the most depressing commercials ever made. You look at this cinematic giant chuckling into his whiskey and you see the underlying sadness in his eyes. Watching it after learning New Moon broke all kinds of records… yeah, I think I need something to pick me up.
So let’s go with a classic clip from the Critic:
That’s better.
Thanksgiving is coming so it’s only appropriate to list things I’m thankful for.
1. That I’m not a teenage girl or a sad middle aged woman who looks upon the Twilight series as crack.
2. That eagles are the national bird and not turkeys. ‘Cause I bet eagles taste awful.
3. Benches and chairs, for otherwise tables would be rendered pointless.
More tomorrow.
Missed last week’s celebrity commercial click HERE to jump to it.
Lider, Carregador de Piano, Estrategista e Serial Killer?
Serial Killer é o empreendedor como diz a palavra, Serial ou que monta muitos negócios ao mesmo tempo, mas não o confunda com outros tipos. É do tipo que não gosta muito de trabalhar e cuidar de assuntos administrativos e operacionais. Ele fica no campo da idéias e como tem muitas, não há tempo de pesquisar tudo, dessa forma ele dispara tudo ao mesmo tempo e vai vendo o que serve e o que não serve.
Killer, porque ele vive no fio da navalha. É muito difícil conhecer de tudo, dessa forma ele sempre fica na mão de outras pessoas.
Ele não desiste, se vê um cachorro urinando num poste, já pensa logo numa tinta ou outra coisa qualquer que pudesse aplicar no local de forma a proteger o poste ou afastar o cachorro. Dessa forma tudo lhe remete a uma solução simples, mas que nem sempre viável.
Conheço alguns caras assim, e que conseguiram se dar bem na vida e muitos que se deram mal.
O Estrategista e muito engraçado. Ele não sai do lugar, sem ter todas as suas dúvidas sanadas. Como é muito perfeccionista o seu modelo de negócio nunca esta bom. Prepara um plano de negócio complexo, cheio de planilhas de controle e com perspectivas otimista, digamos normal e pessimista. Ele fica consultando um monte de gente, fazendo pergunta sem pé nem cabeça, perdidas para que o outro não roube sua idéa.
Acha que tem um diamante nas mãos e leva tanto tempo olhando para ele, que quando se dá conta, a oportunidade passou e outro já esta fazendo o que ele pensava fazer. Daí ele muda o plano de negócio e começa a analisar o que o outro esta fazendo de errado para então lançar a sua solução com os diferenciais que o primeiro deixou de atender.
E vai assim, até desistir. E com toda convicção dizer que ainda bem que não colocou em prática, porque tem muita gente fazendo a mesma coisa.
O Carregador de Piano é o sujeito que não pensa muito se vai dar errado ou não. Ele precisa ganhar dinheiro e esta disposto a fazer qualquer coisa.
São os caras mais desinibidos e criativos que já vi. Quando se precisa de dinheiro para comprar comida, vale pintar a cara, cantar música ou fazer qualquer loucura para chamar a atenção.
Os acadêmicos chamam isso de marketing e ele chama de loucuras para chamar a atenção e vender.
Esse são os empreendedores em maior quantidade por ai e basta andar pelas ruas e observar e aprender. Tem muitos desse tipo fazendo palestras para grandes empresas e achando graça.
O Lider, é o cara que busca atender a uma visão própria. Ele costuma ter um pouco de tudo. Planeja, mas vai testado suas ideias e corrigindo. Gosta de redes de pessoas e se diverte quando suas ideias se propagam.
O Lider quer que sua idéia tenha começo, meio e não tenha fim.
Quer que suas idéias ultrapassem e quebrem barreiras.
Conseguem convencer qualquer um a comprar suas idéias e ainda colocar dinheiro nelas, apenas por crerem no brilho nos olhos e na força do lider.
O lider difunde e permite que suas idéias sejam transmitidas para que ganhe escala e dimensão. Aproveita bem os relacionamentos e tem cuidado com o que fala, mas não se preocupa com o que dizem dele.
Suas idéias constumam ser mais duradouras que de outros lideres, porque esta carregada de perspectiva e inclusão.
We’ve created some simple recruitment flyer/poster templates to help you do some public promotion of your want for more volunteers.Based on the simple theme of: “Fight Fires. Save Lives. Volunteer Today!” – these marketing pieces can be used simply by printing them out in whatever size your printer can handle and hand-write, label or stamp your fire department contact info into the box provided.
Want a customized version of the poster/flyer? Contact Tiger Schmittendorf at schmitte@erie.gov or 716.681.7111 to learn more about how Erie County Emergency Services can help make your local recruitment efforts more successful.
Click our Flickr.com account to see some samples: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40216465@N03/sets/72157622813314746/
This is the first part of a double post; in this post we’ll sketch the problem and have a look at XstreetSL freebies and how to use them to gain traffic. Other subjects will be covered in part 2, which will be brought online by the end of the week.
In Second Life, there’s a lot to do about the so called “Freebies” – goods offered by the merchants for free in their stores or on XstreetSL. On the consumer side there are several groups of freebie hunters, exploring all of Second Life to find new freebies of all sorts; where on the content creator’s side there is (and has always been) a lively discussion about freebies. As being a marketing consultant, I’m always getting a lot of questions from content creators about freebies. So here’s a little post with some basic ideas, and some do’s and don’ts.
A first concern of many content creators is the “freebie image” – some say all freebies are junk, or full perm items that have been in Second Life for ages and are recycled for the tenth time. When you spend 10 minutes on XstreetSL and get yourself some freebies, you will notice that this is not true – there is junk, but it is not as bad as some think. However, content creators are concerned about this, and some seem to think it would hurt their image of developing quality products when they would get involved in this. I do understand this concern, but I do not think that it is something that should keep you from distributing a freebie.
We all know the story of the Second Life resident contacting the contact creator with a lot of questions, comments, suggestions and sometimes even straightforward insults because the freebie they’ve just gotten themselves hasn’t completely changed their life. Very annoying, I agree, however it still is a minority, and even a freebie needs a good manual etc. which in many cases would solve this. Also keep in mind that Second Life, how idealistic this world may seem, still is a reflection of real life – there’s always a jackass in the neighborhood.
Having said that – let’s take a look at why some seem to be a little disappointed in the results they get from their freebie marketing actions, and use those as a start. The most common comments I get from content creators about freebies are; “I started distributing freebies to attract more traffic to my store, but didn’t notice any difference” and “I gave out freebies hoping they would increase sales, but I’ve not witnessed any difference in sales.”
Good thing here is that many content creators and merchants have a goal to distribute them. Too many times I see merchants jump on a train because it’s leaving the station, not knowing where the train is heading. (It’s always better to arrive a little late but knowing where you are, instead of arriving as first not knowing where you are).
So – first goal; attract more traffic to your store. (which you probably want to see resulting in more sales).
XstreetSL
The problem I see with many freebie advertisements on XstreetSL is that they do not contain enough textual content, and the majority of them doesn’t have a call-to-action. Here’s an example of a very friendly text – which however will not result in additional traffic: “A specially designed exclusive XstreetSL freebie – Enjoy!”.
Good points about this simple but friendly line – make the customer feel special, even though it’s a freebie, by calling it exclusive. However; you now have the customer’s attention because of the fact that it’s for free, so use it! Tell them in a few lines more about your designs, products and sl company.
Also missing – a call-to-action. A call-to-action is really a marketing basic that you should have in all your listings, and which should work given you’ve implemented it the right way. Once they’ve taken the effort of reading those few lines about your products, they’re already doing some “extra effort”, and a good call-to-action might give a result.
So; place a call-to-action like “Visit our store in Second Life”, “See all of our products on XstreetSL”, and make sure that no additional effort is required, by making that text a simple link – just one click required. It’s also a best practice to make this call-to-action stand out from the rest of your advertisement text, by ie. making it bold.
Potential customers take a quick look at the advertisement, and when the advertisement concerns a freebie, they’ll have a quick look at the picture, a look at the pricing to verify it’s really a freebie and afterwards their eyes will move on to the “Buy”-button. Make sure that somewhere in that “virtual” triangle there’s a call-to-action.
Now – the power of XstreetSL is in this specific situation also a merchant’s worst enemy. People can hunt down freebies without moving their avatar in Second Life. A simple inclusion of a call-to-action will probably gain you some extra traffic, but in fact you’re asking them again for an additional effort by letting them teleport to your store in Second Life.
Therefore I’d suggest to “reward” the ones that do the additional effort of teleporting to your store. You could for example have an exclusive XstreetSL freebie, and an exclusive in-world freebie. At your XstreetSL listing, clearly state that when they teleport to your store, there’s another freebie there that you only distribute in-world, and do the same in-world for the XstreetSL freebie listing.
A variation on this would be the half-and-half method; put half of the final product on XstreetSL, and tell them they can find the other half for free in your store in-world. This is slightly more difficult, because both parts will need to be usable “on their own”.
Hope you enjoyed the first part of this post – keep an eye on my blog for the second part, covering in-world distribution of freebies to gain traffic, and information on how to use freebies to boost sales.
I chose this ad even though it’s not the most current, because I feel it was where they peaked. Ignoring for the moment that Freecreditreport.com is not actually free and is pretty much a scam, let’s take a look at the ads. The first three commercials were clever and from out of nowhere. Previously the company had the worst ever jingle. One that sounded like a mid 80’s Christian help line’s hold music.
The problem with later ads is that not everyone can successfully write in other musical genres. They stretch themselves too thin trying to hit other musical beats which just don’t work with the words. I did kind of like the one at the renaissance fair but not enough to have it stuck in my head like the others. However I think I know the reason for the diminished quality.
As bizarre a statement it may sound considering the venue, I think the Freecreditreport.com band sold out. When they first started they were about being clever and funny, and the product was sold on this. Then they went “commercial” if you will, making their songs essentially brochures. Not enough humorous story to product information ratio. Ultimately the commercials suffer for it.
In the world of advertising, there are one hit wonders. After they’ve disbanded, they can at least content themselves with the knowledge that they weren’t counted among that number.
A taxa de inflação oficial calculada pelo Instituto Nacional de Estatística (INE) está a cair em Portugal, algo a que já não se assistia há quase meio século, mas são ainda muitas as pessoas para as quais não há dúvidas, como comprovou o PÚBLICO nas ruas e confirmam os inquéritos de opinião feitos à população, de que os preços continuam a subir. Os receios provocados pela crise e pelo desemprego, os métodos estatísticos utilizados pelo cálculo da inflação e os padrões de consumo específico de cada cidadão são algumas das causas para que se mantenha uma persistente divergência entre a inflação calculada oficialmente e a percepção de evolução dos preços por parte da população. Os dados oficiais da inflação deixam pouca margem para dúvidas. Em Outubro, anunciou ontem o INE, a taxa de inflação homóloga cifrou-se em -1,5 por cento (ver caixa). A variação anual negativa que se tem vindo a registar nos últimos tempos é um fenómeno único em mais de 40 anos. É necessário recuar até 1962 para encontrar outro período em que as taxas de inflação homóloga entrassem em terreno negativo em Portugal. Ainda assim, tal não impede que, quando questionados sobre qual acham ter sido a evolução dos preços durante os últimos meses, os portugueses dêem nota de estar bastante divididos, com poucos a acreditar em efectivas descidas de preços. De acordo com o inquérito realizado aos consumidores pelo INE (também publicado pela Comissão Europeia para todos os países da UE), a maior parte dos inquiridos (37,5 por cento) diz que os preços no último ano “se mantiveram mais ou menos iguais”. Depois, 26,7 por cento acham que subiram ligeiramente, 13,4 que subiram moderadamente e 9,4 que subiram muito. Apenas 12,7 por cento parece acreditar naquilo que diz o INE, ou seja, que, nos últimos meses, os preços caíram em Portugal. É certo que os dados da percepção de inflação em Portugal acompanharam a tendência de queda de preços e também caíram para o valor mais baixo desde pelo menos 1986, o primeiro ano em que foi realizado este inquérito. Em comparação com o que se passava no Verão de 2008 (quando a inflação estava próxima de três por cento por causa do petróleo e alimentação), as respostas são mesmo completamente diferentes. Na altura, 63 por cento dos inquiridos dizia que os preços estavam a “subir muito”, ao passo que quem dizia que os preços estavam iguais ou a descer não ia além de 1,2 por cento. Estes números são mesmo mais radicais do que os registados no mesmo inquérito em 1991, quando a taxa de inflação superava os 10 por cento, mas a população era bastante mais tolerante em relação a variações de preços muito rápidas.
Explicações para a situação
De qualquer forma, apesar da recente diminuição da percepção de inflação, há um fenómeno – que se acentuou no momento em que o escudo foi substituído pelo euro na carteira dos portugueses – que não desapareceu: as pessoas consideram sempre que os preços estão a subir mais do que aquilo que o INE diz que sobem. Há várias explicações possíveis para que este fenómeno se mantenha na actualidade. Uma das principais está no clima de pessimismo trazido pela crise, que pode influenciar decisivamente a percepção dos portugueses sobre os preços. “Do ponto de vista psicológico, existe uma presença muito forte da ideia de crise e, sobretudo, o medo do que ainda há mais por vir”, diz o sociólogo Sérgio Aires. Para o director do Observatório da Luta contra a Pobreza, este receio é suficiente para “refrear o ânimo” e “esconder” uma efectiva redução de preços. “Estamos a atravessar uma crise enorme e não há uma família que não tenha, pelo menos, um membro desempregado ou tema vir a ter”, considera Domingos Ferreira, professor da Universidade Nova de Lisboa. O docente doutorado na área de marketing e comportamentos do consumidor defende que Portugal vive um “clima depressivo face às expectativas futuras” e que isso tem influência sobre a percepção dos preços. Os resultados do inquérito do INE parecem confirmar esta ideia, já que são as pessoas situadas nos escalões de rendimento mais baixos que se mostram muito mais cépticos em relação à possibilidade de os preços terem estado a cair durante o último ano, o mesmo acontecendo com os desempregados quando comparados com o resto da população com emprego. Outra explicação pode estar no facto de os aumentos de preços registados em 2008 não terem ainda sido compensados. “Antes da crise actual, tivemos um aumento exponencial dos preços dos combustíveis e dos bens de primeira necessidade”, relembra Domingos Ferreira. Contudo, segundo o professor universitário, a descida que se verifica actualmente não é na mesma proporção da subida anterior, pelo que “as pessoas não recuperaram o poder de compra perdido”. Sérgio Aires corrobora: “Ainda que haja poupança, ela não é sentida, porque as pessoas já estão em défice há muito tempo”. O sociólogo acredita, inclusive, que seria difícil as pessoas notarem a descida dos preços, visto que “as lojas fazem, como é natural, o jogo de baixar uns produtos e subir outros, fazendo com que a diferença na conta final, se houver, seja mínima”. Por fim, e não menos importante, há características na forma como o INE (e todos as outras autoridades estatísticas) calcula a inflação que tornam difícil que o número oficial bata certo com as percepções, nomeadamente o serem levados em conta os avanços tecnológicos dos produtos e o facto de a taxa ser calculada para um consumidor médio.
In this article I will give you a clear idea of how internet marketing works and why it does work, regardless of what your previous experiences might have been.
I am a regular reader in many forums related to the money making niche, and I always see how so many people are constantly giving up on internet marketing, something that up to some point I can understand, because most people never really get how internet marketing can actually become a serious business, so to them it always remains an illusion with no actual place in the real world.
This feeling, this view of internet marketing as some phony get rich quick scheme that gurus use to take a hundred bucks out of your pocket is a direct consequence of not understanding how internet marketing works, because believe me, once you see past all the hype and visualize a real business structure, you will be inspired to pursue the six figure mark.
If you have done some research about the internet marketing business you probably know that there are several ways to exploit it. You can do so with or without a website, through affiliate programs, CPA networks, PPC ad networks, and more.
Probably you know all of this because you took an internet marketing course that got you nowhere, and believe me, I know the feeling as I myself invested in worthless products with very little educational value that did not do much for me, although I think each one of them helped me in one way or another.
However, the real break, and the real understanding of the internet marketing business’ true potential came when I learned what I consider the single most important factor that makes it all possible: how to generate traffic.
Indeed, sure it is very important to have a good landing page or a website (whether it is your own or a redirect to a third party’s sales letter), however, if you do not have a good number of visitors -targeted ones- to that website, nothing will happen, period.
As it turns out, traffic generation is the hardest part of the internet marketing business and this is where everybody tends to fail, because indeed, a lot of internet marketing courses and programs will provide you with a lot of tools, pre-made websites, content, keyword lists, tutorials etc., but when you go out to the real world you realize that you are getting little or no traffic or you are wiping out your bank account trying to get visitors from paid traffic sources like Google AdWords.
Internet marketing is not then a business of promotion or a business of great website designers, sure all of these things are important aspects of it, but what really will get your business up and running is the traffic you build toward your landing page.
It is simple math, if you promote a $200 product that converts 2 of every 100 visitors, and you build a steady traffic flow of 200 visits per day (which is perfectly achievable), you will make around $800 per day. However, if you get only 2 visits per day you will not see a dime, no matter how flashy your website might be.
Therefore, if you are among those who abandoned the quest for the internet marketing riches, or you are simply thinking about starting out, take a shot at it, it is worth the effort, but make sure you focus on what is really important: traffic generation.
Do not overlook the other aspects of the business (which are also important), just make sure a good share of your efforts are diverted to getting targeted traffic to your landing pages and you will get results. Learn, persevere, succeed, that is all there is to it.
For in-depth information about internet marketing resources with true educational value to develop your internet marketing business go to the http://www.specialonlinebusinessreviewauthority.com.
Or this:
Yes, UVA can have its own Snuggie after all!
Texas should prominently display the Longhorn logo on burnt orange. Carolina the interlocking NC on its signature Carolina blue hue. Virginia Tech would use the interconnected VT. Florida: the Gator. The Jayhawk for Kansas. You get the picture. Make it simple. Make the primary team color the star, not the blinding repetition of several logos.
image source
The companies we work with are small to mid-size businesses that may or may not have a marketing director. Regardless of having a marketing director many of the people in the organization are facilitating the marketing. For example: one business we work for has 9 different people in the company running the marketing in different departments and there are 9 different messages, different images, no consistency in brand management, and very little communication between these departments. This is a major issue because it is confusing to the customers. It is very important to protect the brand of a business and put in place controls to ensure there is oversight as to what can and can not be done.