Unfortunately it happens. You plan, you research, you launch and the campaign fails. What could you have missed? What do you do now? The first thing you want to do is step back. Breathe. Yes, breathe. The worst thing you could do at this point is think you are the only one this has happened to. You're not.
You are probably questioning whether you have the knowledge to work in marketing. You are overwhelmed with disappointment. This is why I want you to just take a step back and put yourself in the shoes of your target market.
Questions to ask yourself:
1. Did the marketing message reach your target?
2. Could they have perceived your marketing message wrong or misunderstood the message?
3. Did you miss the pain questions?
4. Did you do adequate research? Unfortunately lack of research is the reason most campaigns fail.
5. Could your marketing copy or design be at fault for the lack of response? Did you follow the tried and true rules of marketing execution when it came to presentation?
When you take a step back and detach yourself from the campaign to look at it as the audience rather than the developer it's a little easier to see the flaws.It's best to do this before the campaign launches, but let's face it we all make mistakes and it's better to look at it now and learn from it rather than not look at it at all. Evaluate and re-evaluate. When you feel confident that you've found the reason the campaign failed then you are ready to begin again carrying out the components that you possibly missed the first time. Test it before full execution; this is key.
The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World"
by Seth Godin
Seth Godin is the author of six bestsellers, including Permission Marketing, an Amazon Top 100 bestseller for a year and a Fortune Best Business Book. His newest book, All Marketers are Liars, has already made the Amazon Top 100 and has inspired its own blog.
Seth is also a renowned speaker, and was recently chosen as one of "21 Speakers for the Next Century" by Successful Meetings Magazine and is consistently rated among the best speakers by the audiences he addresses.
Seth was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, an interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo! acquired in late 1998. He holds an MBA from Stanford, is a contributing editor to Fast Company magazine, and was called "the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age" by Business Week.
Business networking is the process of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with other business people and potential clients and/or customers.
Notice that I don't say anything about meeting people in this definition; the ever-increasing slew of business networking meet-and-greet events have given business networking a bad name.
The key to true business networking is the establishment of a mutally beneficial relationship, and that's an incredibly rare event at the standard shake-hands-and-exchange-your-business-card events that are touted as business networking "opportunities".
The purpose of business networking is to increase business revenue - one way or another. The thickening of the bottom line can be immediately apparent, as in developing a relationship with a new client, or develop over time, as in learning a new business skill.
The best business networking groups operate as exchanges of business information, ideas, and support.
The most important skill for effective business networking is listening; focusing on how you can help the person you are listening to rather than on how he or she can help you is the first step to establishing a mutally beneficial relationship.
Also Known As: Networking.
Common Misspellings: Netwokring.
Examples: Jim learned a lot about how to improve his customer service through his business networking group.
Are you missing one of the largest markets out there? I'm consistently amazed how in marketing and advertising we have mistakenly overlooked the single adult women's market. At first I thought that I only noticed it because I am single, so I tend to tune into the marketing messages to see who they are geared for. However, after spending time researching I realized it wasn't only me they were missing. Just take a look at some of the statistics below. I'm sure by the time you've finished reading this article you'll wonder why you are not marketing to the single women market.
Over three years ago in 2001 the Census bureau alone reported that there were over 17million U.S. women living alone. This doubled from the year 1981. These women were never-married and childless and between the ages of 25 to 44, but let's not stop there. Consider the report done in 2000 that showed the percentage of single women in each of the following categories:
1. Women Never Married (25.1 Percent) 2. Separated (2.4 percent) 3. Divorced (10.2 percent) 4. Widowed (10 percent)
In a report by the Census Bureau release in July of 2004 it showed that there were over 95.7 million unmarried and single Americans. Over 53% of them were women. This nearly tripled the number reported in 2001. It's been reported that nearly half of women 45 or older are unmarried.
This market is continually growing at a rapid pace, yet how many commercials have you seen speak to these women? Perhaps this would change if more marketing companies realized that over 57% of single women currently own their own homes and live fully independent lives. Single women now equal one-fifth of the nation's population and 42 percent of all registered women voters.
Do you know that when it comes to politics our politicians are also missing the boat? Without a clear message to this market it is no wonder that statistics show that very few single women exercise their right to vote. In the 2000 presidential election 68 percent of married women voted, but only 52 percent of single women voted.
However don't think that just because you aren't running a political campaign that these numbers don't matter to you. If you are running a company, perhaps it's time to ask yourself how you are reaching this market.
If I were in charge of a political campaign my first order of business would be to spend time discovering what keeps these women from voting. If I were running a company and I knew I had been missing this demographic I'd be calling a meeting to make sure I don't continue to make such a costly mistake. How can you market to them? It can be done in three steps:
1. Learn what their concerns are? 2. Find out what is keeping them up at night? 3. Use the above answers to outline how to be more inclusive and explain policies and goals that would improve the lives of these single women, not just "working families."
This is not rocket science - this is Marketing 101 to an untapped market. Single women have the ability to alter the outcome of an election. They have the ability to grow your businesses and increase your sales. Perhaps it's time we all began to speak clearly to this market.
For today’s business owners the shape of commerce has changed. No longer is the success of our businesses completely reliant on world-of-mouth and persuasive print advertising. Today’s savvy entrepreneurs understand that in order to be truly successful in today’s competitive environment it is absolutely essential to conduct comprehensive Internet marketing. An online presence is critical for reaching your target audience in today’s Internet focused age. Internet marketing – an affordable alternative to pricey print and broadcast marketing – can reach the people you want without breaking the bank. Let’s face it; your audience is already online; now it’s just a matter of delivering them your message.
To do so, you can work with professionals who understand the complexities of Internet marketing. They will assist you in developing your message, orchestrating a plan, and implementing it. The result can very well be a high level of success and viability for your small business.
To find such professionals check with other small business owners – for whom you have a respect – to determine what Internet marketing professionals worked well on their behalf. It may be beneficial to find someone who has an understanding of your particular industry. This alleviates the learning curve when attempting to construct an appropriate message for Internet marketing.
Internet marketing professionals will also be well-versed on the legalities of marketing small businesses online and can guide you through the process with an eye towards boundaries.
You may also wish to conduct your Internet marketing on your own. No one knows the intricacies of your business better than you; who better to construct a specific message than you? Before embarking on any Internet marketing, however, be sure to conduct thorough research.
Your actual Internet marketing can be conducted right on your website with the use of surveys, give-aways, and a specific call-to-action.
It may be in your best interest to take some marketing courses so that you can best familiarize yourself with the importance of Internet marketing.
The beauty of Internet marketing is its mass appeal. It would take enormous effort and money to reach certain targeted audiences with specific messages delivered in a particular way. The Internet bridges the gap between all audiences and levels the playing field for those interested in marketing their small business.
Using Internet marketing to further the efforts of your small business can be vastly rewarding. With consistent and poignant delivery of messages through Internet marketing you can experience long term success and viability.
Internet Marketing Ideas - 10 Web Advertising Answers
So you do you get your internet marketing project off the ground and bound for success? Traffic plain and simple is the answer. Traffic is the lifeblood of every business and even more so for an internet business where you cannot depend on walk in or drive by traffic. On the internet, your customers need to know you exist before they can find you. But the problem is that most of us have no advertising budget or at best a minimal one. Do not despair. Here are 10 web advertising ideas and most won't cost you a cent.
Idea 1 - Put up forms on your site offering free help and advice in your area of expertise. This is a great way to build a relationship with future customers.
Idea 2 - Start a newsletter to build even more of a relationship with those future customers.
Idea 3 - Set up surveys on your site. It is a great way to gather information about your potential customers. You can later use that information for very directed marketing.
Idea 4 - Write reviews for products in your field. A great way to get your name out there.
Idea 5 - Write press released regularly about your business and your field.
Idea 6 - Buy advertising. You don't need a big budget. There are lots of low cost opportunities available on the internet. Shop around.
Idea 7 - Make sure your web site is fully optimized for search engines and visitors.
Idea 8 - Write a tutorial and/or ebook related to your field. Either give it all away or give away a portion to teaser interest.
Idea 9 - Make sure that after you finish building your web site you continue to update and maintain it.
Idea 10 - Solicit testimonials to demonstrate what a great business or product you have to offer.
These are just a few ideas to help you promote your business whether you are just starting out in the internet business field or you want to see your existing business really take off. Remember you do not need to take every idea, but perhaps a smarter strategy is to select a few internet marketing ideas that really work well for you and your business and exploit those measures to their fullest extent.
Business history has an abundance of instances of business failures on account of lack of proper marketing planning. It is extremely important in the case of Internet marketing to plan marketing strategies properly. Marketing planning provides the framework for all business decisions of an enterprise – decisions on markets, decisions on products and decisions on manufacturing facilities, investments and organizational structure.
Marketing planning is the interface between the enterprise and its market/customers. Internet marketing places the consumer at both the beginning and the end of the business process and that any firm practicing marketing in the proper sense has to identify correctly the needs of the consumer, translate the needs into suitable products and services, deliver those products and services to the total satisfaction of the consumer and through this process generate profits for the firm.
Marketing planning is the instrument through which all these tasks get accomplished. The quality of marketing planning is revealed in the success of all marketing activities. Obviously, considerable thought, expertise and effort have to go into the process of marketing planning.
The marketing planner first scans the environment followed by an internal scanning of his unit, its strength and weaknesses and assesses to what extent his marketing organization is equipped to pursue the various opportunities emerging in the environment. Then he formulates the marketing objectives and marketing strategies. And finally, he formulates the detailed functional plans in each aspect of the total marketing task.
As the first step in the marketing planning process, the firm scans its marketing environment. The main purpose of this exercise is to find out the favorable and unfavorable factors prevailing in the environment and the specific business opportunities available to the business unit and their relative attractiveness. In the case of marketing planning, environmental scanning focuses on the environment of the business unit in question and its scope is limited to the business in question.
If you're looking at a multi-level marketing opportunity, here are eight key considerations. Look for a multi-level business that has, number one, quality products with a good reputation. Never waste your time trying to sell anything that is not of excellent quality. Quality products are the starting point of your success in business. No successful business can ever be built on an average or mediocre product.
Look for Competitive Prices Number two, look for a company that has prices that compare favorable with the competition. Remember, nobody's going to pay more for your product or service if they can get the same or equivalent somewhere else at a lower price. So check the price comparisons.
Demand a Money Back Guarantee
The third thing you look for is a 100 percent unconditional money-back guarantee. In other words, the product must be so good and the company must stand behind it so strongly that they're willing to give a 100 percent refund guarantee on anything that they sell. That's a very good rule for starting and building any business.
Carry a Small Inventory
The fourth key in finding a multi-level marketing opportunity is that there should be a small or zero inventory requirement. You should be able to get into a multi-level marketing business with very little money. Not more than a hundred dollars.
Keep Good Records
The fifth requirement is that the company provides prompt delivery and efficient internal bookkeeping. A multi-level marketing business that's well organized will be able to deliver your products within 24 or 48 hours for you to sell, or deliver to your customers. They'll also take very good care of the books and give you accurate financial statements each month.
Seek a Strong Support Organization
A sixth thing to look for is a strong support organization. This is perhaps as important, if not more important, than anything else. Look for a support organization that will offer you training, that will give you seminars on product knowledge, that will give you motivation, and give you opportunities for personal and business development. Many people who have started with multi-level marketing companies have gone on to be very successful in their own businesses because of the training they got from the multi-level company. If the company doesn't have a training system, try to find a company that does.
Honesty is the Best Policy
The seventh factor that you require is honesty and integrity. Make sure that the parent company has an impeccable reputation in the marketplace. Remember it has to be a company that you can be proud of. You should never have to make excuses for the company you're working for.
Product Should be Consumable
Products should be consumable, leading to reorders and repeat business. You should try to sell a product that people use up on a regular basis, so that if they're happy with it, they'll continue to reorder and reorder and reorder. And once you get a customer, sometimes you can have a customer for years.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put these ideas into action:
First, look for a product that you really like, use and enjoy yourself personally. You can only sell something to someone else if your heart is in it. And if your heart is in it you will enjoy using the product yourself.
Second, look for a product that has something new or special that makes it different and better than any other similar product in the market today. The number one reason that any product fails is because it is not superior to and different from the competition.
K.A.Janardhanan Wellness Consultant Trainer and Motivator
This is a clip which almost everyone of us shoould have in mind and take action upon viewing this clip. I believe not many people will understand the hiden meaning behind it but for those who do, I wish you good luck and congratulations if you manage to unlock the meanings behind this video clip :)
It seems that everybody is into making money online these days. By far, the largest market place in the world is right there in front of you within the cyber world of the internet. But what is the simplest and easiest way to make money online? Well, affiliate marketing nowadays is the very common and the most popular method of earning money online.
In addition, affiliate marketing allows you to make money online by earning commissions off sub-affiliates, people you have brought on to be affiliates of the parent company. These two-tiered affiliates may seem like a pyramid scheme, but the point is, it generates a tremendous amount of traffic to your site as well as to your partners' sites, which helps everyone make money online.
So, what is the first thing you will need? It is to build your own website and decide how much you are willing to spend on your site. Nevertheless, to online your business is buried among millions of websites. As a start-up internet business, you have several options and several things to consider. Anything from setting up a free account on one of the countless blog sites, to paying thousands of dollars to professionals for the design and hosting.
Keep in mind that people can't just falter upon it accidentally. It's like spinning your wheels yet you are getting nowhere, or you are talking, but no one's listening. You have you establish your presence and make your own site. You need to advertise and promote constantly. Most importantly, make a lasting impression so next time a customer is in the market for your type of product, they will never forget your site over someone else with similar products. Remember that everyone from industrial giants to corner flower shops now wants to stake a profitable claim in cyberspace. Building affiliate website is just a much better in promoting products as an affiliate.
However, if you have an affiliate website, you can list other people's websites on yours and become an affiliate, making money online through sales commissions every time someone goes to their site through yours and makes a purchase. You can make anywhere from 5% to 30% just by advertising their link.
But if you have none, better yet build your own affiliate website. A website is not like putting a convenient store on a corner and every person will see it as they pass by, and stop. If you do not advertise your site in some form, no one will know you're on the web. The old saying "if you build it, they will come" just isn't true when it comes to opening a website.
Building and promoting affiliate websites is not an easy task. With the web these days growing at a substantial rate, juts about everywhere you turn on the web, you will see offers to own your own business. A lot of these offers are justifiable businesses with real products and items waiting for you to open on of their affiliate sites and start selling. They can sound very good and get you excited, tell you that you can make tons of money. But then, be very careful, you have to consider a lot of things before you can keep on.
Remember that there are also downfalls to having an affiliate website; bear in mind that you probably won't have much control over it, the bad thing is sometimes, none at all. First, you may not have the power to control over the ad banners that appears on your site, you won't have control over the content, links or text links and on some of them, you may not be able to control the keywords or optimize the site for the search engines, or maybe even see your daily traffic or check your status, like how many visitors have you gotten and how many items you have sold.
On the other hand, building affiliate sites can also be a good thing if you are looking for a low maintenance way to have a business on the web. Affiliate websites can also give you a reasonably good income once you become established and if you know where you can pick up some local traffic just through your friends of neighbors.
Getting some heavy duty traffic will become your main goal when you are about to open an affiliate website. However, building and advertising a website can be flat out expensive, even scary. So once you have your website, handle it wisely.
What is the difference between marketing and sales?
Let's think about thisquestion for a moment. Without marketing you would not have prospects orleads to follow up with, but yet without a good sales technique and strategy your closing rate may depress you.
Marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade prospects. The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. Both are necessities to the success of a business. You cannot do without either process. By strategically combining both efforts you will experience a successful amount of business growth. However, by the same token if the efforts are unbalanced it candetour your growth.
Your marketing will consists of the measures you use to reach and persuade your prospects that you are the company for them. It's the message that prepares the prospect for the sales. It consists of advertising, public relations, brand marketing, viral marketing, and direct mail.
The sales process consists of interpersonal interaction. It is often done by a one-on-one meeting, cold calls, and networking. It's anything that engages you with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance.
Your marketing efforts begin the process of the eight contacts that studies show it takes to move a prospect or potential client to the close of the sale. If marketing is done effectively you can begin to move that prospect from a cold to a warm lead. When the prospect hitsthe"warm" level it's much easier for the sales professional to close the sale.
Do you see the cycle?
As you see in my explanation above it takes multiple contacts using both sales and marketing to move the prospect from one level to the next. That is why it is import that you develop a process that combines both sales and marketing. This will enable you to reach prospects at all three levels; cold, warm, and hot. It's all about balance.
Are you unsure of how to integrate your marketing and sales?
Try this. Take a few moments and divide your prospect lists and database into categories of cold, warm, and hot leads. Then sit down and identify a strategy on how to proceed with each individual group.
For example you could try the following methods of contact:
[1] Cold Lead Strategy - Send out a direct mailing or offer them a special promotion [2] Warm Lead Strategy - Try a follow-up call, send out a sales letter, or schedule a special seminar or training session to get all of your warm leads together.
Once you've moved your prospect to the "warm" level it's time to proceed in closing the sale. This will be easier to do if you somehow engage the prospect. You can do this by conducting a one-on-one call, make a presentation, or present a proposal, estimate, or contract.
What if you are uncomfortable with the sales or marketing process?
An alternative that often proves successful is to partner with someone that possess the talents that you feel you lack in. You can do this by creating a partnership, subcontracting, or hiring in that talent.
Remember the key to success in marketing and in sales is balance!
These Ten Commandments didn’t come from the Mountain. And they’re not carved on clay tablets, but on a high-tensile polyfiber instead. Yet any marketer worth his or her salt must follow these commandments in order to find the Promised Land.
[-::.1 Thou Shalt Not See Marketing as a Department.::-]
When you get right down to it, everyone in your company is a marketer. From the receptionist whose voice is the first thing your buyers hear, to the delivery person whose rear-end may be the last thing they see, every one of your employees plays a pivotal role in the orchestration of your marketing efforts. Good companies imbue every employee with healthy reverence for the customer so that the company, from every point of contact it has with its market, knows how to market.
[-::.2 Thou Shalt Follow the Ninety Day Rule.::-]
Your customers, prospects and champions (those who refer business your way) should hear from you every 90 days. People are just too busy to remember you otherwise. If you don’t follow the 90-day rule, you risk getting shouted down by any competitor of yours who does.
[-::.3 Honor the Concept of Tinkering with All your Heart.::-]
If you’re a 70’s child like me, you remember the hugely successful rock group Fleetwood Mac. But I’ll bet you didn’t know that their seemingly overnight success came only after years of tinkering. That’s right, before the release of their monster album Rumours, they endured no less than 14 personnel changes across 10 years. In marketing, as in rock and roll, success seldom happens with your original line-up.
[-::.4 Thou Shalt Not Quit.::-]
Moses and the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years without giving up. You owe it to yourself (and maybe Moses too) to try any new marketing initiative at least three times before throwing in the towel. Your prospect could have been out of the country the first time you ran it, and tending to his sick mother the second. Repetition is a marketer’s best friend.
Suspects become prospects, who then become customers. And these customers then generate referrals who create more prospects and the cycle begins anew. For thousands of years, this marketing process (also known as the prospecting funnel) has governed marketing activities for all companies, and I feel safe saying that it will continue this way for another thousand years.
[-::.6 Remember Thine Marketing Time by Keeping it Holy.::-]
Successful marketing campaigns don’t take the summer off, nor are they created “when I have the time.” You must make the time. I’ve found it’s helpful to consistently carve out the same day and time each week to work on marketing tasks. For me, it’s Friday afternoons; for you it may be different. But whatever day and time you choose, honor it with all your heart.
[-::.7 Thou Shalt Jettison One Program Every Year.::-]
I can’t count the number of stressed out marketers I’ve seen over the last 15 years. As task after task is added to their plates , nothing is ever removed. Stop this madness at once, and identify one marketing task each year to eliminate. Too often, someone keeps doing a task (e.g. issuing a report), yet it’s not adding value. Eliminate one marketing task a year; your health depends upon it.
[-::.8 Thou Shalt Not Cut Marketing Spending During Slow Times.::-]
From 1980 to 1985, McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies and their marketing spending. After 1985, McGraw-Hill concluded that those firms which had maintained or increased their advertising during the recession in ’81-’82 boasted an average sales growth of 275% over the next five years. But those companies who cut their advertising saw paltry sales growth over the next five years of just 19%. When is the right time to market your business? All the time.
[-::.9 Thou Shalt Honor Exiting Employees.::-]
I once had a travel industry client run a report that showed where their new referrals came from. The second highest category was ex-employees. It turns out vacation shoppers were asking these ex-employees where they could book a Vegas package just like the neighbor’s they’d heard about, and the ex-employees were referring them back to their old employer. When you treat your departing employees with a dose of good will, they may just turn into your unpaid sales force and refer business your way.
[-::.10 Thou Shalt Thank Often.::-]
Sadly, we live in an age of boorishness. But a savvy marketer can do his part to bring civility into an otherwise uncivilized world. Among the countless ways to thank customers are thank you notes, gift certificates and appreciation lunches to name just a few. These thank you’s don’t have to be showy. Just make sure the thank you is classy and considerate, and the kindness will eventually be repaid.
Ahh how can i say about maself? Ok I'n Down to Earth, Funky & Cool, Mysterious, Im the mad and wacko kid! Well Im just a kid ... and life's a nightmare. I love everyone that loves me!!! Am I your kind? Am I your type? Why not join me in my life journey? It won't be bad but it'll be memorable moments every second!
