| Home » Marketing Articles |
| |
Marketing Articles |
|
| |
|
|
| |
| What to Include in Your Marketing Plan Write-Up |
| For those new to marketing planning, the thought of completing a plan from start to finish may feel daunting. It need not. The level of detail you choose to include in your marketing plan will depend on your resources and situation. If you have extremely limited manpower or other resources, you may be constrained to a "broad brush" approach. If your plan must support your Website's validity to others in the company, a lot of back-up detail may be appropriate.
Basic Marketing Plan Content
Inclu More.. |
| Read more About What to Include in Your Marketing Plan Write-Up |
|
| |
| Guide to a Profitable Marketing Mix |
| You may have heard the term Marketing Mix used in connection with marketing planning.
Marketing Mix means the combination of promotions, products, places (distribution channels), and prices you chose for your business. Including both short term and long term strategies in the marketing mix can make for a more profitable business.
Long term strategies build brand/company awareness and give sales revenue a permanent, gradual boost. Short term strategies create a temporary, immediate revenue boos More.. |
| Read more About Guide to a Profitable Marketing Mix |
|
| |
| Let Your Survey Write Your Business Plan |
| Most entrepreneurs first write their business plan and then develop their services or products. This causes them to generate and fulfill a marketing plan that requires them to swim upstream using the backstroke. To save the stress, consider placing the business plan on hold until first completing a few customer surveys. Okay, some of you are saying, "Catherine, how can you do a survey before you know who your market is?" Yes, this is one challenging double edge sword, that is, if you're mindset More.. |
| Read more About Let Your Survey Write Your Business Plan |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Marketing Success Defined |
| How do you personally define success? High income? Substantial net worth? A fine home? Peer recognition?
On a personal basis, there are likely almost as many definitions of success as there are people in the world.
In marketing, though, there are just four measurable elements of success:
Profitability, Market Share, Customer Satisfaction and Customer Retention.
Profitability requires little explanation. The very reason businesses exist is to make a profit, or generate more revenue than they More.. |
| Read more About Marketing Success Defined |
|
| |
| Marketing For Just Cause |
| Cause marketing is a relationship between a for-profit and a nonprofit that brings in money and resources for the nonprofit, while providing credibility and goodwill for the business.
According to the IEG Sponsorship Report, this category grew to $733 million in the US in 2001. There are a number of reasons for that growth. A Cone Communications survey found that:
- 80 percent of Americans have a more positive image of companies that support a cause they care about
- nearly two-thirds of Amer More.. |
| Read more About Marketing For Just Cause |
|
| |
| Create a Blueprint for Your Success |
| Having a strong foundation enables you to build a thriving, profitable life and business. A simple method to create this foundation is with Discovery, Vision, Planning andBenchmarking, the four cornerstones of your life as well as your business.
Discovery is defined as examining where are you now and where are you going. It helps to look at everything as ifyou were a beginner. Always know why you are in thebusiness of your choice. If your strategy is not clear,you won't recognize the destinatio More.. |
| Read more About Create a Blueprint for Your Success |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Competitive Research and Google |
| It all started out with an email message: "I am starting a new one of a kind company... at least I think I'm one of a kind ... how do I find out who else out there mighthave beat me to the punch? And how do I build a web page to advertise myhopefully one of kind new business?"
This is a rather vague question but I'll try to be as helpful as possible with myanswer. First off, I have to say that as a management consultant, I am always leeryof people who think that they have no competition. With f More.. |
| Read more About Competitive Research and Google |
|
| |
| T.E.A.M Profit |
| As you network and meet other business owners, keep this philosophy in mind: "Together Everyone Achieves More Profit"
Remember this when you meet someone with a business that serves your target market. Think about how each of you can work together toachieve more and grow your businesses.
The following case study shows how to grow your business using the T.E.A.M Profit concept:
Ted is a Real Estate Agent specializing inworking with residents who want topurchase fixer upper homes.
His target m More.. |
| Read more About T.E.A.M Profit |
|
| |
| Flesh Eating Spiders And Other Marketing Horrors |
| After a friend was bitten by a spider, I decided to dosome research to find out more about the spider.
I came across a website that decided to create amarketing message that focused onfear based selling and over the top lies.
To emphasize the fear based factor,the website was illustratedwith pictures of spider bite 'victims'that had huge holes intheir skin from where the small spider bitesupposedly turned into a flesh eating monster.
One photograph caption went way over the topby stating that More.. |
| Read more About Flesh Eating Spiders And Other Marketing Horrors |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Resume Writing Service Marketing |
| Marketing A Resume Business
When starting a resume business, your marketing campaign is the most important aspect of your business plan. Without clients being able to find your services, you will not have orders! We suggest starting out with local advertising. Get one-line ads in your local newspapers, colleges, unemployment offices, and yellowpages. You will be shocked how far a one-line ad can go that says, "Guaranteed Interviews".
While you cannot bank that all your clients will land an int More.. |
| Read more About Resume Writing Service Marketing |
|
| |
|
|
| |
| How to Handle Jargon at Your Web Site - and Why |
| If you sell a technical product or service, you probablyknow you have jargon at your web site - specializedterminology that the average person doesn't understand. While jargon does help you communicate precisely with peers, it seriously gets in the way if potential and actual customers aren't as conversant with it as you are.
Plenty of heart patients, for instance, don't know what a"myocardial infarction" is (a heart attack). Many pregnant women have never heard of a "doula," a woman who coache More.. |
| Read more About How to Handle Jargon at Your Web Site - and Why |
|
| |
|
|
| |
| How To Perfect Your Marketing Message! |
| When it comes to your marketing message, the little things count. Trouble is, you'll never come to respect how much, until you make a commitment to science.
Let me ask you something. Do you practice Kaizen?
Kai what?
Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning gradual and orderly, continuous improvement. Sound like you?
Or do you just wake up one morning & decide that you need to re do your site?
Do you keep a diary?
Not the Anne Frank kind, a chronological record of the results revealed by your ong More.. |
| Read more About How To Perfect Your Marketing Message! |
|
| |
| What Are People Buying Online? |
| Benefits, that's what!
Whether you're selling in print or in person, it's a universal truth.
And success in both worlds requires a counterintuitive approach.
Allow me to explain.
As human beings, we are all pre programmed from birth to behave in certain ways. And one of the strongest things that drive us is an awesome pre occupation with our own self-interests.
You really don't have to look very far to see that this is true. The world is cluttered with marketers whose messaging is about the More.. |
| Read more About What Are People Buying Online? |
|
| |
| Networking: The Cost of a Connection |
| "Networking is a waste of time," said JoAnne, owner of a busy print shop. "Besides, I advertise in the daily paper."
"Wow, that must be expensive," I exclaimed. "Are you getting results from that investment?"
"I sure hope so! My advertising budget is about $475 a month but I've never really tracked the results. I guess I should do that."
"You should." I replied. "A small business can't afford to waste money on ineffective advertising. But back to your comment about networking: why do you thin More.. |
| Read more About Networking: The Cost of a Connection |
|
| |
| Whats In It For Me? |
| Sometimes, one of the most difficult things to teach beginningsales professionals is the difference between features andbenefits. All too frequently, sales people list their product or service features, without articulating how those features will ultimately benefit that prospect or customer. Unfortunately, your prospects or customers are not always able to make that leap for themselves. And when they do not see the benefit, they do not buy. So-what is the difference between features and benefit More.. |
| Read more About Whats In It For Me? |
|
| |
| Survival Strategies |
| 1. Do the moneymaking things first.
For an entrepreneur, generating income is the most important job. Without income, your business will cease to exist.
2. Develop a sales and marketing plan.
What are you selling? Who is going to buy it? Where and how will you find them? Establish your sales goals, and then view your plan as your map to reach those goals.
3. Follow your sales and marketing plan.
While plans do sometimes change, one of the biggest challengesfaced by entrepreneurs is how to b More.. |
| Read more About Survival Strategies |
|
| |
| 13 Lessons in Marketing, Super Bowl Style |
| Each year, the Super Bowl provides marketers opportunity to study and learn from the games' advertisers, players, and coordinators. Super Bowl XXXVI (February, 2002) was no exception. Foremost, of course, was The Game's appropriately patriotic theme. America's mettle and proud heritage were showcased to the world through this year's red, white, and blue logo; music selection by the performers; and depictions of historic U.S. icons. The Game further supported U.S. patriotism through the presence More.. |
| Read more About 13 Lessons in Marketing, Super Bowl Style |
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Forward Thinkers Stay Ahead of the Curve |
| What is it like from a marketing perspective to be yesterday's news? We rely on what is tried and true in marketing because it is usually safe, tried, and tested. It saves us time, as well, since we don't have to put on our creativity cap to craft an innovative strategy.
But, there's a certain attractive quality around someone who markets his or her business on the edge. They stretch their thoughts and ideas into new territories to create an innovative way of packaging or presenting their produ More.. |
| Read more About Forward Thinkers Stay Ahead of the Curve |
|
| |
| Burnout |
| Today I want to share a question from a reader who writes:
How do I keep from being burned out while cold calling? My job is to call current customers and also call new business prospects. I have a quota of 60?80 calls to make per day, but it seems as though I cannot stay focused long enough to make even 50 phone calls. By the time I get finished calling my current customers and servicing their accounts, I am mentally burned out. I am in no state to begin calling for new business. What advice/s More.. |
| Read more About Burnout |
|
| |
| Happy Hunting! |
| Before you ever get on the telephone, send a marketing piece orset up an appointment with a potential customer, you must firstidentify whom that customer might be. To do that, you will needto create an "ideal customer profile"-a profile of who would bethe best possible prospect for you and whatever you are selling.
Be very specific. You are creating the model to which you willmatch all prospects. The more specific you are, the easier itwill be to find those prospects. Look at the entire demogra More.. |
| Read more About Happy Hunting! |
|
| |
| Assumption Based Marketing Vs. Fact Based Marketing |
| One of the most common mistakes in marketing is making decisions based on assumptions rather than fact. You think of an idea for a marketing piece and believe that it is a great idea.
You start using the idea with no tracking mechanism that would allow you to measure the results of that piece. Then if business happens to come in you assume that it must be working and continue to spend time and money on a method that may or may not actually be working.
Frankly, I don't want to spend a dime (or More.. |
| Read more About Assumption Based Marketing Vs. Fact Based Marketing |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Fundraising: How To Avoid Three Common Mistakes |
| I'm a board member of a local nonprofit and we are about to launch our annual campaign. Like other nonprofits in our community, we are facing a very competitive funding environment. There are more agencies seeking more money from more sophisticated donors.
It's enough to make you run for cover.
The reality is that fundraising is not easy, but it isn't impossible. There are some mistakes to avoid if you want to be more successful.
1. Overestimating what your donors know about you A recent ad i More.. |
| Read more About Fundraising: How To Avoid Three Common Mistakes |
|
| |
|
|
| |
| A Tool For Selling New Ideas! |
| Imagine tossing a pebble into a crystal clear pond on a still day, & watching the ripples make their way to the shore. A tiny cause has a massive effect.
But on a windswept stormy day, you could hurl the largest boulder into the same pool, and the effect would be felt for no more than a few feet.
And so it is with your sales message.
Your prospects are in a trance that is like a still pool of awareness. They are in an "I'm worried about money" trance. They are in an "I wish I could finally fi More.. |
| Read more About A Tool For Selling New Ideas! |
|
| |
|
|
| |
| 8 Lessons in Strategic Marketing A La Daddy Daycare |
| I bet you thought the movie "Daddy Daycare" was a kiddie comedy, right? Wrong...It's a marketing strategy film! When Charlie and his friend Phil are fired as Product Development/Brand Managers for a cereal company, they decide to fill a need in their community.
Along the way to success they demonstrate several solid marketing strategies -- equally applicable to online, offline, and integrated companies. Take these lessons to heart when developing plans for your business.
Lesson 1: Research the More.. |
| Read more About 8 Lessons in Strategic Marketing A La Daddy Daycare |
|
| |
| Create Your Own Rumors |
| A consultant new in the city asked me how I managed to get business so fast. Working for that marketing company definitely gave me a jump start. That's because I already knew about press releases. Only in business a few months and I already had been in two of the local papers. However, it was my male mentors who introduced me to telemarketing.
At the suggestion of calling strangers on the phone was enough to terrify me. There was no way I could just dial up people and sell myself like a product More.. |
| Read more About Create Your Own Rumors |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Marketing Strategy - Spell Out Your Unique Value |
| I attended a "Sales Focus" seminar a few years back in which the speaker asked this key question. "Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me, would I want to buy from you?" What a great question.
Most of the participants in the room couldn't come up with anything beyond - "We've only got experienced professionals on staff."; "We use proven methodologies."; "We've got a reputation in the marketplace for delivering value-added services." or "We're totally committed to our cli More.. |
| Read more About Marketing Strategy - Spell Out Your Unique Value |
|
| |
| Marketing Strategy - Shift the Focus |
| Most of the service providers I've worked for or with don't like marketing or selling. In fact, a lot of them will say they "hate it." At the very least, they'll tell me they don't think they are very good at it.
If you ask them why it is they feel this way, you're most likely to get some common responses such as:
"When do I have the time? I'm busy enough as it is."
"I don't know where to start."
"I don't know what to do."
"I've tried networking, but I don't ever get anything."
"I just don More.. |
| Read more About Marketing Strategy - Shift the Focus |
|
| |
| Marketing Planning - Preparation and Accountability |
| We all know the saying, "Failing to plan (prepare) is planning (preparing) to fail." I truly believe in this statement and I hope you do as well. Building your service business, including marketing it must be planned and does take work.
I don't happen to believe that there really are magic bullets or black magic boxes. My advice - quit looking. This stuff does take work, but you can certainly do it.
If you're like most people I meet, then planning is something you know is important but doesn't More.. |
| Read more About Marketing Planning - Preparation and Accountability |
|
| |
| Marketing Strategy - Whats Your System? |
| Where Do Most of Your Clients Come From?
Is it from your marketing and sales system?
When I meet people for the first time and they understand that I'm a marketing consultant, I'm frequently asked, "Where do most of your clients come from?" Many times I believe the question is asked innocently enough. But, quite often I feel like the person asking wants to know if I have a magic answer that might work for them.
Most small business owners are passionate about the services they provide - not th More.. |
| Read more About Marketing Strategy - Whats Your System? |
|
| |
| Sum of Its Parts |
| I just spent a week at the beach with myfamily and, as much as I vowed not to thinkabout work, stumbled onto a highly relevantlesson for marketing professional services.
It was actually my mother who inspired thislesson, thanks to the following beachy quoteshe had on the refrigerator:
"Saltwater taffy, for example, does not tastegood. Seagulls are not pleasant birds. Mostpeople look better in clothes - a lot ofclothes. But it works. The beach is the ultimatetriumph in setting." ?from the artic More.. |
| Read more About Sum of Its Parts |
|
| |
| Love My Dentist |
| I love my dentist! When is the last time you could say that about yours?
True, dentists do tend to get a bad rap (remember Steve Martin'ssadistic character in the movie, Little Shop of Horrors?). Buteven real-life visits to the dentist aren't high on the list ofrelaxing things to do.
So what does my dentist have to do with marketing? Everything. And the reasons why my dentist has more private pay clients than they can handle and is a referral-receiving machine, are marketing lessons we can all More.. |
| Read more About Love My Dentist |
|
| |
| If My Work is Good Enough |
| "If My Work is Good Enough, I Shouldn't Have to Market, Right?"
Don't you think that good work should speak for itself...that if you're good enough at what you do, you shouldn't have to hustle up business?
I've been working with a lot of really Smart People lately. Physicists, Economists, Chemists, Electrical Engineers, Programmers, Researchers and highly educated professionals of many kinds. These folks are at the top of their game and world-class contributors in their chosen field.
Here are More.. |
| Read more About If My Work is Good Enough |
|
| |
| How to Earn the Right |
| How to Earn the Right..."
Marketing your professional services is a lot like dating: you have to earn the right to be intimate.
In both endeavors, you can't skip or rush through levels of intimacy for the relationship to work. Whether it's a new flame or a new client, you have to build trust that leads to deeper levels of commitment.
Think about it: people that you want for clients start out as strangers. They don't know about you and your firm. So you can't expect them to jump into a long-te More.. |
| Read more About How to Earn the Right |
|
| |
| Shine a Spotlight on Your Professional Service Firm |
| As a life-long dancer, I know a bit about the importance of good preparation before performance. Before a dancer is ready for the spotlight, she has to master the basics including alignment, strength, flexibility, balance, choreography, and artistry.
The same is true for successful marketing. When you send a brochure, run an ad, promote a website, give a talk, or just tell someone what you do, you're on stage. But if you've not mastered the basics, you will not engage your audience and you risk More.. |
| Read more About Shine a Spotlight on Your Professional Service Firm |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
