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Free Radio Publicity for Marketing-Minded Financial Planners
Radio is a powerful publicity tool. Most stations offer news and talk programming. Those shows are put together not necessarily by the voice you hear on air, but by people called producers. Getting to know producers, and giving them reasons to...
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News Search Is Influencing Internet Marketing
The search landscape is changing so fast that half of what we knew a year ago about search engine optimization and marketing is now obsolete, reports Greg Jarboe in his SEO-PR Newsblog. Jarboe is a regular presenter at the Search Engine Strategies...
Offline Network Marketing Recruiting; Vital For An Online Business.
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Secrets of Building Marketing Momentum
Some people seem to steadily increase their income while others just make enough to pay the bills. What's the difference between the people who make millions and the people who struggle all their lives to get ahead? If you want to attract more...
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*** It's The Marketing That Counts. ***
Message Understood
I recently saw an interesting quotation relating to marketing, - “time and again studies have proved that no other activity adds more to the bottom line than marketing”.
This makes marketing a pretty important topic. Yet I find or that many people in business talk glibly about marketing without a full understanding of what is involved and without a proactive approach.
There are various definitions of marketing.
I happen to think it is "having a complete understanding of what your customers want, knowing what trends and changes are taking place in your market and responding to these changes better and quicker than your competition so that you can deliver what the customer wants profitably".
Note; do not be tempted to substitute needs for wants.
The first bit, understanding the customers' wants is where many businesses fail. The situation is usually one of someone having an idea, trying to find a market and supplying a product or service which they think is what the customer is seeking and if it is not quite right trying to reach a compromise in an effort to make a sale.
If this is the case, and of course it not always as bad as that, then what chance is there of understanding trends, developing a response and delivering? No matter what size your business you must be in constant contact with your market to fully understand current and future wants.
By implication this means that top level involvement is crucial. How many businesses do you know where the top person is really heavily involved in marketing?
It would be interesting to know across the various sectors how different businesses gather, assimilate and act upon their market intelligence and where the true responsibility lies. I suggest in the food industry they are satisfying ‘wants’ rather than ‘needs’.
In my corporate life I tried to be in touch with various markets for a number of businesses and I confess it is difficult. What does it come down to?
Communication - Listening - Action.
Many years ago I went into one business as CEO. The business was losing £1m annually. Casually wandering around (listening and communicatiing) I asked a member of the sales team, “how do we find our customers?” Reply “we don’t, everyone knows (name of company)”.
That business was dying. After much deep root and branch change, which is another story, it did not die but I am sure you get my point.
Whether you are CEO of a multinational or a one person business, without a marketing strategy, your products and
services will not reach any one.
Central to that strategy is communication - using it to attract customers and converting their interest into sales. There are many tools for us to use ranging from direct mail and PR activities to web sites and even text messaging. The aim at all times must be to keep those customers happy and coming back for more.
How we market our business is evident in the way we produce our letters, e-mails and brochures. We must consistently convey the right image. Of course we must listen to what our customers and prospects say and respond accordingly. Marketing should be on going, no matter how well we are doing.
Successful marketing need not be costly but it does mean that we must understand our market(s) and have an effective means to attract customers to our products, services and business. Be vigilant and take action!
Tip: Don’t suppose, endeavour to know.
********************************************************************* Resource Box: Article by Michael Harrison, Author, Publisher and Business Consultant. Learn from an expert: Go to: http://www.be-your-own-business-expert.com/ Subscribe for your Free weekly newsletter. Information for career and business minded people. Subscribe today http://www.be-your-own-business-expert.com/Bulletin.html Access our archives when you subscribe. ********************************************************************* **Attn: Ezine Editors / Site Owners / Webmasters / everyone** Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your site as long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content and include our resource box as listed above. You can use other articles similarly from http://www.be-your-own-business-expert.com/Articles.html OR subscribe to our FREE newsletter issued weekly. Each issue is packed with motivational, business and personal development material. Subscribe now at http://www.be-your-own-business-expert.com/Bulletin.html When you subscribe you will access our archives – no matter what your interest/specialisation there will be information there to help you. Subscribe today to receive the very next issue of ‘byobe Bulletin’ – Do you get it?
About the Author
Michael Harrison is an author, publisher and business consultant specialising in helping business owners and individuals to realise and release the full potential of their situation. He has helped many people to improve their business situations and advised and supported individuals to embark on new directions in their careers.
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KnowThis: For Marketing, Market Research, Internet Marketing ... |
KnowThis.com offers a wealth of information, forums, and resources for professionals, academics and students in traditional and internet marketing, ... |
www.knowthis.com |
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Marketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Marketers depend on marketing research, both formal and informal, ... The next big thing is a concept in marketing that refers to a product or idea that ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Marketing - Marketing Strategy - Marketing Plan - Marketing ... |
Learn about marketing careers, the stages of developing a marketing plan, how to begin marketing research, create a marketing strategy, and how to market ... |
marketing.about.com |
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Marketing.org - Home of the Business Marketing Association |
Serves the professional, educational and career development needs of business-to-business marketers. |
www.marketing.org |
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Welcome - American Marketing Association - www.marketingpower.com |
Dedicated to serving the educational and professional needs of marketing executives. |
www.marketingpower.com |
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Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR News - Brand Republic |
Find the latest Advertising, Marketing, Media and PR news from Brand Republic, the online resource for up to the minute advertising and marketing news and ... |
www.brandrepublic.com |
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Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic |
Marketing Magazine - Marketing News - Brand Republic. |
www.brandrepublic.com |
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Marketing (Canada) |
Offers a Canadian source of news and articles on marketing, advertising and media. |
www.marketingmag.ca |
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BidVertiser - Pay Per Click Advertising On Sites Of Your Choice. |
Pay per click advertising - online advertising directly on sites of your choice, internet marketing solution for online advertisers. |
www.bidvertiser.com |
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Online Behavioral Contextual Advertising and Marketing. |
Promote your business with today's most effective online advertising technology, contextual advertising at a cost effective metric of CPC, PPC, CPM or CPV. |
www.clicksor.com |
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Sales Jobs / Marketing Jobs / Advertising Jobs - MarketingJobs.com |
Employment site for marketing and sales professionals. |
www.marketingjobs.com |
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The Chartered Institute of Marketing |
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the world's largest international marketing professional body and helps with career support and information ... |
www.cim.co.uk |
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Marketing: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
See all blog posts tagged with marketing on Technorati. |
www.technorati.com |
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Marketing Profs - Marketing Concepts and Strategies: Expert ... |
Marketing knowhow from professionals. Newsletter, articles and how-to's. |
www.marketingprofs.com |
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Guerrilla Marketing Online - The Official Site |
Guerrilla Marketing Online is anonline magazine for small business, entrepreneurs, sales people and marketers of all kinds. |
www.gmarketing.com |
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Business Marketing - Small Business Marketing |
Business marketing - Read everything your need to know about small business marketing. |
www.entrepreneur.com |
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All About Marketing |
Adapted from Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation ... Inbound Marketing Includes Market Research to Find Out: ... |
www.managementhelp.org |
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Pages tagged with "marketing" on del.icio.us |
USA Network Announces a NASHVILLE STAR Marketing Partnership With ... - Yahoo! ... Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing ... |
del.icio.us |
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ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers |
Includes columns with commentary and analysis on a wide variety of internet marketing subjects ranging from B2B marketing to search engine marketing. |
www.clickz.com |
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Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing |
Trade association for users and suppliers in the direct, database and interactive marketing fields, offering seminars and resources, and lobbying for ... |
www.the-dma.org |
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