The top ten brands, according to the Best Global Brands 2008 list are:
1. Coca-Cola
2. IBM
3. Microsoft
4. GE
5. Nokia
6. Toyota
7. Intel
8. McDonalds
9. Disney
10. Google (ANI)
Showing posts with label Muhammad Waqas Khalique. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muhammad Waqas Khalique. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Brand management
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product's perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity. Marketers see a brand as an implied promise that the level of quality people have come to expect from a brand will continue with future purchases of the same product. This may increase sales by making a comparison with competing products more favorable. It may also enable the manufacturer to charge more for the product. The value of the brand is determined by the amount of profit it generates for the manufacturer. This can result from a combination of increased sales and increased price, and/or reduced COGS (cost of goods sold), and/or reduced or more efficient marketing investment. All of these enhancements may improve the profitability of a brand, and thus, "Brand Managers" often carry line-management accountability for a brand's P&L (Profit and Loss) profitability, in contrast to marketing staff manager roles, which are allocated budgets from above, to manage and execute. In this regard, Brand Management is often viewed in organizations as a broader and more strategic role than Marketing alone.
The annual list of the world’s most valuable brands, published by Interbrand and Business Week, indicates that the market value of companies often consists largely of brand equity. Research by McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, in 2000 suggested that strong, well-leveraged brands produce higher returns to shareholders than weaker, narrower brands. Taken together, this means that brands seriously impact shareholder value, which ultimately makes branding a CEO responsibility.
The annual list of the world’s most valuable brands, published by Interbrand and Business Week, indicates that the market value of companies often consists largely of brand equity. Research by McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, in 2000 suggested that strong, well-leveraged brands produce higher returns to shareholders than weaker, narrower brands. Taken together, this means that brands seriously impact shareholder value, which ultimately makes branding a CEO responsibility.
Macdonald's mission statement
"McDonald's vision is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile."
How to advertise your new products?
If you have no money, then you will need to choose items that require some initial hard work. If you have some money, then you can choose methods that let your money work for you. Learning them all through trial and error is the most powerful tool because you can combine some methods of advertising to increase you income to its full potential.
Newspaper advertising is a goldmine if done properly. It is important to run an ad for two weeks to track its return. Then after running the ad you will know how much the return was for your investment and if you want to continue with that paper. On the computer you can easily type in newspaper advertising and thousands of sites like www.newspapers.com. will appear. Weekly newspapers have a better value for the cost. Free newspapers provide only advertising sections and charge very little because they are considered unclassified
Once your business has generated enough revenue and you can splurge a little, you will want to open up the doors and the windows to a whole world of possibilities on the internet. From Yahoo to Google to eventually launching your own website, the possibilities are endless. This is when all that initial hard work will truly pay off because on the web, all the work will take care of itself. Best of luck.
Newspaper advertising is a goldmine if done properly. It is important to run an ad for two weeks to track its return. Then after running the ad you will know how much the return was for your investment and if you want to continue with that paper. On the computer you can easily type in newspaper advertising and thousands of sites like www.newspapers.com. will appear. Weekly newspapers have a better value for the cost. Free newspapers provide only advertising sections and charge very little because they are considered unclassified
Once your business has generated enough revenue and you can splurge a little, you will want to open up the doors and the windows to a whole world of possibilities on the internet. From Yahoo to Google to eventually launching your own website, the possibilities are endless. This is when all that initial hard work will truly pay off because on the web, all the work will take care of itself. Best of luck.
Monday, December 21, 2009
HOw to enter new market
There are three steps to enter new market
1. Choose the Best Way to Grow Begin by deciding which growth strategy is right for your company. For example, you may choose to offer new or improved products or services (called line extensions) to segmented groups drawn from your current target audience. Products with new features can grab the attention of lapsed customers and revitalize sagging market share--just so long as the new products and services don't cannibalize sales of your old ones until you're ready to phase them out.
2. How will your new product or service add value for the customer? When you introduce a product or service to any market, you must differentiate from the vast field of competition. Decide how your new offering will stand apart as a better value. Special features or offers, such as convenient free delivery or 24-hour customer service (provided they're not already offered by your competitors) will be perceived as value-added perks that'll help induce customers to make the switch.
Which audience segments will be most receptive to what you offer? Just as you've observed in the drugstore with all the various modifications of razors, certain features will appeal to specific target audience subgroups.
3. Your new products or services will be distributed and sold in the same way as the existing ones, even though they may target different audience subgroups. On the other hand, approaching an entirely new market for a product may require you to create relationships with new distributors. It doesn't matter whether you introduce a product or service--you'll need to create an in-depth marketing program that begins by educating your new prospects and successfully moves them through the sales cycle.
1. Choose the Best Way to Grow Begin by deciding which growth strategy is right for your company. For example, you may choose to offer new or improved products or services (called line extensions) to segmented groups drawn from your current target audience. Products with new features can grab the attention of lapsed customers and revitalize sagging market share--just so long as the new products and services don't cannibalize sales of your old ones until you're ready to phase them out.
2. How will your new product or service add value for the customer? When you introduce a product or service to any market, you must differentiate from the vast field of competition. Decide how your new offering will stand apart as a better value. Special features or offers, such as convenient free delivery or 24-hour customer service (provided they're not already offered by your competitors) will be perceived as value-added perks that'll help induce customers to make the switch.
Which audience segments will be most receptive to what you offer? Just as you've observed in the drugstore with all the various modifications of razors, certain features will appeal to specific target audience subgroups.
3. Your new products or services will be distributed and sold in the same way as the existing ones, even though they may target different audience subgroups. On the other hand, approaching an entirely new market for a product may require you to create relationships with new distributors. It doesn't matter whether you introduce a product or service--you'll need to create an in-depth marketing program that begins by educating your new prospects and successfully moves them through the sales cycle.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
most important reason of economic crisis
One of the most important reasons for this crisis in my opinion is developed countries' huge lock out of funds in arms of massive destruction which we know are thousants of trilions of dollars , now laying idle , following the race of arming.
Definintely , this would have its impact on the crisis .
Definintely , this would have its impact on the crisis .
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Time management Skills
Time Management
You are probably here because you want to make the most of your time. You recognize that time is a unique and precious resource that you need in order to do your work, accomplish your goals, spend time with your loved ones, and enjoy everything that life has to offer.
Perhaps you have a heavy workload and want to find ways to become more effective so you can get more done in less time.
Maybe you feel overwhelmed or “stressed out” and want to find ways to do less and enjoy more. Or maybe you simply want to feel more focused and in control of your time, instead of feeling like you rush madly from one activity to the next until you fall into bed exhausted every night.
Benjamin Franklin said, “Do you love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff that life is made of.”
Whatever your reasons, you came to the right place. Here you'll find tons of resources, ideas and suggestions to help you improve your time management skills, increase your productivity and make much better use of your time.
15 Time Management Tips
In the meantime, here are 15 practical time management tips to help you get started...
1. Write things down
A common time management mistake is to try to use your memory to keep track of too many details leading to information overload. Using a to-do list to write things down is a great way to take control of your projects and tasks and keep yourself organized.
2. Prioritize your list
Prioritizing your to-do list helps you focus and spend more of your time on the things that really matter to you. Rate your tasks into categories using the ABCD prioritization system described in the time management course.
3. Plan your week
Spend some time at the beginning of each week to plan your schedule. Taking the extra time to do this will help increase your productivity and balance your important long-term projects with your more urgent tasks. All you need is fifteen to thirty minutes each week for your planning session.
4. Carry a notebook
You never know when you are going to have a great idea or brilliant insight. Carry a small notebook with you wherever you go so you can capture your thoughts. If you wait too long to write them down you could forget. Another option is to use a digital recorder.
5. Learn to say no
Many people become overloaded with too much work because they overcommit; they say yes when they really should be saying no. Learn to say no to low priority requests and you will free up time to spend on things that are more important.
6. Think before acting
How many times have you said yes to something you later regretted? Before committing to a new task, stop to think about it before you give your answer. This will prevent you from taking on too much work.
7. Continuously improve yourself
Make time in your schedule to learn new things and develop your natural talents and abilities. For example, you could take a class, attend a training program, or read a book. Continuously improving your knowledge and skills increases your marketability, can help boost your career, and is the most reliable path to financial independence.
8. Think about what you are giving up to do your regular activities
It is a good idea to evaluate regularly how you are spending your time. In some cases, the best thing you can do is to stop doing an activity that is no longer serving you so you can spend the time doing something more valuable. Consider what you are giving up in order to maintain your current activities.
9. Use a time management system
Using a time management system can help you keep track of everything that you need to do, organize and prioritize your work, and develop sound plans to complete it. An integrated system is like glue that holds all the best time management practices together.
10. Identify bad habits
Make a list of bad habits that are stealing your time, sabotaging your goals, and blocking your success. After you do, work on them one at a time and systematically eliminate them from your life. Remember that the easiest way to eliminate a bad habit, it to replace it with a better habit.
11. Don’t do other people’s work
Are you in the habit of doing other people’s work because or a ‘hero’ mentality? Doing this takes up time that you may not have. Instead, focus on your own projects and goals, learn to delegate effectively, and teach others how to do their own work.
12. Keep a goal journal
Schedule time to set and evaluate your goals. Start a journal and write down your progress for each goal. Go through your goal journal each week to make sure you are on the right track.
Keeping a journal on your computer has never been easier!
13. Don’t be a perfectionist
Some tasks don’t require your best effort. Sending a short email to a colleague, for example, shouldn’t take any more than a few minutes. Learn to distinguish between tasks that deserve to be done excellently and tasks that just need to be done.
14. Beware of “filler” tasks
When you have a to-do list filled with important tasks, be careful not to get distracted by “filler” tasks. Things such as organizing your bookcase or filing papers can wait until you tackle the items that have the highest priority.
15. Avoid “efficiency traps”
Being efficient doesn’t necessarily mean that you are being productive. Avoid taking on tasks that you can do with efficiency that don’t need to be done at all. Just because you are busy and getting things done doesn’t mean you are actually accomplishing anything significant.
You are probably here because you want to make the most of your time. You recognize that time is a unique and precious resource that you need in order to do your work, accomplish your goals, spend time with your loved ones, and enjoy everything that life has to offer.
Perhaps you have a heavy workload and want to find ways to become more effective so you can get more done in less time.
Maybe you feel overwhelmed or “stressed out” and want to find ways to do less and enjoy more. Or maybe you simply want to feel more focused and in control of your time, instead of feeling like you rush madly from one activity to the next until you fall into bed exhausted every night.
Benjamin Franklin said, “Do you love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff that life is made of.”
Whatever your reasons, you came to the right place. Here you'll find tons of resources, ideas and suggestions to help you improve your time management skills, increase your productivity and make much better use of your time.
15 Time Management Tips
In the meantime, here are 15 practical time management tips to help you get started...
1. Write things down
A common time management mistake is to try to use your memory to keep track of too many details leading to information overload. Using a to-do list to write things down is a great way to take control of your projects and tasks and keep yourself organized.
2. Prioritize your list
Prioritizing your to-do list helps you focus and spend more of your time on the things that really matter to you. Rate your tasks into categories using the ABCD prioritization system described in the time management course.
3. Plan your week
Spend some time at the beginning of each week to plan your schedule. Taking the extra time to do this will help increase your productivity and balance your important long-term projects with your more urgent tasks. All you need is fifteen to thirty minutes each week for your planning session.
4. Carry a notebook
You never know when you are going to have a great idea or brilliant insight. Carry a small notebook with you wherever you go so you can capture your thoughts. If you wait too long to write them down you could forget. Another option is to use a digital recorder.
5. Learn to say no
Many people become overloaded with too much work because they overcommit; they say yes when they really should be saying no. Learn to say no to low priority requests and you will free up time to spend on things that are more important.
6. Think before acting
How many times have you said yes to something you later regretted? Before committing to a new task, stop to think about it before you give your answer. This will prevent you from taking on too much work.
7. Continuously improve yourself
Make time in your schedule to learn new things and develop your natural talents and abilities. For example, you could take a class, attend a training program, or read a book. Continuously improving your knowledge and skills increases your marketability, can help boost your career, and is the most reliable path to financial independence.
8. Think about what you are giving up to do your regular activities
It is a good idea to evaluate regularly how you are spending your time. In some cases, the best thing you can do is to stop doing an activity that is no longer serving you so you can spend the time doing something more valuable. Consider what you are giving up in order to maintain your current activities.
9. Use a time management system
Using a time management system can help you keep track of everything that you need to do, organize and prioritize your work, and develop sound plans to complete it. An integrated system is like glue that holds all the best time management practices together.
10. Identify bad habits
Make a list of bad habits that are stealing your time, sabotaging your goals, and blocking your success. After you do, work on them one at a time and systematically eliminate them from your life. Remember that the easiest way to eliminate a bad habit, it to replace it with a better habit.
11. Don’t do other people’s work
Are you in the habit of doing other people’s work because or a ‘hero’ mentality? Doing this takes up time that you may not have. Instead, focus on your own projects and goals, learn to delegate effectively, and teach others how to do their own work.
12. Keep a goal journal
Schedule time to set and evaluate your goals. Start a journal and write down your progress for each goal. Go through your goal journal each week to make sure you are on the right track.
Keeping a journal on your computer has never been easier!
13. Don’t be a perfectionist
Some tasks don’t require your best effort. Sending a short email to a colleague, for example, shouldn’t take any more than a few minutes. Learn to distinguish between tasks that deserve to be done excellently and tasks that just need to be done.
14. Beware of “filler” tasks
When you have a to-do list filled with important tasks, be careful not to get distracted by “filler” tasks. Things such as organizing your bookcase or filing papers can wait until you tackle the items that have the highest priority.
15. Avoid “efficiency traps”
Being efficient doesn’t necessarily mean that you are being productive. Avoid taking on tasks that you can do with efficiency that don’t need to be done at all. Just because you are busy and getting things done doesn’t mean you are actually accomplishing anything significant.
How to Get Free Publicity For Your Product Or Service
Have you ever wondered how some companies always seem to obtain good placement in print publications, online, and even on TV? What’s even more impressive is that many of these companies don’t even spend a single cent on advertising. Why would they? They’re getting all of the media coverage they need simply by following a few basic public relations principles.
Position yourself as an expert. The media relies on experts for their information. The news that gets printed is only as credible as the source from which it comes. Begin by selecting a news related story to comment on. It should be a story that you are qualified to speak about, aligned with your area of expertise.
If your background is in engineering, and a building falls down, you are qualified to speak about the structure and answer possible engineering related questions. Being an expert simply means that you have a background in a specific area and can lend your expertise.
Do your homework. To get coverage, find the reporter who is covering the news you wish to comment on. For example, if the news is about a specific current event, then Google the current event name followed by the name of a popular newspaper like the Wall Street Journal or USA Today. You’ll quickly find the reporters who have written on the subject. Call the newspaper (contact information available on their website) and ask for the reporter by name. If the operation asks what your call is in reference to, simply state that you have information related to a specific news item.
Compliment the reporter. When you locate the reporter, and contact him, start with a compliment. Reporters take great pride in their work. Be sure to compliment their position on a given topic or their previous work. After complimenting them, you’re ready for the pitch.
Talk to them about your position on the given news story and what you have to offer. Again, referring back to our earlier example of the building, mention that you have an engineering background and have a position on the story. For example, you might be able to comment on why buildings collapse and the structural aspects that could be the cause. Let the reporter ask questions but have a point of view. After the dialogue, the reporter will verify your information such as name and company.
Leave a compelling yet non-descript message. If you’re unable to get in touch with the reporter directly, leave a message – but be discreet. You don’t want to show all of your cards before speaking to him directly. However, if you leave enough information to get them to return your call, they will call you. Reporters follow up with any leads they consider opportunistic.
When leaving a message, simple say, “I have something you need to hear about (fill in name of story here).” Be specific with regard to the story the reporter is covering. You want them to consider your possible information valuable.
State your expertise. After complimenting the reporter about their coverage on a specific article or issue, let them know your position on a given topic and why you are qualified to comment on it. Give them your pitch and be confident that your opinion matters base on the experience you have to offer.
In today’s environment, it’s difficult to attract the media’s attention. The best way to get PR for your product or service is by commenting on current stories being covered by the media. The process is simple. When you hear a news story that you can comment on, find the reporter using Google and the name of a major publication.
Read a few of the reporter’s previous articles for background and then contact him directly. Let him know that you have some information that he may find valuable or a comment relevant to the story. Be sure to provide him with your credentials. After just a few calls, you’ll be quoted in some of today’s leading media..
Position yourself as an expert. The media relies on experts for their information. The news that gets printed is only as credible as the source from which it comes. Begin by selecting a news related story to comment on. It should be a story that you are qualified to speak about, aligned with your area of expertise.
If your background is in engineering, and a building falls down, you are qualified to speak about the structure and answer possible engineering related questions. Being an expert simply means that you have a background in a specific area and can lend your expertise.
Do your homework. To get coverage, find the reporter who is covering the news you wish to comment on. For example, if the news is about a specific current event, then Google the current event name followed by the name of a popular newspaper like the Wall Street Journal or USA Today. You’ll quickly find the reporters who have written on the subject. Call the newspaper (contact information available on their website) and ask for the reporter by name. If the operation asks what your call is in reference to, simply state that you have information related to a specific news item.
Compliment the reporter. When you locate the reporter, and contact him, start with a compliment. Reporters take great pride in their work. Be sure to compliment their position on a given topic or their previous work. After complimenting them, you’re ready for the pitch.
Talk to them about your position on the given news story and what you have to offer. Again, referring back to our earlier example of the building, mention that you have an engineering background and have a position on the story. For example, you might be able to comment on why buildings collapse and the structural aspects that could be the cause. Let the reporter ask questions but have a point of view. After the dialogue, the reporter will verify your information such as name and company.
Leave a compelling yet non-descript message. If you’re unable to get in touch with the reporter directly, leave a message – but be discreet. You don’t want to show all of your cards before speaking to him directly. However, if you leave enough information to get them to return your call, they will call you. Reporters follow up with any leads they consider opportunistic.
When leaving a message, simple say, “I have something you need to hear about (fill in name of story here).” Be specific with regard to the story the reporter is covering. You want them to consider your possible information valuable.
State your expertise. After complimenting the reporter about their coverage on a specific article or issue, let them know your position on a given topic and why you are qualified to comment on it. Give them your pitch and be confident that your opinion matters base on the experience you have to offer.
In today’s environment, it’s difficult to attract the media’s attention. The best way to get PR for your product or service is by commenting on current stories being covered by the media. The process is simple. When you hear a news story that you can comment on, find the reporter using Google and the name of a major publication.
Read a few of the reporter’s previous articles for background and then contact him directly. Let him know that you have some information that he may find valuable or a comment relevant to the story. Be sure to provide him with your credentials. After just a few calls, you’ll be quoted in some of today’s leading media..
Marketing to Millennials
The Millennial Generation was born between 1977 and 1998 and is just beginning to enter the workforce. Members of this 75 million person group are being raised at the most child-centric time in our history and the impact to marketers is undeniable.
In general, it is said that this group displays a great deal of confidence. This could be the result of focus they receive from parents and high expectations placed upon them – not to mention their new found independence with the advent of cell phones, the internet, and other electronic forms of communication. This is truly the first generation to grow up completely online and as a result, the marketing mix used to target them needs to evolve. As you might expect, this group is technically literate like none other.
Socially, Millennials are different as well. They are typically team-oriented, banding together to date and socialize rather than pairing off. They work well in groups, preferring this to individual endeavors. They are also good at multi-tasking and were the ones studying while listening to the radio or watching television - all the more reason to ensure that you utilize cross-media marketing and ensure consistency among your communications.
From an academic perspective, they are the group that was able to play a sport, attend school, and engage in social endeavors. Millennials believe in going green and supporting endeavors that are good for the environment.
When it comes to work, Millennials seem to expect structure. They acknowledge and respect positions and titles, and want a relationship with their boss. Millennials are in need of mentoring and they'll respond well to the personal attention. When considering the management of Millenials, be mindful that they appreciate structure and stability. Mentoring Millennials should be more formal, with set meetings and a more authoritative attitude on the mentor's part.
How to Market
Now that you understand a little more about the target you are seeking to attract, consider the places they go for information and the way they behave. Millennials are logging into their MySpace and Facebook accounts 3 – 4 times each day, sending instant messages to friends, and uploading their videos to YouTube. Are you there?
Listen to the conversation. Where many businesses are failing today is that they are not listening to the conversations that the Millennials are having about their products or their company. Sign up for Google Alerts, visit Technorati and see what individuals are blogging about.
Create accounts in FaceBook and MySpace and other Social Media. Put you name out there. Make sure that you company has a space among social media outlets. One thing to keep in mind though is to not be overly commercial. Millennials can see right through it. Rather, be genuine and let your prospective market understand what you’re really about and what you stand for.
Communicate on a personal level. Create a two way dialogue with your audience. Give them an opportunity to speak to you. Whether you let them rate your products, share comments, or share their experience with friends, providing a forum to socialize is essential.
Focus on consistent messaging. Regardless of which media type you use (email marketing, direct mail, adwords, etc.), keep your messaging consistent. If you say one think and do another, or change your messaging frequently, you will not be building the trust necessary to ensure lifetime customer value.
Be creative. When your marketing is creative, it can very quickly gain momentum. With the advent of YouTube, Flickr, and Delicious, messages are quickly shared and distributed. Don’t force the issue. Rather, create something meaningful, fun, and worth sharing. Before you know it, the Millennials will be sharing and distributing information about your and your brand.
Improving the effectiveness of your marketing to Millennials is no small undertaking. To be truly successful, you need to understand the social dependence these individuals have when communicating and the value they place on the opinion of others. Although much of Millennial marketing needs to happen online, don’t lose track of some tradition media like direct mail. As much as marketing has changed, traditional media can still be effective – just make sure it has a social component.
In general, it is said that this group displays a great deal of confidence. This could be the result of focus they receive from parents and high expectations placed upon them – not to mention their new found independence with the advent of cell phones, the internet, and other electronic forms of communication. This is truly the first generation to grow up completely online and as a result, the marketing mix used to target them needs to evolve. As you might expect, this group is technically literate like none other.
Socially, Millennials are different as well. They are typically team-oriented, banding together to date and socialize rather than pairing off. They work well in groups, preferring this to individual endeavors. They are also good at multi-tasking and were the ones studying while listening to the radio or watching television - all the more reason to ensure that you utilize cross-media marketing and ensure consistency among your communications.
From an academic perspective, they are the group that was able to play a sport, attend school, and engage in social endeavors. Millennials believe in going green and supporting endeavors that are good for the environment.
When it comes to work, Millennials seem to expect structure. They acknowledge and respect positions and titles, and want a relationship with their boss. Millennials are in need of mentoring and they'll respond well to the personal attention. When considering the management of Millenials, be mindful that they appreciate structure and stability. Mentoring Millennials should be more formal, with set meetings and a more authoritative attitude on the mentor's part.
How to Market
Now that you understand a little more about the target you are seeking to attract, consider the places they go for information and the way they behave. Millennials are logging into their MySpace and Facebook accounts 3 – 4 times each day, sending instant messages to friends, and uploading their videos to YouTube. Are you there?
Listen to the conversation. Where many businesses are failing today is that they are not listening to the conversations that the Millennials are having about their products or their company. Sign up for Google Alerts, visit Technorati and see what individuals are blogging about.
Create accounts in FaceBook and MySpace and other Social Media. Put you name out there. Make sure that you company has a space among social media outlets. One thing to keep in mind though is to not be overly commercial. Millennials can see right through it. Rather, be genuine and let your prospective market understand what you’re really about and what you stand for.
Communicate on a personal level. Create a two way dialogue with your audience. Give them an opportunity to speak to you. Whether you let them rate your products, share comments, or share their experience with friends, providing a forum to socialize is essential.
Focus on consistent messaging. Regardless of which media type you use (email marketing, direct mail, adwords, etc.), keep your messaging consistent. If you say one think and do another, or change your messaging frequently, you will not be building the trust necessary to ensure lifetime customer value.
Be creative. When your marketing is creative, it can very quickly gain momentum. With the advent of YouTube, Flickr, and Delicious, messages are quickly shared and distributed. Don’t force the issue. Rather, create something meaningful, fun, and worth sharing. Before you know it, the Millennials will be sharing and distributing information about your and your brand.
Improving the effectiveness of your marketing to Millennials is no small undertaking. To be truly successful, you need to understand the social dependence these individuals have when communicating and the value they place on the opinion of others. Although much of Millennial marketing needs to happen online, don’t lose track of some tradition media like direct mail. As much as marketing has changed, traditional media can still be effective – just make sure it has a social component.
The Top 10 Marketing Tips
With more than a decade of experience in marketing, ranking from pay-per-click to direct mail, I’ve seen a lot of failures and far more successes when it comes to marketing.
Today, the art of marketing is far more complex than it once was. However, many of the same basic principles still apply. Too often, professional marketers and small business owners overlook the basic techniques that have separated successful campaigns from those that never turn a profit. Here is my all time list of effective marketing tips.
Know your audience. Successful campaigns get that way because marketers know their audience. They fully understand their needs, how to help meet those needs and how to create demand. Knowing and understanding your audience through proper market segmentation means a well targeted campaign that generates a profitable return.
Focus on the offer. A marketing offer is the driving force of marketing promotions that drive results. In fact, market testing has proven that the offer is the most significant criterion for conversion. Focus on your offer if you want to be successful.
Split test. Never ever run a campaign without testing something. One of the most common is a split test which allows you to simultaneously test two versions of something. It can be a web page, post card, or email. Split testing is essential for improving performance.
Never work alone. The most creative ideas come from working with other creative people. Don’t feel like you need to have all the answers or great ideas. You may start with an idea, but an open dialog with creative individuals will make it better.
Don’t sell on price. I’ve seen so many marketers fail because they sell on price alone. This leads to a discounting war, lower profitability, and often bankruptcy. Rather, focus on creating so much value that the perception of price becomes insignificant.
Consistent messaging. Consider the entire user experience before you launch a campaign. From email to website to offer, is the prospect having a consistent user experience? If they are, your campaigns stand above 98% of others.
Create value after the sale. As marketers, it’s our job to understand our market segment and build relationships, not dump people off at the front door of our store and walk away. Focus as much of your energy on building relationships with customers as you do prospects.
Test. Test. Test. In addition to split testing, you should consider multiple forms of testing in each marketing discipline. For direct mail, test headlines, offers, copy, time of direct mail drop, etc. Consider testing a life long mission.
Integrated Marketing Works Best. You can’t rely on one form of marketing to carry you to success. It’s okay to generate most of your leads or sales through PPC marketing if you will but what happens when that dries out? Use multiple media sources to meet your goals.
Nothing can replace experience. You can run out and hire all of the best consultants in the world, but you still have to do the work. Nothing can replace actual experience. It will make you a stronger marketer and more successful in the long term.
Apply these helpful marketing tips if you want to be truly successful. These techniques and tips are applied by successful marketers on a daily basis. The result is an ever growing success rate of marketing success.
Today, the art of marketing is far more complex than it once was. However, many of the same basic principles still apply. Too often, professional marketers and small business owners overlook the basic techniques that have separated successful campaigns from those that never turn a profit. Here is my all time list of effective marketing tips.
Know your audience. Successful campaigns get that way because marketers know their audience. They fully understand their needs, how to help meet those needs and how to create demand. Knowing and understanding your audience through proper market segmentation means a well targeted campaign that generates a profitable return.
Focus on the offer. A marketing offer is the driving force of marketing promotions that drive results. In fact, market testing has proven that the offer is the most significant criterion for conversion. Focus on your offer if you want to be successful.
Split test. Never ever run a campaign without testing something. One of the most common is a split test which allows you to simultaneously test two versions of something. It can be a web page, post card, or email. Split testing is essential for improving performance.
Never work alone. The most creative ideas come from working with other creative people. Don’t feel like you need to have all the answers or great ideas. You may start with an idea, but an open dialog with creative individuals will make it better.
Don’t sell on price. I’ve seen so many marketers fail because they sell on price alone. This leads to a discounting war, lower profitability, and often bankruptcy. Rather, focus on creating so much value that the perception of price becomes insignificant.
Consistent messaging. Consider the entire user experience before you launch a campaign. From email to website to offer, is the prospect having a consistent user experience? If they are, your campaigns stand above 98% of others.
Create value after the sale. As marketers, it’s our job to understand our market segment and build relationships, not dump people off at the front door of our store and walk away. Focus as much of your energy on building relationships with customers as you do prospects.
Test. Test. Test. In addition to split testing, you should consider multiple forms of testing in each marketing discipline. For direct mail, test headlines, offers, copy, time of direct mail drop, etc. Consider testing a life long mission.
Integrated Marketing Works Best. You can’t rely on one form of marketing to carry you to success. It’s okay to generate most of your leads or sales through PPC marketing if you will but what happens when that dries out? Use multiple media sources to meet your goals.
Nothing can replace experience. You can run out and hire all of the best consultants in the world, but you still have to do the work. Nothing can replace actual experience. It will make you a stronger marketer and more successful in the long term.
Apply these helpful marketing tips if you want to be truly successful. These techniques and tips are applied by successful marketers on a daily basis. The result is an ever growing success rate of marketing success.
Proactive vs Reactive
Reactive marketing is the most widely used approach in this day and age, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best way to do things. It's easy for any company to be reactive. This in essence is why it's so popular. It's the lazy way. All you have to do is wait until someone else does all the work and then simply undercut their price or change their design slightly, and call it your own. My favorite example of this is a famous fishing lure called the "Five of Diamonds." A big yellow spoon lure with of course, five red diamonds in a pattern on the back. It was a best seller for years until someone from the Asian marketplace offered an "extremely" close replica with six diamonds on it at half the price. This was reactive marketing and it's worked for years. It will continue to work as long as the consumer thinks he's getting a bargain. On a side note, the fake 'five of diamonds' rusted out in my tackle box after only a few uses. I threw it out years ago. I still have the 'real' one and it still catches fish. Lesson learned.
Reactive marketing generally occurs when a company notices their competition doing something they are not. i.e. They are having a sale, we should have one too! The natural reaction is to leap before you look. You react out of fear. We don't want them to get all the business, so we have no choice other than to compete with them. Although a natural reaction... This is entirely the wrong approach. You'd be much better off to analyze your own marketing practices and budget rather than trying to "keep up with the Jones'." Some of those Jones's may have pretty deep pockets. Trying to match them dollar for dollar may not be a prudent decision.
Proactive marketing on the other hand is a lot more work, but the return on investment can be much higher. It utilizes a different way of thinking to analyze each aspect of a marketing campaign. You need to be original and creative. You need to think outside of the box. For example, answer the following question:
How effective is your company at rapidly identifying and resolving sales opportunities?
Read the question again.
When a sales opportunity presents itself, such as a phone call or a customer asking a question via your web site, or someone walking through your front door, how fast can your company respond?
Do you know the answer? Is it in minutes, hours or days? Can it be improved upon? How about all the way through an entire sales cycle. From first inquiry to final sale to follow up. How long does that take?
Answering these types of crucial questions honestly, then subsequently analyzing ways to improve upon their results, will start you thinking like a Proactive marketer. By streamlining some of your sales processes you also gain better customer service and customer retention levels. Keeping all your customers loyal and happy is, in the long run, much better than spending wads of cash on a two day sales flyer with disappointing results.
Here are a couple of more Proactive marketing exercises for you.
Analyze the way you present your products and find ways to increase their value proposition.
It could be as simple as rewording a few phrases or as complex as redesigning the entire packaging, but your value proposition is your first, (some say only) best chance to make an impression on a new customer.
The presentation of the "Value" for the consumer must clearly be first and foremost in your messages and visible media. What's in it for them? Have you actually shown them the true value or are you assuming they will figure it out. Big mistake. People don't like to "figure things out." They like to be able to understand immediately.
This may be your first step.
You may need more information about your customers and sales transactions before beginning to analyze your efforts. Realign your data collection methods to give you the information you need to make effective decisions. If you suddenly found out almost 85 percent of your customers were women between the ages of 21 and 25 would that affect your future marketing decisions and where you spent your advertising dollars? You bet it would.
Let's assume you do have enough information. Now what? Try breaking down the sales process into various tasks. Who is responsible for initial contact? Who (or what) educates the potential customer about your products? Who closes the sale? Is this a seamless process. Is it easy to do? Who follows up to ensure the customer is satisfied? All important aspects of the process to identify. Try to reduce your administration effort for the above tasks. Once again, anything you can do to streamline the process, the more time you save and the more efficient and productive your company becomes. You'll also save money instead of wasting it.
If the analyzation process is beginning to sound confusing to you, seek some assistance to achieve these goals. There are many business clubs and resources in your neighborhood that are willing to help. Try your local Chamber of Commerce. Many firms specialize in the development of branding for products and/or developing marketing strategies. Find one that suits your needs and your budget and ask for a free consultation. No person is an Island. You can't do it all by yourself. Ask for help when you need it. Bringing in outside assistance can also produce a fresh perspective, which is something -every- company needs from time-to-time.
By becoming a Proactive marketer your investment is your time spent on analysis and implementation of your ideas. Much better than throwing good money away trying to keep up with those Jones's. Follow the Credo of the proactive marketer. "Act. Don't React!"
Reactive marketing generally occurs when a company notices their competition doing something they are not. i.e. They are having a sale, we should have one too! The natural reaction is to leap before you look. You react out of fear. We don't want them to get all the business, so we have no choice other than to compete with them. Although a natural reaction... This is entirely the wrong approach. You'd be much better off to analyze your own marketing practices and budget rather than trying to "keep up with the Jones'." Some of those Jones's may have pretty deep pockets. Trying to match them dollar for dollar may not be a prudent decision.
Proactive marketing on the other hand is a lot more work, but the return on investment can be much higher. It utilizes a different way of thinking to analyze each aspect of a marketing campaign. You need to be original and creative. You need to think outside of the box. For example, answer the following question:
How effective is your company at rapidly identifying and resolving sales opportunities?
Read the question again.
When a sales opportunity presents itself, such as a phone call or a customer asking a question via your web site, or someone walking through your front door, how fast can your company respond?
Do you know the answer? Is it in minutes, hours or days? Can it be improved upon? How about all the way through an entire sales cycle. From first inquiry to final sale to follow up. How long does that take?
Answering these types of crucial questions honestly, then subsequently analyzing ways to improve upon their results, will start you thinking like a Proactive marketer. By streamlining some of your sales processes you also gain better customer service and customer retention levels. Keeping all your customers loyal and happy is, in the long run, much better than spending wads of cash on a two day sales flyer with disappointing results.
Here are a couple of more Proactive marketing exercises for you.
Analyze the way you present your products and find ways to increase their value proposition.
It could be as simple as rewording a few phrases or as complex as redesigning the entire packaging, but your value proposition is your first, (some say only) best chance to make an impression on a new customer.
The presentation of the "Value" for the consumer must clearly be first and foremost in your messages and visible media. What's in it for them? Have you actually shown them the true value or are you assuming they will figure it out. Big mistake. People don't like to "figure things out." They like to be able to understand immediately.
This may be your first step.
You may need more information about your customers and sales transactions before beginning to analyze your efforts. Realign your data collection methods to give you the information you need to make effective decisions. If you suddenly found out almost 85 percent of your customers were women between the ages of 21 and 25 would that affect your future marketing decisions and where you spent your advertising dollars? You bet it would.
Let's assume you do have enough information. Now what? Try breaking down the sales process into various tasks. Who is responsible for initial contact? Who (or what) educates the potential customer about your products? Who closes the sale? Is this a seamless process. Is it easy to do? Who follows up to ensure the customer is satisfied? All important aspects of the process to identify. Try to reduce your administration effort for the above tasks. Once again, anything you can do to streamline the process, the more time you save and the more efficient and productive your company becomes. You'll also save money instead of wasting it.
If the analyzation process is beginning to sound confusing to you, seek some assistance to achieve these goals. There are many business clubs and resources in your neighborhood that are willing to help. Try your local Chamber of Commerce. Many firms specialize in the development of branding for products and/or developing marketing strategies. Find one that suits your needs and your budget and ask for a free consultation. No person is an Island. You can't do it all by yourself. Ask for help when you need it. Bringing in outside assistance can also produce a fresh perspective, which is something -every- company needs from time-to-time.
By becoming a Proactive marketer your investment is your time spent on analysis and implementation of your ideas. Much better than throwing good money away trying to keep up with those Jones's. Follow the Credo of the proactive marketer. "Act. Don't React!"
Types of CRM
Operational CRM
Operational CRM provides support to "front office" business processes, e.g. to sales, marketing and service staff. Interactions with customers are generally stored in customers' contact histories, and staff can retrieve customer information as necessary.
The contact history provides staff members with immediate access to important information on the customer (products owned, prior support calls etc.), eliminating the need to individually obtain this information directly from the customer. Reaching to the customer at right time at right place is preferable.
Operational CRM processes customer data for a variety of purposes:
Managing campaigns
Enterprise Marketing Automation
Sales Force Automation
Sales Management System
Analytical CRM
Analytical CRM analyzes customer data for a variety of purposes:
Designing and executing targeted marketing campaigns
Designing and executing campaigns, e.g. customer acquisition, cross-selling, up-selling, add-on-selling
Analyzing customer behavior in order to make decisions relating to products and services (e.g. pricing, product development)
Management information system (e.g. financial forecasting and customer profitability analysis)
Analytical CRM generally makes heavy use of data mining and other techniques to produce useful results for decision-making. It is at the analytical stage that the importance of fully integrated CRM software becomes most apparent - the more information available to analytical software, the better its predictions and recommendations will be.
Sales Intelligence CRM
Sales Intelligence CRM is similar to Analytical CRM, but is intended as a more direct sales tool. Features include alerts sent to sales staff regarding:
Cross-selling/Up-selling/Switch-selling opportunities
Customer drift
Sales performance
Customer trends
Customer margins
Customer alignment
Campaign Management
Campaign management combines elements of Operational and Analytical CRM. Campaign management functions include:
Target groups formed from the client base according to selected criteria
Sending campaign-related material (e.g. on special offers) to selected recipients using various channels (e.g. e-mail, telephone, SMS, post)
Tracking, storing, and analyzing campaign statistics, including tracking responses and analyzing trends
Collaborative CRM
Collaborative CRM covers aspects of a company's dealings with customers that are handled by various departments within a company, such as sales, technical support and marketing. Staff members from different departments can share information collected when interacting with customers. For example, feedback received by customer support agents can provide other staff members with information on the services and features requested by customers. Collaborative CRM's ultimate goal is to use information collected by all departments to improve the quality of services provided by the company. Producers can use CRM information to develop products or find new market. CRM facilitates communication between customers, suppliers and partner.
Consumer Relationship CRM
Consumer Relationship System (CRS) covers aspects of a company's dealing with customers handled by the Consumer Affairs and Customer Relations contact centers within a company. Representatives handle in-bound contact from anonymous consumers and customers. Early warnings can be issued regarding product issues (e.g. item recalls) and current consumer sentiment can be tracked (voice of the customer).
Simple CRM
A relatively new spinoff of the traditional CRM model first appearing in 2006. At their core, CRM tools are designed to manage customer relationships. As described above there are countless supplemental features and capabilities. Simple CRM systems breakdown the traditional CRM system to focus on the core values—managing contacts and activities with customers and prospects. These systems are designed to create the most value for the immediate end user rather than the organization as a whole. They often focus on satisfying the needs of a particular marketplace niche, organizational unit, or type of user rather than an entire organization.
Social CRM
Beginning in 2007, the rapid growth in social media and social networking forced CRM product companies to integrate "social" features into their traditional CRM systems. Some of the first features added were social network monitoring feeds (e.g. Twitter timeline). Other emerging features include messaging, sentiment analysis, and other analytics. CRM experts agree that online social communities and conversations have significant consequences for companies, and must be monitored for real-time marketplace feedback and trends.
Operational CRM provides support to "front office" business processes, e.g. to sales, marketing and service staff. Interactions with customers are generally stored in customers' contact histories, and staff can retrieve customer information as necessary.
The contact history provides staff members with immediate access to important information on the customer (products owned, prior support calls etc.), eliminating the need to individually obtain this information directly from the customer. Reaching to the customer at right time at right place is preferable.
Operational CRM processes customer data for a variety of purposes:
Managing campaigns
Enterprise Marketing Automation
Sales Force Automation
Sales Management System
Analytical CRM
Analytical CRM analyzes customer data for a variety of purposes:
Designing and executing targeted marketing campaigns
Designing and executing campaigns, e.g. customer acquisition, cross-selling, up-selling, add-on-selling
Analyzing customer behavior in order to make decisions relating to products and services (e.g. pricing, product development)
Management information system (e.g. financial forecasting and customer profitability analysis)
Analytical CRM generally makes heavy use of data mining and other techniques to produce useful results for decision-making. It is at the analytical stage that the importance of fully integrated CRM software becomes most apparent - the more information available to analytical software, the better its predictions and recommendations will be.
Sales Intelligence CRM
Sales Intelligence CRM is similar to Analytical CRM, but is intended as a more direct sales tool. Features include alerts sent to sales staff regarding:
Cross-selling/Up-selling/Switch-selling opportunities
Customer drift
Sales performance
Customer trends
Customer margins
Customer alignment
Campaign Management
Campaign management combines elements of Operational and Analytical CRM. Campaign management functions include:
Target groups formed from the client base according to selected criteria
Sending campaign-related material (e.g. on special offers) to selected recipients using various channels (e.g. e-mail, telephone, SMS, post)
Tracking, storing, and analyzing campaign statistics, including tracking responses and analyzing trends
Collaborative CRM
Collaborative CRM covers aspects of a company's dealings with customers that are handled by various departments within a company, such as sales, technical support and marketing. Staff members from different departments can share information collected when interacting with customers. For example, feedback received by customer support agents can provide other staff members with information on the services and features requested by customers. Collaborative CRM's ultimate goal is to use information collected by all departments to improve the quality of services provided by the company. Producers can use CRM information to develop products or find new market. CRM facilitates communication between customers, suppliers and partner.
Consumer Relationship CRM
Consumer Relationship System (CRS) covers aspects of a company's dealing with customers handled by the Consumer Affairs and Customer Relations contact centers within a company. Representatives handle in-bound contact from anonymous consumers and customers. Early warnings can be issued regarding product issues (e.g. item recalls) and current consumer sentiment can be tracked (voice of the customer).
Simple CRM
A relatively new spinoff of the traditional CRM model first appearing in 2006. At their core, CRM tools are designed to manage customer relationships. As described above there are countless supplemental features and capabilities. Simple CRM systems breakdown the traditional CRM system to focus on the core values—managing contacts and activities with customers and prospects. These systems are designed to create the most value for the immediate end user rather than the organization as a whole. They often focus on satisfying the needs of a particular marketplace niche, organizational unit, or type of user rather than an entire organization.
Social CRM
Beginning in 2007, the rapid growth in social media and social networking forced CRM product companies to integrate "social" features into their traditional CRM systems. Some of the first features added were social network monitoring feeds (e.g. Twitter timeline). Other emerging features include messaging, sentiment analysis, and other analytics. CRM experts agree that online social communities and conversations have significant consequences for companies, and must be monitored for real-time marketplace feedback and trends.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Mass Marketing
Mass Marketing is a market coverage strategy in which a firm decides to ignore market segment differences and go after the whole market with one offer. It is type of marketing (or attempting to sell through persuasion) of a product to a wide audience. The idea is to broadcast a message that will reach the largest number of people possible. Traditionally mass marketing has focused on radio, television and newspapers as the medium used to reach this broad audience. By reaching the largest audience possible exposure to the product is maximized. In theory this would directly correlate with a larger number of sales or buy in to the product. As the name says its mass so your trying to get your as many as you can.
The opposite to Niche marketing as it focuses on high sales and low prices. It aims to provide products and services that will appeal to the whole market.
Mass marketing or undifferented marketing has its origins in the 1920s with the inception of massradio use. This gave corporations an opportunity to appeal to a wide variety of potential customers. Due to this, variety marketing had to be changed in order to persuade a wide audience with different needs into buying the same thing. It has developed over the years into a worldwide multi-billion dollar industry. Although sagging in the Great Depression it regained popularity and continued to expand through the 40s and 50s. It slowed during the anti-capitalist movements of the 60's and 70's before coming back stronger than before in the 80's, 90's and today. These trends are due to corresponding upswings in mass media, the parent of mass marketing. For most of the twentieth century, major consumer-products companies held fast to mass marketing- mass producing, mass distributing and mass promoting about the same product in about the same way to all consumers. Mass marketing creates the largest potential market, which leads to the lowest costs.
The opposite to Niche marketing as it focuses on high sales and low prices. It aims to provide products and services that will appeal to the whole market.
Mass marketing or undifferented marketing has its origins in the 1920s with the inception of massradio use. This gave corporations an opportunity to appeal to a wide variety of potential customers. Due to this, variety marketing had to be changed in order to persuade a wide audience with different needs into buying the same thing. It has developed over the years into a worldwide multi-billion dollar industry. Although sagging in the Great Depression it regained popularity and continued to expand through the 40s and 50s. It slowed during the anti-capitalist movements of the 60's and 70's before coming back stronger than before in the 80's, 90's and today. These trends are due to corresponding upswings in mass media, the parent of mass marketing. For most of the twentieth century, major consumer-products companies held fast to mass marketing- mass producing, mass distributing and mass promoting about the same product in about the same way to all consumers. Mass marketing creates the largest potential market, which leads to the lowest costs.
Electronic commerce
Electronic commerce, commonly known as (electronic marketing) e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mailas well.
A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.
Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com.
Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.
A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.
Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market). Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses and consumers, on the other hand, is referred to as business-to-consumer or B2C. This is the type of electronic commerce conducted by companies such as Amazon.com.
Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Electronic business
Electronic business commonly referred to as "eBusiness" or "e-business", may be defined as the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all the activities of business. Commerce constitutes the exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and individuals and can be seen as one of the essential activities of any business. Electronic commerce focuses on the use of ICT to enable the external activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups and other businesses.
Electronic business methods enable companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers.
In practice, e-business is more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, e-commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-commerce seeks to add revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and enhance relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency using theEmpty Vessel strategy. Often, e-commerce involves the application of knowledge management systems.
E-business involves business processes spanning the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, processing orders electronically, handling customer service, and cooperating with business partners. Special technical standards for e-business facilitate the exchange of data between companies. E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these.
Electronic business methods enable companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers.
In practice, e-business is more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, e-commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-commerce seeks to add revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and enhance relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency using theEmpty Vessel strategy. Often, e-commerce involves the application of knowledge management systems.
E-business involves business processes spanning the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, processing orders electronically, handling customer service, and cooperating with business partners. Special technical standards for e-business facilitate the exchange of data between companies. E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these.
E-procurement
(electronic procurement, sometimes also known as supplier exchange) is the business-to-business or business-to-consumer or Business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies, Work andservices through the Internet as well as other information and networking systems, such as Electronic Data Interchange and Enterprise Resource Planning.[1]
Typically, e-procurement Web sites allow qualified and registered users to look for buyers or sellers of goods and services. Depending on the approach, buyers or sellers may specify costs or invite bids. Transactions can be initiated and completed. Ongoing purchases may qualify customers for volumediscounts or special offers. E-procurement software may make it possible to automate some buying and selling. Companies participating expect to be able to control parts inventories more effectively, reduce purchasing agent overhead, and improve manufacturing cycles. E-procurement is expected to be integrated into the wider Purchase-to-pay (P2P) value chain with the trend toward computerized supply chain management.
E-procurement is done with a software application that includes features for supplier management and complex auctions. The new generation of E-Procurement is now on-demand or a software-as-a-service.
There are seven main types of e-procurement:
Web-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): Creating and approving purchasing requisitions, placing purchase orders and receiving goods and services by using a software system based on Internet technology.
e-MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul): The same as web-based ERP except that the goods and services ordered are non-product related MRO supplies.
e-sourcing: Identifying new suppliers for a specific category of purchasing requirements using Internet technology.
e-tendering: Sending requests for information and prices to suppliers and receiving the responses of suppliers using Internet technology.
e-reverse auctioning: Using Internet technology to buy goods and services from a number of known or unknown suppliers.
e-informing: Gathering and distributing purchasing information both from and to internal and external parties using Internet technology.
e-marketsites: Expands on Web-based ERP to open up value chains. Buying communities can access preferred suppliers' products and services, add to shopping carts, create requisition, seek approval, receipt purchase orders and process electronic invoices with integration to suppliers' supply chains and buyers' financial systems.
The e-procurement value chain consists of Indent Management, eTendering, eAuctioning, Vendor Management, Catalogue Management, and Contract Management. Indent Management is the workflow involved in the preparation of tenders. This part of the value chain is optional, with individual procuring departments defining their indenting process. In works procurement, administrative approval and technical sanction are obtained in electronic format. In goods procurement, indent generation activity is done online. The end result of the stage is taken as inputs for issuing the NIT.
Typically, e-procurement Web sites allow qualified and registered users to look for buyers or sellers of goods and services. Depending on the approach, buyers or sellers may specify costs or invite bids. Transactions can be initiated and completed. Ongoing purchases may qualify customers for volumediscounts or special offers. E-procurement software may make it possible to automate some buying and selling. Companies participating expect to be able to control parts inventories more effectively, reduce purchasing agent overhead, and improve manufacturing cycles. E-procurement is expected to be integrated into the wider Purchase-to-pay (P2P) value chain with the trend toward computerized supply chain management.
E-procurement is done with a software application that includes features for supplier management and complex auctions. The new generation of E-Procurement is now on-demand or a software-as-a-service.
There are seven main types of e-procurement:
Web-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): Creating and approving purchasing requisitions, placing purchase orders and receiving goods and services by using a software system based on Internet technology.
e-MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul): The same as web-based ERP except that the goods and services ordered are non-product related MRO supplies.
e-sourcing: Identifying new suppliers for a specific category of purchasing requirements using Internet technology.
e-tendering: Sending requests for information and prices to suppliers and receiving the responses of suppliers using Internet technology.
e-reverse auctioning: Using Internet technology to buy goods and services from a number of known or unknown suppliers.
e-informing: Gathering and distributing purchasing information both from and to internal and external parties using Internet technology.
e-marketsites: Expands on Web-based ERP to open up value chains. Buying communities can access preferred suppliers' products and services, add to shopping carts, create requisition, seek approval, receipt purchase orders and process electronic invoices with integration to suppliers' supply chains and buyers' financial systems.
The e-procurement value chain consists of Indent Management, eTendering, eAuctioning, Vendor Management, Catalogue Management, and Contract Management. Indent Management is the workflow involved in the preparation of tenders. This part of the value chain is optional, with individual procuring departments defining their indenting process. In works procurement, administrative approval and technical sanction are obtained in electronic format. In goods procurement, indent generation activity is done online. The end result of the stage is taken as inputs for issuing the NIT.
Drivers of customers equity
a firm's customer equity is the total of the discounted lifetime value of all of its customers. In their new book Driving Customer Equity: How Customer Lifetime Value is Reshaping Corporate Strategy, Rust, Zeithaml and Lemon state that customer equity has three drivers:
1. Value equity, "the customer's objective assessment of the utility of a brand, based on the perceptions of what is given up for what is received"
2. Brand equity, "the customer's subjective and intangible assessment of the brand, above and beyond its objectively-perceived value"
3. Retention equity, "the tendency of the customer to stick with the brand, above and beyond the customer's objective and subjective assessments of the brand."
The customer equity model enables marketers to determine which of the three drivers—value, brand or retention equity—are most critical to driving customer equity in their industry and firm. Using this approach allows marketers to quantify the financial benefit from improving one or more of the drivers.
For example, if a regional grocery chain wants to evaluate whether or not they should spend $2 million on an advertising campaign that will improve ad awareness by 1 percent, the customer equity model translates the percentage improvement in ad awareness into the percentage improvement in brand equity (a component ofcustomer equity). The percentage improvement in customer equity then translates into dollar improvement. Comparing the advertising expenditure to the dollar improvement allows the company to calculate its return on the advertising investment.
When Brands Are Commodities, Owning the Customer is Essential
Recently, our firm Copernicus Marketing Consulting undertook a joint research study with leading researcher Market Facts that investigated whether brands are becoming more similar and commodity-like over time. The study examined consumer perceptions of similarity in 48 pairs of leading brands and 51 different product and service categories-from both the Old and New Economy.
Our research found that in categories as diverse as hair care products and rental cars, a nationally representative sample of adult consumers perceives the leading brands (#1 and #2) becoming more similar rather than more distinct. Of the 48 categories evaluated, the leading brands in 40 of these categories are perceived as becoming more similar. Moreover, in 28 of 37 categories, consumers indicated price was more important than brand when making a purchase. In six categories, price and brand were about equally important, and in only three categories was brand more important (automobiles, liquor and beer).
Given this research, it is clear that brand equity alone is becoming an increasingly weak measure for marketing efforts. The customer equity model provides a basis for projecting the ROI of any strategic investment that improves customer equity whether as a function of value, brand or retention equity. It provides a catalyst for companies to become truly customer-centric and to make marketing programs more successful and accountable.
It's a mystery to us why managers seem to spend millions of dollars on marketing programs without knowing if their investment produces a fair return. One possible explanation, however, is that managers simply do not know how to project the return on investment for their marketing programs. They have lacked a basic model that links marketing actions with customer spending actions, and instead use intuition to make decisions. The customer equity model has the potential to forge that missing link.
1. Value equity, "the customer's objective assessment of the utility of a brand, based on the perceptions of what is given up for what is received"
2. Brand equity, "the customer's subjective and intangible assessment of the brand, above and beyond its objectively-perceived value"
3. Retention equity, "the tendency of the customer to stick with the brand, above and beyond the customer's objective and subjective assessments of the brand."
The customer equity model enables marketers to determine which of the three drivers—value, brand or retention equity—are most critical to driving customer equity in their industry and firm. Using this approach allows marketers to quantify the financial benefit from improving one or more of the drivers.
For example, if a regional grocery chain wants to evaluate whether or not they should spend $2 million on an advertising campaign that will improve ad awareness by 1 percent, the customer equity model translates the percentage improvement in ad awareness into the percentage improvement in brand equity (a component ofcustomer equity). The percentage improvement in customer equity then translates into dollar improvement. Comparing the advertising expenditure to the dollar improvement allows the company to calculate its return on the advertising investment.
When Brands Are Commodities, Owning the Customer is Essential
Recently, our firm Copernicus Marketing Consulting undertook a joint research study with leading researcher Market Facts that investigated whether brands are becoming more similar and commodity-like over time. The study examined consumer perceptions of similarity in 48 pairs of leading brands and 51 different product and service categories-from both the Old and New Economy.
Our research found that in categories as diverse as hair care products and rental cars, a nationally representative sample of adult consumers perceives the leading brands (#1 and #2) becoming more similar rather than more distinct. Of the 48 categories evaluated, the leading brands in 40 of these categories are perceived as becoming more similar. Moreover, in 28 of 37 categories, consumers indicated price was more important than brand when making a purchase. In six categories, price and brand were about equally important, and in only three categories was brand more important (automobiles, liquor and beer).
Given this research, it is clear that brand equity alone is becoming an increasingly weak measure for marketing efforts. The customer equity model provides a basis for projecting the ROI of any strategic investment that improves customer equity whether as a function of value, brand or retention equity. It provides a catalyst for companies to become truly customer-centric and to make marketing programs more successful and accountable.
It's a mystery to us why managers seem to spend millions of dollars on marketing programs without knowing if their investment produces a fair return. One possible explanation, however, is that managers simply do not know how to project the return on investment for their marketing programs. They have lacked a basic model that links marketing actions with customer spending actions, and instead use intuition to make decisions. The customer equity model has the potential to forge that missing link.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Customer relationship management (CRM) are methods that companies use to interact with customers. The methods include employee training and special purpose CRM software. There is an emphasis on handling incoming customer phone calls and email, although the information collected by CRM software may also be used for promotion, and surveys such as those polling customer satisfaction.
Initiatives often fail because implementation was limited to software installation, without providing the context, support and understanding for employees to learn.
Tools for customer relationship management should be implemented "only after a well-devised strategy and operational plan are put in place"
Other problems occur when failing to think of sales as the output of a process that itself needs to be studied and taken into account when planning automation.
From the outside, customers interacting with a company perceive the business as a single entity, despite often interacting with a number of employees in different roles and departments. CRM is a combination of policies, processes, and strategies implemented by an organization to unify its customer interactions and provide a means to track customer information. It involves the use of technology in attracting new and profitable customers, while forming tighter bonds with existing ones.
CRM includes many aspects which relate directly to one another:
Front office operations — Direct interaction with customers, e.g. face to face meetings, phone calls, e-mail, online services etc.
Back office operations — Operations that ultimately affect the activities of the front office (e.g., billing, maintenance, planning, marketing,advertising, finance, manufacturing, etc.)
Business relationships — Interaction with other companies and partners, such as suppliers/vendors and retail outlets/distributors, industry networks (lobbying groups, trade associations). This external network supports front and back office activities.
Analysis — Key CRM data can be analyzed in order to plan target-marketing campaigns, conceive business strategies, and judge the success of CRM activities (e.g., market share, number and types of customers, revenue, profitability).
Proponents of CRM software claim that it not only allow customer relationships to be managed more efficiently, but also encourages a more customer-centric approach to conducting business
Executives often cite the lack of proper tools as a barrier to delivering the experience their customers expect. A 2009 study of over 860 corporate executives revealed only 39% believe that their employees have the tools and authority to solve customer problems.
Initiatives often fail because implementation was limited to software installation, without providing the context, support and understanding for employees to learn.
Tools for customer relationship management should be implemented "only after a well-devised strategy and operational plan are put in place"
Other problems occur when failing to think of sales as the output of a process that itself needs to be studied and taken into account when planning automation.
From the outside, customers interacting with a company perceive the business as a single entity, despite often interacting with a number of employees in different roles and departments. CRM is a combination of policies, processes, and strategies implemented by an organization to unify its customer interactions and provide a means to track customer information. It involves the use of technology in attracting new and profitable customers, while forming tighter bonds with existing ones.
CRM includes many aspects which relate directly to one another:
Front office operations — Direct interaction with customers, e.g. face to face meetings, phone calls, e-mail, online services etc.
Back office operations — Operations that ultimately affect the activities of the front office (e.g., billing, maintenance, planning, marketing,advertising, finance, manufacturing, etc.)
Business relationships — Interaction with other companies and partners, such as suppliers/vendors and retail outlets/distributors, industry networks (lobbying groups, trade associations). This external network supports front and back office activities.
Analysis — Key CRM data can be analyzed in order to plan target-marketing campaigns, conceive business strategies, and judge the success of CRM activities (e.g., market share, number and types of customers, revenue, profitability).
Proponents of CRM software claim that it not only allow customer relationships to be managed more efficiently, but also encourages a more customer-centric approach to conducting business
Executives often cite the lack of proper tools as a barrier to delivering the experience their customers expect. A 2009 study of over 860 corporate executives revealed only 39% believe that their employees have the tools and authority to solve customer problems.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Ten Rules of Radical Marketing
1. The CEO must own the marketing function Radical marketing requires that the top individual in the organization be intimately involved in the marketing function, and in fact, drive the marketing approach of the organization. This ensures that everyone in the organization has a strong focus on the interaction with the market, because the CEO demands and expects it.
2. Make sure the marketing department starts small and flat and stays small and flat The key point here is that the marketing function must not get so large that it starts to become bloated with bureaucracy and protocol, but rather is small and flexible enough to respond to new trends to stay in touch with the market, and to try out 'outrageous' new approaches.
3. Get out of the office and face-to-face with the people that matter most the customers Hardly a radical idea, but surely a sensible one.
4. Use market research cautiously Related, this point relates to the propensity for CEOs to 'go with their gut' on key marketing decisions, rather then rely upon focus groups or in-depth market surveys. Because of their close connection to their customers, such marketing decisions often turn out to be right.
5. Hire only passionate missionaries Radical companies hire what the authors call 'passionate missionaries' for senior positions. These are individuals who believe in the product and the customer base as strongly as does the CEO.
6. Love and respect your customers Unlike 'mainstream' companies, senior people in radical marketing companies do not see their customers only as target market segments, defined by demographic or psychographic characteristics. Rather, they think of their customers as being like themselves, passionate and proud to be associated with the product. In this sense, the authors describe the senior managements of 'radical' companies as 'loving and respecting' their customers.
7. Create a community of customers One very striking aspect of certain of the radical marketing companies discussed in the book is their ability to create an extremely dedicated and loyal community of customers, who will even go to the extent of having their bodies tattooed with the brand they identify with (e.g. Harley-Davidson, the Grateful Dead).
8. Rethink the marketing mix "Radical marketers market continuously and devote huge amounts of money, effort and time to communicating with their customers. However, they seldom have huge advertising budgets. In fact, some, like Providian, don't even have marketing budgets, reasoning that such budgets act as "entitlements" and encourage spending when none is needed or, conversely, as ceilings, discouraging marketers from spending more when they see an opportunity... When radical marketers use advertising, they tend to do so in short, sharp bursts, what we have called "surgical strike advertising".... Radical marketers tend to use more one-to-one or targeted communications tools, ranging from direct mail to Web pages to local advertising to sponsoring neighborhood basketball tournaments.
9. Celebrate uncommon sense Radical marketers break the rules. For example, rather than try to maximize distribution of product to place as much as possible in the market, they may tend to limit availability to create pent-up demand, and thus foster loyalty and commitment among their distributors.
10. Be true to the brand "Radical marketers are obsessive about brand integrity, and they are fixated on quality."
2. Make sure the marketing department starts small and flat and stays small and flat The key point here is that the marketing function must not get so large that it starts to become bloated with bureaucracy and protocol, but rather is small and flexible enough to respond to new trends to stay in touch with the market, and to try out 'outrageous' new approaches.
3. Get out of the office and face-to-face with the people that matter most the customers Hardly a radical idea, but surely a sensible one.
4. Use market research cautiously Related, this point relates to the propensity for CEOs to 'go with their gut' on key marketing decisions, rather then rely upon focus groups or in-depth market surveys. Because of their close connection to their customers, such marketing decisions often turn out to be right.
5. Hire only passionate missionaries Radical companies hire what the authors call 'passionate missionaries' for senior positions. These are individuals who believe in the product and the customer base as strongly as does the CEO.
6. Love and respect your customers Unlike 'mainstream' companies, senior people in radical marketing companies do not see their customers only as target market segments, defined by demographic or psychographic characteristics. Rather, they think of their customers as being like themselves, passionate and proud to be associated with the product. In this sense, the authors describe the senior managements of 'radical' companies as 'loving and respecting' their customers.
7. Create a community of customers One very striking aspect of certain of the radical marketing companies discussed in the book is their ability to create an extremely dedicated and loyal community of customers, who will even go to the extent of having their bodies tattooed with the brand they identify with (e.g. Harley-Davidson, the Grateful Dead).
8. Rethink the marketing mix "Radical marketers market continuously and devote huge amounts of money, effort and time to communicating with their customers. However, they seldom have huge advertising budgets. In fact, some, like Providian, don't even have marketing budgets, reasoning that such budgets act as "entitlements" and encourage spending when none is needed or, conversely, as ceilings, discouraging marketers from spending more when they see an opportunity... When radical marketers use advertising, they tend to do so in short, sharp bursts, what we have called "surgical strike advertising".... Radical marketers tend to use more one-to-one or targeted communications tools, ranging from direct mail to Web pages to local advertising to sponsoring neighborhood basketball tournaments.
9. Celebrate uncommon sense Radical marketers break the rules. For example, rather than try to maximize distribution of product to place as much as possible in the market, they may tend to limit availability to create pent-up demand, and thus foster loyalty and commitment among their distributors.
10. Be true to the brand "Radical marketers are obsessive about brand integrity, and they are fixated on quality."
Disadvantages of Email Marketing
Many companies use e-mail marketing to communicate with existing customers, but many other companies send unsolicited bulk e-mail, also known as spam.
Internet system administrators have always considered themselves responsible for dealing with "abuse of the net", but not "abuse on the net". That is, they will act quite vigorously against spam, but will leave issues such as libel or trademark infringement to the legal system. Most administrators possess a passionate dislike for spam, which they define as any unsolicited e-mail. Draconian measures—such as taking down a corporate website, with or without warning—are entirely normal responses to spamming. Typically, the terms of service in Internet companies' contracts permit such actions; therefore, the spammer often has no recourse.
Illicit e-mail marketing predates legitimate e-mail marketing. On the early Internet (i.e., Arpanet), it was not permitted to use the medium for commercial purposes. As a result, marketers attempting to establish themselves as legitimate businesses in e-mail marketing have had an uphill battle, hampered also by criminal spam operations billing themselves as legitimate ones.
It is frequently difficult for observers to distinguish between legitimate and spam e-mail marketing. First, spammers attempt to represent themselves as legitimate operators. Second, direct-marketing political groups such as the United States Direct Marketing Association (DMA) have pressured legislatures to legalize activities that some Internet operators consider to be spamming, such as the sending of "opt-out" unsolicited commercial e-mail. Third, the sheer volume of spam has led some users to mistake legitimate commercial e-mail for spam. This situation arises when a user receives e-mail from a mailing list to which he/she subscribes. Additional confusion arises when both legitimate and spam messages have a similar appearance, as when messages include HTML and graphics.
One effective technique used by established email marketing companies is to require what is known as the "double opt-in" method of requiring a potential recipient to manually confirm their request for information by clicking a unique link which includes a unique identification code to confirm that the owner of the recipient email address has indeed requested the information. Responsible e-mail marketing and autoresponder companies use this double opt-in method to confirm each request before any information is sent out.
A report issued by the e-mail services company Return Path, as of mid-2008 e-mail deliverability is still an issue for legitimate marketers. According to the report, legitimate e-mail servers averaged a delivery rate of 56%; twenty percent of the messages were rejected, and eight percent were filtered.[5]
Due to the volume of spam e-mail on the Internet, spam filters are essential to most users. Some marketers report that legitimate commercial e-mail messages frequently get caught and hidden by filters; however, it is somewhat less common for e-mail users to complain that spam filters block legitimate mail.
Companies considering the use of an e-mail marketing program must make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States' Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM),[6] the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, or their Internet service provider's acceptable use policy. Even if a company adheres to the applicable laws, it can be blacklisted (e.g., on SPEWS) if Internet e-mail administrators determine that the company is sending spam.
Internet system administrators have always considered themselves responsible for dealing with "abuse of the net", but not "abuse on the net". That is, they will act quite vigorously against spam, but will leave issues such as libel or trademark infringement to the legal system. Most administrators possess a passionate dislike for spam, which they define as any unsolicited e-mail. Draconian measures—such as taking down a corporate website, with or without warning—are entirely normal responses to spamming. Typically, the terms of service in Internet companies' contracts permit such actions; therefore, the spammer often has no recourse.
Illicit e-mail marketing predates legitimate e-mail marketing. On the early Internet (i.e., Arpanet), it was not permitted to use the medium for commercial purposes. As a result, marketers attempting to establish themselves as legitimate businesses in e-mail marketing have had an uphill battle, hampered also by criminal spam operations billing themselves as legitimate ones.
It is frequently difficult for observers to distinguish between legitimate and spam e-mail marketing. First, spammers attempt to represent themselves as legitimate operators. Second, direct-marketing political groups such as the United States Direct Marketing Association (DMA) have pressured legislatures to legalize activities that some Internet operators consider to be spamming, such as the sending of "opt-out" unsolicited commercial e-mail. Third, the sheer volume of spam has led some users to mistake legitimate commercial e-mail for spam. This situation arises when a user receives e-mail from a mailing list to which he/she subscribes. Additional confusion arises when both legitimate and spam messages have a similar appearance, as when messages include HTML and graphics.
One effective technique used by established email marketing companies is to require what is known as the "double opt-in" method of requiring a potential recipient to manually confirm their request for information by clicking a unique link which includes a unique identification code to confirm that the owner of the recipient email address has indeed requested the information. Responsible e-mail marketing and autoresponder companies use this double opt-in method to confirm each request before any information is sent out.
A report issued by the e-mail services company Return Path, as of mid-2008 e-mail deliverability is still an issue for legitimate marketers. According to the report, legitimate e-mail servers averaged a delivery rate of 56%; twenty percent of the messages were rejected, and eight percent were filtered.[5]
Due to the volume of spam e-mail on the Internet, spam filters are essential to most users. Some marketers report that legitimate commercial e-mail messages frequently get caught and hidden by filters; however, it is somewhat less common for e-mail users to complain that spam filters block legitimate mail.
Companies considering the use of an e-mail marketing program must make sure that their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States' Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM),[6] the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, or their Internet service provider's acceptable use policy. Even if a company adheres to the applicable laws, it can be blacklisted (e.g., on SPEWS) if Internet e-mail administrators determine that the company is sending spam.
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