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Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

In a time challenged world we’re continually searching for just the right fast source of information; having it handy when we need it. In this situation a marriage of almost perfect proportions was created.

Consumers wanted local suppliers and tradesman’s information at hand just as they needed it.

Arrive the fridge magnet – an easily imprintable medium to get images on the household fridge. First made in the 1970’s the fridge magnet has grown ever since to take a sacred advertising space on the family fridge. Plumbers, electricians, real estate salesman, vets, doctors, local politicians and many more besides have come to rely on the efficacy of the fridge magnets ability to deliver it’s message.

In an average home the fridge is the focal point of family life. 

A fridge magnet marketing card uses the same raison d’etre, but is larger. This innovation has a small magnetic patch at the head of a full color printed card. The principal benefits of the magnetic marketing card are its lower cost, size on size to a fridge magnet and its lighter weight and hence lower distribution cost. 

For many businesses needing to have a larger than average message on the family fridge, they are a brilliant choice.

The freedom of re-positionability led to car magnets ideal for small business.  These car magnets have grown to become an easy way to place company information, promotional messages or promotional offers to clients over a car – making a mobile billboard. 

A clever idea is to have fridge magnets over your company car, tell your message and invite that the small fridge magnets be taken. It’s a new way to advertise using magnets.  

The current recession is causing a definite shift in consumer behaviour. Throughout the boom of the last few years, we have seen very small business adequately competing with the bigger brands. Many of these websites have gone local to global in a very short space of time, thanks to their prices. People were willing to buy products and services from a company or website they’d never heard of, if the price was lower. Things have changed however and hundreds of website companies are going under, the fall out of which is a growing lack of customer confidence. The fall out of this lack of confidence is that consumers are going back to what they know, that welknown brands that charge more, but whom they can be sure of.

Yet at the same time job insecurity and redundancy are causing more and more people to consider starting up their own business and becoming self-employed. With around 98,000 new business being created every three months, the competition isn’t getting any smaller. It is by no means the easy option. When you take into account that around 80,000 new businesses failed during the same time period, kind of puts it into perspective doesn’t it!

For me, without a doubt many startups fail because they underestimate the importance of branding. You brand and logo are the first things that your future customers see. It’s crucial to what people use to judge whether you are trustworthy or not. But it’s so often the case that startup owners put off paying professional logo design in the initial stages. It seams to be a matter of “Lets wait and see what happens, then we will design something”.So what they do is, try to knock one together in paint or get a mate down the pub to create one. Many new companies unfortunately opt for cheap Vista Print Logos or free clip art to design their brand.

This is a big no-no. All web business now more than ever, need to look much bigger and much more capable via good marketing, to retain customers and encourage new ones.In times when people are worrying about each and every penny they spend, a brand needs to appear stable and constant. Very small businesses need to look like a much bigger business, its possible. As I’ve touched on above, people nowadays are more and more attracted to bigger brands and bigger companies. Ultimately, a brand that consumers thinks of as credible and dependable will be the brands that they will recommend to family and friends and so on.

The fact of he matter is. Bankruptcy will hit around half small business very early on in their life, usually within two to three years. Many experts say that one of the top causes of business failure online is bad marketing. A custom logo design helps you create the right image for this marketing to succeed. So do yourself a favour – start looking at some sample logos in your industry and see what the successful ones have in common.Find yourself a professional designer who can carve out a unique identity for your brand and ensure its success in such a stormy climate.

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Increased competition and the recent economic downturn have combined to make effective marketing increasingly difficult. The advent of guerilla marketing tactics, as well as many other unconventional techniques can intimidate even the most adroit marketing professional. The “fighting fire with fire” adage is clichéd, but now truer than ever. If you’re looking to separate your product or service from the seemingly infinite number of competitors in the marketplace today, you have to use increasingly unorthodox approaches to marketing.

One of the most effective ways of selling your product or service is getting it past the media gatekeepers. One way this can be accomplished is through extreme thinking. Look in the Guinness Book of World Records and try to find something in it related to your product or service. Next, you can attempt to break this record in some type of public forum. Such a bold move will certainly garner attention and, as long as you avoid making a spectacle of yourself, attract positive publicity from at least a few media hounds that gather to witness the event. Another strategy would be to sponsor a local sports team or event. The coverage the event or team draws will provide your company name with publicity.

Along the same vain, you may want to support a local charity or philanthropic group that in some way applies to what you are trying to sell. If you don’t have the capital to make a straight donation to such a cause, try giving out a percentage of your monthly sales as part of a promotion. This will give customers added incentive to buy your product. You can then advertise your generosity by placing information about the philanthropic group on your product if possible.

One more way of getting your product more exposure is to send out a bi-monthly or monthly form of literature to serve as advertisement for your business. Given the continuing trend toward visual communication, you can try sending out a photo book instead of the traditional flyer or newsletter. Promoting your business through photo books can be a very effective way of displaying your products as well as distinguishing yourself from the crowded marketplace. Online photo book sites such as MemoryEscape.com allow you to upload images, select distinctive templates and backgrounds, and choose a personalized cover – all in a matter of minutes. A retailer, for example, may include photos of their newest products, and even add some copy mentioning coupons or promotions. If your business provides a service rather than a product (e.g. hair salon, photography studio, etc), a photo book is a great way of informing your customers of updates while providing them with visual images that stand out from the crowd. If you are finding it difficult to come up with ideas, MemoryEscape.com has an entire page devoted to ways one can use photo books to promote one’s business.

With the advent of social networking sites, it behooves the savvy business owner to encourage open dialogue between the company and its customers. Your website can serve as an optimal forum for such dialogue. By creating an area specifically for customer feedback and comment, you can show your commitment to your customers and learn new ways in which you can improve your business. This should be a type of forum where customers can ask you questions as well as interact with one another.

While new forms of marketing continue to emerge and others are replaced, one technique will never become obsolete: Creating something free to give away to customers. Such items can range from pens to hats – basically any free merchandise will work as long as your company name and information are printed on it. It is vital, however, to make sure the item will be useful to your customer. Moreover, try to make the object something relevant to your company. For example, it you own a hair salon, give away combs, brushes, or samples of hair styling products.

A quarter of a century ago, opening a retail store was a much simpler undertaking. People regularly purchased staple items they needed. Businesses were not difficult to run and the economy was booming. Store owners often saw themselves as shining examples of individuals living the American dream. A time when neighborhood kids knew if they ever needed a job, they could look to one of the many neighborhood establishments: candy store, drug store or local men’s shoes store business. Some of these stores have been owned by the same family for generations. However, in the current economy most of these mom and pop enterprises are closing their doors. They are losing the struggle to just keep their businesses afloat.

See also:  comfortable footwear

Over the years, most of these local businesses had survived competition by large department store chains. They managed to compete because they offered great customer service. They were able to maintain a constant flow of loyal customers. For example; your neighborhood shoe store would allow a customer to return a pair of shoes without a receipt, because they knew the customer and the assurance of a continuing relationship with him. Sometimes developing strong good customer service bonds are better than mere bargain sales and discounts. Customer service is one of the main tactics small retail outlets used to gain leverage over and compete with large department stores.

Since the development of the internet, small retail stores have had to compete not only with their local department store chains, but they now have to compete with online stores. The impact of these cyber-stores may not have been clear at first, but gradually increasing numbers of shoppers have started to use the internet, they started making more purchases online; i.e., online shoe stores. There’s no more going to your local shoe store; people started buying shoes online. As online retail stores flourished, your local merchants started to see a sharp decline. What is convenient for customers, it has begun to take a toll on local neighborhood stores.

In today’s economy, small merchants are now facing an even bigger challenge to their survival. Also pressured by the declining economy, banks have tightened the reins by decreasing the lines of credit that merchants depend upon. This credit crunch has cause local merchants to resort to drastic measures. For instance; your local comfort shoes store owner may have to dip into his retirement fund to purchase inventory or fund the marketing campaign. The merchant simply doesn’t have a large funding base to rely on. And, with banks lowering credit limits, they have fewer funds to work with. And with the decline in business compels him to consider the strong possibility of having to restructure their lives.

Search Answers.co and by searching Excite to find related articles regarding such topics.       

In a time short world we’re always looking for just the right fast fix of relevant information; having it handy when we most need it. Need was looking for a solution….

The problem solvers required their message in client’s faces and clients needed easy access to a solution to their problems – information giving those solutions.

The perfect communion of problem and solution was in the form of a fridge magnet. Discovered in the 1970’s the fridge magnet has grown ever since to take a sacred space on the home fridge. Plumbers, electricians, real estate salesman, vets, doctors, local politicians and many more besides now rely on the humble fridge magnets power to infiltrate the family home.

In a modern Western home the fridge is the focal point of family life. 

A fridge magnet marketing card follows the same raison d’etre, but with a larger imprint area. This invention uses a small magnetic patch at the head of a full color printed card. The principal benefits of the magnetic marketing card are its lower cost, size on size to a fridge magnet and its lighter weight and hence lower costs of distribution. 

For many small businesses needing to have a larger than average message on the family fridge, they are an effective choice.

The freedom of re-positionability led to car magnets ideal for small business needs for flexible advertising solutions.  These car magnets have grown to become an easy way to have company information, promotional messages or promotional offers to clients over a cars metallic exterior – transforming the vehicle into a moving advertisement. 

A new idea is to have passers-by a parked company car, pick a fridge magnet off the vehicle; combining the company’s advertising and means of contact via the fridge magnet. It’s a new way to promote and profit using magnets.  

The current recession is causing a definite shift in consumer behaviour. Throughout the boom of the last few years, we have seen very small business adequately competing with the bigger brands. Many of these websites have gone local to global in a very short space of time, thanks to their prices. Then consumers were used to choice and less demanding of reliability in their brands, they wanted the cheapest items and they wanted them now. But business are loosing the battle against the recession every day, many of them most likely leaving customer orders unfulfilled, thus consumer confidence is at an all time low. The fall out of this lack of confidence is that consumers are going back to what they know, that welknown brands that charge more, but whom they can be sure of.

With the recession causing people to loose their jobs, some have looked to the internet as a portal for their salvation, but starting their own business. But even in the recession, web business is booming, Barclays showed that even in the credit crunch 98,000 new business popped up over only a three month period. Yet it’s a tough road to go down. When you take into account that around 80,000 new businesses failed during the same time period, kind of puts it into perspective doesn’t it!

For me, without a doubt many startups fail because they underestimate the importance of branding. You brand and logo are the first things that your future customers see. This is how you are judged by those who keep your business afloat, the people logging in everyday to buy your goods, that see you as a logo and that logo is critical to the process. But it’s so often the case that startup owners put off paying professional logo design in the initial stages. All to often its “Lets see how many customers we can get before we think about branding”.So what they do is, try to knock one together in paint or get a mate down the pub to create one. Many new companies unfortunately opt for cheap Vista Print Logos or free clip art to design their brand.

This is a big no-no. Businesses, big or small need to appear strong enough to survive this economic crisis.  In these anxious times the image of stability and reliability is more crucial than ever. You also want to avoid looking like a very small business, even if you are one. As I’ve touched on above, people nowadays are more and more attracted to bigger brands and bigger companies. So basically, these days users care more about who a brand is and less about what they are, a good brand is much more likely to be recommended to friends than one that consumers are less sure about.

So what this means is. About 50% of all new start-ups are forced into bankruptcy within only a few years. Experts agree that one of the main reasons for failure is poorly thought out  and shoddy marketing. A custom logo design helps you create the right image for this marketing to succeed. So do yourself a favour – start looking at some sample logos in your industry and see what the successful ones have in common.  Then get yourself a proper graphic designer to plan and create a great corporate identity that will help you not only stay afloat but truly stand out and succeed.

The human body is over 70% water, and, of course, supports all of our bodily functions. It regulates temperature, in addition to dissolving and ridding your body of various impurities and toxins.Nothing else you consume can clean and hydrate your body like pure spring water. You cannot drink any fluid that is more important.

Water which flows to the surface from a spring is considered natural spring water. Spring water loses none of its natural minerals. Bottled spring water it better for your body’s hydration needs which is important for good health. This water lacks the impurities, flavors, sugar, salt, and toxins found in most water.

This has led to the biggest new fad– bottled water. The first 2 pages of a Google search on bottled water, lists many websites for water from any pure spring in the country, each claiming to be the purest and best tasting. This leads to the newest and most popular way to get your logo, brand, and slogan before the public. It is bottled natural spring water with your company’s logo or trade mark on custom made labels. This type of marketing is designated private labeling.

These days, bottled water with customized labeling is available as an advertising or marketing device on many websites on the Internet. This is a fun, clever, affordable way to market your company name, logo, or message to your customers. The marketing industry always looks for something new and creative; custom labeled bottled waters or sparkling waters are a pouplar innovation, especially with the new health fad of always carrying drinking water with you. Sparkling waters can also be flavored with aromas.

Proactive public relations teams everywhere are thinking of all kinds of ways to capitalize on this trend. An imaginative PR consultant will take a long time to run out of ideas. Politics, business, charities, churches, sports, and even family events are just some of the possible fields for this new PR tool.

The most creative form of branding that I found? Private label bottled water for wedding guests. You can have custom labels made for weddings, cocktail parties, engagement parties and outdoor events, all with private labels with the name of the bride and groom, the wedding date, and so on.The label can even match the napkins and other items one orders for weddings. To try your hand at making private labels instantly for free, go to freelabelmaker.

I guess you could even use this device to announce the birth of your first child– private label bottled water named after the baby. I am sure if I sit here long enough, I can think of thousands of additional ways to promote private labeled bottled water, but I am sure you already get the idea .

A quarter of a century ago, starting a retail store was much easier. People regularly purchased staple items they needed. stores were not difficult to run and business was booming. Store owners often felt like they were prime examples of individuals living the American dream. The neighborhood kids understood that if they ever needed a job, they could look to one of the different neighborhood establishments: candy store, drug store or their local women’s shoes store business. Some of these stores had been operated by the same family for generations. However, in today’s economy most of these mom and pop stores are being forced to close their doors. They are losing the struggle in keeping their businesses afloat.

Related:  comfortable men’s shoes

Over the years, most of these local businesses succeeded in the face of competition from large department store chains. They managed to compete because they provided individual customer service. That personalized service enabled them to maintain a constant flow of loyal customers. The neighborhood shoe store, for example, would allow a customer to return a pair of shoes without a receipt, because they knew the customer and had faith that they would be back in the future. Firmly established customer service bonds are better than mere bargain sales and discounts. Customer service was one of the main tactics small retail outlets used to gain leverage over and compete with large department stores.

Since the development of the internet, small retail stores have had to compete not only with their local department store chains, but also with a multitude of online stores. The impact of these cyber-stores was slow at first, however, as more and more people begun to make online purchases. There’s no more going to your local shoe store; instead buyers are trying on shoes online. As internet retail stores flourished, local vendors started to see a sharp decline. While this is convenient for customers, it has begun to take a toll on once-prosperous local shops.

In today’s economy, small merchants are now facing an even bigger challenge in order to stay in business. With the banks in their current state, they’ve tightened the reins by decreasing the lines of credit that merchants depend upon. This credit crunch has cause local merchants to turn to drastic measures. For instance; your local comfort shoes store owner has had to dip into his retirement fund to purchase inventory or fund the marketing campaign. They don’t have a large funding base to rely on. However, with banks lowering credit limits, the business owner have fewer funds to work with. And with the decline in business they are looking at the strong possibility of a completely restructured life.

It’s possible to find more information by using The Wall Street Journal and by using AOL.       

How to create a survey using Survey Galaxy

Designing surveys is easy; isn’t it? The reality is that writing surveys is easy but writing surveys that will be effective is more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you with your survey questionnaire design and help you write effective surveys.

1. What is the survey’s purpose?

There are many reasons for conducting questionnaires. By correctly phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in many ways and for a variety of reasons. When designing a survey do not lose sight of its purpose.

2. Give the survey a good title

The survey title is an opportunity to instantly summarise a survey’s objective and encourage respondents to participate. Respondents need to invest time in completing the survey so encourage them that the investment they make will be worthwhile.

3. Don’t make the survey any longer than it needs to be

Every question asked should be asked for a reason. Minimize asking questions that will provide you with ‘nice to know’ information and concentrate instead on ‘need to know’ questions.

4. Use plain English, avoid jargon and acronyms, be consistent and ensure that the questions you ask will not result in ambiguous answers

Care must be taken in wording a question. If a question is not clear then there is every chance that respondents may interpret the question differently to that intended by the publisher making any analysis of the data meaningless or at the very least misleading.

5. Avoid long questions

Where practical use short sentences. Long questions can lead to a higher level of incidents where respondents abandon a survey.

6. Ask only one question at a time

Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like ‘Do you like tennis and football?’

7. Avoid influencing the answer

Avoid loading the question. ‘Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell cigarettes to minors be prosecuted?’ is likely to have no value.

8. Ensure that the chosen answer format allows the respondent to answer the question being asked

Allow the respondent to answer how they really feel or they may be less inclined to complete the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a “No comment”, “Can’t say”, “Don’t know” or similar response option.

9. At the same time that you compile the survey consider, when the survey is complete, how the compiled data is going be analysed

Appreciate that questions that allow for a free text open ended response, such as when asking the respondent for their comments, is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider grouping the answers into groups that will match your analysis requirements. For example “How long have you worked here?” – ‘less than 1 year’, ‘between 1 and 5 years’ and ‘more than 5′.

10. Try and ensure that the questionnaire flows

Group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants.

11. Target your respondents carefully

In some cases you will want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can’t control who responds to your survey consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents who don’t fit your target profile.

12. Allow the respondent to expand on their answer or make comments

Allowing respondents to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and the comments will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Keep in mind though that for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyse free text open ended responses.

13. If the survey you are conducting is to be confidential ensure that you honour your pledge

If you have assured the respondents that the survey is confidential ensure that the individual data is not to be shared with anyone and the information is not going to be used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained and any identifying information deleted after the survey is complete.

14. Weigh up the advantages of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable

If your respondents are to be anonymous then you will be unable to follow up specific complaints or match “pre” or “post” surveys. In some cases allowing people to remain anonymous will however allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.

15. Carefully consider what the best response format will be

Maintaining a consistency in the format used for responses is good practice. When designing your survey keep in mind that when analysing the data radio buttons are easier to analyse than check boxes that offer the respondent multiple responses. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.

16. Give the respondent an idea of how much time the survey will take

If the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions then respondent drop out can occur. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so the respondents can choose the best time to complete the survey.

17. Provide respondents with the survey end date

Encourage respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise respondents as to the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.

18. Pilot the survey

Before publishing a live survey publish the survey as a trial to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.

19. Before publishing the survey check the survey carefully

Carefully check and then check again that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read the survey before you publish, if you are unable to do this then take a break before checking again.

20. Remember to say thank you

Respondents invest their time when completing surveys and should therefore be thanked at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as a prize draw or reward.

To get started there are numerous survey software websites to choose from.

In this day and age, more and more people are starting to sell products of their own design. They make them, market them, and sell them — and bring in a lot of cash in doing so. This can be a part time endeavor or it can become a full time career, it is all up to you. Whichever way you go about it, you can definitely make a lot of added income. All you have to do is consider the steps presented in this article.

Probably the biggest draw to this endeavor involves profits. If you can be successful with your product, you really can make a whole lot of money. As a matter of fact, you get to keep the profits once you have covered the cost of making your product. That just begs the question, how do you ensure your success?

Of course, you need an idea first if you eventually want to make money online. Don’t worry if you’re having a hard time thinking of a good one, since you don’t have to rush this. You can try to solve a current problem, for starters. You can also try to figure out how to ideally solve that problem.

Naturally, you have to market something that people actually want to buy. Polling is the best way to see what that is. Say your interest lies in creating something for the computer. Maybe you want to create a tutorial for photo software. Just ask around, create some polls, to see if a lot of people would be interested in something like that.

Sometimes, older products just need a little make over. They need to be improved. If you can revamp an older product without committing any kind of copyright infringement or stealing any patents, go for it. Maybe it was something that had potential, even if it never got popular in the first place.  Maybe it was something that simply faded into obscurity for whatever reason.

You may be worried that your great idea has no niche of its own. That really is not an issue — you can make one for it. Lots of inventors do this when creating new products. A single person came up with the first troll doll. Some rich guy out there once decided that a ball attached to a paddle would be loads of fun. Create your own target market, and don’t hesitate to market an idea of yours that might prove to be successful.

Once you have decided on a product, however, you still have to find a market for it. You still have to sell it. The internet actually makes that incredibly easy these days. You do not necessarily need to go to an expensive advertising firm. If you can set up your own web site, you can be in business.

This endeavor takes a lot of patience and determination. You have to work incredibly hard. It is not just about creating your product, you have to find a target market and get it sold as well. The first step is having or finding an idea. From there, you can proceed on your plan of action.  Do you plan to make money blogging?  Are you trying to market a product that you’ve made yourself?  Whatever it is, don’t sway from your goal, and you’ll get there sooner than you think.