Here are some marketing actions

Here are some marketing actions your company can take right now to grow your business. They cost very little, only your time.

1a. Define who you want to sell to the most. Target your products at a fictitious person.

1b. Calculate how much these customers are worth for the lifetime of them being a customer. You should be allocating about 10% of total lifetime revenue to business growth activities.

2. Ask happy customers for testimonials for use in your marketing materials.Testimonials are the most important part of your marketing arsenal. If your clients tell you what you mean to them, then you are half way to winning more business. If you win over a client’s heart, then their the rest of them will follow.

3. Create marketing templates that anyone in the company can utilize to promote your business. If you have wholesalers, ensure they have your latest marketing collateral. Make sure they are readily available on the web. The more people you can empower as a sales ambassador for your company the better. If you have wholesalers, make sure they can empower their sales force.

4.Use your clients in your marketing. Co-operative marketing is a win-win when you place a reference to your clients on your website. Ask them to do the same using your pre prepared elevator pitch.

5.Finders’ Fee. Allocate a portion of revenue to referral fees. Say thank you to clients that bring you business. For those who have no need for finder’s fees or cash payments, take them somewhere special. Take them sky-diving, wine tasting, rally driving. Promote these referral opportunities on the back of business cards. Also make sure you ask for referrals, if you don’t ask, you wont get.

7. Develop connections with companies who sell products to the same markets. Conduct joint marketing exercises and offer referral fees. Promote each other’s products to show a broader range, a stronger message and increase their reach.

6.Create Brand Ambassadors. Get your customers to review your products and be honest and real. It will allow you to connect with your products as well as your customers. Not all publicity is bad publicity and just having people talk about your products can be enough.

8.Give people a voice. Allow community groups to use your expertise for free. Just being able to help or offering help can sometimes open an organization to new opportunities.

9.You should have a guarantee and make purchasing risk free. Make it easy for people to purchase products from you. Allow people to return in 30 days. The less risk someone has in buying your product the more likely they are to buy.

12 Free Ways to Grow Your Business - Marketing Agency Sydney

12 quick steps to marketing your business in a low cost way. Growth does not have to cost money. How a marketing agency in Sydney may be able to help you with little money.

Here are some marketing actions your company can take right now to grow your business. They cost very little, only your time.

1a. Define who you want to sell to the most. Target your products at a fictitious person.

1b. Calculate how much these customers are worth for the lifetime of them being a customer. You should be allocating about 10% of total lifetime revenue to business growth activities.

2. Ask happy customers for testimonials for use in your marketing materials.Testimonials are the most important part of your marketing arsenal. If your clients tell you what you mean to them, then you are half way to winning more business. If you win over a client’s heart, then their the rest of them will follow.

3. Create marketing templates that anyone in the company can utilize to promote your business. If you have wholesalers, ensure they have your latest marketing collateral. Make sure they are readily available on the web. The more people you can empower as a sales ambassador for your company the better. If you have wholesalers, make sure they can empower their sales force.

4.Use your clients in your marketing. Co-operative marketing is a win-win when you place a reference to your clients on your website. Ask them to do the same using your pre prepared elevator pitch.

5.Finders’ Fee. Allocate a portion of revenue to referral fees. Say thank you to clients that bring you business. For those who have no need for finder’s fees or cash payments, take them somewhere special. Take them sky-diving, wine tasting, rally driving. Promote these referral opportunities on the back of business cards. Also make sure you ask for referrals, if you don’t ask, you wont get.

7. Develop connections with companies who sell products to the same markets. Conduct joint marketing exercises and offer referral fees. Promote each other’s products to show a broader range, a stronger message and increase their reach.

6.Create Brand Ambassadors. Get your customers to review your products and be honest and real. It will allow you to connect with your products as well as your customers. Not all publicity is bad publicity and just having people talk about your products can be enough.

8.Give people a voice. Allow community groups to use your expertise for free. Just being able to help or offering help can sometimes open an organization to new opportunities.

9.You should have a guarantee and make purchasing risk free. Make it easy for people to purchase products from you. Allow people to return in 30 days. The less risk someone has in buying your product the more likely they are to buy.

10. Make purchasing easy. Sales should occur over the phone, over the web and in person. Your website should allow people to purchase easily. It does not have to be eCommerce, but customers can tell you what products they want. All your websites should have a strong call to action.

11. Meet organizations outside of your comfort zone. The wider your spread your brand, the more people will talk about you.

12. Contact a Marketing Agency Sydney they will be able to help you with more information.

Personnel Differentiation is an Important Factor in Product Positioning

An understanding the concept of differentiation:

As per the marketing management gurus in today market of competition if an organization want to sustain should adopt the strategy of differentiation. The slogan in today's competition differentiate or die.

Importance of differentiation in Service Industry:

The product can be positioned inside the mind of the customers with relation to the products of the competitors on basis of many differentiating factors. The buyers feel emotional satisfaction of buying a product even at extra cost, if it is properly differentiated from the product of competitors .

As a result of proper differentiation the buyers feels a security and social status of buying certain products. As long as the product is unique in term of image, quality, features, design, packaging or services, the buyers get sufficient reasons to defend the quarries of friends or relative for purchasing a particular product or service.

And in the case of service sectors as the quality of the service delivery depends upon the five factors as follows reliability, responsiveness, credibility, assurance and empathy, here the customer has to be dependent on the service personnel behavior, character, knowledge, skill, virtues, family background etc to rely on the company services.

As services are intangible in nature and in many cases it is difficult to measure the service effects, service receiver avail the services of a service firm on the basis of the reputation and reliability of service personnel. As day by day the services are getting standardized and it can found in the case of the telecom, banking, hotel, airline, education industries still there is enough scope to have betterment in services through customization, personal and emotional touch through the service personnel.

The services such as health care, repairing maintenance, legal or financial, where the service receiver used to have hardly any idea regarding the need and the solution, the service receiver deals with the service firm on faith, trust and reliability.

The quality and cost of service is entirely dependent on the service personnel skill, knowledge, experience and more than that his honesty, compassion, integrity.

As the extent and intensity of the problems in human body, machine or vehicle cannot be ascertained accurately in those case the service person dealings, past reccords of service and success, behavior, integrity of service personnel plays important role to attract the customers to service points.

Followings are the important points for the product and service differentiation:

- Product quality ( feature, design, technology, packaging, size, assortment, etc)

- Services (Financial, logistics, after sales service, financial scheme, guarantees, warranties, maintenance and repairing, etc)

- Image differentiation ( Advertising, sponsorship of event, brand endorser, atmosphere of outlets, etc)

- Personnel differentiation

- Channel differentiation( through internet, own factory outlets, retail outlets, dealer distributor network, network marketing, etc)

Factors of Personnel differentiation

Following points are important factors of the personnel differentiation

- Knowledge, qualification, experience and skill of service personnel

- Character, commitment, integrity, behavior, and willingness of the service personnel

- How far they upgrading themselves their skill according to changing technology

- Their social network

- How far they are consistent,

- Virtues like patience, tolerance and humbleness

- Self less not greedy, thrifty or hypocrite , how far consistent in their behavior

- How they are behaving behind the screen

- With attractive physical appearance, beauty of mind and feeling important role

- In close or small city social network, family background also plays important role.

- Dress code and discipline of the service personnel.

Approach towards personnel differentiation:

As service sectors revolve around the service personnel in spite of technological development and automation still the quality of service dependent on the skill, knowledge and character of the service personnel.

That is the reason the service personnel like faculty members , doctors, advocate, accountant, mechanic need constant attention, training, empowerment and motivation to deliver the best they played important role in building service reputation besides them even the sales man at outlet, receptionist, query handler, insurance advisor, financial consultant should also be nurtured to create a differentiation in the industry. Similarly artist and sportsman plays important role in differentiating one firm from other in the sector of entertainment and sports.

Organization needs to spend good amount in recruitment of right candidate and in their training and skill up gradation to develop them on basis of intelligence quotient, emotional quotient and moral quotient to best service. .

Looking into different service role the importance can be given on physical appearance, knowledge, intelligence, self restraint, honesty, courage, patience and empathy.

7 Questions for Integrating Social Media in Marketing Strategy for Non-Profits

Many people are using social media tools without clearly understanding why it is important and how it contributes to the overall marketing strategy of the organization. This article lists seven questions you need to ask when developing your social media strategy. You can use social media to convey your authentic voice and build authentic relationships, if the social media strategy is integrated with your marketing strategy.

7 Questions for Integrating Social Media in Marketing Strategy for Non-Profits

Social media can be defined as all Internet and web based technologies that allow mass scale communications among people. As oppose to broadcasts that went from one to many, this reflects a many to many format where there can be a dialog among many people. Social media (SM) is definitely not a fad and is here to stay. Especially, if you are a non-profit or a small business with a purpose, SM can be used very effectively to mobilize your cause, volunteers, and even funds to support your work.

You can continue to create ripples by engaging people in online communities. But many people are using it because everyone else is using it. Even though social media can be a powerful tool, it can also be a waste of resources and ineffective if not integrated into the over all marketing strategy. Here is a list of questions that you should ask yourself when you are developing your social media strategy.

1) What is the organization’s purpose?

Every marketing plan needs to start with the company's main purpose or the corporate mission. If you do not have a clear purpose or corporate mission, there is a lot written on the subject, including suggestions in my article - translating inner purpose into a mission statement.

2) What is the purpose of Social Media?

The next question to ask is how SM can further the organization’s goals? What are the specific goals and objectives of the SM plan in order to support the overall company plan? Goals refer to the broader purpose of SM, which is typically ongoing and cannot be measured. Objectives are the measurable and specific outcomes you would like to achieve within the specified period.

You can define several goals that are consistent with the corporate mission. For example, MotherWoman, a non profit with the mission of empowering mothers to bring positive personal and social change, can use SM to create a social network to support mothers by sharing experiences, resources, and information to empower mothers and build a strong social presence using social media tools. Another goal can be to stay informed about changes in the environments in terms of new grants, new technologies, new research, etc.

The more specific objectives can be to connect with specific number of mothers during specified periods who can benefit from this program, to connect with new donors, increase website and Blog traffic, increase participation of workshop mothers in online sharing, etc.

3) How will Social Media reach its goals?

I recommend what I call the L.I.P. Approach - Listen, Inform, and Participate.

a. Listen: Social media is a powerful tool because it allows a dialog among many people. An essential aspect of dialog is listening. While traditional market research methods like focus groups, surveys, and interviews are still important ways to listen, a more active and continuous form of listening is possible using social media tools like Google Alerts, Facebook, and Twitter. You can now listen to what your customers are saying, people who believe in your cause are saying, learn from other organizations, and learn about changes in your environment. Make a list of people and organizations as well as topics of interest that you should be following and then figure out the channels you will use to follow.

b. Inform: The second powerful use of social media is with respect to informing the relevant stakeholders – like your benefactors, donors, and other organizations – about your services, ideas, and beliefs. Instead of paying millions of dollars to celebrities who have no interest in your product, to be in a ad that is very often blocked out by people, you can now speak from a place of passion and authenticity to people who care. Tools like Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and YouTube are becoming very popular to get your message across to people in fun, creative, and yet meaningful ways. Make a list of things you need to get across to the relevant audiences, such as events, new service announcements, any media coverage, new ideas, and volunteering opportunities. And then identify the right channels to communicate the same. This will involve decisions like should you use Facebook Pages or Facebook Groups. Should you be on LinkedIn or MySpace or both?

c. Participate: The third aspect of a good SM plan is to create effective ways to participate. An important aspect of dialog is to reciprocate. If you find an interesting Blog, make comments. If you find an interesting Tweet, make sure to Re-tweet giving credit to the original tweeter. These are ways of recognizing and appreciating the contribution of people in your social network.

4) To whom is it targeted?

The choice of social media channels will depend upon where you think your target audience will be. Where do you think your customers go to connect or learn about the kind of product or service that you provide? Your choice of social media channels will depend upon where you can find potential donors, benefactors/customers, collaborators, and information to help you move towards your goals.

5) Who is responsible for implementing your Social Media strategy?

SM is time consuming but it can be integrated into your marketing strategy in a way that it feels more organic and natural to the people involved. While they may be one person overseeing SM, there are ways to integrate other employees, guest bloggers, customers, community members, and other people passionate about the product, cause, or service that your organization is promoting. Just ensure that you have clear rules around who and in what way each person will be involved.

6. Measuring impact periodically

The good news about many of the social media tools is that you can track some aspects of the impact you are making very easily. For example, in quantitative terms Twitter gives you statistics related to your Tweets on certain applications; Facebook pages gives you statistics; and the sheer number of followers and fans helps to some degree in telling about the response to your efforts. Some applications like stats counter can be added to Blogs to assess visitors. It is good to pay attention to the qualitative data related to your organization in terms of what people are saying about you. Over longer periods of time you can correlate the increase in SM statistics with increase in sales and traffic to better understand which channel is most productive for your goals. Very often, it is a combination of SM tools that will promote your goals and it may be hard to separate the effects of each.

7. What is the opportunity cost?

SM does take time and perhaps money away from what you could be doing with those resources instead. Make sure that your benefits in the long run exceed your costs before adopting a social media strategy. The key is to think long term. SMS Marketing Strategy the Best Communication Tactic

Make SMS marketing the mouthpiece of your business and help yourself in communicating with a greater number of people at a much less time and at a very low price.

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