Posts Tagged :

marketing

How To Start Marketing Your Business 640 523 ImplicitPay CO

How To Start Marketing Your Business

To new business owners, starting a business is often its own reward. They are thrilled to be able to be their own bosses, and to successfully get a business up and running. Often they are happy just to keep the dream alive. But every business needs to grow. That doesn’t mean you have to reach out to a larger market – it means working toward increasing your share of the one you are targeting. This will keep your business healthy enough to survive obstacles such as tough economic times.

In order to keep moving forward, we need to market our businesses constantly. We need to dedicate a certain percentage of our resources to building our brand and reaching our target market. Here are some simple things you can do to help your business grow.

1. Have a clear picture of your target market. Identify the demographics, interests, and pain points of the individuals or businesses who will benefit most from your products or services. This will ensure that your marketing efforts are reaching the right audience.

2. Research, research, research. Understand the needs and preferences of your target market and the strategies used by your competitors. Use this information to develop a unique value proposition and positioning for your business.

3. Choose your marketing channels wisely. Based on your research, select the most effective marketing channels to reach your target market. This could include social media, email, content marketing, or paid advertising.

4. Give your advertising a chance. Recognize that it takes time for advertising to be effective and build brand awareness. Don’t give up on a marketing campaign after one or two attempts.

5. Take advantage of free publicity. Utilize PR and media outreach to gain exposure and credibility for your business.

6. Keep track of the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Continuously measure the ROI of your marketing campaigns and make adjustments as needed. Use data-driven insights to inform your strategy and improve results.

Remember, the key to successful marketing is to stay in tune with your target market and adapt your strategy accordingly. By constantly evaluating and adjusting your approach, you can effectively build your brand and increase your share of the market.

The Core Components of a Marketing System 640 432 ImplicitPay CO

The Core Components of a Marketing System

Marketing is a critical component of any business, as it helps to attract and retain customers, increase brand awareness, and drive revenue growth. A marketing system is a comprehensive approach to planning, implementing, and measuring the effectiveness of marketing efforts. The core components of a marketing system include research, strategy, tactics, and measurement.

Research is the foundation of any successful marketing system. It involves understanding the target market, competition, and industry trends. Research helps businesses identify customer needs, preferences, and pain points, which can then be used to develop effective marketing strategies and tactics.

Strategy is the plan that outlines how a business will reach its marketing goals. It includes a clear understanding of the target market, the value proposition, and the messaging that will be used to reach the target market. A well-defined marketing strategy helps businesses allocate resources effectively and make informed decisions.

Tactics are the specific actions that are taken to implement the marketing strategy. Tactics can include things like social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and paid advertising. The choice of tactics will depend on the target market, the budget, and the desired outcome.

Measurement is the final component of a marketing system. It involves tracking the effectiveness of marketing efforts and using data to make informed decisions. This includes monitoring metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, and revenue growth. By measuring the success of marketing tactics, businesses can identify what is working and what is not, and make adjustments as needed.

To achieve success, a marketing system should be integrated, flexible, and responsive to changes in the market. The core components of a marketing system work together to ensure that businesses are reaching the right audience with the right message, using the most effective tactics, and measuring the results. By implementing a comprehensive marketing system, businesses can increase brand awareness, attract and retain customers, and drive revenue growth.

Marketing Planning – Don’t Do SWOT 640 426 ImplicitPay CO

Marketing Planning – Don’t Do SWOT

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) is a popular framework for developing a marketing strategy. A Google search for “SWOT” and “planning” turned up almost 93,000 hits (August 2004), most all of which laud the use of SWOT. Some students have said that it is the most important thing they learned at the Wharton School.

Although SWOT is promoted as a useful technique in numerous marketing texts, it is not universally praised: One expert said that he preferred to think of SWOT as a “Significant Waste of Time.”

The problem with SWOT is more serious than the fact that it wastes time. Because it mixes idea generation with evaluation, it is likely to reduce the range of strategies that are considered. In addition, people who use SWOT might conclude that they have done an adequate job of planning and ignore such sensible things as defining the firm’s objectives or calculating ROI for alternate strategies. I have observed this when business school students use SWOT on cases.

What does the evidence say? Perhaps the most notable indication is that I have been unable to find any evidence to support the use of SWOT.

Two studies have examined SWOT. Menon et al. (1999) asked 212 managers from Fortune 1000 companies about recent marketing strategies implemented in their firms. The findings showed that SWOT harmed performance. When Hill and Westbrook (1997) examined the use of SWOT by 20 companies in the UK in 1993-94, they concluded that the process was so flawed that it was time for a “product recall.”

One advocate of SWOT asked: if not SWOT, then what? Borrowing from corporate strategic planning literature, a better option for planners is to follow a formal written process to:

  1. Set objectives
  2. Generate alternative strategies
  3. Evaluate alternative strategies
  4. Monitor results
  5. Gain commitment among the stakeholders during each step of this process.

I describe this 5-step procedure in Armstrong (1982). Evidence on the value of this planning process, obtained from 28 validation studies (summarized in Armstrong 1990), showed that it led to better corporate performance:

  • 20 studies found higher performance with formal planning
  • 5 found no difference
  • 3 found formal planning to be detrimental

This support was obtained even though the formal planning in the studies typically used only some of the steps. Furthermore, the steps were often poorly implemented and the conditions were not always ideal for formal planning.

Given the evidence, SWOT is not justified under any circumstances. Instead, use the comprehensive 5-step planning procedure.

References

Armstrong, J. S. (1982) “The Value of Formal Planning for Strategic Decisions,” Strategic Management Journal, 3, 197-211.

Armstrong, J. S. (1990), “Review of Corporate Strategic Planning,” Journal of Marketing, 54, 114-119.

Hill, T. & R. Westbrook (1997), “SWOT Analysis: It’s Time for a Product Recall,” Long Range Planning, 30, No. 1, 46-52.

Menon, A. et al. (1999), “Antecedents and Consequences of Marketing Strategy Making,” Journal of Marketing, 63, 18-40.

Source by Scott Armstrong

Why Digital Marketing Is Important 640 426 ImplicitPay CO

Why Digital Marketing Is Important

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There are some new methods that are faster, more practical and versatile than the old traditional ones. Following are some of the most common forms of digital marketing

Website (SEO content)

Blogs

Online Advertising

Online video content

PPC (pay-per-click) advertising

Email marketing

Social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, G+, etc)

Mobile marketing (SMS, MMS, etc)

The importance of digital marketing works not only in favor of marketers, it provides something innovative to the consumers too. Let us understand the importance of digital marketing.

1. Cost Effective

It is more cost-effective than other traditional marketing. This is particularly important for small businesses as they don’t have many resources or capital. New media can provide you with a less expensive and more viable promoting channel.

2. Utilize Content to Connect with Customers

Utilizing digital content either sponsored or free enables you to interface with customers more adequately than direct mail or PR campaigns. The quality of your online presence now directly connected to the achievement of your business.

3. Take into account the Mobile Customer

Innovation has evolved so much that mobile devices are no longer thought to be simple other options to PCs or laptops. 91% of grown-ups always have their mobile devices & regularly use them to browse the internet. The largest group of customers is utilizing their mobile devices daily, so it’s important that to use a marketing solution or advertisements that target these devices properly.

4. Acknowledge Higher ROI and Revenue

By increasing digital outreach, you can build your revenue. The more information that you can extract from your outreach campaigns, the better your expectations and along the ROI will be.

5. To Track Customer’s Journey

Utilizing analytics services like Google Analytics, you will be able to monitor all your client’s activities, preferences and get a better insight into their behavior. Analytics enable you to build the persona of your client with the goal that you can offer them the ideal experience.

6. Expanded Conversions

If you have an online business and you are advertising products and services online, you can easily measure your success by incoming traffic that gets changed over into subscribers, leads or sales and this way you can ascertain and enhance your conversion rates.

7. Empower Social Media Engagement

In the event that you need your organization to grow, you can gain new customers utilizing different social media channels. Make sure always to focus on your customers based on their interests, ages, and country. This way, you will be able to better interact with them and empower engagement through digital media.

8. Build People’s Trust

Digital marketing develops from social verification, social media signals and genuine testimonials from customers who have beforehand used, joined, acquired or profited from a service or product advertised by your business. Most customers would trust a service or a product when individuals they know give positive feedback or information about a specific brand. So great suggestion by a person with a strong following on Facebook or Twitter could represent the deciding moment your business.

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Source by Nupur Montek

Nail Your Marketing Message in Your LinkedIn Profile 640 426 ImplicitPay CO

Nail Your Marketing Message in Your LinkedIn Profile

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Your marketing message communicates to the world what your business is about. And your LinkedIn profile is the perfect place to both develop and spotlight your most focused marketing message.

LinkedIn is one of the most important online tools for marketing your professional services. However, only a very small percentage of users post effective summaries of their business on their LinkedIn profile.

Your LinkedIn profile needs to telegraph the essential message and value of your business. This article shows you exactly how to do that.

Your Business Headline

The very first item someone reads on your profile is your business headline. And almost all of them are bad.

They are typically titles (Patent Attorney, Management Consultant, Personal Chef) or labels of what people do (tax preparation specialist, training in communication skills). None of these are effective messages because they don’t communicate how the professional can help their clients.

Instead, you want something like John Nemo’s:

“I Show B2B Sales Professionals, Business Coaches and Consultants How To Generate Leads + Add Clients using LinkedIn”

_____

John’s profile headline tells whom he works with and the specific outcomes he helps them achieve. Any reader will immediately know if they’re interested in knowing more. His headline taps into “WIFM” – What’s in it for me.

I use John Nemo as an example because I learned how to create a great LinkedIn profile from him. His business (and book), LinkedIn Riches, specializes in, well, exactly what that headline says.

He’s one of the top experts on how to use LinkedIn to attract new business. Ignore him at your peril.

He emphasizes that you don’t want to have people guess what your benefit is to them, but to telegraph it in clear, simple, results-oriented language.

Then he goes on to outline what should be in the Summary Section of your LinkedIn Profile.

First of all, the Summary has limitations. You can’t use bold or colored or large size type. But you can use all caps for the headings for each paragraph that makes your summary sections pop out, increasing readability.

For instance, the first section should be titled WHAT I DO (or WHAT WE DO) and simply expands on your headline.

This is what John’s looks like:

WHAT I DO: Since 2012, I’ve helped B2B Sales Professionals, Business Coaches, Consultants and other professionals all over the world leverage LinkedIn and Webinars to generate leads, add clients and increase revenue.

_____

Pretty clear and simple right? Who I help and how I help ’em.

Then he writes about how he does it:

HOW I DO IT: I provide “do it yourself” online courses, 1-on-1 private and group coaching and written materials that help Business Coaches & Consultants discover how to generate more business for themselves using LinkedIn and Webinars.

_____

Note that this section mentions the services he offers and then comes back to the outcomes he helps his clients achieve. The value is as clear as day.

Next is about where you’ve seen John. This is all about credibility or “social proof”:

WHERE YOU’VE SEEN ME: I regularly blog for and have been featured by national publications, podcasts and organizations including:

• Business Insider

• Entrepreneur On Fire

• Inc. Magazine

• LinkedIn

• Social Media Examiner

• The Business Journals

• The Huffington Post

_____

These are all the places where John has published articles. If you don’t have places you’ve been published yet, don’t worry, you can leave out this section or add it at a later time.

This is the fourth of five articles about the 5 Pillars of Marketing, my marketing model that helps get your marketing on track. 5 Pillars article here.

Next, write about the people and companies you work with:

WHO I WORK WITH: I’ve personally rewritten and optimized the LinkedIn profiles of A-List Entrepreneurs, Bestselling Authors, Business Coaches and Consultants including:

• Chris Brogan

• Bob Burg

• John Lee Dumas

• Mari Smith

• Tom Ziglar

• Dan Miller

• Jairek Robbins

• Ray Edwards

_____

Now, if you’re a self-employed professional with any online savvy, you’ve probably heard of some of these people. For your summary, mention the kinds of people or organizations you’ve worked with and also a list of some of your clients.

Next, insert a couple of quotes from your happy clients:

WHAT OTHERS SAY:

• “When it comes to LinkedIn, there are pretty much three people I listen to, but only one has ever dropped new business right into my lap the way John Nemo did. You know me. I don’t recommend people lightly. John Nemo is worth your time. Jump on this!” – Chris Brogan | New York Times Bestselling Author, Consultant & Speaker

• “John Nemo took my LinkedIn profile page and ignited it in a way I hadn’t seen done before. After witnessing John’s expertise up close and personal, it’s easy to see why he’s been crushing it on LinkedIn the past few years. Simply put, when it comes to LinkedIn, John Nemo is the real deal. Can’t wait to share more of his LinkedIn knowledge bombs with the rest of Fire Nation soon!” – John Lee Dumas | Host, Award-Winning “Entrepreneur on Fire” Podcast

_____

With a little work, almost any self-employed professional should be able to come up with a few good testimonial quotes like these. And you only need two!

Finally, a little on your background:

MY BACKGROUND: Author of 7 books, former Associated Press Reporter, Award-Winning PR Director and Social Media Consultant, Talk Radio Producer.

_____

John has helped many self-employed professionals craft a powerful business summary on LinkedIn. He really gets what a clear marketing message is all about.

Notice that there’s virtually nothing about the process of what he does; his writeup all about results. It’s concise and focused and it’s a fast read which is so important online.

Now you know what your LinkedIn Profile Summary should look like. Time to sit down and emulate John Nemo’s approach for your own LinkedIn Profile.

Cheers, Robert

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Source by Robert Middleton

The Power of Content Marketing 640 426 ImplicitPay CO

The Power of Content Marketing

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WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING?

Content marketing is described as a strategic approach to marketing that focuses on the creation and distribution of valuable, consistent and relevant content to attract a certain refined audience for profits in the consumer market.

Most leading brands hire people with courses in content marketing to improve the branding of the product or service being marketed in the public domain and also benefits enterprises by increasing sales, cost saving and getting more and better consumers with higher loyalty.

THE NECESSITY OF CONTENT MARKETING

Marketing has revolutionized today due to the digitization of almost everything around us. Mass media is targeted to reach the specific audience for which the product or service has been catered for. Quality content is extremely essential for successful marketing along with a well-defined plan or strategy.

Different forms of content marketing like social media marketing, search engines publishing quality and consistent content, successful PR strategies, inbound marketing etc. are dependent on a proper content strategy that helps deliver the perfect content for a curated or mass audience.

Today, everything is digital. Marketing for almost anything, be it political, retail products or services, food or academic books etc., Everything is effectively and almost freely marketed via social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Most of these social media websites and search engines pop up relevant ads according to the searches we make across the Internet.

STATEGY FOR CONTENT MARKETING

Content marketing must be smart so as to capture the attention of the target audience for the service or product. Targeting the youth on social media, the elderly via television and radio advertisements are some of the strategies for smart content marketing.

The content must be designed in such a way so as to target the right audience in their mindset. Map the content for the product or service and then try to use the right type of content for the problem by mapping the buying cycle of people who have the specified problem and would be willing to venture into the product or invest in the service.

VARITIES OF CONTENT

Different types of content are available suitable for different marketing strategies like vlogs, videos, advertisements, billboards, surveys, email newsletters, posts on social media pages like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc., Polls, podcasts, quizzes, outreach programs, photographs, predictions, news etc.

Each option has its own benefits and can be used according to the demand of the situation. The single main goal of marketing is to increase business revenue and there are numerous ways to achieve that.

Content marketing requires creative brainstorming from professionals who can analyze the minds and thinking of the consumer to decide which approach is best to capture their attention. Interactive and creative content will definitely help make a product or service successful.

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Source by Shalini M

Small And Midsized Company Marketing And Marketing Communications – A Lesson From Large Agencies 640 426 ImplicitPay CO

Small And Midsized Company Marketing And Marketing Communications – A Lesson From Large Agencies

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Over the past few years, rapidly developing technologies have changed the way marketers think about marketing and marketing communications strategies, plans and tactics. However, somewhat quietly but perhaps more importantly, a significant change has occurred with the world’s largest communications agencies – the dramatic growth of consulting companies at the expense of traditional advertising agencies.

Management and accounting consulting companies with new services are now ranking sixth through tenth among the world’s biggest communications companies. The specialized divisions of Accenture Interactive, PwC Digital Services, Deloitte Digital, Cognizant Interactive and IBMix had total global revenue of over $20 billion in 2017, with an eye-popping 32 percent growth in US revenue versus a year ago.

While traditional advertising industry giants WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Interpublic and Dentsu are ranked as the top five, with global revenue of nearly $62 billion, US revenue barely increased at 0.3 percent (Advertising Age).

Why is this change happening and what can small and midsized marketers learn from it?

Consulting Companies Focus On ROI

There are many reasons for the growth of consulting companies – in B2B, B2C and nonprofit marketing and marketing communications areas – but the top reasons are:

  1. Consulting companies already have deep ties, experience and credibility helping organizations improve their profitability, because of a sharp focus on ROI;
  2. Their existing familiarity with digital technologies, along with the financial resources to acquire specialized digital companies for expansion;
  3. Maintaining a data-based strategy with clients and prospects – not creative alone – which means they are focused on understanding customer wants and needs, as well as customer experiences at all pre- and post- customer purchase points;
  4. A focus on marketing and marketing communications effectiveness and not just efficiency, resulting in a very big difference to a brand’s profitability.

In short, a history and vision of focusing on and improving a brand’s profitability and its ROI. Keeping an eye on the bottom line – cost per customer, not just media cpm efficiency.

ROI Focused Marketing And Marketing Communications Consultants

As a small of midsized marketer, what can be learned from this dramatic shift of larger marketers? With only a small (sometimes inexperienced) staff, limited financial resources and time constraints, what should be considered?

Start with established marketing and marketing communications consultants who are clearly focused on a brand’s profitability and ROI, and not just “likes” or “clicks”. They should have significant experience across industries and brands, both for profit and nonprofit, and have a broad understanding of customer, prospect (and employee) motivations to purchase and repurchase, regardless of the business environment.

But, above all, they must be media neutral and not selling “one size fits all” solutions. As Tom Bradley, former head of marketing at Nestle said, “The best source of marketing communications leverage is the quality of the message… not the media vehicle, new or traditional, that does or does not deliver.” And that also means you must be sure that your consultants have the ability to cultivate and manage the creative process.

Selecting A Consultant

Unsure of how to select a consultant, much less what type of professional to look for? If your business is floundering and in serious need of overall repair, along with financing, you probably would be better served by either a management or accounting consultant.

If, however, your primary need is to establish or improve a weak marketing or marketing communications program for the short and long term your selection should be apparent. You should be looking for rigorous and objective counsel on the entire scope of traditional marketing and marketing communications opportunities available to you (traditional vs. new media; conventional vs. digital; etc.).

Beyond the qualities of the consultants previously mentioned, be sure to look for:

  1. Someone who is disciplined, apolitical, down to earth, and willing to be part of your team; consultants who will promote candor across all levels, who will listen and explain what needs to be done to everyone’s satisfaction; teaching, not lecturing, is very important’;
  2. Professionals with the ability to develop successful strategies, plans and executions with your team or, if necessary, who can provide outside specialists to improve part or all of the program;
  3. People who have strong convictions to use research and measure not only what has been done but also what is proposed to be done; measurement is key to evaluating success or the need to modify a plan;
  4. A flexible organization that can bring in marketing and marketing communications specialists when and as needed so that overhead isn’t an on-going expense.

Most small and midsized companies find themselves with not enough time, skill or financial resources to develop and execute a profitable marketing and marketing communications program. These challenges are growing exponentially, and consultants can be of great value in navigating this complex environment and adding value to your brand.

Hopefully, these ideas will give you food for thought, but as Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

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Source by Gary Kullberg

Develop A Marketing And Marketing Communications Strategy And Plan For Small Or Midsized Companies 640 427 ImplicitPay CO

Develop A Marketing And Marketing Communications Strategy And Plan For Small Or Midsized Companies

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Planning for the year ahead is never an easy task. Lack of resources (people, time, budget), keeping up to date on what’s going on in your market, obtaining quality leads and improving brand awareness and reputation have become increasingly difficult for all organizations – for profit companies as well as nonprofits. This has become especially true among US CEO’s who are concerned with not just domestic but also international uncertainties.

Developing A Marketing And Marketing Communications Strategy Is Critical

This should be your priority. Without a strategy for a plan there are way too many opportunities to get off track and chew up your investment. Your ROI will suffer. Consider the following to focus your efforts when developing your strategy and plan:

1. Determining, understanding and verifying your target customers and prospects should be at the top of your agenda. To improve profitability and ROI you must know what your audience wants and needs, how they perceive your brand and how it stands up to competition.

Be sure to avoid industry and company “myths” and internal “opinions”. Employ primary and secondary research to understand your audience. With so much information available about companies and brands, it is truly the Age Of The Consumer and will be for a very long time.

2. Additionally, as part of your knowledge of your audience, determine the size and scope of various sub-segments that exist today and will tomorrow. For example, does your audience include women, or Asians, or Hispanics? If so, look at the dramatic growth of these segments of the populations and determine if your brand needs to pay particular attention to them.

Also, recognize that millennials (23% of the US population) are not a homogenous group. At the younger end (20 – 28 years), 40 percent t are currently living rent free with family, while at the older end (29 – 35 years), 43 percent have already purchased a home. With that in mind, how should your strategy differ if you’re targeting adults 55 years and older (21% of US population)?

3. Once you clearly understand your audience, develop your unique brand position. To do this, create a brand positioning statement. The statement is a succinct description of the core target audience to whom the brand is directed and a compelling picture of how you want your audience to view the brand. Sound simple? Take a few minutes and try to answer the four components of your positioning:

· The target audience, in very specific detail

· The category in which you complete and its relevance to customers

· The brand’s benefit and point of difference

· A reason for the customer to believe – the most compelling proof

All marketing and marketing communications should flow from this positioning, and it should be fully understood and embraced by all employees, sales reps, partners and management.

4. Improving brand awareness is very important but only the first step. You also need to create great customer experiences with each touch point of your brand. And that means creating brand advocacy at all levels of contact. Develop brand champions at every level of purchase and repurchase to improve ROI.

Be sure these influencers completely understand, believe and can articulate your brand premise. And provide them with the training and tools to convey their trust-worthiness in a believable manner.

Developing A Focused Marketing And Marketing Communications Plan And Budget

After the hard work of developing a meaningful strategy, recognize it’s equally important to develop a specific plan and budget. The following should be taken into consideration:

1. You must be media neutral and open minded in developing your plan and budget. It is extremely important to understand the difference between “efficiency” and “effectiveness”, and not get caught up with the latest trendy new tactic.

Regardless of the specific marketing tactic, or type of digital or traditional media, you’re evaluating, keep in mind that cost efficiency does not necessarily lead to effective results. Also, and most importantly, the best source of marketing communications leverage is the quality of the message, not the marketing tactic.

2. The scope and diversity of marketing and marketing communications tactics have grown faster than the ability to measure some of them. Marketers now are actually spending money without knowing how it impacts their profitability and ROI! Consider the variety of ways in which nearly $450 billion is expected to be spent in the US in 2018:

· Sales promotion ($83 billion), telemarketing ($60 billion), direct mail (($46 billion) and events ($40 billion) highlight projected 2018 US Marketing Services expenditures;

· The internet ($78 billion), television ($68 billion) and the combination of radio, newspapers and magazines ($47 billion) are projected to be at the top of the 2018 US Major Media spending categories.

Source: Zenith Total US Spending

And while it may surprise you, 90 percent of consumers (and 94 percent of millennials) still use coupons. The coupons come from a variety of on-line and traditional mediums, but mail is most popular. Why do marketers still use coupons? The simple answer is because they’re effective in guiding purchase. In developing your own plan and budget, determine and recognize the effectiveness of all marketing tactics, not just their efficiency.

ROI Focused Marketing And Marketing Communications Consultants

If you’re like most small and midsized companies, you and your team may not have the expertise or time to develop an ROI focused marketing and marketing communications strategy, plan or budget.

Even major global brands are seeking outside advisors. In my May article, I discussed the dramatic growth of management and accounting consulting practices (33% increase in US revenue) at the expense of traditional global advertising agencies (0.3% increase in US revenue). One reason for this 2017 growth of consultants is their focus – not on trends or what’s in the news – but on marketing and marketing communications effectiveness, profitably and ROI.

While you may not be able to afford the large global consultants, you should consider hiring a marketing and/or marketing communications consultant. The type of people you should hire should:

· Have a focus on ROI, with significant experience across industries, b2b and b2c brands, both large and small, as well as for profit and nonprofit organizations

· Be media neutral, apolitical, down to earth, be willing to be part of a team and “tell it like it is” so candor will flourish

· Have flexibility to bring in other professional specialists when and as needed so that overhead isn’t an ongoing expense

· Have strong convictions to measure what has been done and measure what will be done to improve ROI, perhaps including a marketing communications audit

In today’s challenging environment, a greater focus on strategy, planning and budgeting can go a long way toward leapfrogging competition and improving brand profitability. And the fresh eyes of a consultant can go a long way to building a meaningful future for your brand.

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Source by Gary Kullberg

Personalizing Your Network Marketing Business 640 273 ImplicitPay CO

Personalizing Your Network Marketing Business

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If you want to make your business more successful than it is now, you may want to look into personalization techniques. You will find such techniques from places like McDonald’s, Burger King, IHOP and Starbucks. Learning personality to add your business is not a bad thing because most people nowadays will not pay attention to generic brands. This doesn’t mean you have to be edgy and bold but it can mean you could be gentle and passionate through the words and placement of your content. Read on to learn more about personalization techniques and tactics for your business.

Building your network marketing business, the easy way

when you are building your network marketing business you can do it the easy way or the hard way. The hard way is figuring out who you are and why you do what you do. This can take decades or longer if you choose to focus on the cash flow instead of focusing on attraction and Authority. If you ever went to the store and bought chips or cookies or even a health food item, there’s always a catchy slogan somewhere on there. The best examples are Nikes old motto “just do it.” This is only icing on the cake though. You have to dig down and show your personality through your specific actions and words in everything you produce.

This could be called branding for your network marketing business. It is preferred to think of it as personalization. This includes color choices, graphic choices, targeting and many other factors. If you choose to leave a signature or motto that also will help brand or personify your business. You may have seen a lot of cartoons and videos online from certain businesses to help reinforce this personal branding by sharing a particular cartoon character. This will also help as well because it sticks in the in the viewers mind. And viewers will remember and relate to this character later on as they surf your website.

The do’s and don’ts of personalization for network marketing

Brought up quickly and efficiently, there are only a couple of do’s and don’ts for network marketing personalization. Don’t make it forced, be natural and allow your personality to show through. Be creative in all areas of it and work with it until you’re happy with the results from your marketing effort. Keep your text font readable and large enough for all types of audiences. Do a test run with your project before going completely with it. Run it with a small test group and get feedback and make changes from it. Don’t overly spend on advertising cost for it you will lose more than you will gain. Be original and don’t steal ideas and have fun with it.

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Source by David L. Feinstein

Maslow’s Marketing Filter 640 458 ImplicitPay CO

Maslow’s Marketing Filter

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One of the basics of all marketing and advertising training is a teaching of “Maslow’s needs pyramid”. This pyramid shows the different motivators and needs in a person’s life and how they are built one upon the other. Supposedly this is presented to help the marketing student understand consumer motivation and thinking. The problem is I’ve never seen it applied, in the text books. It’s presented as the foundation of human motivation and then it’s dropped.

I’d like to present to you a way to use Maslow’s needs pyramid so that you can get inside the consumer’s mind and develop an understanding of what’s truly motivating them as they consider purchasing your product or service.

Maslow’s needs pyramid present human needs such that each need is pursued and met before the next level of needs can be considered; they build upon one another. The needs from most basic to most complex are:

– physiological needs: food, shelter, sex

– safety needs: clothing, weapons, defense of self

– social needs: social acceptance

– esteem needs: acceptance of self by self

– fulfillment needs: a feeling of having and fulfilling a purpose

So the question is, “How do we use this paradigm to get inside the consumer’s head?”

Let’s consider a personal fitness training service. Here’s how it works at the most basic level. Place yourself in the position of the consumer and think as if you are considering hiring a personal fitness trainer.

1. How will personal fitness training impact my acquisition and use of food? Of shelter? Of sexual behavior? (Now you see why sex is used in marketing so many products – we react to it instinctually)

2. How will personal fitness training impact my personal safety?

– you’ll be in better shape and can run faster from a mugger, perhaps.

3. How will personal fitness training positively impact my standing in society? In my social circle? Access to different social circles?

4. How will personal fitness training positively impact how I think about myself?

5. Will personal fitness training have an impact on my personal sense of fulfillment?

I understand that most consumers, will ask themselves these types of questions without really thinking about them. The answers you develop as you purposely ask yourselves these types of questions will give you insight in the processes a consumer may consider or be susceptible to as they are considering purchasing personal fitness training services.

This process will also help you define ways to market that will get consumers to consider your personal fitness training service if they are not. Using Maslow’s needs pyramid helps you target your marketing. It is the foundation of:

Getting Attention

Developing Interest

Creating Desire

Facilitating Commitment

Motivating to Action

If you can use Maslow’s needs pyramid to get inside the head of the consumer by running it through a filter of questions like the one’s I’ve presented above you’ll have a tangible marketing advantage because you now can respond to your consumer’s internal dialogue.

Using this type of filtering process can also help you create need in those that have not yet developed an interest in your product or service. Simply put yourself in the consumer’s place and present you’re marketing to them in such a way as to answer or resolve each need in the hierarchy.

Maslow’s needs pyramid is a powerful tool that is taught to every marketing and advertising student in the world but it must be understood and applied if it’s to actually be useful. Try using Maslow’s marketing filter the next time you are considering a marketing campaign. It’ll help you get a better grip on what the consumer is thinking and feeling.

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Source by Darrin Coe

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