Nogen går i læ, når det blæser – andre sætter drager op.

De seneste 18 måneder har givet grå hår i hovedet på mange virksomhedsejere, ledere og medarbejdere.

Hvor længe varer det tilbageslag, som vi oplever lige nu ?

Hvornår er det rette tidspunkt at skære ned, tilpasse sin organisation og sine salg- og marketing initiativer til en generelt lavere økonomisk aktivitet ?

Eller er det nu, at der skal skabes forbedringer i salg og marketingledelsen, så brandet vitaliseres f.x via tilpasning af produktportefolien, udvikling af salgskanalerne og synlighed i markedet ?

De overvejelser, som spørgsmålene giver, er værd at bruge lidt tid på.

For selvom mange markeder er svundet betragteligt ind, fordi forbrugerne vælger at nedbringe gæld eller spare op i stedet for at forbruge, så er markederne der jo stadig.

Og kampen om markedsandele stopper jo ikke. Beslutter man sig for krybe ind læskuret, så overlader man i alle tilfælde kampen og dens præmisser til de andre. Det betyder, at man kommer til at leve med resultatet.

Måske vågner man op til en konkurrencesituation, som man ikke er klar til.

Der er gjort mange betragtninger i senere måneder, om hvorledes marketingparametrene kan tilpasses i en så dramatisk situation, som vi ser nu. Det mest berømte eksempel er et stort amerikansk ølfirma, der for en række år siden stoppede al markedsføringaktivitet i én stat for at se resultatet. Meget overraskende steg salget de første måneder, hvor man tærede på den brandvalue, man havde. Derefter faldt salget – og det blev det ved med. Konkurrenterne havde overtaget billedet i forbrugerens bevidsthed. Prøv selv at google efter resultater, som er relevant for netop dit marked.

I krisetider handler dialogen om markedsføring og salg alt for om den manglende risiko ved at skære ned. Logikken er som reglen, at det gør konkurrenterne også, og derfor holder man share of voice og dermed sin relation til sine kundesegmenter. Umiddelbart lyder det jo fornuftigt nok, hvis forudsætningen holder – at alle kryber ind i læskuret.

Nogle vil også mene, at det vi oplever lige nu er, at vinden har lagt sig helt – Så man kan slet ikke sætte drager op !

Uanset hvilket sortsyn man vælger, så er der en anden option. At gøre det bedre – at give sine parametre og processer et sundhedstjek. Er prisen sat rigtigt, er produktet rigtigt specificeret, arbejder vi ud gennem de rigtige og mest effektive kanaler, har vi et kommunikativt flow, der både fastholder vores relation til vores nuværende kunder og bygger nye relationer op, står vores brand med de styrker, som vi ønsker osv.

Hos Strategy2tactics møder vi flere typer virksomheder, og nogle føler sig forståeligt nok fanget. Tilbageslag i markederne har kostet omsætning, og det har forringet resultaterne, og spørgsmålet er ofte: Hvordan kommer vi videre – under hensyn til at ressourcerne er begrænsede.

Vores svar er som reglen: Fokuser på at få dragen op – brug den vind, der er. Glæd dig over at der er trængsel i læskuret.

Og den gode nyhed er, at er man åben for at se på sit marketingmix med nye øjne, så åbner der sig som reglen også muligheder for at skabe bedre resultater uden øgede omkostninger. Og de forbedringer giver vedvarende konkurrencefordele.

Vi oplever også at det kræver en voldsom ledelsesindsats, medarbejdere og ledere skal motiveres til at gøre op med gamle vaner, der skal sættes nye mål, skabes en ny fælles virkelighed, arbejdsmetoder skal tilpasses, organisation og processer skal måske også have en tur. Men det er der jo tid til hvis kunderne ikke står i kø. Så der et velvalgt tidspunkt.

Netop i det spændfelt arbejder Strategy2Tactics. Hvordan man kommer fra ide til handling.

Så vi tager gerne en dialog med dig og din organisation – hvis du altså skal ud og sætte drager op.

-        Bloggen her er ment som et oplæg til dialog og diskussion – så giv dine synspunkter tilkende.

[Via http://soerenmichaelpihl.wordpress.com]

Social Media is here to stay, but....

So I’ve really been trying to wrap my head around this whole social media craze. I understand and agree that it’s the wave of the future, but I still struggling with finding my fit in the big picture.

On a personal level, it’s been great catching up with long, lost friends from 100 years ago. That’s working for me. Exchanging casual small-talk with friends is fun and great to know what everyone’s doing, even though their Facebook posts seem much more exciting than anything I could think to share. You see, my kids are grown and gone…no soccer scores to share, no academic successes to report, just mundane day to day stuff. Well, my daughter is getting married and we’re planning a big “to-do”, but I’m not compelled to share all those details with the general public. My close friends know what’s going on because we’re plugged into each others lives on a more personal level. They’re not reading about it on Facebook, I’m sharing the news with them, well, in person or over the phone.

Now, on a more professional level, I’ve spent much time analyzing the efficacy of promoting a non-profit business through social media and have found it has much more substance, at least for my needs. There are so many ways to connect with followers and fans on so many levels that it’s created the need for a whole new marketing strategy. The traditional pay, print and distribute method will continue for some time, however digital advertising will eventually shut the presses down and shift the focus to electronic delivery. Until this new delivery system is firmly in place, we need to embrace social media as the most current electronic method of delivery and take full advantage of it’s strength. For now, it is the most viral means of connecting to our constituents that exists and we’d be remiss in turning our back on it’s effectiveness.

As you begin evaluating your social marketing plan and how best to implement, remember, everything in moderation. If everything you put in front of your constituents is promotional in nature, it can potentially become a turn-off and counterproductive. Do you have a marketing plan in place for social media? How are you balancing the business end with a personal touch? Share your thoughts.

[Via http://jagras.wordpress.com]

Balancing Platform and the Novel

At a recent conference I attended, almost all the agents and editors on staff agreed that platform should consume 50% of the time you dedicate to your novel before it’s published.  Some recommended getting started as early as three years before you have a book.

I don’t know about you guys, but backing up to three years before having a publishable novel puts me somewhere around “What’s show don’t tell?” and “What do you mean there are 47 different kinds of third person?”  Not to mention, 50% of my writing time brings me down to a handful of hours a week.

Realistically, most aspiring novelists are still learning to write novels.  And then they have to write them.  All while holding down a full-time job (stay-at-home moms and students, I count you).

Even coming from a marketing background, I had to put the whole thing off for four years for my novel’s sake.  Any my sanity’s.  My marketing plans are just beginning to roll out now in the areas of blogging, social networking (on and offline), online and print advertising, and library seminars.  Below are some tricks I use to squeeze these platform elements in while still finalizing my novel.

Structure, structure, structure. I only get 15 waking hours per week to myself.  So structure is crucial.  I have set times for blogging, online networking, writing and attending events.

Goodbye Perez Hilton. Somewhere along the way, I developed an addiction to surfing the Internet.  Good news!  Blogging accommodates this.  I’ve replaced Perez, my private Facebook page and a million other bookmarked news sites with writer blogs, forums and Facebook pages relevant to my goals.  Commenting on such sites is the best short-term way to drive traffic to my own blog and conveniently scratches my Perez itch.

Google Reader. Subscribing to my favorite writing blogs with Google Reader shaves time off this crucial element of online networking.  If you aren’t familiar with news readers, go to http://www.google.com/reader and watch the tutorial.  It’s easy.

Evergreen posts. I try to schedule my blog posts about a week in advance so I can come down with the flu if need to, or even better, can finish a scene if I’m hot with an idea.  Which brings me to…

Strike while the iron is hot. If an idea for a blog post or a scene comes to me, I WRITE IT DOWN.  If it’s technically novel-writing time and I have a blog post burning a hole in my brain, I write the post.  This eventually evens itself out.

One social event per quarter. This is a random and personal quantity, but I have a quota of one writer event per quarter.  It keeps me out there in the writing world without overwhelming me.  Critique group doesn’t count, by the way.  The social events always have to be with new people.

Check traffic only once per day. HAHAHAHA.  I tried.

Write when it’s time to write. I used to procrastinate during my writing times (with Perez as my accomplice).  Now if I need a little transition time, I’ll comment on some blogs or forums.  But then I shut the internet down and write.  No time for messing around now.

Choosing how and when to build platform is personal. It may be a huge priority for you or you may buck the whole thing.  I’m pulling for you either way.  But if you are juggling with platform and have some time-management tips for the rest of us, we’d all appreciate your insights in the comments.

[Via http://disobedientwriter.wordpress.com]

Dealing with Failure: How you can learn from Toyota

We’ve all been there.  We make mistakes that might only lead to inconvenience or a little wasted time, or maybe its impact leads to thousands upon thousands of dollars.  How to deal with failure can change the outcome in the long run, and influence your long term success.

Let’s take a moment to examine the recent situation involving Toyota and their malfunctioning automobiles.  Historically, Toyota has been know for, and built a brand on safety and reliability.  It’s been the primary factor in their success in luring away customers from the American brands like Chevrolet and Ford.  But then, the accelerator started sticking in some cars.  There were reports of drivers crashing, flying out of control and not being able to slow down or stop.  People panicked, and Toyota did too.  They blamed the customer; top level management went strangely underground and weak promises of resolutions lacking substance were made by mid-managers.  The entire situation destroyed any semblance of dedication to fixing the issue at any cost.

This should be an educational experience for both businesses and individuals.  How you respond to failure or crisis changes our potential for long term success.  If you’ve failed in some way, or are experiencing a crisis in your career, keep these points in mind.

Own it.

You’ve failed, it’s over now and the dust is starting to settle and everyone is looking at you.  This is probably the most important action you can take.  Stand up straight away and admit your momentary lapse in judgment.  Tell people that you did indeed make the mistake and have a repentant attitude.  Remember, part of what people want is just to know it wasn’t intentional and that you are truly sorry.  They want to blame, but you take away the blame game, and own the mistake.  In a company, this needs to be done as quickly as possible by the leader, the CEO of the company.  Mr. Toyoda learned this lesson rather painfully this year.

Provide direction.

Now you have instilled some trust and shown character in your ownership and willingness to be accountable.  Now provide some direction in how you’ll work towards resolution.  Lay out your plan, and try as best you can to get the right people lined up with you to fix the problem, and make the outcome even better than originally expected.  Show people you’re not done, you’ve learned a lesson and it’s time to drive it to completion and build back the trust.  This might be trust from your boss or coworkers, or like our example, your customers who swore by your product for 10 years only to now consider buying a different car because of something they watched on the news.

Strap in.

That’s right, it’s going to be a grind.  It’s time to examine everything to make sure that you understand where your decision making process broke down.  Take the time to really dig into your thought process and information gathering processes.  You have to help everyone understand the entire scenario that led to this failure or crisis, and how to avoid it moving forward.  It’s time to think about how to avoid this in the future.

Don’t waste it!

You’ve heard the old saying, never waste a good crisis.  This is so true.  You have a newfound willingness to examine yourself and your broken habits and make positive changes.  Now you have removed the blinders that were there from ego or refusal to make an introspective examination of yourself, and can really improve.  Acknowledge this in yourself, and take advantage of it.  Make positive change now, and watch people notice (they’re watching you).

Attack!

You can come out of this stronger than when it started.  People will look at your differently because they’ll remember your strong character and willingness to be accountable not only for the bad decision, but the resolution.  They’ll hold on to your leadership as things improve.  If you are able to make things even better than they were supposed to be in the first place, that will carry even more weight.  It’s time to get on the offensive now, start making up ground and moving forward.  For Toyota, they need a structured plan of attack to reclaim market share, and lay claim to even more.  You better believe Ford and Chevy are on a full on attack of Toyota and their market share, and if you think that your screw up won’t bring your own competition out of the wood work looking to drive down your individual market share in the office, you’re dead wrong.

It’s interesting how you can learn from the crisis in a global corporation and apply some of those same principals to your own reaction to failure in your life.  Take care as these situations unfold, and carefully choose each next step.  They will definitely have a significant impact on your success for years to come after the mistake.  Let me know what you think about this.  Have you had a major crisis in your life that you handled poorly, and learned from?  Perhaps you handled one beautifully, and learned from that?  I’d love to hear about it here in the form of a comment, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/matt_schmitt/.  Let’s connect today!

Matthew Schmitt

[Via http://matthew-schmitt.com]

Why Use Twitter?

Why do people use Twitter?

And, more importantly…

How does Twitter help with marketing?

There are a lot of people who don’t understand the uses and advantages of using Twitter, and therefore, they argue with the fact that Twitter really does help in marketing products and spreading the word on brands. Nay-sayers think Twitter is a way to pretend you’re “friends” with celebrities, or to post every detail of your day. It’s not!

Twitter is social networking at its finest. You choose who you follow and who is allowed to follow you. You can re-tweet (RT)  important information, and create lists to narrow your results — among other things.

But why do people use Twitter? Does it make them feel like they’re important, like they have more friends, or is there something more to it?Twitter, in one of its most beneficial advantages, provides you with a live, up-to-date news feed, providing you with the news before many news outlets can. You can search for trends in tweets and reply to other users almost immediately after they post.

Twitter also gives you feedback from customers, consumers, and followers. Mentions of your username (e.g. @QuinlanCompany), are traced back to you so you can review what others are saying about you. This shows you how your brand or company is being received, and can help you change or improve on certain areas if need be.

Twitter helps you reach out to a wider audience, and lets you connect with them on a personal level. Twitter helps promote events and products, getting your word out to the world. It is also a way to share ideas casually all the while connecting to your audience and building relationships with them.

Twitter also helps with search engine rankings. Twitter gives you the ability to share direct links to your sites with millions of users, and the opportunity for those users to RT your link to others. Your search engine rankings will improve the more you use key words, post links, and mention your brand. Frequency is key! Post often and regularly with relevant information to your audience and you will see results.

Don’t have anything to Tweet about? You don’t need to! Let the news and topics come to you. Create a custom news feed. Check your lists. Ask questions. Twitter is custom-made just for you. Give it a chance, and you’ll understand the appeal.

[Via http://quinlancompany.wordpress.com]

Marketing Vs. Selling : Go to Market

“Marketing is what you do to make the sale possible — before your first contact with the prospect. Selling is what you do to make that contact and close the sale,” Parker writes.

Both of these are an important part of starting a business. But for many freelancers, marketing is an almost insurmountable task.

According to Parker, there are two primary reasons writers fail at marketing. First, she says they try too hard. That as writers, we expect to come up with the “perfect” marketing pitch – something unforgettable, something smashing.

The truth is, you have to be in it to win it. Or as the instructor of a marketing class Parker took said, If you’re there, you’ll get your share.

Chances are good you don’t suck. I mean, you may, I haven’t personally evaluated your work, but so long as you don’t completely suck, if you put yourself out there you will do some business. But you won’t do any business if potential clients don’t know you exist.

Second, Parker says that writers fail because when they get busy, they focus on the client work and fail to continue marketing themselves. When we’re swamped, like in up past our ears so that all that peaks over the piles of paperwork on our desks is our eyebrows, the last thing we want to think about is finding more work. But guess what? If we don’t, when we finish wading through that pile of papers, there won’t be another one waiting.

In order to make sure you don’t end up in a dead zone, with work behind you but none in front of you, it is essential that you develop a marketing plan and that you stick to it. This is not nearly as daunting of a task as it may seem.

The fist step is to do some market research. At the most basic level, marketing research is figuring out who your clients are and what they want.

If you know a few people who fall into your target demographic, invite them over for pizza and beer and tap their brains. If not, do what I’m doing.

Today, I began doing the preliminary work for my own market research. I put “Astoria” and “Chamber of Commerce” into Google and hit the search button. After realizing that there are a lot of places named “Astoria,” I refined my search and found the Queens Chamber of Commerce website. Listed there are a ton of local businesses.

I began by scrolling through them looking for likely prospects. I believe that my services will be more in demand among service vendors than among retailers; there may also be some demand from manufacturers. In addition to looking for potential clients / contacts, I checked out local small business events on the site’s event calendar and scanned the list for potential competition.

My next step will be to compile a list of contacts and contact information. I will write up a few questions (Do you hire a writer for your marketing materials? Would you? Why or why not? What would you pay for said services?) and then call, tell them I’m starting a small business and would like to ask them their opinion on a few things.

I’ll ask about what these people read, where they look for services, and what kind of small business events they attend.

Recording the answers for a dozen or so calls will give me a pretty good feel for the potential demand for a writer in the area. It may turn up potential competition. If I need more information, I make more calls, until I feel like I have a good idea how to reach the clients that I want to work for/with.

The next step will be deciding what steps to take based upon this information.

[Via http://jargonwriter.wordpress.com]

Heineken Champions League prank!

A truly geeeenius piece of buzz marketing done for Heineken by JWT Italia (well beyondM25).

They got 200+ football lovers partners/lecturers/bosses to convince their man to reluctantly go to a classic music concert on the same night that the AC Milan vs Real Madrid champions league match was live on Sky Sports, one of the biggest clashes you can find in football.

Once the concert started words start appearing on the screen behind the performers and it soon becomes clear that they have been pranked and then they start to show the match cementing the message that Heineken are ‘made to entertain’

In the days following the stunt was tweeted, blogged and covered in the news (TV and Print) all over the world – Brilliantly clever!

Thanks MyModernMET for sharing

[Via http://beyondm25.wordpress.com]

Unscented Deodorants May Still Have Fragrance; Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, The Dial Corporation, Revlon Cons Prod Corp called out

Many products are listed as “Unscented” but if you take a closer look they may still be scented with a “masking fragrance”.  This makes absolutely no sense to me….. why list it as unscented when they have put a scent in it? Are the companies too lazy to name the scent? Did the marketing departments run out of silly naming ideas like cool breeze, fresh rain, and powdery shower?

The “unscented (but not really)” label is very noticeable in the deodorant aisle…. read the ingredients on the back of all the anti-perspirants listed as “unscented”. You may be surprised to see how many brands do this.

It is labelled "unscented" but it is not Fragrance-Free. Check the back for the ingredients.

The ingredients list a "*masking fragrance".... why call this "unscented?"

Why am I complaining about this? Because I am sensitive to fragrances and I have purchased products expecting them to be fragrance free and they were not. I am wiser now and always check the ingredients on the back.

Proctor & Gamble’s Invisible Solid PH Balanced Secret isn’t the only brand that does this, there are many more. Here’s a list of a few I’ve found labelled as unscented but contains a fragrance….

• Unilever’s Dove Sensitive Skin Invisible Solid Unscented
• The Dial Corporation’s Dry Idea Clinical Complete Invisible Solid Unscented
• The Dial Corporation’s Dry Idea Clear Gel Unscented
• The Dial Corporation’s Dry Idea Clinical Complete Roll-on Unscented
• Proctor & Gamble’s Secret Crystal Clear Gel Flawless Clear Unscented
• Proctor & Gamble’s Secret Invisible Solid Flawless Renewel Unscented (these two are different from the other one pictured)
• Revlon Cons Prod Corp’s Mitchum Smart Solid Unscented

I do give Revlon Cons Prod Corp some credit, the Mitchum line does offer an unscented clear gel deodorant for men that does not include fragrance. Mitchum Clear Gel Unscented is the only men’s deodorant that I can find in major stores that is truly without scent. I would think men would want less perfume.  I find it strange that more options are not easily available.

Unilever tends to market themselves as healthy with the Dove campaign. I do love Dove’s Sensitive Skin bar soap. I’m sad that they allow one of their deodorant’s to be marketed in a misleading way.

I would love to know why companies market a product as unscented when it clearly isn’t…. perhaps there is compelling argument to be made. I welcome company responses to smell INC.

[Via http://smellinc.wordpress.com]

Museums: Don't be scared of the re-brand (Pt. 2)

(You can read Part 1 by clicking here.)

Sometimes Re-branding is Necessary

It is imperative that museums constantly reevaluate the messages they project about themselves to the public, what can be considered branding. Re-branding is a part of revamping or even creating an identity for the institution. Thor writes that re-branding:

“is not simply a marketing initiative. It’s a holistic process that must consider and represent every aspect of any organization. Branding is not just about how you want to be seen. It’s about showing the world what you are and what you believe in…your brand must capture your vision, mission and values, not just a subset” (para. 6).

DeLouise suggests, “Re-branding is always an act of imagination. The question to ask if you want to re-brand is “will this propel our mission?” (para. 5). Also called brand repositioning, this process can be difficult and time-intensive. Notwithstanding the financial burden, a museum may not have the resources necessary to change the public’s mind about who they are and what they offer. If an institution is going to re-brand, this not only means a overhaul of its current messaging, logo, graphic standards, and communications processes, but also requires the organization to strategically determine how they are going to persuade visitors and non-visitors to think about their museum in a different way, away from the frame of previous experiences and impressions.

VanAuken (Branding Strategy Insider) offers the following conditions under which an organization might re-brand:

• “Your brand has a bad, confusing or nonexistent image…
• Your organization is significantly altering its strategic direction…
• Your organization has acquired a very powerful proprietary advantage that must be worked into the brand positioning.
• You are broadening your brand to appeal to additional consumers or consumer need segments for whom the current brand positioning won’t work.”

VanAuken operates from a commercial standpoint, but his ideas resonate with museums, which also struggle to establish a reputation due to a bad image. The catalyst for change may be that the organization wishes to alter their focus from being an institution known for putting on blockbuster exhibitions to one that showcases more regional art and artists. Many non-profits want to reach out to a younger demographic like Generation Y, individuals born between 1977 and 1998. Appealing to a new segment of the population may require a museum to change its brand so that it is more easily communicated across electronic media platforms like a Facebook fan page, an e-newsletter, or a blog.

How does a museum ensure that its new brand will thrive? As with any investment, monetary or otherwise, the return-on-investment is not always guaranteed, but there are ways an organization can strategize for brand success. Brothers Chip and Dan Heath (of “Made to Stick” notoriety) use the term “stick” to describe ideas that are “understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact—they change your audience’s opinions or behavior” (p. 8). In the twenty-first century, institutions should rely on an integration of traditional and guerilla marketing techniques to communicate a new identity to the public. The process of re-branding may only last one to two years, but establishing an identity and creating meaningful relationships with visitors requires long-term strategizing and commitment to a consistent message and image.

Case Studies

The New Museum of Contemporary Art and NCMA are two examples of museums re-branding and are analogous in many ways. Through the re-branding, both organizations have sought to occupy a more unique position in the marketplace and to mean something more to their publics, to stand out and modernize their brand. The New Museum designed an inventive contemporary building to exhibit art, and crafted a new look and logo to exemplify their mission of “New Art, New Ideas.” NCMA is currently redesigning their building, and the architectural improvements have been supplemented with a complete re-design of the logo, signage, and graphic standards. Due to its establishment of a permanent location and a successful re-branding process, the New Museum increased attendance by 600%. According to the North Carolina Museum of Art, its goal is to communicate consistently while using the flexibility of their system in exciting new ways.

NCMA began its re-branding process by launching a building project, adding 127,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 449-seat open-air amphitheater, and a 163-acre sculpture park complete with walking trails. To augment its architectural improvements, the NCMA hired Pentagram, a design firm, to create a new logo, graphic standards, and signage, essentially “a new graphic identity that would reflect the boldness of the museum’s transformation.” Pentagram designers used a Bauhaus-inspired typography to devise a unique alphabet for the museum, and it is currently being used on brochures and even as the icon for NCMA’s Twitter profile.

The museum re-opens April of 2010, but already the logo has received mixed reviews from the community of Raleigh. On its website, local online newspaper New Raleigh praised the museum for hiring a preeminent design firm like Pentagram and going to great lengths to match their new graphic appearance to the incredible expansion project. However, feedback in the comments section of the article represented a wide range of opinions, from “horrible” and “not very readable” to questions about the cost of such a re-design to opinions that it is beautiful and challenging. While this represents only a smattering of opinions about the new logo, it conjures questions of whether or not the museum bothered to invite the public to have a stake in the re-branding process before embarking on what one can imagine was a pricey venture with Pentagram. The logo visually binds the museum’s various social media platforms together, but what message does this send to their public? Is it one of access or one of exclusivity? This will remain to be seen when the museum unveils its complete transformation in April.

The New Museum in New York City re-branded its image employed a similar technique of using architecture to alter its identity and perception to the public. Marianak writes, “The expressions of the New Museum identity are striking and distinctive in achieving a coherence between mission, building, and identity” (para. 9). The mission of the New Museum is “New Art, New Ideas” and the new building looks like giant boxes stacked haphazardly one top of one another. Designed by Tokyo-based SANAA associates, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, the buildings blatantly contemporary look and bright exterior stand in stark contrast to the rest of New York City. Nancy Schwartz (a.k.a. marketing guru) writes that motivating factor for the re-branding of the New Museum was due to the fact that “it had fallen from the public eye after an initial decade or so of attention” (para. 4). With its eclectic exhibitions and vibrant history, it could not claim a place to call its own and needed to achieve architectural stability before anything else. The planning fell into three steps: development, strategy, and execution, a collaborative effort between the museum’s administration, the architects, the designers, board members, and the like. As a result of early strategic planning and leadership, “the Museum was reward with extremely successfully processes and products on the brand development and roll-out fronts” (Schwartz, n.d., para. 35). The result was an astounding 600% increase in visitors, and 400% increase in new members (Schwartz, n.d., para. 32). Ongoing audience surveying and enthusiastic staff members are propelling this institution forward, fueled by the initial re-branding that was necessary to reposition the New Museum to its public.

Conclusion

When a round-table of some of the top museum directors in the United States convened in the early 2000’s, branding was described as disposable; something that is imposed on the museum but is not “of” the museum; a short-term strategy; a self-destructive strategy; and is incongruent with an institution’s plans to create long-term relationships with their publics (Cuno, 2004, p. 175). Such staid mindsets still exist, but are gradually giving way to innovative marketing plans that involve social media tools, virtual exhibition spaces, interactive websites, and creative approaches to re-creating the identity of a museum by changing what it means to brand a non-profit organization.

Museums should glean information from the for-profit sector on how to effectively brand their institutions, while also staying aware that their mission is different from the goals of a business. Increasing funds and membership is a fortunate by-product, but is not first and foremost an entrepreneurial means to an end. The purpose of a brand in the non-profit sector is to further the mission, not necessarily to sell a product or service. .

Click here for a PDF of the references cited in both parts of the re-branding article.

[Via http://mjwrites.wordpress.com]

Top 5 American Brands, Target switching with Home Depot ... but

Target leapfrogged Best Buy and Home Depot to 2nd place, according to the Interbrand Design Forum’s second annual list of the nation’s top retail brands. They streamlined their strategy to align with the customers needs and made it look good. They shifted their focus to brand value while captivating the audiences attention. Brass tax to the Target executive board, increase of 49% brand awareness.

1. Walmart
2. Target
3. Best Buy
4. Home Depot
5. Walgreens

Looks Target ads took a strategy page from Walmart and started to focus on flashy lifestyle advertising not dry corporate commercials like “lets build something”. Solution, Home Depot needs to continue to nail home the “customer service” based advertising. It is one definitive advantage they have over everyone in the top 5. Seriously, walked through a Home Depot lately, they are all customer service with a smile? Time for Home Depot to emphasis this strategy with their brand managers and do it quickly, the spring season is almost here. PS split your campaign 2 ways garden and paint. Single campaign emphasis on customer service and specialists who really know their stuff. You already have this knowledge but clear through the corporate red tape and use it, that’s what really matters, doesn’t it?

Signed,

Brand Guy Blog

[Via http://brandguyblog.wordpress.com]

Essential elements of an elevator pitch

I stumbled upon this long time ago, but couldn’t remember the exact “formula”. Found it again at Newt Barrett’s blog:

1. It must contain a benefit for the potential member of the audience, that is, his imaginary elevator companion.
2. It must contain the word you, meaning the audience.
3. It must contain some reference to emotion, because emotion is more engaging and memorable than intellectual information.

[Via http://mentalbursts.wordpress.com]

Education and Experience

This post will cover some of the importance’s of education, what classes to take and why in this post. These suggestions will allow you to set yourself apart from the thousands of others looking to get into the great game of baseball.

Yes, it is important to get a Bachelor’s Degree in order to break into baseball. Although, I have seen people establish themselves in the game without a degree. I happen to know a fairly successful person in the business that has no more than a year or so of college. They quit school after they broke into baseball and haven’t had to look back since. Sure you can get lucky like this individual and break into the game without finishing your degree, but in 99% of the cases you need to have at least a Bachelor’s Degree. If for nothing else, so as not to leave any glaring wholes in your resume. Now a Master’s Degree, well that’s another story. I’ll touch on additional schooling a little later on.

If you are someone that didn’t realize that you wanted to break into baseball until after you graduated from college without a Sports Management Degree, well don’t fear there are still opportunities for you. I know plenty of people working in the game of baseball with an English, History, Business or Psychology Degree. If you are one of those individuals I suggest you keep an eye out for some of my future posts that may apply to you. Right now, I’d like to focus on those individuals that are not yet in college or have not finished.

As you are working on your Sports Management Degree it is just as important to pick the rest of your classes wisely. It is that minor or second major in your degree that can help set yourself apart from the other 1,000+ resumes in the stack.

I suggest that you take several computer classes and I’m not talking about Typing or Microsoft Word classes. Take Photoshop, Illustrator and/or Website Design classes as they often are an area few candidates have experience in, but all ball clubs need. There is a constant need for flyer creation, website design, print piece design, videoboard logos and whatever else may pop up during a season. Most staffs in baseball are lucky to have one or two of these talented individuals so this can be an easy way in for many.

Financial classes (Accounting, Finance, etc.) may not necessarily help you at the start of your career but could come in handy much later on. As you begin to deal with budgets and running a multi-million dollar ball club it will be helpful for you to work magic with numbers.

If your school offers a sales class(es) take it!!! It is probably safe to say that 80-90% of all people in baseball are involved in sales at some level in their position and the percentage of entry level positions that are sales-intense is even higher. This tends to be the largest disconnect between the Sports Management Programs and the teams. Universities are failing to tell the students that if you want to get into the sports industry then likely nine out 10 graduates will be starting off in sales (most likely ticket sales for that matter). Of the hundreds of interviews I’ve done over the years only a handful of students had some type of sales class, sales experience or showed interest in learning more about sales. Each one of those students instantly jumped ahead of the hundreds of other candidates for the open position.

Anyone with hopes of being a manager of personnel, I strongly suggest Psychology classes as a must. There is no doubt in my mind that I use my Psychology Degree more than I do my Sports Management Degree on a day to day basis. Psychology comes in handy whether you are managing a challenging individual, handling personnel issues or learning to understand your customers better.

Communication classes are key as well in the game of baseball. Speech classes will not only help you in front of a Community Relations visit with the local Rotary Club, but it will help with your sales skills. English and writing classes can be important even for those individuals outside of the Media Relations Department as sales staff put together proposals or management proof read things before going out.

Another area to explore that will help set you apart from other candidates is adding a second language. A second language can be extremely handy in different markets across the country. It could also be key for you as the game of baseball expands into other markets across the world. Who knows where in the world your career path could take you.

Retail classes can help you land that position within the Merchandise Department. The same goes for Food and Beverage, as more and more Minor League Clubs take over management of their own F and B Operations.

This may come as a surprise but marketing should be one of someone’s last choices for secondary classes. Not only is it on 75% of all Sports Management resumes, but I cannot tell you how many college students when asked what they want to do in baseball, respond with “Work in Marketing.” The number of baseball jobs that are solely marketing focused is so extreme. There may be one of those jobs at each of the Major League Clubs, but those jobs just do not exist at the Minor League level. That type of response instantly shuts me down in an interview because I know the candidate hasn’t done their research and likely doesn’t know much about what they are getting into. Marketing in baseball sounds like a dream job, but for the most part that position alone just doesn’t exist.

Master’s Degree in Sports Management – just not necessary…unless. For many that worked hard, diversified their experiences and have done a couple of internships already then a Master’s Degree will not make much of a difference. However, the Master’s Degree comes in quite handy for those that decided late to get into sports, have little or no internship experience or just haven’t found the break they’ve needed to get into the game. In baseball there is no pay bump for a Master’s. There is no special treatment even if you’ve done the extra schooling. You will still start off as an intern answering phones, picking up trash or making sales calls just like everyone else.

So you have decided to go to school for Sports Management, now what? Get an internship as soon as possible. I hear from college students all of the time that say, “I don’t need to get internship credits until my senior year.” If you wait until your senior year to do your internship then you are behind the ball and in a career field that is extremely competitive it makes it that much more difficult for you to break in. Do not wait until you are in your junior year, or even until after you’ve taken your first Sports Management class. Start some type of internship the second you know you want to be in the game of baseball. You cannot start too early. Some of the best interns I’ve seen were sophomores or juniors in High School. They end up having five or six years of various experiences in the business by the time they are done with college and ready to be hired. When you get your very first internship, be open to any type of position even if it is just picking up trash, answering the phones or filing paperwork. These are all opportunities for you to get your foot in the door and if you work hard then bigger and better things will come along. Keep your eyes out as I’ll cover internships and how to get your foot in the door in a future post.

I’ve tried to cover a lot in this post, but obviously can’t cover everything. Please feel free to post your own experiences here or ask questions as well. You may also reach me on Twitter @workinbaseball or by email at workinbaseball@gmail.com. I look forward to your feedback and hopefully my guidance can assist you in landing the career of your dreams.

[Via http://workinbaseballnow.com]

5 Reasons To Have Your Own Video Channel

A video channel is your own space on the web where you can be creative, advertise your products and services or just express your opinions to the world. For a business; a video channel allows you to reach a global audience and you can quickly establish yourself as an expert in your industry.

Having your own video channel adds a new marketing technique to your existing campaigns. Web users can subscribe to your channel and see when you add new videos. By regularly keeping in touch with your prospects and existing clients you’ll increase your businesses reputation and win new clients.

In this article we’ll look at 5 reasons to have your own video channel. Although there really are an infinite number of reasons you should be using the power of video on the net, we’ll focus on the 5 main reasons.

1 – Gain subscribers

When running a business; the money’s in the list. If you can maintain a list of hundreds of information hungry prospects; you just need to provide them with what they want. Providers such as YouTube allow web users to subscribe to any channel at the touch of a button.

2 – Be seen as an expert

By releasing regular videos that offer quality information in your industry; you’ll set yourself as an expert. Your subscribers will likely ask you questions about the information in your videos. Answer their questions. Give full and quality answers. You’ll soon build rapport with your subscribers which will gain your respect and trust.

3 – Some people prefer watching videos to reading

A video is much more interesting and attention grabbing than an article. Besides, not all people enjoy reading. Take this article for example; if it were presented by an attractive female or male and used large words on the screen to make it easier to follow, you’d find it more exciting and you’d be less likely to browse away from the page.

4 – Save bandwidth on your website

By using websites such as YouTube to host your videos on you’ll save money on your hosting bill. Most hosting providers charge their users based on the amount of space and bandwidth they use. By uploading your videos to another website; you’ll reduce your own costs. Your visitors will also experience faster and more reliable video downloads from a specialist video hosting website.

5 – Search engine rankings

Because YouTube is owned by Google, related videos will often appear at the top of the search results. So when you type something into Google, you might see a couple of YouTube videos that are related to your search query at the top of the search results page. This is an excellent way to get more visitors to your website, since your videos can all include a link back to your website.

So, if you haven’t already started using video channels to promote your business, start doing it today. It’s a complete marketing channel on its own and you’ll see an increase in business if done properly. Start promoting your business using videos through the power of the web today!

[Via http://iotamedia.wordpress.com]

Top ten mobile marketing tips by Mark Brill

Mark Brill CEO of txt4ever and chair of Mobile Marketing at the Direct Marketing Association and a regular speaker at industry events gives his top ten mobile marketing tips.

1. Get a response. Use SMS when you are looking for an immediate and high response rate. Whilst email is lower cost, only 25% are opened, compared to 95% of text messages. Response times to an SMS are also faster, usually within 1 hour.
2. Use an SMS shortcode. Including a shortcode in advertising campaigns has been shown to increase response rates. In car advertising the uplift is over 10%
3. Give an offer. Most marketing wisdom will tell you that an offer is important. This is particularly so with SMS, as it is such an immediate channel.
4. Provide a simple call to action. Many people make the mistake of having a call to action that is too complex. For example ‘register on our website’ sent in an SMS is too much. Making it simple and easy: ‘call us now’ or ‘reply to this SMS’ is likely to have the best response. The harder you make it for the customer, the fewer the responses.
5. Target your audience. The mobile phone is a highly personal medium, so the better you target your customers the greater the results. For example, a retail store will get the best results by promoting a specific store nearest to the mobile recipient.
6. Make it personal. Personalising a campaign can bring higher responses. For example, rather than offering a general discount, give the mobile user a voucher that can be redeemed.
7. Timing is everything. As SMS is so immediate, the time of day is crucial to the success of the campaign. Studies have shown that mobile phones are used most between noon and 6pm. Although it depends on the product, the best time to send a marketing campaign is mid-late afternoon.
8. Respond quickly. People’s memories are short when it comes to mobile marketing. Respond quickly once they have opted in to a mobile campaign. An auto response is essential for a shortcode, and follow up messages should be within a few days.
9. Gain the users trust. Make sure that you clearly identify your company, and provide an opt-out route. This is a legal requirement, but including a STOP shortcode in the SMS makes for the best practice (txt STOP to 871234).
10. Use a clear opt in process. Whilst it is acceptable to send either service messages or marketing messages to customers for similar products, without their prior consent (soft opt in), this is not always the best practice. Make it clear that you intend to send marketing messages, and send an SMS to ask them to opt in.

Tips Provided by Txt4ever.com Bulk SMS, Web SMS and Mobile Marketing

[Via http://axnach.wordpress.com]

Your Doorway to a Successful Marketing Promotion!

Today I opened my front door to find a hanger on my door. Annoyance turned into happy surprise. Kohl’s hired someone to hang discount tags on the doors in my neighborhood and possibly every neighborhood in town. It was a coupon for $10 of a purchase of $20 or more. Good sized discount and it lured me into Kohl’s. I don’t usually shop at Kohl’s.

The clothes I like are usually in the “I’d have to be anorexic and flat-chested to fit into” sizes. (I’m a buxom not skinny gal.) And the women’s clothes my size look like stuff matronly middle-aged women would wear. On that note my mother loves buying clothes at Kohl’s. The other items they carry I can usually find cheaper somewhere else.

But Kohl’s does have great sales. Although the coupon said the purchase had to be minimum $20 the part that really got me into the store was the small print that read “off all products, including sale items and clearance items”. I thought “Wow, after I stop in at Borders I’m checking out Kohl’s.” The stores happened to be in the same shopping center where I live so it was an easy decision.

This is where many businesses cheap out and look stingy. I’ve seen numerous coupons where they put so many limits on my ability to use them I end up tossing the coupon in the recycling bin.

Afterward I only think of those businesses with amazed disgust. Why bother offering what amounts to a non-existent discount in your coupon advertisement? You’re only going to alienate customers who will go on to shop at stores that appreciate their business and reward them for it.

I really appreciated that Kohl’s offered me a discount coupon I couldn’t ignore considering I’m not a regular shopper. And with only one minor limitation besides and end date which was also generous. The offer was valid until March 14th and started on February 28th.

I didn’t want to miss the deadline so I felt compelled to go in and use the $10 discount on stuff I hadn’t planned to buy. Kohl’s does have good products and I’m more than willing to shop there when the deal is worth it.

If you’re wondering what I bought I’ll tell you. I got a cool new watch and a set of colorful eye shadows in a compact shaped like an iphone. Oh and the items I bought were sale items and I still got my $10 discount. Yippee!

End result for Kohl’s – they got a reluctant shopper in the door spending money and feeling good with their generous Door Hanger Campaign. Now I understand why my Mother loves shopping at Kohl’s. They appreciate their shoppers and reward them for coming into the store.

Are you ready to try your own Door Hanger Campaign yet? Not sure? Interestingly enough, Dan Kennedy recommends using Door Hangers as a unique promotional campaign. I wonder if someone in Kohl’s marketing department reads Dan Kennedy’s newsletter. Hmmm…if so kudos for marketing savvy.

Let me know if you decide to try your own Door Hanger campaign and the results.

[Via http://directmarketingrx.wordpress.com]

YES-TODAY!©

Seize the Moment

Long ago an investor relations consulting client of mine, banker Edmond Safra, shared with me his philosophy on market changes. At the time, in the late ’70s, the markets faced uncertainty due to an OPEC oil-pricing event that affected interest rates, industry-wide prices, and a wholesale freeze in hiring coupled with downsizings. “Whether there is upward or downward movement in the markets there is money to be made. The only thing that would be a catastrophe is a static market,” Safra opined. His words have remained with me. Hiring areas may shift but activity follows the course of the change. Re-directing your attention to determining where your abilities are valued requires this awareness.

What Safra understood as a fifth-generation banker with a family legacy of lending to Ottoman Empire merchants along the trade routes of the caravans is no less true today. There are inevitable cycles to life rather than the unvarying upward straight-line graph we would seemingly prefer. What he also understood was that the way to create revenue had to change with the contours of market need. Accepting this is not always easy; integrating a bridge from past to future into your strategy takes time and patience. The process may be energizing even if frustrating and difficult; the process allows you to explore uncertainty and emerge with a plan that aligns with opportunities that are right for you in the new reality.

Markets, by their nature, are volatile and often unsure of direction. The static nature of waiting can certainly be emotionally challenging, yet the ability to create something new for your life in dramatically improved ways often comes out of originally unwelcomed and externally driven events. It is only through hindsight that we may see that these dark moments of uncertainty contain the seeds of our breakthroughs to new opportunities. These moments of change allow innovation in the markets and within your life. The outcome may be previously un-imagined yet may present you with a better-suited life and revenue stream. Income may be derived from a mix of skills which emphasize important areas of your focus which can now be integrated to revitalize you.

It is helpful in life to look forward and tap into this wisdom to find a route to satisfaction. Say YES-TODAY!©. Perhaps you will take small incremental steps in a process toward a good direction. Perhaps there will be a quantum leap via an intuitive insight or unexpected synchronicity that places you in exactly the right path.

Just as randomness can upset our standard courses, it can also bring us our own version of winning a life lottery. Finding contentment in a new way of expressing our life work energies wouldn’t be possible without the mother of all inventions: necessity. Contact Gloria Waslyn to explore new ways to look at your current situation so that you are best able to discover the ways to express your possibilities with acceptance and excitement.

[Via http://careergurunyc.wordpress.com]

Hitting the Streets

When it comes to effective real estate prospecting, I keep reminding myself that although there is great value in blogging, SEO optimization and the like, there’s really no way to get around the fact that you need to be out on the pavement, meeting folks, listening to them and, where the opportunity presents itself, finding ways to serve.  Oh, and along the way, you might even have a chance to help people with their real estate needs!

Part of the challenge to us fortunate, self-employed people is to avoid being too comfortable.

Homer at Home

It’s all fine and good to be able to sit around in your Homer Simpson lounge pants all day (for you ladies, that would be the Pink Bunnies) but the truth is, you need to get up early, get dressed like you were going to meet someone and start with a solid, positive routine.  We seem to think that just because we can’t be seen that people can’t tell how professional or unprofessional we are.   The other day I was on the phone with someone and as soon as the conversation began, I could tell that they were having a bad day (or maybe this was just the norm for them- not sure.)

In any case, you know when someone is glad to be talking with you and conversely, you can tell when they’d just as soon be playing their Nintendo.  Guess what, when you’re dressed like a slob and your hair is a mess, people can tell!  What I’m trying to get across is that it’s like Ricardo Montalban used to say, “When you look good, you FEEL good” and feeling good about how you are presenting yourself goes a long way toward connecting with a potential client!

[Via http://russjgordon.wordpress.com]

Diva Galore is in...

Is Hot and here to Stay

The new year will continue to expand with these digital styles where the ad represents power and trendy social influence. Be ready to see this style explode in popularity. If you a large corporate board, consider going out-of-the-box with this style. Hooks well with social media and captivating audiences….

Brand Guy Blog

[Via http://brandguyblog.wordpress.com]

4 Steps for Successfully Selling Photo Prints

Wedding photographers run hot and cold on whether they should offer inexpensive digital printing, or even compete in that arena.  Some argue to control all printing.  Others say to give images on disc to the customer.    Brian Mullins of Brian Mullins Photography offers these 4 steps to successfully selling printing in the digital age.  For him the clincher that works is an irresistible call to action that brings in the orders.   Printing In a Digital Age, from Brian Mullins’ blog

As a wedding photographer who prints a lot of his own work, I have a lot of other photographers say they think the market is dead for it. I wanted to, hopefully, explain how the market for selling prints is not dead, just greatly different then it was 10 years ago. Digital printing, cheap digital printing, is offered at every corner store. I highly encourage my clients to use these services for exactly that – cheap prints. However, cheap prints also have little color control, little to no quality control and the materials/inks they use are just what you think they are – cheap. However, professional labs or printing your own using pigment based professional printers is a great supplement to the corner store.

I offer my wedding, portrait & commercial clients high-end printing using custom paper and pigment based inks that have an archival lifespan of 300 years. Obviously my clients photos are extremely important to me so I have gone to great lengths to learn how to print my own so I have complete control of the quality, the materials and the end product.

How has my customer response been? See a few orders below (Received in one weeks time):

(A commercial Order)

SUBTOTAL: $1,022.95

SHIPPING & HANDLING: $0.00

SALES TAX: $79.28

TOTAL: $1,102.23

(An order from a wedding guest)

SUBTOTAL: $182.05

SHIPPING & HANDLING: $6.00

SALES TAX: $14.57

TOTAL: $202.62

(A social event order)

SUBTOTAL: $349.30

SHIPPING & HANDLING: $6.00

SALES TAX: $27.54

TOTAL: $382.84

So how I do it (i.e. – the good stuff):

1 – Talk to your clients. 

When talking with my current or potential clients, I find out initially if they are interested in prints from their event. This can be a casual conversation or a direct question, whatever works best with your style. I always want to discuss the difference in printing & professional finishing from a commercial lab vs your local Walgreens/Costco. They key areas I discuss are quality of the print (the professional finishing I do to ensure its quality), the additional options I can offer (paper types, inks, etc) and, most importantly, the materials used (I print my own with archival papers and inks giving me a 300 year print life).

2 – Give your client a way to order.

I use business cards with my logo on the front and instructions on how to access the images on the rear. These are then laid around at the site in different places where people can pick them up. I also keep a few on me for when people ask but I never, ever will hand a card to someone unsolicited.

3 – Have a good photocart setup.

I use Redcart but smugmug, photocart or any other solution will work. It needs to be personalized, easy to navigate with the ability to save favorites and have easy payment methods. I have a $25 minimum order amount on my cart that many labs require as well.

4 – Have a call to action!

Let me say this again.. GIVE YOUR CLIENTS & WEDDING GUESTS A REASON TO ORDER! When I first started doing this, my print sales were poor at best. A tip I read on the Digital Wedding Forum did made a HUGE difference. Offer a 25% discount within the first two weeks on all prints. I cannot stress this enough.. without this my gallery traffic was great but had very little in the way of actual orders.

None of this is rocket science and i’m sure it’s no big secret, but professional printing services is still (mostly) in the realm of professional photographers and if you are not offering this service to your clients, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to not only provide your clients professional grade prints, but a growth center of your business.

[Via http://photobiz-infocus.com]

Top Ten Easy Marketing tasks you can do now

Who says scientists can not sell? Here are 10 easy marketing ideas, from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology today in our monthly Marketing Action Group of a group of people:

1. Listen to (and pay attention! Ask) your customer's problems. They are the evidence that can help them solve these problems. They also for your article, voice and electronic communications theme. Did not invent these things – listen!

2. Write your plan and next year's sales call.You have the opportunity to work with hot next week's meeting? Writing, you will use to find out Who are the decision makers in formulating the Budget, the scope of the problem and how to ask them to take further steps. If you do not know how to do this, please give me an e-mail, I will help you through their thoughts.

3. Read the article marketing. Most non-market people who could not read through the marketing approach. Painless way to maintain the momentum, however, is a new article every week to read. Start here:http://www.turningpointemarketing.com/Free_Resources/Articles.html

4. Note that your marketing message around. See if you can pick WIIFM (What's in it for me?) And calls to action (you want to do). Practice thinking like a marketing.

5. If you want to manage others and work for your customers, your employees access to interested clients. In order to maintain fresh, and to demonstrate your commitment to customers. It also shows that customers have moreYour organization, and their sole representative.

6. Copies of these articles to your employees, ask them for the next meeting staff would be willing to understand the idea, leading to this statement. Ask the people to carry out a new task. Let us at the next session. Rinse, repeat.

7. Clause 3 or 4 questions of the investigation period is too short a dialogue with your target audience in a telephone interview about their struggle … What is a wish list of things …They want from you. Do not ask whether you want to buy your things. This is a task of a relationship, rather than selling. This provides much later. Ask others to cooperate with you to get two customers or potential customers and give them a call. Compare notes and discuss the outcome.

8. Think of a small solution, you can provide solutions to important issues. Small problems or small solutions. The key is to consider small. It was so scary that your customer "sample", and can be easilyThem to take the first step.

9. Oral practice positioning statement loud. To the mirror. In the car. In the elevator. If you do not know what is your positioning statement, which is a problem. Recommend me, I'll give you a hand.

10. This visualization thing one was successful. Really – is what to do professional athletes, speakers, performers and successful people all the time. Visualization, and now it will be.

The next time, when a scientist tells me that they can not be resolved,I know better. These ideas clearly proved that theory wrong!

[Via http://samplesalonflyers.wordpress.com]

Going Local: Have to Tap into Your Own Backyard and Find Local Clients

With all the talk about how BIG internet marketing and social media is for a business, we often forget that our own backyard contains plenty of hungry prospects looking for what you have to offer. The problem people come across though is where to find these people, and what backyard are they hanging out in – well if you know your market and have a good idea of who your “soul client” is the search shouldn’t be too hard.

First of all – to find local: network. Networking is an easy way to find prospects in your area. But choose wisely, you don’t want to end up at the Farmers Networking Meeting if you farmers are not your market. Find networking groups that attract your ideal client and go there. But remember, networking isn’t about selling your services it’s about building relationships.

Speak Locally. Speaking is another great way to reach the locals, if you can speak at the functions, associations, and meetings they attend or belong to you’ve just earned yourself a star position from being in front of the room. Speaking gives you instant credibility and is a sure-fire way of bringing in more clients.

Social Networking – Strategically! If local people are your buzz, be sure to use keywords that include your city and surrounding areas. Just because social networking is global, it doesn’t mean you have to be.

Partner up with key players. The fact is there are quite a few key players in every city, start hanging out where they do, initiate a conversation or a coffee meeting and see if there is a way to partner up and share in your resources. Key players are generally givers and have built a reputation on introducing others, connecting people, and growing their network. You never know, you could be offering the exact service they’ve been looking for.

These are just a few ways that you can grow your business locally, these also apply to national marketing strategies as well – but use them in ways that work best for you and your business.

Let me know what other ways you’ve found to strategically grow your local following.

[Via http://andreacostantine.wordpress.com]

5 Fantastic Facebook Fan Page Ideas to Learn From

So your business is on Facebook, and brand engagement is up thanks to some savvy social media strategy. You may even be interested in further distinguishing your brand by building a custom landing page for your account.

But what kind of value does a custom Facebook Fan Page offer? What are your fans looking for on a social network that they can’t get from your business website? For some insight, let’s check out how some big-name brands have stepped up their engagement by investing a little more TLC into their Facebook presence.

via 5 Fantastic Facebook Fan Page Ideas to Learn From.

[Via http://aaearhart.wordpress.com]

What to be excited about in Fedora 13

EVERYTHING!

No, the Marketing Team busted their butts [I actually was slacking off and don't think I contributed as much as I could have some I'm going to leave myself out of the celebration, there is still much work to do that I can take more credit for than I deserve ] and they have come up with a list of the coolest features that you can expect in Fedora 13 codenamed “Goddard” after “Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945), U.S. professor of physics and scientist, was a pioneer of controlled, liquid-fueled rocketry. On March 16, 1926, he became the first person in the world to build and launch a liquid-fueled rocket” -wikipedia.

If you can’t tell from the artwork and the codename we are going for a rocket/space theme.

Here are the features broken down into groups based on who will be happiest to see it.

User: auto-print-drivers, langpacks, user management, color management,

network manager improvements, nouveau.

Dev: systemtap, python debugging, python3, netbeans

Sysadmin: authconfig ui, nfs, zarafa,

bfo, btrfs

Spins: moblin, soas, design, security

Here is the full list of features and how far along we think we are on them. It’s also a good place to do some reading up if you are wondering what all that mess above means.

[Via http://numberedhumanindustries.wordpress.com]

I'm Lovin It! McDonalds Dominates Olympic Marketing Scene

McDonald’s is the top sponsor for this year’s winter Games in Vancouver. Sportsfeatures.com describes how they have branded themselves as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games while opening three restaurant areas in the Olympic Villages in Vancouver and Whistler and the main press center in Vancouver.

Much of the advertising is athlete-themed while embracing a “Share the Gold” slogan with Chicken McNugget promotions.  Along with the golden Chicken McNuggets, stores here in the U.S. are offering a new limited time sauce.

McDonald’s is using three new advertising campaigns specifically targeting the Olympic season.  New items that have been added to the menu are the S’mores Pie and the Crème Brulee, and Crunch McFlurry.  To further support the Olympic themes, Happy Meals will include interactive toys of the 2010 Winter Games mascots.

Outside of the Olympic themed advertising, McDonald’s is also continuing their Champion kids program which began at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Summer Games.  This program offers children ages 6-14 from all around the world the opportunity to personally experience the Games first-hand.  A panel of ten ambassadors at the Vancouver Games along with Olympic athletes judge essay entries to award the winners.

As the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games, McDonald’s focuses their advertising on supporting the Games and branding themselves through new winter themed menu items.  Their Champion kids program embraces the Olympic spirit while reaching out to involve young kids all around the world.

[Via http://imcclass.wordpress.com]

How much marketing is too much? When do you become annoying?

Well, that depends and there’s a few things you should consider. Statistics show that people need to hear a message anywhere from 9 to 29 times before they actually make a decision and decide to move forward. So, when marketing a particular product, service, or program has your target market seen your message that many times? Generally they don’t.

Ironically, since we are doing the marketing we feel that we are being annoying and sharing it too much, sending out too many emails, and overdoing it but in all honesty we are all busy with our lives and we don’t actually see or hear every message that comes across. Think about this, do you read every email in every detail that you get? Probably not.

I’ve had good friends who were marketing a product or program and I didn’t even know, I somehow missed their messages, invites, and updates about it. Why? Because I’m not always looking and something really has to grab my attention before I pay attention, plus, we are busy we may actually see it but within a matter of seconds we forget. This isn’t intentional or saying what you are offering isn’t important, it’s more that we just have too many things going on in that brain of ours.

There is a point when it’s too much, usually it’s too much from someone who you’d probably never do business with or don’t need what they offer. But when someone we really like and has a service that we are interested in, it’s generally not annoying. I find that when people get annoyed they probably never would have done business with you anyway.

More often than not people are marketing too little and not too much. I rarely find that someone is overdoing it in their marketing, trust me I could probably tell you to double what you are doing and you still wouldn’t be annoying to your loyal and true fans that are just waiting for you to offer something juicy and delicious so they can sign up for it, but then again you’ve got to get it in front of their radar.

[Via http://andreacostantine.wordpress.com]

Avoid These Common Marketing Pitfalls When Using Twitter

Twitter has become an increasingly popular aspect of many online advertisers’ strategies; it not only provides a venue to assemble a log of devoted followers, but it also simplifies ongoing communication with them. This is effective in and of itself at driving traffic and improving sales. But unfortunately, if you don’t know what you are doing, you can not only waste time but also negatively impact your reputation. And so there are specific mistakes to avoid if you want to succeed.

The first and foremost mistake people make when marketing on Twitter is to, well, start with marketing. It might not seem such a bad idea to start off with marketing goals, but if you want to achieve results, be aware that it isn’t a good beginning. However, by developing confidence and reinforcing your connections in the beginning, you will create a loyal stream of followers. You should first get the consent of your intended audience before you attempt to sell them something later. How should you get such consent? By first becoming involved and neighborly to them on Twitter. In being active in the forum, you will have the opportunity to forge powerful bonds with people, so that after you have gained your audience’s trust, you will be able to utilize Twitter in generating additional visits on your website, creating a database, and gathering more specific sales. But your everyday activity on Twitter should be informal and friendly. Do not be too mercenary and focused on business in your tweets, and don’t turn them into uninteresting advertisements. Marketing is serious business to you, but add some spice and humor to your tweets for the sake of your readers. Illustrate your expressive side through your tweets. If you can manage to do this, you will be helping people in a fun way and they will trust you better. Be engaging and easy to deal with, that’s the secret to winning their hearts.

Twitter’s a two-way street, though. If you want the community to pay attention to you, you have to pay attention to the community. It’s only fair, after all. You should not anticipate receiving, if you do not contribute. But the good thing is, this mistake can be easily avoided. Due to the community spirit of Twitter, your participation means following others who are in your niche a well as responding personally to any and all tweets sent to you. If you only tweet “one way” and don’t respond to the tweets that others send out, you can figure that your efforts are going to see very little return. Twitter’s simple to understand. It’s a social network. Therefore you need to build a network to socialize with -to sell your products to. That means you need to fit in, make some friends, help out your community. Don’t just talk to an empty room; draw them to your words of wisdom. Then give a name to that perfect hair product from that fabulous styling tip you sent the other day. It cannot be emphasized enough. Twitter’s a community. Throw off the suit and sit down to dinner. Be a friend, and watch Twitter work for you.

[Via http://twittermarketingpower.wordpress.com]

Living the LUSH life...

So, this week things started getting back to normal, after the great, but slightly disruptive weeks of the leadership module! It felt great to be back with Corrine, with our teams, and thinking about Temptation once again. As I said last week, we have definitely been stuck in a rut, and it feels wonderful to be getting back on track!

We began the day with some general feedback on the business plans, and started to fill in the NESTA worksheets which Corrine had provided for us. While discussing branding, brand image, our favourite brands etc, I thought back to the time I worked at LUSH (natural cosmetics company). I LOVED working there, and people often said that my enthusiasm for the products and the brand ethics were infectious. We all felt the same; we started to dress the same, act the same, speak the same and smell the same (if you’ve never been into LUSH, this may sound  bit weird, but trust me, it’s a good thing!) You can tell which brands and businesses treat their staff well… my three favourite brands… like LUSH, Apple or Benefit: everyone is always smiling, in a genuine, friendly, rather than an ‘I’m going to stab you if you don’t buy this bath bomb’ way. People who love their job make it easier to sell their product, their service, the lifestyle on offer, to anyone.

But most importantly, LUSH got the best results from their staff because they enjoy their job. I enjoyed working there so much that I didn’t mind dressing like an Easter bunny and looking like a complete loser for a week.

But, back to business. Catherine also gave us a talk on the basics of marketing, alot of which I had covered previously on marketing modules during my BA. But it was fantastic to start thinking of how models such at the 7Ps apply to our business…

After a team meeting over lunch, and filling in the NESTA worksheets Corrine had given us, it was time to face the music – our marks for our business plan and feasibility report. I can honestly say that I am so proud of the team for the marks we achieved, to get distinction level for both pieces was fab… now let’s keep this up! It was cool to get the chance to pitch our idea to Catherine, and to chat things through with Corrine, as a group.

And so to group work…. after Corrine’s web design class, I have been focusing on making the website more user friendly. I decided that the nav bar was too cluttered, and decided to divide topics and headers up into folders, to make things look a bit more organised. I changed the layout, so that all articles are accessible through a menu on a single page…

I also got started on the ‘persona’ sections of the website… the idea being that each viewer takes a quiz to find out which of our three personas, Bing, Megs or Jonny they have most in common with. They are then directed to a specially designed page, full of content to fill their needs…

This week, we are meeting as a team, having prepared a list of issues with the business which we may want to address, things we want to achieve, and how we are going to do this. I think this will be a great way to continue our newly-found momentum, so that we can continue to get the results, and the satisfaction which we deserve.

[Via http://iamthroughthelookingglass.wordpress.com]

Should Charities Collect Donors' Cellphone Numbers?

The article below is from Give and Take, the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s blogroll.  The author asks an interesting questions – “should charities collect donors’ cellphone numbers?”  She also asserts that nonprofits will turn off potential supporters by asking this question.

This is partially true – though I think the logic *might be* suspect.  What testing has found is that the more information you request (whether as part of an online or offline donation form, or even an event registration, etc.), the fewer people you’ll have complete the process.  That’s why the experts tell you to ask for name and e-mail address only for the initial registration for your online newsletter.  Very few people object to filling out those two pieces of information.

Once someone has opted into your communication stream, then you need to send them a full registration request.  It’s at that point that you might want to ask your donors or supporters for their cell phone numbers.  And to get the full registration done, you might in fact need to offer something very interestig in return.

Where I *might* (I say might because I could very well be wrong about my assumption here) disagree with the assumption is in the thinking that specifically the cell phone number is something people won’t want to give out.  That might be true right this minute – but the market is shifting – and I suspect that in the next few years cell phone numbers will be no less guarded than home phone or e-mail address are today. 

So I’d say yes – you should be actively trying to secure this data (and permission to use it) from your donors and other supporters.

Should Charities Collect Donors’ Cellphone Numbers?

By Holly Hall

Are donors willing to give their cellphone numbers to charity?

Allyson Kapin, a marketing consultant, notes in Frogloop  that the recent success by the American Red Cross—which raised more than $31-million through cellphone text messages after the Haitian earthquake—has many charities eager to try mobile fund raising. To do that effectively, however, charities needs to gather the cellphone numbers of potential supporters.

But doing so might be hard. Charities that require people to provide a cellphone number—when  making a donation, signing a petition, or joining an event—could put off many potential supporters, she acknowledges.

Still, with a growing number of Americans giving up their land lines in favor of mobile phones, Ms. Kapin notes, organizations may find that people are increasingly willing to share their cell numbers.

During the presidential election,  organizations like Rock the Vote say people under age 30 were often willing to share their cellphone numbers. And the Obama campaign told those who did that they would be the first to learn who the candidate’s running mate was.

To get people to willingly offer their cellphone numbers in the same way, Ms. Kapin writes, “nonprofits would hve to find a compelling enough hook.”

Does your organization collect cellphone numbers of donors and other constituents? If so, how have you motivated people to share this information?

[Via http://nonprofitstrategies.wordpress.com]

Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. - Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare - Deals and Alliances Profile--Aarkstore Enterprise Market Research Aggregation

Aastrom Biosciences (Aastrom) is a development stage regenerative medicine company, which is engaged in the development of autologous cell products for use in regenerative medicine. The company’s principal business is to develop Tissue Repair Cell (TRC) based products for use in multiple therapeutic areas including cardiac, vascular, bone and neural disorders. The company’s preclinical and clinical product development programs investigate the ability of patient-derived bone marrow stem and early progenitor cell populations to aid in regeneration of cardiac, vascular, bone and neural tissues. Aastrom is headquartered in Michigan, US

Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. – Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare – Deals and Alliances Profile is an essential source for company data and information. The profile examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy as well as highlighting the company’s major recent financial deals.

Scope

- Provides key company information for business intelligence needs

- Gives information on the company’s major recent financial deals including Mergers and Acquisitions, asset transactions, PE/VC deals, equity offerings, debt offerings and partnerships.

- Data is supplemented with details on the company’s history, key executives, business description, locations and subsidiaries as well as a list of products and services and the latest available company statement.

To know more about this report kindly visit:

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Aastrom-Biosciences-Inc-Pharmaceuticals-Healthcare-Deals-and-Alliances-Profile-21457.html

[Via http://aarkstore.wordpress.com]

Connect to Your Customers

Developing well written and concise messages – that connect with your customers – should drive your marketing strategy. This is particularly true for Web sites.  Although the Web is a visual-driven medium, with flashy graphics, sounds, and other fancy features, success still comes down to what you say and how you say it. 

However, website copy differs significantly from brochures or display ads. With only few seconds to capture and hold the reader’s attention, Web copy must be brief and to the point, but engaging enough for them want to see more. Focus first on establishing credibility. The content on your site must be crisp and intelligent. What you say should grab a visitor’s attention, pique their interest and motivate them to action. But avoid sounding like a commercial. 

“Don’t make your Web site look like an ad” is rule number one of Web copywriting, says Maria Veloso, director of Web Copywriting University. We are all bombarded by ad images daily, says Veloso. The last thing we want to see on a site is another ad. Yet many small business sites seem specifically designed to look like billboards. Avoid this trap. “People go online for information,” says Veloso. “That’s why they call it the information superhighway.”

 Provide help, not hype, with the feel of editorial, not advertising. Web visitors consider themselves active participants in a shared online experience, so the writing should speak to them in this way. 

Even though you’re writing for an infinite number of potential readers, your copy should read like a conversation. That’s why many successful Web sites use common, everyday words, not platitudes and overused clichés. Use the second-person (“you”) to help create a personal bond with your website visitors and convey your sincere interest in helping them. The more they like, know and trust you, the more interested they’ll be in doing business with your company. 

For help marketing your small business, contact Lancaster SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business. SCORE is a nonprofit association of more than 50 business experts who volunteer as mentors to emerging and existing small businesses. SCORE offers free mentoring, business plan reviews, business roundtables, and low-cost workshops. 

Check out our special workshop – Marketing on the Web – scheduled for March 11, June 9 and November 4 at the SCORE Learning Center, 313 West Liberty Street, Lancaster.

Learn more at www.scorelancaster.org  on the “Special Workshops” menu tab– or call us at  717-397-3092.

[Via http://scorelancaster.wordpress.com]

The Internet Is Not Killing Newspapers

My first  job was delivering newspapers.  Today, I’m delivering a much different story.  The Internet isn’t killing newspapers.  News is killing newspapers.  The medium is not the message.  I believe our news appetite has changed and newspapers have not realized the shift in tastes. 

A Pew Research Center study shows that newspaper readership has fallen from 34% in 2006 to 27% today. But even more profound is that 34% (up from 25% in 1998) of people are ”newsless” (people who get no news on a typical day).   And 51% of Americans say they are now “news grazers.”    

The problem is that we are now information-rich and time-poor.  So our sorting skills and news-relevancy sensors are much more sharpened.  We want to ”search” the information that is relevant to us and discard the rest.     

So think about the last time you searched for car accidents?  Did you search for bank robberies in your area?  What about jury selections?  Searched for the city council minutes recently?  People will always need an arbiter of content, but newspapers will need to rethink news if they want to survive.    

What can save newspapers?  The same thing that sells any product:  clear differentiation and targeted benefits. 

So what are newspapers to do?

• Rethink what is news. Target the audience and give it what it wants. 
• Strip out all that is on the Internet (such as stock listings, national sport scores, ag markets).
• Become hyper-local.  No national or international news unless a local hook exists.
• Embrace citizen journalists.  ABC ran a story about the East Coast’s winter storm. It featured Flip camera video stories from citizen journalists.  The citizen stories were much more interesting than the ABC reporter’s, who obviously never got a household ready for a snowstorm. 
• Shorter articles.  More bullets.  More pictures (but not more pictures of the mayor, we all know what he looks like). More easily consumed charts and graphs.   

Newspapers need to refocus on the readers.  Just like any business needs to focus on its target audience.  It’s time to hone the news menu for the audience’s new tastes.

[Via http://iowaadguy.wordpress.com]

new blogging to the bank

The Most Powerful Blogging System for the internet, has donated $ 1107692 a few hours per week!

First, we talk about the author …

Who is Rob Benwell? He made a name for himself with a fantastic success with his blog and now a wonderful partner, just like the other “gurus” and “Big Player”.

Its a very successful blogger, more than 1 million U.S. dollars from Google AdSense and affiliate commissions, depending within the profits and revenues.

Well, how did he? Is it probable all this hype and filling …

While blogging for the bank in 2010 a fraud or scam?

He said that one of his profits, he has shown he CLICKBANK.com, a seller of digital items. It also makes use of affiliate marketing inside results.

Well, if he uses in his blog, affiliate earnings, I think, in any case, it can be achievable for 1 million U.S. dollars in U.S. blogs.

No doubt. This number of visitors and amount of solutions that may be sold on the website addresses, it isn’t impossible for huge amounts over short periods.

Click here to visit the official website

So what is the heart of blogging to the bank in 2010?

It showed as 1 Weblog earned a lot more than $ 20K and how you too.

Includes 5 “top secret” methods to win a niche blogs.

His plan for success in blogging! Step-by-Step

So he built his weblog empire from scratch and how to copy.

Easy measures and procedures to blogs instantly!

How could-2, 1 in 1 Million site visitors to his blog (a must! In each niche)

How to install a climate of trust and credibility to your weblog.

His Ultimate recommend that save additional time, money and effort in blogs.

So what’s the negative part?

To be honest, Blogging to the Bank in 2010 by Rob brought numerous new companies and subsidiaries of large amounts of dollars with money, but we can still improve after that mastering SEO and get tons of targeted traffic.

Individuals with set lists and websites with tons of site visitors not see. But for a beginner, like most ISPs, this is their lifeblood is fuel to continue.

Without targeted traffic or internet, you get no clicks or sales ….

The truth is, I began to win via on-line blogs. And Rob Benwell is like the story, it started with no experience and no way in line to succeed.

I know the importance of transport and how your earnings.You must realize and influence to do as soon as you succeed online. So I learned the hard way ….

Suddenly, my web site for search engines and I have many visitors during the night. But here’s what you should recognize.

Blogging inside future, you’ve no night wealth, or perhaps in a Mon But if done well and wisely, you’ve a cash cow for the coming years.

reviewed by Best Clickbank Product Reviews

[Via http://nenenghikmatika.wordpress.com]

electronica 2010 - wireless & fireside chat!

No country organises trade exhibitions like Germany. The names of many of their cities are synonomous with various aspects of industry because they organise THE trade fair of a particular field. Today is the turn of Munich, the beautiful capital of Bavaria and the industry is Electronics.

Energy efficiency, environmental compatibility, cost reduction and flexibility are just some of the challenges facing the electronics industry today. At electronica 2010, the global electronics industry will demonstrate how it will rise to these challenges in the following months and years. The show will be held at the New Munich Trade Fair Center (D) from November 9 to 12, 2010. Over a period of four days, the exhibition halls will once again be the place where companies meet at the world’s most important trade fair for electronics.

Automotive with the main theme of electromobility, displays and e-signage or digital signage, embedded systems with hardware and software, medical electronics, MEMS, photovoltaics and renewable energies are just some of the topics that will dominate this year’s trade fair.

It is to cover the entire spectrum of technologies, products and solutions of the electronics industry: from semiconductors, sensors, measuring and testing, electronics design, passive components, power supply, PCBs and other non-mounted circuit carriers through to EMS.

hybridica 2010 (development and manufacture of hybrid components), will be staged alongside electronica 2010 with close synergy effects and will present the latest developments and production processes regarding hybrid components.

Automotive – the future of markets and technologies in the trade fair, forum and conference

With a 3-pillar concept including the trade fair itself, the automotive forum and the electronica automotive conference, electronica 2010 will feature a wide range of automotive information.

The key topics of the electronica automotive conference on November 8 and 9, 2010 will be electromobility, driver assistance, communication and global growth markets. The first day will be dominated by strategy lectures by leading managers in the semiconductor, supply and automotive industries. The second day will be reserved for pioneering technology developments and will be aimed, in particular, at technical executives.

Wireless Congress – wireless applications as a driving-force for research and development

The conference program on the following days will be devoted to the topic of wireless. The “Wireless Congress 2010: Systems & Applications“ will clearly illustrate the special importance of wireless applications as a driving-force for research and development in the electronics industry.

CEO Round Table and Munich Electronics Summit – top-level networks

Top executives will exchange ideas and opinions during the CEO Round Table, a public podium discussion, during electronica 2010. The CEO Round Table will again be one of the highlights of electronica 2010.

electronica is directed at business leaders from large international enterprises through the new event “Munich Electronics Summit“. An exclusive fireside discussion has been created solely for this group of persons and will be an opportunity for CEOs and managing directors to informally exchange ideas and network with one another.

Forum program – geared towards the needs of the industry

The talks during electronica 2010 will be spread over a total of five forums: the automotive forum, the embedded forum, the e-signage forum, the electronica forum and the ZVEI forum.

Technical talks and discussions will be the focal points of the application-oriented forums. The electronica forum and ZVEI forum will concentrate on general technology topics and other applications such as MEMS, medical electronics, wireless, organic electronics, photovoltaics and renewable energies.

Trade Fair Success Initiative – optimum use of the trade fair budget

The aim of the new exhibitor service is to continually increase the positive effects for companies through attendance at a trade fair. The service package includes a trade fair-related program of workshops, online training courses, IT-based work tools and numerous services to help exhibitors prepare, implement and follow up their participation in a trade fair.

A large number of services from the Trade Fair Success Initiative are offered free of charge in order to ensure maximum success for all trade fair participants through optimum support.

[Via http://instrumentsignpost.wordpress.com]