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Atricle Dump - Wasting Your Marketing - Three Easy Ways
The 3 mistakes businesses make that affect long term successNo matter how great your logo or strategy, if you don’t deliver on your brand’s promise your business will flounder or die. Neither is what you want.A brand promise is what you say you’re going to deliver and the expectations you create in the customers’ minds. Fred Smith built FedEx with great commercials that featured an extremely memorable tagline that is “absolutely positively” stuck in our minds. They were clear about what they were going to deliver and they made good on the promise. They have become the yardstick we measu
B. Long-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish over the next year, two years, five years? Staff increases, new areas of operation, improved company image? If you don't know what you are reaching for, you will never get it.
C. Estimated Budget -- A budget helps you decide what you c
When I ask my accountant, he tells me that Profit equals Revenue minus Costs. He then spoils this simple equation with two caveats: Revenue is the cash flowing into your bank - this is sales without the bad debts, returns or shrinkage. Costs include your materials, labour and energy bills as well as everything else needed for long-term trading such as your contingencies, investments, replacements, training, and insurances. So how do you determine your price?If you were my client and I was helping you to ca
1. No plan.
I sound like a broken record on this topic and, in the interest of full disclosure, I confess I haven't always had a plan. But, if there is a good way to assure some of our marketing and advertising efforts will be wasted (along with our budget), this is it. Without any plan, we're easily dispersed and tend to market and advertise haphazardly. We become easy targets for anyone selling space in a directory, or worse, get the idea that hiring a plane to drag an incomprehensible message over the city will make the difference.
Everyone needs a marketing plan: small companies, big companies, and every type of business in between. It doesn't have to be a large, complicated plan. It doesn't have to be very formal. However, there are some key things it should include:
A. Short-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish right now? Increased sales, better customer relations?
B. Long-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish over the next year, two years, five years? Staff increases, new areas of operation, improved company image? If you don't know what you are reaching for, you will never get it.
C. Estimated Budget -- A budget helps you decide what you ca
Too busy to go myself, I promised a business associate a free ticket to Europe, which was great news, making me nothing less than a hero, a real sport, and just one heck of a guy.Then, U.S. Airways informed me that my frequent flyer miles had expired, and I couldn’t use them, or give them away.My associate never quite recovered from the blow, nor did I, nor has U.S. Airways, which has free-fallen into bankruptcy.Since hearing that piece of bad news, I vowed to never again step onto a U.S. Airways flight, and I fly a lot, earning top-tier status in three other carriers’ loyalty pr
1. No plan.
I sound like a broken record on this topic and, in the interest of full disclosure, I confess I haven't always had a plan. But, if there is a good way to assure some of our marketing and advertising efforts will be wasted (along with our budget), this is it. Without any plan, we're easily dispersed and tend to market and advertise haphazardly. We become easy targets for anyone selling space in a directory, or worse, get the idea that hiring a plane to drag an incomprehensible message over the city will make the difference.
Everyone needs a marketing plan: small companies, big companies, and every type of business in between. It doesn't have to be a large, complicated plan. It doesn't have to be very formal. However, there are some key things it should include:
A. Short-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish right now? Increased sales, better customer relations?
B. Long-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish over the next year, two years, five years? Staff increases, new areas of operation, improved company image? If you don't know what you are reaching for, you will never get it.
C. Estimated Budget -- A budget helps you decide what you c
In today’s world there are too many marketing messages for prospects and customers to remember. It is essential that marketers create a memorable message. One way of accomplishing this is by creating personal interaction with your prospects. These interactions can be through a web site, personal selling, sponsoring key events, trade show attendance, and seminars.Web sites. Your web site should not only provide information on the products and services that you are offering, but allow prospects to request information by e-mailing you with questions or concerns that they may have. Your reply to t
Everyone needs a marketing plan: small companies, big companies, and every type of business in between. It doesn't have to be a large, complicated plan. It doesn't have to be very formal. However, there are some key things it should include:
A. Short-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish right now? Increased sales, better customer relations?
B. Long-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish over the next year, two years, five years? Staff increases, new areas of operation, improved company image? If you don't know what you are reaching for, you will never get it.
C. Estimated Budget -- A budget helps you decide what you c
Problems Present An Opportunity To Learn What Works(And What Does Not)"The illiterate of the 21st century, will not be those who can read or write. They will be those who cannot learn, un-learn and re-learn" - Alain TofleOur ability to improve on any area of endeavour we embark upon is greatly dependent on how well we learn from previous experiences, towards modifying our knowledge, in preparation for future attempts at solving similar - or different - problems.Basically, in order to solve a problem in any part of life - personal or business - it is important to fir
Everyone needs a marketing plan: small companies, big companies, and every type of business in between. It doesn't have to be a large, complicated plan. It doesn't have to be very formal. However, there are some key things it should include:
A. Short-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish right now? Increased sales, better customer relations?
B. Long-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish over the next year, two years, five years? Staff increases, new areas of operation, improved company image? If you don't know what you are reaching for, you will never get it.
C. Estimated Budget -- A budget helps you decide what you c
Selecting the right payroll solution is an important decision for all business owners. The wrong payroll solution can be expensive not only in terms of money, but in productivity, which translates back to morale, which translates back to money. When selecting payroll solutions, carefully consider your resources. Here are brief descriptions of each type, and the resources you need to implement them:Payroll Software - Payroll within Accounting SoftwareWhen using payroll software, or when running payroll within your accounting software, your company runs payroll "in-house." Your co
B. Long-term Goals -- What do you want to accomplish over the next year, two years, five years? Staff increases, new areas of operation, improved company image? If you don't know what you are reaching for, you will never get it.
C. Estimated Budget -- A budget helps you decide what you can do that will bring the best return for the money and effort spent.
D. A Review -- Include in your plan anything that worked well last year. It's not always necessary to reinvent the wheel. If something works, keep doing it!
E. New ideas -- New ideas or improvements on old ideas. Save time and money by knowing when and where you will advertise and how you will promote.
2. Not Knowing Who Your Audience Is and What They Think
Your audience is your public, your prospects, your clients and potential clients. For most businesses, that doesn't include everyone in the general public. If you are a swimming pool cleaner, you will get the most from your advertising budget by promoting to pool owners. You can get an even better response if you know what concerns pool owners have about the cleanliness of their pools.
The best way to learn more about your prospects, who they are and what they think, is by survey. But if you can't do a survey, you can learn more just by talking to current customers, looking back through past sales, evaluating trends, and studying what works for your competition. Promote directly to the concerns of prospects rather than just telling them what you offer.
3. Not Being Consistent
A. Message -- What is your message? Based on your pl
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