The leadership question – Your feedback please!

If you checked out the social media activity of 100 businesspeople, do you think you would find many leaders?

Leaders lead: They have the courage to offer their own unique opinions and views. They act like leaders, from the front.

Followers follow: They copy what others do and share what their leaders have the courage to say and do. They act like followers, hidden within a crowd.

Personally, I see VERY, very few businesspeople in social media with leader profiles. However, I see a LOT of businesspeople, who seem to follow the crowd and just say / do what’s safe

The reason for this post

I’m curious what type of message it sends out to prospective clients or customers, when businesspeople sit back and play follow the leader, rather than displaying leadership themselves.

Would that kind of profile impact YOUR decision to hire a consultant or coach? If so, would that impact be positive or negative? I would REALLY value your opinion, so what do you think?

marketing research companies operating in Lahore

hey guys i found out some of the major marketing research companies operating in Lahore. You can know more detail about their profiles by clicking the link given below.

http://www.phonebook.com.pk/Dynamic/Search.aspx?SearchType=cat&Class_ID=1033&City_ID=2&

Swot Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2yfkNX1wso&feature=related

This is a link of Swot Analysis video where you have clearly explained how to do a swot analysis of a company. please do visit it, it is very helping and informative.

Price Discrimination

Price discrimination is the practice of one retailer, wholesaler, or manufacturer charging different prices for the same items to different customer. This is a widespread practice that does not necessarily imply negative discrimination.

This video (link given below) explain it very well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NNGP9gWnSg&feature=related

Role of Marketing in Business

Marketing is perhaps the most important activity in a business because it has a direct effect on profitability and sales. Larger businesses will dedicate specific staff and a department for the purpose of marketing. It is important to realize that marketing cannot be carried out in isolation from the rest of the business. For example:
The marketing section of a business needs to work closely with operations, research and development, finance and human resources to check their plans are possible. Operations will need to use sales forecasts produced by the marketing department to plan their production schedules. Sales forecasts will also be an important part of the budgets produced by the finance department, as well as the deployment of labor for the human resources department.A research and development department will need to work very closely with the marketing department to understand the needs of the customers and to test outputs of the R&D section.

4Ps can be described best as the 4Cs

It is saying that 4Ps talks about the seller view of the market but not buyer view. From the buyer point of view in this age of customer relationship the 4Ps might be better decribed as 4Cs.

4Ps

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

&

4Cs

Customer Solution

Customer Cost

Convenience

Communication

While marketers see themselves as selling products, customers see themselves buying value or solution to their problems. And cutomers are interested in more than just the price; they are intereted in total cost of obtaining, using and disposing of a product. Customer wants the product and services to be as conveniently available as possible. Finally, they want two way communication.
Marketers would do well to think through 4Cs first and than built 4Ps on that platform.

New-Product Pricing Strategies – Penetration Strategy

Set a low initial price so the brand to “penetrates” the market quickly.
Eventually raise prices when wide adoption and brand loyalty have been achieved.
Best used when:
Market is highly price sensitive.
High fixed cost structure.
Need to keep competition out or effects are only temporary

Components of marketing plan

Components of marketing plan

Mission statement
Executive summary
Internal and external analysis
Objectives
Marketing strategies
Identify resources
Implementation plan
Marketing budget
Evaluation methods

Product Life Cycle (PLC)

A new product progresses through a sequence of stages which is called PLC. These changes have a great impact on marketing strategy. It has four stages.

Introduction:
In this stage, a firm developes a market for the product and its purchase.

Growth:
In this stage, the product increases its market share.

Maturity:
In this stage, sales growth slows down.

Decline:
In this stage, the product sales decline.

Reminder Advertisement

This is a reminder advertisement. It is also target oriented add especially for children. By watching this advertisement of cute small girl (her changed voice) the children will be captured and they will automatically want Pepsi. Watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LnJskwydvM

What Top Brands Spend on Advertising

Microsoft:
More than 20 percent of their annual revenue or $11.5 billion.

Coca-Cola:
More than $2.5 billion.

Yahoo:
More than 20 percent of their annual revenue or $1.3 billion.

eBay:
14 percent to 15 percent of its revenue, which was $871 million, much of that to advertise on Google.

Google:
More than $188 million.

Starbucks:
Almost $95 million.

Reference:
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/10/what-top-brands-spend-on-advertising.html

Kiosk marketing

A "Kiosk" is a small stand-alone unit that performs a specific function, generally without management intervention and are generally intended to provide information to those that use it. Kiosks are generally small, mobile and are designed to help the consumer find information. Kiosks can be as simple as an information center designed to hold brochures or as complicated as a computer terminal designed to collect and distribute information. An ATM is an example of a sophisticated interactive kiosk with high security.

Interesting stories behind some of the greatest logos in the world

Interesting stories behind some of the greatest logos in the world

please visit the site http://jazarah.net/blog/interesting-stories-behind-some-of-the-greatest-logos-in-the-world/ as it has interesting information on how some businesses chose their logos. A logo is usually the first thing that gains a consumers attention and especially plays an important role in brand loyalty and brand identification.

Mission Statement of Pizza Hut

We take pride in making a perfect pizza and providing courteous and helpful service on time all the time. Every customer says, "I'll be back!"

Six steps for Effective Advertising

* Identifying the target audience
* Establishing the advertising budget
* Defining the objectives of the advertising messages
* Creating the advertising messages
* Selecting the appropriate media
* Evaluating advertising effectiveness


These are six steps for effective advertising. To know more about advertising click the link below:

Source: http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:wDA-2SXHXPYJ:www.waukesha.uwc.edu/bus/cfischer/101/CH13.ppt+importance+of+taglines+in+promoting+products&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk

Having customers develop your next product

Earlier today I read a really interesting article on CNN.com on Carbon Motors, the designers of a new law enforcement vehicle that’s been getting a lot of press lately.

Unlike other law enforcement vehicles, the Carbon Motors car was developed with input from over 3,000 law enforcement professionals, and apparently it’s getting rave reviews from potential users and with good reason. Rather than settle for a modified street legal car designed by engineers, the Carbon Motors car has been indirectly designed by other law enforcement officers.

One of the differentiating factors in Carbon Motors’ new product development process is its Carbon Council, which is “designed for our team to obtain honest and candid feedback from people who are either involved in the process or who drive the vehicles.” There’s an open invitation online for anyone who qualifies.

For us, this case validates research and learnings we’ve accumulated through prior client projects on launching new products and services. You may want to read one of our recently published papers, “Improving Product Launches” as well as what panelists at our most recent forum had to say about the importance of customer insight in the sucess of a product launch.

Do you know your customers?

While there appear to be signs of improvement across financial markets, there is still uncertainty around how long it may take consumers to recover. This lack of clarity has left not only consumers having to make drastic lifestyle changes but also companies.

Is frugality here to stay and how do marketers deal with this potential change in consumer behavior?
Knowing your customers is more important than ever given that they may be easily tempted to switch brands, products or services due to shifting priorities.

Experiencing is Believing

Marketing works to communicate a brand promise to their customers, but if the brand experience does not consistently and reliably deliver on that brand promise, it will not be believed. As we all know, business value is directly linked to customer value - the closer we meet customers expectations, the more value is created. Simple right? So, why does this so often breakdown?

Segmentation - A Good Recession Strategy?

What an exciting time to be a marketer. Every industry today is experiencing massive change - competitive shake-outs, industry consolidation, or drastically changing customer needs and behaviors. Change can be a launch pad for growth and an opportunity to do things differently, further your competitive advantage, and gain market share by evolving in new ways relevant to customers.

Marketing segmentation is a powerful strategy for companies experiencing significant market change. Matching your unique value proposition to the right customer segments can help you improve margins and gain market share - and on the flipside, changing needs may require you to adjust your value proposition.

Every marketer today should be asking themselves how has their customer landscape changed - what new emerging needs and values are driving customer behaviors, and has your customer segmentation been affected. By re-evaluating your segmentation strategy - which segments do you continue to invest in, which are no longer attractive, and what new segments may have emerged - you can better align your value proposition with the right customer segments. The same old segmentation efforts with the same old products likely will not position you for growth.

Target marketing

Many companies are embracing target marketing. Here, sellers distinguish the major market segments , target one or more of these segment and develop products and marketing programs tailored to each . Instead of scattering their marketing effort they focus on the buyers they have the greatest chance of satisfying.

Market segmentation: identify and profile distinct group of buyers who differ in their needs and preferences.

market targeting: select one or more market segments to enter.

market positioning: for each target segment, establish and communicate the key distinctive benefits of the company’s market offering.