August 29, 2008
Using your website for marketing
Websites are a crucial tool that companies can use to successfully market their products and/or services. Many people go to a company's website before they even contact you or purchase anything.Here are few guidelines to using your website for marketing:
- Get a unique domain name. It's best to include your business name. Or you could get creative and come up with a domain name that captures what your business is all about. Whatever you choose, be sure to keep it short. This will make it easy to remember. You can find many domain registering sites all over the Internet (these can be found through a simple Google search). Having a memorable and recognizable domain name will help people find your site.Once you have your domain name registered and your website established, advertise it.Be sure that your website's address is printed on your business cards, letterheads, any pamphlets, signs, everything. The key is to get that website out to the public.
August 27, 2008
Using your logo or status to market a new product
Have you established your status in the market? Do people see your logo and immediately connect that with a product? If not, you have some serious work to do. Visual elements are a major part of your company's identity in the market. Having a good logo isn't the only way to market a new product. You need to have a good reputation or status in the market. Think of some of the most successful companies out there in the market and how long it took for them to gain their status.
Many companies believe in partnering with other companies who have an established reputation in the market. This is a great idea for smaller companies because it shows that this respectable company believes in them and they should too. A couple years ago, Nike and Apple teamed up to produce an Ipod Shoe. This was a wonderful invention for both companies. It not only increased the profitability of both companies, but they used their logos and status to market a new product.
August 26, 2008
Using sales reps as a form of marketing
Marketing and sales are often combined to meaning the same thing; however, they are two totally different strategies. The best part of marketing is that you can use sales reps as a form of marketing. Sales representatives know more about each product than anyone else in the company. They are the considered the face of your company. It is their job to boots up revenue for the company. However, they can't go about gaining sales if marketing didn't go hand in hand.
Communication between sales and marketing
Typically the two departments work closely together. The Marketing department is in charge of finding the customer and sending them to the Sales department. The Sales department is in charge of "closing the deal". Problems can arise quickly between the two departments. If the Marketing Department is not producing good customer leads, it is hard for the Sales Department to generate revenue from them. Below are a few things both departments can do to help bridge the gap:
August 25, 2008
Using questionnaires and surveys to help your marketing
Questionnaires and surveys have the potential to be incredibly influential in helping you to make wise marketing decisions.When designed correctly, a questionnaire or survey is a very direct way of asking your existing customers and potential customers what it is that you can do to make you happier with their product or to convince them that they should buy your product.There are also surveys that you can have your own employees do.These types of surveys can give you a better idea for problems that may exist internally and can give you insight into your employees' moral and attitude about the company.Good marketers know that if the employees are unhappy or think poorly of the product, those sentiments could spill into the public.
August 22, 2008
Using a blog to market your product
The modern blog is at something that has caught on like wildfire rather recently on the Internet. In just a few years, the number of blogs numbers in the tens of millions and continues to grow at an astonishing rate. As a result, it only makes sense that your company should join in on this phenomenon and be using a blog to market your product.
A blog (the word is shortened version of "web log") is a little different from a regular website. One difference is that they are simple to set up (there are pre-made templates on a variety of sits), free, and easy to update. The term "web log" perfectly describes what a blog's purpose is - it's basically an online journal where you keep track of whatever you want, day by day.Just log into your blog, say what you want, click post, and you're done. No wonder people are making, reading, and using blogs more often than ever.
Continue reading "Using a blog to market your product"August 21, 2008
Tips for how to come up with a target market
Chances are you know what your product is; now how do you get that out to your target market? Do you even know what your target market is? Typically a target market is defined as age, gender, geography, and other factors that lead to marketing a particular product to a particular group. So how do you go about defining your audience and zeroing in on your target audience? We will discuss some tips for how to come up with a target market below.
What are we marketing?
What product are you trying to get out in the market? Get a team of people together and sit down, discuss who would want your product, where are the best geographic locations to market your product, who can afford your product, and what need does it fill to a consumer? Once you know the answers to these questions, you can narrow down your target market. Make sure to be clear with however you go about designing marketing materials. Any confusion or question marks in their mind, you have lost them as a potential client.
August 20, 2008
The role of PR in marketing
PR is a piece of the overall scheme of marketing. It plays a huge role in setting the image of your company. The PR department is responsible for handling the good and the bad press of the company. The PR department is responsible for setting and maintaining the overall image of the company. They decide how your company will become successful and how it will look in the marketplace.
PR responsibilities that affect marketing
Any legal issue is handled by the PR department. Marketing and advertising is responsible for spreading the word, however it is the primarily role of the PR department to withhold the image of your company in the market place. PR is responsible for protecting the company, corporation, or organization.
August 19, 2008
The price of marketing
How do you determine your marketing budget and the costs that go along with your marketing strategy. It all depends of what type of company you work for. If you are a large business, it will be easy to have a large marketing budget. If you are a non-profit company or a smaller budget, you typically cannot afford to spend a lot on marketing costs. Looking at your marketing costs are a great way to determine what can be cut out and what needs to be expanded. Spending time working on a marketing strategy and following through with proper procedures will also help your company in more ways than one.
Determining how much to spend on your marketing budget is a tricky thing. Many companies are switching their focus to viral marketing since it is essentially free marketing. Viral marketing campaigns both online and off are especially important to small businesses and start-ups because they usually cost almost nothing. The real investment in getting a viral marketing campaign going is the time and effort that it takes to build a product worth talking about. That means that the small businesses that have more creativity than marketing dollars can still find themselves turning a nice profit thanks to a healthy influx of referred customers.
Continue reading "The price of marketing"August 18, 2008
The old and the new in marketing techniques
Old and new marketing techniques are being used in unique combinations by virtually all businesses hoping to attract customers. There are few methods of marketing that have never been tried before and many old techniques are either still in use or have been altered to match the needs of changing times and changing consumer preferences. Below you will read brief summaries about just a few of the old and new marketing techniques.Reading about these techniques may help you in developing your own marketing strategies today.
August 15, 2008
Retaining clients through marketing
Some of the best marketers will tell you, if you don't retain your clients, why bother marketing? It is one of the hardest and yet the easiest things to do. Keeping your clients happy is always what people focus on, which is a good point. However, have you taken the time to get to know your clients? If not, try out these simple steps, they are easy and painless.
1. Meeting people and making introductions
- 10 second description of who you are and what you do.
2. Dress to Impress
- People judge you the second they see you. Make sure the clothing you wear reflect the image of the company.
August 14, 2008
Paying for hits on your website, pros and cons
There is no argument against the fact that using the internet to your advantage when marketing is a good idea.There are many different ways that people use the internet to promote their product and sometimes outside companies with more technological experience are called in to help.Such is the case with SEO or Search Engine Optimization.SEO entails hiring a professional firm to help you to become more accessible to your online customers or people of interest.
There are millions and millions of websites on the internet.It is not hard to imagine how your specific site might get lost in the crowd.What a SEO does is give you the advantage of being a top hit in a search engine.Giving yourself this advantage is huge, traffic to your site definitely increases when more people know that your business exists because of the search engine tag.SEO services may also include hits to websites where your contact information is listed in the form of an advertisement, making the reach of your influence go even farther.
Continue reading "Paying for hits on your website, pros and cons"August 13, 2008
Marketing tactics for the self employed
As any business owner knows correctly marketing his business is crucial for his success. Whether you are marketing products or services knowing where to spend your marketing dollars for the best results can be a challenge.This is especially difficult for those entrepreneurial business owners who must face the obstacles of getting their business up and running often with little to no cash reserve and minuscule marketing budget.But there is help-successful self-employed business owners have found ways to market their products or services in a big way using little cash.So if you are a business owner looking for ways to create buzz for your product or service here are some marketing tactics for the self employed.
August 12, 2008
Marketing with poor PR
How can your company improve their image if they have a poor PR department? How do you market with poor PR? PR certainly has an important role to play in the marketing and communication world. It isn't easy to fix problems if you have a poor PR department.
Poor PR case studies
Imagine going to a fast food restaurant and seeing a severed finger in your chili! How about learning the toy your child is playing with has lead based paint? Or learning the hamburger you just bought is linked to an outbreak of ecoli! These are all media stories we have heard in recent years. The biggest thing is, how does your company recover from these potential PR disasters?
August 11, 2008
Marketing versus advertising, what is the difference?
Many people do not know the difference between marketing and advertising. Both processes are essential to the growth of a company. Having marketing and advertising work hand in hand will be substantial to increasing revenue. Many people do not know what the difference is between marketing versus advertising. While they share similar aspects and work together to benefit the company, they are two different strategies.
Marketing vs Advertising
How is marketing different from advertising? Advertising is a single component of marketing. Advertising is the piece of marketing that involves spreading the word about your business and products. Advertising is considered the most expensive piece of marketing. It includes ad placement, direct mail pieces, television, radio and internet advertising. Marketing is different from advertising because it is a process. Marketing is considered a campaign that is designed to create awareness of products, services and brands. Marketing believes in building relationships with customers and strengthening their overall customer satisfaction.
August8, 2008
Marketing to your peer group
Peer groups are a great way to brainstorm ideas and come to know how exactly to market to your clients. If you are marketing to your peers, you know this can be a difficult and challenging process. The purpose of the peer group is for you to gain feedback from them to help gain support for your ideas.
How do you market to your peers?
First, you have to act and look like a leader. Prepare a great presentation that you have rehearsed several times in the mirror to the point that you know it almost word for word. Come to the meeting early so you can set up your laptop if you are doing a PowerPoint presentation. Dress for success! Make sure you are not overdressed or underdressed. If this is a company retreat and everyone is in jeans, go ahead with that, but try a button up shirt instead of a hoodie!
August7, 2008
How to know if you are marketing to the wrong group.
One of the greatest things you can learn with marketing is your target audience. Have you ever put together a great marketing strategy and it failed? Many mistakes marketers make is that they market to the wrong group. How do you know if you are marketing to the wrong group?
No result from marketing campaign
If spent a lot of time and energy learning who you think your target audience and then send out a great campaign and no result comes. You need to evaluate what happened. Did you send out your direct mail pieces at the wrong time? Is the economy in a recession? Did you try targeting a new group? A lot of factors can be a result of nothing returning from your campaign, you just need to find out what effected your campaign.
August6, 2008
Marketing to businesses versus people
What is the difference between marketing to businesses versus people? Some people believe it is the same strategy because businesses are run by people. Technically, that is true, but marketing to a business is very different from marketing to people.
A person buying a product for themselves versus for their company is a different strategy. Companies don't buy Ipods, they buy computers. Both marketing strategies follow the same opening path; identify the customer and why they would want to hear from you.
Marketing to the baby boomers
The baby boomer generation (people born in the years 1946 - 1964) is the largest demographic in America. This group also has trillions of dollars of spending power. It would only make sense, then, that most companies are trying to tap into this demographic. By marketing to the baby boomers in the right way, companies can make a huge profit while also building customer loyalty.
As the baby boomers begin to age and approach retirement, their demand for certain goods and services will change, according to their needs. Marketing techniques for this age group will have to adapt. In other words, marketing tactics that worked when the baby boomers were in their 30's may not work for them when they're in their 50's and 60's.Here a few things to keep in mind when marketing to the baby boomers:
August5, 2008
Marketing to a teenage girl, what to consider
It seems like it should be pretty easy to market to teenage girls. Their likes, dislikes, trends, and interests are already marketed like crazy, so one would think it'd be easy to just slip in and find a niche in the teen market. Not so. Instead, marketing to a teenage girl needs to be done in certain ways and it's important to know what to consider.
Teenagers, both boys and girls, are very aware that they are being marketed to constantly. They just need to turn on the television, open a magazine, or even go to school. Schools themselves are open to companies marketing to kids at school - how many soda machines are in the cafeterias and common rooms in a typical junior high and high school? Just that one example can give an idea of how bombarded teens are by companies' marketing tactics.
Continue reading "Marketing to a teenage girl, what to consider"August4, 2008
Marketing to a middle aged man, what to consider
Knowing how to market to the middle-aged man is important to any business. The baby boomers (who are currently the middle-aged) make up the largest demographic out there and the better a company can market to them, the higher their profit and popularity will be. When marketing to a middle-aged man there are few important things to consider.
One of the things to keep in mind is the middle-aged man's life experience.They've seen a lot of progress in their lifetimes - from the growing popularity of television, the various social movements and changes, and the advent of the computer. Because of their life experience, they have a lot to offer, since they've seen such a broad spectrum of growth and invention.
Continue reading "Marketing to a middle aged man, what to consider"