3 Winning Sales Strategies You Can't Market Without!

1. Attention-Getting Ads Get Results

Think about it...how many advertisements do you hear every day...how about every hour? Let's face it, we're bombarded with magazine ads, newspaper ads, TV ads, radio ads, and the Internet is plastered with ads on every site. Not many of the astronomical number of advertisements stick with us, and make an impact. How can you make your ad STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD?

" Make a dramatic statement: "Even my dog knows ...."

" Surprise them with the unexpected: "Use for 30 days totally free..."

" Ask a thought provoking question: "Is your current insurance costing you hundreds of extra dollars every year?"

" Use high impact headlines - it's important to snag their attention right away.

2. Get Personal

How many times have you been caught in the cycle of automated phone services? Yeah, you push 15 numbers and end up back at the main menu and never did talk to a sales rep. People are hungry for personal interaction in the marketplace. Look for ways to make your business a personal experience that your customers will appreciate. Get to know something about the people who walk through your doors. Let the people who visit your website know something about you. Yeah, it's easier to trust an individual than a huge impersonal company...and trust is crucial to building a pool of loyal customers.

3. Paint a Picture

Ah, the end of a hectic week has finally arrived! As I lock the doors on a still cluttered office, my mind wanders to the many things that will demand my attention this weekend. I long to just escape the demanding voices...escape to the waters of the lake across town. It would be like heaven to plop myself across the back seat of a boat, and watch the sea gulls dip and dive as the waves rock me peaceful to sleep. Yep, I can almost hear the sound of their splashing when the clang of metal alerts me to the fact that I've dropped my keys.

Put your customers on the boat. Yeah, painting word pictures that capture their emotions will be more effective that the raw facts of the benefit your product offers. Describe what the benefits will do for them, vividly and in great detail...get them panting for the end result. Paint your way to a sale!

Think about it...the 3 tactics we've talked about deal with human emotions or behaviors, rather than your product itself. Yeah, when we affect the inner part of the customer, our sales are likely to see great results... and hey, they'll feel good while they’re writing out the check! What more could you ask for?

8 Advantages Of Using An Email Marketing Software

 If you decided to use email marketing to promote your business, then let me congratulate you on this very wise decision.

You might have read over the internet the buzz created by this type of marketing, and I’m sure you have already learned that “The money is in your list” – this is 100% true.

Even though email marketing is a very powerful way to transform leads into hungry buyers many people are discouraged to use this technique because of the time they need to invest in it. A recent study has showed that about 75 % of people who use email marketing need between 15 and 50 hours per week to handle it.

If you’re like me, then you’re a very busy person who can’t afford to spend that much time just on email marketing. So this is why I decided to make a list of the great advantages brought by Mailloop 7.0. , the best email marketing software on the net.

1. You get an opt-in form template which comes with full instructions so you can easily add it to your site.

2. It automatically stores every email saving you precious time and headaches.

3. It e-mails new subscribers a welcome message just moments after opting in. No more preparing and sending e-mails to hundreds, even thousands of subscribers manually.

4. Mailloop gives you attractive looking templates to use for your newsletter so that it looks friendlier to your subscribers.

5. It keeps your e-mail safe from spam complaints, blacklists or filters so that it doesn’t get trashed.

6. You can schedule your promotions so that you can go on your vacation without worrying about interrupting campaigns.

7. You can use as many auto responders as you need, create as many campaigns, write as many emails as you wish … the sky’s the limit.

8. Manage all of this from a complete user-friendly control panel.

Using Online Videos To Promote Your Business

Are you a small business owner? If so, how is your business doing? Despite businesses that are a success, there are many business owners who want more. If you are one of those individuals, it is likely that you would do just about anything in your power to improve your business, especially if you sell a particular product or service. When working to improve their businesses, many business owners spend thousands, if not millions, of dollars on advertising. How would you feel if you learned that there was a free way that you could promote your business?

A free way to promote your business? Unfortunately, many business owners believe that there is no such thing. If by chance it is believed, there are many who would automatically assume that it was a wasted effort. Although many free advertising methods can be deemed time consuming and not worth the effort, there is one that you should try. That method involves the internet and free online video websites.

If you are an avid internet user, there is a good chance that you are fully aware of what free online video websites are and what they do. If not, you will want to learn. Free online video websites are websites that allow internet users to watch videos that are hosted on their website, free of charge. What is nice about free online video websites is that most will also allow internet users, just like you, to make, upload, and share their own videos. Depending on the type of business you own and operate, you may be able to use these websites to your advantage.

When it comes to using free online video websites to your advantage, you will want to familiarize yourself with the websites that are currently available. You can easily do this by performing a standard internet search. Your search should produce a fairly large number of results, including Google Video and YouTube. Before making your video, you will want to examine any of the rules and restrictions that are set in place. When doing so, you will find that most video websites do not have any rules or restrictions concerning the use of online videos to promote your business; however, you will still want to make sure that your video is tactfully done.

If you are an online business owner, especially one that sells a particular product, you could make a video showcasing your product. For instance, if your specialty is photo blankets, you may want to show your samples or even go over the process of making them. It may also be a good idea to mention the overall cost of photo blankets and who should own them. If your product would make a great gift, it is also advised that you mentioned that. When doing your video, you will want to refrain from making your video seem like spam. Although you may want to mention the price, you will want to refrain from promoting your business too much. At the end of your video, you may want to offer directions on how to make a purchase or learn more information.

Although products are the easiest to showcase in an online video, you can also use your video to help promote a particular service that you sell. For instance, if you offer assistance to those that are in debt, you will want to provide an overview of what debt is, who it hurts, and how help can be obtained. Providing general information on debt is a great way to keep your video from appearing too pushy. As mentioned above, you may also want to include information on your business at the end of your video. This may help to increase the number of clients you receive, especially if you provide a service that is used and needed by many.

To make you video, whether or not you plan on using that video to promote your business, you will need a few pieces of equipment. Perhaps, the most important is a recording device. For the best results, you are urged to use a camcorder, but you can also you a webcam. Movie making software is important, as well. Most computers already come equipped with movie making software. After you have made and saved your video, you will have to follow the instructions of the free online video website you wish to use.

Have You Stumbled Upon StumbleUpon?

If you are not one of the more than 12 million people who have discovered StumbleUpon, this is a site that describes itself as a “discovery engine that finds the best of the web, recommended just for you.” Whether through Facebook and Twitter friends, people that you subscribe to or people who subscribe to you, it combines social interaction with the sharing of websites by people who have similar interests.

The aim of StumbleUpon is to help users find content on the Internet that they may not otherwise have discovered using a traditional search engine. As you “stumble,” you will see only websites that have been recommended by friends and those of a like mind, which means that you come across only content that is relevant and interesting to you. Based on a ratings system, the site uses the collective opinions of members as well as “machine learning” to offer up relevant content, and ratings are also used to connect people with similar interests. As members interact and share their favorite sites, each one benefits from an improved web surfing experience. In addition, as StumbleUpon learns about the things you like, the content that it offers becomes increasingly relevant.

According to StumbleUpon’s CEO Garrett Camp, 500,000 new members are joining the site each month, so if you are not a member already, sign up now and choose from among nearly 500 different topics to indicate your own personal interests and preferences.

Best Social Media Tools To Use

Whether you’re using social media to grow your business, look for a job or keep up with friends, there are certain tools that can be better to use than others. There are plenty of options out there when it comes to social media, but too much of a good thing can actually be a bad thing. Rather than jumping from tool to tool, it’s better to find a handful of ones that are working well and stick with them. In order to help you decide which tools are right for you, we’ve outlined a few favorites below. Please keep in mind, these are tools you should be using above and beyond Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Hootsuite is a definite must, if for no other reason than it combines your favorite social media tools in one place. This dashboard allows you to stay in front of your followers on all of your social media outlets at the same time. You have complete control over what messages you send out as well as customizable reports for you to see how well your social media efforts are working.

Bufferapp is another great tool that allows you to schedule your Twitter tweets to be delivered when you want them to be and in any order you choose. If you want to use Twitter but don’t want to be stuck to your phone or computer all day, this is a great social media tool to use.

Dlvr.it is a great tool to help spread all of your content across the Internet. This is a matter of simply linking your RSS feed to Dlvr.it and then your content is spread out across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz and more. This handy little tool also provides statistical reports for you to see how others are responding to your content.

Finally, the best, most effective social media tool is…YOU. That’s right! All of these tools are great and can be effective, but unless you are using them and engaging your followers and practicing the basic fundamentals of social media, none of the tools we just mentioned will do you any good.

Utilizing Social Media To Grow a Business

Social networking is something that is used almost every day by the majority of people. People now realize that they can get a much larger range of tasks done in a shorter space of time using social media, rather than other forms of communication. For instance, they can contact 4 people at once explaining about an upcoming party and then put an offer in on that Xbox that they wanted. Social media is a great way to stay in touch; conveniently.

For this reason, businesses really need to get involved with social media. What they need to do is log onto websites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace and start creating a social profile. It may take time, but as their profile increases in size, the reality is that more and more people will actually start thinking of their business. Businesses that ignore social media are potentially missing out on hundreds of consumers every single day.

As most people will be keen to suggest, the best way to promote a business is by word of mouth. People that have tried and tested your products or services and had a good experience will be the best advertisement for a business. The great thing is, social networking sites basically act as a word of mouth referral, which is why so many people are finding that their conversions on these sites are simply so good. Communicating online through social media sites on a regular basis will ensure that these businesses grow to a size that an owner could never even imagine.

Get on social networks and build the marketing strategy into your every day business life. Social networks have a snowball effect, so over time your profile will become larger and larger and more and more worth while, producing more leads nearly every single day!

Motivating without money

Managing during an economic downturn often means finding creative ways to keep employees motivated. Whole departments can become demoralized if bonuses and salary increases don’t materialize—especially if everyone has become accustomed to receiving financial rewards for hard work.

But as any management consultant will tell you, money is not a real motivator. Jobs that give the most satisfaction are often not those that provide the biggest financial rewards. Good managers without mega budgets for bonuses find other incentives to keep employees motivated.

The first step toward re-energizing staff hit hard by an economic downturn is to recognize that the problem cannot be ignored. Denying there’s disappointment will only lead to anger, blaming, bitterness and cynicism. So don’t try to keep a lid on the resentment. Instead, give everyone the chance to groan, preferably away from the office. A safe place to air grievances together helps everyone realize they’re not in it alone.

Next, get the team to think ahead. Consider what is working well, what needs to change and decide a strategy for moving forward. Shifting from victim mode to a positive, common purpose should have immediate effects on morale.

Don’t let the company’s austerity plan mean you eliminate all treats. You don’t want to create a poverty culture. That kills creativity. Find new ways to reward good work. For example, find inexpensive travel packages. For under $500 you can create healthy competition. When someone gets promoted, give them gift vouchers they can hand out to others who helped them gain the promotion. Order pies on Fridays. And remember to give praise. It’s free.

Dare to be different.

Dare to be different.
Never, ever play it safe. Be bold. Be daring. Stand out. Make enemies. Consumers today aren’t looking for the same-old “paint-by-numbers” marketing campaigns. They want to feel connected as individuals doing business with individuals. So, start by humanizing your brand and leveraging its unique features. There’s no better way to get recognition in a crowded global marketplace. Stand out by being different.
Remember, though, that this “difference” must be genuine. It cannot be tacked on or anything less than genuine. Zero-in on what makes your brand exceptional. Then, communicate those features –and your company’s conviction –to your prospects and customers.
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple as CEO in 1997, he launched the “Think Different” ad campaign. The voice-over from that campaign reads:
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently… And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
Being irresistible is about being different, standing out from the pack. It’s also about keeping your message simple, focused and relevant. Turn to these four elements when designing your campaigns, and you’ll start engaging more consumers. Make it compelling, dare to be different and never give people what they want – give them what they never knew they needed.

Life Mapping: A Vision of Success

Success is more than economic gains, titles, and degrees. Planning for success is about mapping out all the aspects of your life. Similar to a map, you need to define the following details: origin, destination, vehicle, backpack, landmarks, and route.

Origin: Who you are

A map has a starting point. Your origin is who you are right now. Most people when asked to introduce themselves would say, “Hi, I’m Jean and I am a 17-year old, senior highschool student.” It does not tell you about who Jean is; it only tells you her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic, professional, cultural, and civil status. Moreover, you can also reflect on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses. Upon introspection, Jean realized that she was highly motivated, generous, service-oriented, but impatient. Her inclination was in the biological-medical field. Furthermore, she believed that life must serve a purpose, and that wars were destructive to human dignity.

Destination: A vision of who you want to be

“Who do want to be?” this is your vision. Now it is important that you know yourself so that you would have a clearer idea of who you want to be; and the things you want to change whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and targets for the future would also be unclear. Your destination should cover all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Continuing Jean’s story, after she defined her beliefs, values, and principles in life, she decided that she wanted to have a life dedicated in serving her fellowmen.

Vehicle: Your Mission

A vehicle is the means by which you can reach your destination. It can be analogized to your mission or vocation in life. To a great extent, your mission would depend on what you know about yourself. Bases on Jean’s self-assessment, she decided that she was suited to become a doctor, and that she wanted to become one. Her chosen vocation was a medical doctor. Describing her vision-mission fully: it was to live a life dedicated to serving her fellowmen as a doctor in conflict-areas.

Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and attitude

Food, drinks, medicines, and other travelling necessities are contained in a bag. Applying this concept to your life map, you also bring with you certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These determine your competence and help you in attaining your vision. Given such, there is a need for you to assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present and what you need to gain along the way. This two-fold assessment will give you insights on your landmarks or measures of success. Jean realized that she needed to gain professional knowledge and skills on medicine so that she could become a doctor. She knew that she was a bit impatient with people so she realized that this was something she wanted to change.

Landmarks and Route: S.M.A.R.T. objectives

Landmarks confirm if you are on the right track while the route determines the travel time. Thus, in planning out your life, you also need to have landmarks and a route. These landmarks are your measures of success. These measures must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks such as earning a master’s degree and a doctorate degree within a period of three years, since the minimum number of years to complete a master’s degree is two years. Going back to Jean as an example, she identified the following landmarks in her life map: completing a bachelor’s degree in biology by the age of 21; completing medicine by the age of 27; earning her specialization in infectious diseases by the age of 30; getting deployed in local public hospitals of their town by the age of 32; and serving as doctor in war-torn areas by the age of 35.

Anticipate Turns, Detours, and Potholes

The purpose of your life map is to minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. But oftentimes our plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes thus; we must anticipate them and adjust accordingly.

Neuromarketing - Interesting concept

Neuromarketing – Could It Actually Be Helping Your Customers?

Neuromarketing, which has been described as “the intersection of neuroscience and behavior research with marketing, advertising and product design,” has caused a good deal of controversy since its first application in the early 1990s. But could the accusations of “brainwashing” and “mind control” be obscuring the fact that neuromarketing techniques might actually help customers to make better choices first time around, thus saving them money and increasing their levels of satisfaction?

Neuromarketing focuses on appealing to what is known as the “old brain” or “reptilian brain.” While the “new brain” processes rational data and the “middle brain” processes emotions and gut feelings, it is the old brain (the part that controls our fight-or-flight response) that is believed to be the actual trigger for decision making. In fact, studies have shown that the pleasure zone within the old brain reacts 500 milliseconds before the rational zone, so that decisions are made literally before we have had time to think, based on emotion, sensory stimulation and evoked memories. In addition, some research has demonstrated that instinctive choices made by the old brain are far less often regretted by buyers than those that are given greater consideration.

Although some businesses have resolutely stayed away from the concept of neuromarketing and all its bad press, one has to ask whether it might not, in fact, be doing customers a favor by appealing to their more primitive and honest emotional responses.

The Art Of Employee Motivation

The Art Of Employee Motivation

If you think that your employees’ poor performance on their designated jobs is costing you a whole lot of lost profits, then instead of just doing a total overhaul of your employee roster, why not try to do some employee motivation tactics to get them to actually come around and be able to save your company from looming bankruptcy. It really is fairly easy and simple to rouse some employee motivation, you just have to take these techniques to heart:

People nowadays are concerned of the lack of importance that is being put into health care plans. Is your company one of those companies that do not provide their employees with the health benefits that they should be entitled to? This is a possible reason why your employees’ morale are down. You need to reassess the situation and try to give them the health benefits that will ensure them that they will be protected by the company that they have been loyal to even in their times of sickness. Always remember that a happy worker is a satisfied worker so make sure to use this employee motivation tool in order to give your employees' morale a much needed boost.

Remember, companies are usually employed with some women who will, most often than not, become mothers. So it is highly important that you know their needs especially during the time when they would want to avail of their maternity leave. It is important that your company, no matter what kind of product or service you offer, is always sensitive to your employees needs, no matter what their gender is.

When it comes to having a good health plan for your employees, you must be sure that your health plan is actually of any good or else it would not really do any good to your employees’ morale. Make sure that the health plan will be able to cover all their basic needs and it wouldn’t really hurt if you throw in some added kicks.

Basic health care plans that you can use for employee motivation actually covers the following: full coverage for any basic illness or injury, coverage of hospital payments in case the employee has to be checked-in at the hospital or if there are some minor surgeries that need to be done.

Added benefits to further boost employee motivation through a health care plan is through having their dental health covered as well as their optical needs, eyeglass subsidies as well as free dental cleaning and check-ups will be a good treat for your employees and will surely be a great added employee motivation move.

Apart from having a good health care plan for your employee motivation tactics, you must also be able to provide for them some other additional care such as an insurance plan which they can rely on in case something bad happens to them when they are still of service to your company. Even if this employee motivation move will not be availed by the employee’s family during the time of his or her service, your employee can still choose to continue on paying for the premiums of the insurance plan even after he or she has retired from your company. Unfortunately for your employees, once they resign from a job position at your company the said insurance plan will be revoked since the company will not be able to pay for your insurance premiums anymore (remember, all the payments from these employee motivation tactics will actually come from the employee’s salary).

Another great employee motivation move for loyal employees of your company is to have a car loan ready for them, employees who have already served some considerable amount of years in the company should be entitled to a car plan wherein deductions from their salary will be used to pay for their vehicle of choice. This is a great employee motivation move since those who are cannot afford a car (a brand new car at that!) would actually want to continue staying in your company because of this added employee motivation benefit.

From time to time, especially during special occasions, you need to be able to give your employees some added morale boost by organizing events or parties that will foster camaraderie among your employees. A little good time certainly wouldn’t hurt anyone and this will all be in the spirit of good ole’ company fun. Employee motivation directed events such as Christmas parties and company picnics are surely a welcome treat to your seemingly overworked and over fatigue employees.

You must also remember to give your employees some time to unwind like providing your regular employees the benefit of having a two-week paid vacation leave. That’s the least you can do for your employees who you have been held captive for the majority of the year in your office.

These are really simple and easy employee motivation tactics that you can do in order to boost your employees’ morale and to be able to ensure a good upkeep of your company.

The New Face of Marketing

The New Face of Marketing

Marketing has taken on yet another new face - mobile – and according to Morgan Stanley, Mobile Marketing is the fastest growing industry in the history of the Internet.

It’s really no surprise. Today, consumers are becoming more dependent on, and active with, their mobile phones. In fact, 96% of adults own cell phones – 37% of which are smart phones. With statistics like that, it’s only natural that businesses key in on the mobile marketing revolution that’s sweeping the Internet.

Mobile Marketing – by definition - is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network. (Mobile Marketing Association)

To break it down into something easier to understand, Mobile Marketing brings your products or services to your customers or clients in a much faster way than traditional marketing methods. Even simpler yet: mobile marketing is any form of marketing that involves using a mobile phone to participate. It may take on the form of a text message promotion, email, social media outlets or even face-to-face interactions – all with one goal in mind: engaging the customer to take some type of action.

Mobile Marketing Basics

Mobile Marketing Basics

Implementing a Mobile Marketing plan into your current marketing strategy really isn’t all that difficult and it’s actually less expensive than you think, but it will take time to set up, monitor and maintain. It can’t be stressed enough that Mobile Marketing is about consistency and commitment. You have to think about what you want to offer your customers, how you want them to react to the offer and what you will do to see it through.

Business is about building relationships and Mobile Marketing fits into this concept perfectly. In order to be successful in offering your customers what they want, you have to first know what they want.

To help you on your way – here are a several steps you can take to begin implementing Mobile Marketing in your business today:

• Learn the basics first. You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. If you are planning to go this alone and not hire an agency that specializes in this field, you must learn the basics. The Mobile Marketing Association’s Best Practices Document is a good place to start. Unless you are a computer and Internet guru, some of the information may seem over your head when you first start reading. It’s ok – take your time and you’ll catch on.
• Case studies are excellent examples. Case Studies help you to see what other businesses are doing in the mobile world. It can also help get your creative juices flowing as far as what you can do in your business.
• Walk the walk. Use mobile web frequently. There’s no better way to learn something new than by putting it into practice. Subscribe to as many text messaging campaigns you can find. If you aren’t already on an unlimited data plan, now would be a good time to change that. You have to use the technology if you expect to sell your customers on its benefits.
• Determine how you’re going to get your offer out to your customers: text messaging, mobile website, mobile coupons, mobile advertising or some combination of these.
• Find companies who can provide you the technological support you’ll need to get your offer out to the masses. You’ll need text messaging companies, mobile website builders, etc., to make it all come together. Or, if you prefer, hire a one-stop shop to handle it all for you.
• Never stop learning! Mobile Marketing is a new technology and just like everything else, it will continue to evolve even in its formative days. Learn what you’re competitors are learning – but do it first. Don’t get left behind!

Like it or not, Mobile Marketing IS the wave of the future of the Internet. The yellow pages and other forms of traditional marketing have run their course. It’s now time to embrace the new technology and discover what it can do for you and your business.

Real estate investing made easy

5 tricks to make it big with real estate investing
Real estate investing is one of the most attractive ways of making good money (that is if you do it correct). Moreover, real estate investing is also a lot of fun. A lot of people practice real estate investing as their core profession and, in fact, make a lot of money that way.
Real estate investing is really an art and, like any art, it takes time to master the art of real estate investing. The key, of course, is to buy at a lower price and sell at higher price and make a profit even after paying all the costs involved in the two (buy/sell) transactions. Generally, people are of the opinion that real estate investing makes sense only when the rates are on the rise. However, real estate investing for profits is possible just about any time (and as I just said, real estate investing is an art). Here is a list of tricks that can make real estate investing profitable for you:
1) Look for public auctions, divorce settlements and foreclosures (bank/FHA/VA): Since quick settlement is the preference here (and not price), you might get a property at a price that is much lower than the prevailing market rate. You can then make arrangements to sell it at the market rate over a short period of time. However, make sure that the property is worth the price you are paying.
2) Looking for old listings: The old listings that are still unsold may provide you with good real estate investing opportunities. Just get hold of an old newspaper and call up the sellers. They might have given up hope of selling that property at all and with a bit of negotiation you can get the property for a real low price.
3) The hidden treasure: A really old (and dirty) looking house may scare off buyers. But this might be your chance for real estate investing that can yield good profits. So, explore such properties and check if spending a bit on them can make them shine. You can get these at very low prices and make a big profit in a short time.
4) Team up with attorneys: There are a number of attorneys who handle property sales on behalf of sellers or in special circumstances (like the death of the property owner). They might sometimes be looking to dispose off the property rather quickly and hence at a low price. Be the first one to grab such real estate investing opportunities and enjoy the profits.
5) Keep tab on the newspaper announcements: Property sell offs due to deaths, divorce settlements, immediate cash requirements and other reason are frequently announced in local papers. Keep track of such real estate investing avenues.
Ric Moody
Broker/Auctioneer
Dayton Commercial Realty

Creating a Business Brand Through a Down Economy

Creating a Business Brand Through a Down Economy
A good business brand is one that can withstand an ailing economy. In today's times wherein majority of the world is suffering from financial crisis, small- to big-time businesses are feeling the impact of this downturn.
This is when your branding campaign will be put to the test. Indeed, when businesses are competing for what remains of the market, you have to double your efforts at making the brand enable your business to thrive. What is also essential in these times is to never discount the impact of quality and improving value statements. These are important factors that hold promise to deliver more to the clients and keep your business afloat.
Are You Recession-Proof?
Branding seems to lose its vigor during recession. People tend to buy base on logic and needs, rather than impulse or perceptions. Therefore, you have to maintain or improve the kind of value, property, and benefits that your product promises its consumers. This is something that you must not lose focus on in your branding and marketing efforts, but its significance become more evident during times of recession.
If you want to add more value to your brand to make it better able to withstand the challenges of a suffering economy, here are areas of your branding system that must be given focus on:
• During recession, most businesses would tend to cut back on their marketing efforts and investments. On the contrary, this is the time wherein you need to strengthen your marketing efforts.
• Create more aggressive marketing programs to be able to capture a bigger share of the market.
• Assert yourself on consumers largely affected by recession by offering better value on your products.
• Your advertising campaign must highlight quality, economic benefits, and real benefits as opposed to appeal to their superficial concerns.
Helping Your Brand Survive The Recession
When recession has hit the consumers, buying becomes a less desirable practice. This will largely impact your business' efforts and this is made worse by the intensity of competition amongst various similar businesses.
Try using the following practices to keep your business thriving:
1.) Never change your brand identity. Doing so will reduce the trust you have built on the customers and will also ruin your reputation. Merely try to restructure the messages you are trying to deliver but make sure that it stays within the context of your basic brand identity.
2.) Utilize this time to appeal to your customer's needs by performing a more thorough market research. This will produce an impression that you are concerned about their needs and are seeking for ways to deliver that.
3.) If your business' products are mostly high-end, do not simply revert to dropping prices. Instead, try improving the value and quality of your products so that customers will have a better quality spending habit.
4.) Be open to potential new customers. In times of recession, people are in the process of re-evaluating their spending habits. This is your opportunity to come into the picture and offer your business as a possible solution.
Ensuring Brand Stability
Consumers change their buying patterns during recession, but business owners must remain committed with their branding strategies. However, you do have to make slight and appropriate changes though, such as increased sensitivity to this new buying attitude exhibited by consumers. During times of recession, you have to stay committed in helping your customers attain quality service and products that add more value to their money. This is your winning formula.
And with increased dedication to your business brand, you will also increase the loyalty of your patrons.

The Importance of Branding your Business

Importance of Branding Your Business
What is a Brand?
Branding your business is an essential step that any business owner need to take, whether yours is a small- or big-time business. In fact, it is something that must be looked into during the phase of business planning.
A brand is basically a name or a logo that will be used in advertising campaigns to represent your company or business. This will be used when printing out your business cards or when referring to your company. Hence, deciding on a brand must be undertaken with much consideration and thought. To sum it up, a brand details who you are, what you do, and how you do it.
Importance of Branding
There are several aspects that involve branding businesses. Each has its own importance and impact on attaining your business  goals. This is a step that every beginning businessman needs to educate him or herself about because it will determine the company's performance in the future.
Here are reasons as to why business branding must be given careful thought:
Creating Business Identity
When you use a business idea to start your own business venture, chances are there are already some other existing businesses with the same nature as yours. Therefore, you need to create a brand for your business that will differentiate you from your competitors.
So when deciding on a brand name or logo for your company, you need to think of creative ways that will help make your business be easily remembered by potential customers. Distinction is a vital part of every business venture and when people find that you have something unique to offer that lets you stand out from competing businesses, then you are one step closer to your business goals.
Once you have created your company brand, then that is when you need to look into delivering quality product or service that your brand will be perceived as. That takes you now to the next essential aspect involved with branding, which is marketing.
Marketing and Advertising Campaign
Branding also impacts the sales force of your product. If you are able to create a brand name that people will easily remember and recognize for your outstanding products, then it helps create an efficient branding system for your company.
The first step for a successful business is taking the time to let people know who you are, what you do, and the means at which you do it. Properly communicating your company's vision through your brand is an essential stage of any business branding effort. Having established an effective company brand will also create awareness of the product you are promoting.
So, when people hear your brand, then they would easily think of your products or services and your company's reputation.

Boost Your Brand With A Slogan!!!

Boost Your Branding With A Slogan
What is a Slogan?
Any form of business branding plan must involve the creation of a slogan. It is one of the basic elements necessary in building an effective brand campaign. A slogan typically consists of a short sentence or a phrase that serve to reinforce the business name or logo. In fact, many big time businesses has created highly successful marketing slogans that it has been recognized by the consumers as much as their name.
Slogan is often dismissed as an element for effective branding methods, which is also the reason why even a potentially good business name fails to deliver. Its purpose main purpose is mainly to enhance and boost the name or provide a tiny glimpse of what the brand promises to deliver. Even simple words or phrases can go a long way when it works well with your brand.
Impact of Slogan to Branding
Brand recall is the main purpose of creating a slogan. They are there to speak for the brand where images fail. This further enables the brand to create a more lasting memory to the minds of the consumers and enhances the market reach of the product.
Therefore, you need not just produce a creative slogan but an intelligent one. The purpose is mainly to capture the consumer's attention and produce interest about a given product. It enables your audience to stop and think about the possibilities offered by the brand. Depending on your marketing plan, you can utilize a slogan to appeal to either the needs, attitudes, or emotions of the consumers. Therefore, you are trying to compel them to make an action, which in this case is to purchase the product to avail of the benefits it offer.
Why is it such a potent part of your marketing and branding efforts, you may ask? Because it triggers the motivation of the consumers then driving them into action.
Creating a Good Slogan
Due to the importance of the slogan in your business, it is best to assert careful planning into the process of creating a slogan. To achieve a good slogan, you must inform yourself of what the qualities of a good slogan are.
1.) A good slogan is memorable. Since the purpose of a slogan is to increase brand recall and trigger buyer motivations, it must first be able to capture their attention and stay in their memory for a given period. Staying power is an essential factor in the business industry, so you have to be able to produce something that stays in the mind of the consumers when they go out to buy.
2.) A good slogan produces images on the consumer's mind. Most people produce images on their mind when they hear something. Hence, you can trigger the visual patterns of your customers by using the slogan. For instance, you can remind them about your company logo and create a stronger link between the two.
3.) A good slogan drives people into action. Awakening triggers on the consumer's part will help make them the decision to buy the product being represented.
4.) A good slogan highlights the benefit of the product. This is tied up with the efforts of creating product distinction, which is to emphasize the benefits that one can derive from using a company's products or services.
Advertising versus Business Slogan
Business owners must be able to differentiate advertising from business slogans since they serve different purposes. The business slogan is more important since it concerns the brand identity. It impacts your distinction in the market and the power of your brand.
Meanwhile, advertising slogans are created for a specific marketing objectives and over a short-period of time. It is more concerned over influencing a consumer's immediate reaction to a given product while business slogan reinforces the reputation of a company as part of its branding efforts.

Lessons for Generation Y in the workplace

Lessons for Generation Y in the workplace

You’re young and ambitious, a perfect representative of Generation Y. Your energy may take you far, but fair or not, you’ve got to prove yourself to your boss and your colleagues. Here’s how to earn their respect:

• Be authentic. On your résumé and face to face, resist the urge to embellish your accomplishments or brag about your talent. Let your personality and achievements speak for themselves.

• Handle the stress. Show that you can keep your cool when things don’t go according to plan. If you wilt under pressure, managers and co-workers won’t trust you with responsibility.

• Cultivate the right relationships. Don’t just kiss up to the boss (but don’t ignore him or her either). Identify people who can help you, and whom you can help, and establish long-term relationships with the potential to benefit both of you.

• Learn to communicate. Your email, reports, and notes should be grammatically correct and free of buzzwords. Read everything over carefully to be sure you’re making the point you intend, in appropriate language. Leave out the jokes, and concentrate on content that’s clear and easy to follow.

• Don’t complain. You may be disappointed or angered by a manager’s decision. Live with it. If you get a reputation for whining, you’ll have a much harder time convincing people that they should give you their attention and trust.

• Show some humility. You may have gotten straight A’s in college, and you may have the greatest idea for a new product ever. But if you insist on telling people how smart you are, you’ll alienate co-workers and managers who would otherwise be willing to help you. Show some maturity, and listen to the people around you with respect.

• Work hard. The key to success is any career isn’t brilliance alone, but the ability to show results. Be ready to put in the time and effort to get things done even when the work isn’t exciting or glamorous. People will notice.

Hold Better Meetings!!!

Get meetings to move along

Want to make your meetings more effective so employees stop thinking of them as disorganized time-wasters? Here are five tips:

1. Set an agenda. Write it down and give it to participants in advance. This lets everyone know the parameters of the meeting and helps people stick to the point.

2. Restrict the number of participants. The more people in the meeting, the more likelihood of chaos. It may be better to have two smaller meetings than one large one.

3. Always start on time. Get going even when some people are running late. When people know they won’t wait for you, they’ll make more of an effort to be on time.

4. Set a time limit. Let everyone know how long you expect the meeting to take, and stick to your limit. Otherwise, there’ll be no end to the meeting.

5. Schedule meetings for late in the day. Almost everyone is eager to get out of the office at a reasonable time, so scheduling a meeting about an hour before the end of the regular workday cuts down the chances that a meeting will drag on.

Getting More Customers

Surveys show that 85% of success in life relates to your communication, human relations skills, and "emotional intelligence”.

Joe Batten, an American motivational speaker said: "Before you tell, ask; before you talk, listen; after you listen, relate; and always show that you care. When you can translate care, people will want to do business with you and details will not get in the way."

From a business viewpoint you also have to build relationships and get customers to trust you. To do that you have to:

1. Be Reliable

Do what you say you're going to do.

Do it when you say you're going to do it.

Do it right the first time.

Get it done on time.

Under promise and over deliver.

2. Be Responsive

Be available

Be accessible

Be willing

Be helpful

Be informative

3. Solve problems

Solve customers’ unique problems and they will continue to be your customer. Put yourself in the customer's shoes and feel what they feel.

Does this mean that all your marketing and advertising needs to be “touchy feely”?

No. You can still create calls to action that increase sales whilst observing all these principles.

For example:

Tell them about a price increase!

People want a 'good deal'. If prices are going up on a specific date, let your customers know. They'll want to buy before the price increases.

Offer a trial period

Trial periods are a great way to get new customers. Offer a special deal, extra service or a lower price during your trial / introductory period.

Offer a Guarantee

People want to know there's no risk involved if they're not satisfied with the product/service. Let new customers know they can cancel for any reason before the trial period expires.

Offer free extras

Buy X and receive Y. This works with a whole range of products and services. Be sure to include an end date on your offer. This politely urges people to take advantage of your offer before time runs out. Give a deadline for ordering. Order by the 10th and receive.... That way, your customers know they only have a limited time to respond and they won't fall victim to the "I'll do it later" syndrome.

Offer a FREE gift

As an added incentive for ordering, offer your free gift to the first 100 or 1000 people that respond or walk through your doors.

Offer an upgrade

One simple line can boost your sales. "Order within 10 days and we'll upgrade you to ......."

Whatever you offer be sure to include action phrases:

* Call Now

* 24 Hours a Day

* Mail today in the prepaid envelope

* Fax your response card.

Business success also relates to communication, human relations skills, and "emotional intelligence”, but in a business context.