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Hello. Please dont hang up! Marketing Training Basics

May 10, 2011 By admin

We’ve all received those tele-sales calls, when you can hear the person monotonously reading from a pre-prepared card.  Is that the way ahead for selling anything to anyone?  A resounding “No!”  So, how can a business ensure they are harnessing the best sales techniques for their workers?  These days orporate training in Marketing and Sales is simply the best way to have everyone reading from the same page in a much more sophisticated way!

Corporate training for teams that work selling products on the internet have sprung up everywhere.  Complete frameworks for planning and implementing online marketing campaigns or public relations and link building can help enormously.  The latter includes advertising, P.R. and marketing disciplines.  Corporate training courses or workshops of only two days can make all the difference. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Marketing, Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

What is affiliate marketing? How is it effective?

March 4, 2011 By admin

How often do you look up a web site and then end up on another web site as a result of the first one? Without really thinking about it we have been directed there by the first web site and it is something that they did on purpose. It is quite possible the first web site was an affiliate. The affiliate has deliberately sent you onto the other web site (seller), this is the first web sites purpose. The affiliate would be rewarded for every person who visits or purchases (depending on the agreement) from the sellers web site. The affiliate has the potential to be very successful. The success would depend them on them keeping themselves up to date on the newest gadgets (or similar) and making sure they were the affiliate for that seller.

I have started out describing affiliate marketing as something that happens between web sites but in fact affiliate marketing goes back to before the days of the internet. If you imagine visiting a shoe shop and buying a pair of suede shoes, when you get to the till to pay you pick up a leaflet for a dry cleaning shop just two blocks away. This dry cleaners specialize in suede cleaning. So now you know about this service and if you require it you may well use it. So can you see why this was effective? The dry cleaning business has located a good place to put their leaflets. You have just purchased a product they could may well help you with a couple of months down the line. It is effective because clear steps have been take to target the correct market. We would expect that the dry cleaners has an arrangement with the shoe shop over their reward.

Affiliate marketing is even more effective online as it cuts out the logistics involved in the above example. If you go into a taxi office and see a pizza menu that looks like something you would like to try you would visit the shop, or would you? This pizza shop happens to be three blocks in the wrong direction – you may well not go. Now imagine booking a taxi online, when you do so an advert pops up at the bottom of the screen for the lovely pizza shop. You click straight into it in one second. People are very busy making things easy always appeals. So you can see how online affiliate marketing is so effective.

Affiliate marketing on the whole can be very effective. If the public trust the affiliate you are onto a winner. If the affiliate has a habit of engaging really well with people and these people mention this to their friend it could be a real recipe for success.

Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing Tagged With: ,

What methods of market research are there? Which are considered the most effective?

February 24, 2011 By admin

There are many methods of marketing research and a company will decide which is most suited to their needs usually based on time and resources available. The methods adopted will also depend on what kind of products the company sell.

Holding interviews with your target group as a way of collecting information. Structured questions are put together for research like this. The questions are typically open ended so that the interviewee will give as much of an answer (information) as possible. Compared to some other methods of research interviews can be quite time consuming. You would also have to hold many interviews to get a reliable amount of research.

Group interviews, also known as focus groups are another way to gather information. It is worth remembering that with group/individual interviews you are relying on people being honest and not putting on a front just for the interview. Most people are willing to give honest answers and generally group/individual interviews are considered a good way to gather information.

Questionnaires/surveys are one of the most common ways of market research. If the questions are constructed properly this can be an effective way to research. As ever the larger the sample group the more sound your research will be. The best way to carry out a questionnaire is to directly approach people who fit into your target group. This is also the most expensive way to carry out a questionnaire, as you need a lot of hours and dedicated people to cover a decent size sample group. Questionnaires can also be conducted over the telephone and through the mail, although it is far more difficult to get people to engage in this kind of questioning. Online questionnaires are also an option but you far less control over who answers the questions. As a result of this it could be deemed that the research is not that accurate.

Observation is yet another method of conducting market research. This would involve observing people as they use a product/service you are particularly interested in. A good side to this type of research is that people are acting totally naturally as they may not know they are being observed. There are some moral questions attached to this though and some would feel it is wrong to observe people without their specific consent.

It is felt by some that the most accurate market research you can carry out is the one on one survey. The main reasons for this are the fact that you are much more likely to get concise answer and the interviewers can focus on making sure the correct people for the target group answer the questions.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: ,

What are the core activities of a good marketing strategy?

February 21, 2011 By admin

When a company concentrates its efforts and resources on the best opportunities to increase sales this would be considered a marketing strategy. It is likely this marketing strategy would have a big emphasis on customer satisfaction. The bigger picture for the company should involve this strategy leading the company to having an advantage to similar companies in the market place. Although I have mentioned customer satisfaction being paramount in this type of strategy there are many other factors involved. Product development is a focus, as is advertising and relationships with other businesses and customers.

One of the first steps in any marketing strategy is to identify who (which group) you will be targeting. Once you have done this you need to find out from them what they want and expect from your product. Once you have enough research and results compiled you need to start making plans to start implementing the changes.

It is not unusual for shops on the high street or web sites to ask their customers to complete surveys about products on sale/purchased. This is market research and this information is the beginning of a process which may well end up in changes to products. Who better to ask than the person/people who have the first hand experience of the product – the consumer.

The sample size of the group of people you ask to complete surveys has to be correct. Asking a fairly small group would mean not getting the true reflection of the current situation.

Using the answers to your questions you would then analyze your product and see if it would be beneficial to makes changes. When/If any changes are made it is important to remember the responses you got from your customers, after all it is these same people that will buy the product again. Once you feel you have re-designed your product to reflect the changes you identified then the next step would be a launch of the new product along with some advertising.

All of the above would  be described as marketing basics and this would be a simple strategy. Most others would have many activities within each step ensuring the whole exercise was as productive as possible. At all times any company embarking on a marketing campaign would adhere to their company policies.

Filed Under: Market Research, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

How and where to promote property, International property marketing.

February 18, 2011 By admin

The property market is always big business and there are vast sums of money involved in it. One way to promote a property is to organise for it to be sold by a well placed and established estate agent. The chances are they would promote the property on their web site. We all have the opportunity to use the internet and so we could to this to a degree ourselves. Going back to Google and its enormous strengths, using a tool as such as Google maps would be a way to promote a property. Google maps has many thousands of visitors every week. These people could see the property you are promoting – if it were on the web site.

If you are familiar with the internet and can access it regularly property marketing could be assisted with the use of your own blog. A real perk of using blogs is that they are free. You also have the freedom to update descriptions and photos as and when you wish.

As previously mentioned using a estate agent is one way of promoting a property – this would be seen as a more  traditional way. The estate agency would most definitely place the property online as a means of promotion. The difference between you doing it yourself and them doing it is the fact that the estate agency will have a reputation. There company name could be known all over the world and could be a name that everyone knows. So the power of the internet combined with a fantastic reputation would probably equal a very well promoted property.

If you like to promote a property yourself social networks are a good way to start. If for instance you posted some photos and description on your wall/status on Facebook and a friend ‘liked’ it, it would then make the images available to more people. It would have potential to be viewed by very many people. Other sites such as Twitter and Bebo would also provide the same opportunity to promote. Loading a good quality video onto YouTube would also be an option.

All of the above mentioned methods are particularly useful when promoting a property on an international level. To advertise a property on an international level would be to promote to its broadest capacity. Most international property would be promoted on a dedicated web site, although using sites such as Facebook and Twitter would still be an option. Listing a property on a MLS is something that some people wishing to engage in this type of promotion will do, MLS stands for Multiple Listing Service.

The use of photographs when promoting a property overseas is key. The photos must be of good quality and would have to convince the buyer the property is worth visiting. Remember, people would be travelling many hundreds/thousands of miles to see the property so the photos would have to be impressive and true to life.

Filed Under: Property Marketing Tagged With: ,

What is CIM? What marketing qualifications do they award?

February 15, 2011 By admin

The Chartered Institute of Marketing, also known as CIM is the largest organization that supports the marketing profession. This support mainly involves training and development. CIM qualifications are developed and based on feedback received by employers in workplace. CIM are constantly working with employers to adapt the qualifications they offer to make sure they are completely relevant to the current working environment. So if you take an exam with the CIM you can be reassured it will be true to the world of work today. CIM have very high standards in terms of what they expect from their members. There code of professional conduct must be adhered to at all times.

The CIM has existed for 100 years and was originally known as ‘The Sales Managers Association’.Ten years later the name changed to ‘Incorporated Sales Managers Association’. In 1928 the first exams were held. In 1961 the name changed again, this time to ‘Institute of Marketing and Sales Management’. In 1968 they were awarded the Royal Charter and they remain the Chartered Institute of Marketing. In the last two decades they have opened offices overseas.

The CIM offer qualifications ranging from basic marketing ideas right through to exams for senior level professionals. CIM qualifications are internationally recognized as being of a trusted and very high standard. They offer introductory/professional certificates in marketing. There is also professional/post graduate diplomas in marketing. There are many courses in marketing combined with other courses, such as marketing with tourism and hospitality. Courses that combine marketing with sales are also widely available from the CIM. These types of courses range from certificate in sales practice to advanced certificate in professional sales management. An advantage of there being so many courses available is that wherever you are in your career there will something for you if you are interested in marketing.

The CIM run courses for employers to send their employees on. There is even a boot camp style course which is based around five fundamental marketing basics. The boot camp is run over five days. The CIM has one hundred and twenty courses for employers to send their employees on. The boot camp style course is considered best for those new to marketing.

Filed Under: Marketing, Marketing Qualifications Tagged With: ,

Affiliate Marketing And More

February 4, 2011 By admin

Internet marketing, due to its vastly increasing frequency of usage, has evolved into several different forms over the years. It’s quite hard to believe that even through Internet marketing, not only the ones who are marketing get to earn money but also the ones who are potential customers. Not familiar with it? Read on to find out more.

Affiliate Marketing is one type of online marketing practise in which affiliates are being given rewards by certain businesses simply for participating in their marketing endeavours. But what makes this marketing practise so unique is that except for the gift-giving part, it does not have a distinct quality of its own. It is instead a combination of certain marketing methods like Paid Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, and Email Marketing. Though given rave reviews by several Internet marketers, Affiliate Marketing still remains somewhat under-appreciated by some.

In addition, Affiliate Marketing is one way for you to earn from products that are not your own. You easily do this by just referring people to a particular site or web page. Then the rest will come naturally. So in order to succeed in making money during Affiliate Marketing, you must first have to have your own website. You can also create your own blog on any platform of your choice like WordPress or Blogger if you are currently having trouble financially. The next thing you should do is be able to figure out the type of affiliate products you are going to market. This is assuming that you have already chosen the market that you are targeting. You also have to make a decision pertaining to what strategy you are going to use in promoting your product or service. Are you going to do it aggressively, passively, or via a combination of both. Things like that are what you should initially consider.

Two good examples of sites using Affiliate Marketing strategy are Google AdSense and Rich PTC. It is very likely that you have heard about or are familiar with these sites.

Affiliate Marketing has various compensation methods, more notably Predominant Compensation Methods (including pay per sale, pay per lead, pay per call, and pay per install), Diminished Compensation Methods, and Performance Marketing.

Additionally, here are some types of sites that are currently running the concept of Affiliate Marketing:
- Comparison shopping sites
- Loyalty websites
- Weblogs and Web Syndication
- File Sharing sites (Rapidshare, Megaupload, Sendspace, Hotfile)
- Some personal websites

Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing Tagged With:

Market Research Versus Marketing Research – What You Should Know

January 27, 2011 By admin

In order for you to be adept in Marketing, one of the things that should be a necessity is doing lots of research. Without research, your marketing plan will pretty much be empty. It is going to be extremely tough to even start in the first step of creating a marketing plan for your product or service. It may even be impossible for those who are relying very heavily on research. The bottom line: research is really THAT important.

This is where Market Research comes into play. Market Research pertains to any kind of effort of gathering information regarding both potential customers and markets in an organised manner. The term Market Research can be used interchangeably with Research Market from time to time, though experts claim that the former mainly focuses on markets more specifically while the latter concentrates more on processes of marketing.

Different Market Research Aspects
Market Research is something that is used by owners of small businesses in determining how feasible the business is. They also utilise it in testing customer interest towards their service and also during the development of competitive game plans. Market Research also involves the emphasis on different aspects when it comes to starting your own small business. These are Market Information, Market Segmentation, and Market Trends. Among the three, Market Trends is the one that is considered to be the most important as it mainly focuses on where the market is headed – whether upward or downward – during a certain time frame. Customer analysis, competitor analysis, and risk analysis are just some of the things included in the to-do list of Market Trends.

Market Research Categories
On the other hand, Marketing Research offers a more systematic and more in-depth data collection and analysis of marketing products, services, and issues. Oftentimes, Marketing Research is divided into pairs of two separate categories. The first categorical pair is Consumer Marketing Research and Business to Business Marketing Research. The second categorical pair is Qualitative Marketing Research and Quantitative Marketing Research. The latter category pertains to the methodological approach, while the former is all about target market.

Contrary to Market Research, the primary purpose of Marketing Research is to be able to present information that are accurate, current, and reliable information. In the managerial decision making aspect of Marketing Research, the DECIDE framework model is applied. This stands for Definition of the problem/s in marketing, Enumeration of all necessary factors that affect decision making, Collection of all relevant facts, Identification of the most ideal alternate measure, Development and implementation of a marketing strategy, and Evaluation.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: ,

All About Marketing Basics

January 24, 2011 By admin

Marketing is a way of life. It is something that is all around us no matter what place in the world we may be. One perfect example would be TV commercials. Another is the presence of billboards. Social networking is another one. It’s found everywhere, indeed.

For those who may be unfamiliar with it, the term Marketing refers to the act of making possible customers or buyers become increasingly interested for a particular product or service. It means that you are trying to sell something to another person – in this scenario both you and him/her can benefit. In other words, Marketing is something that should flow naturally instead of forcefully. Both sides should be happy and not overly compromised. These are just a few examples of Marketing Basics.

Having said that, you must be armed with all the appropriate knowledge regarding Marketing Basics. It does not really matter if you have a degree in any business or marketing related course. Marketing Basics can definitely be learnt easily if taken very seriously. Just keep in mind that Marketing is a step by step process. These steps more often that not involve research, promotion, selling, and distribution in that exact same order.

Here are a few Marketing Basics that will help you get started on the right track:

1. A typical marketing plan should have four very important components. These are your products and services, how you promote them, the distribution process, and pricing. Your marketing strategy will most likely be a total failure without even one of these.

2. In addition, you should also give the following things a lot of consideration: Who are your potential customers? What is the type of market or community your product or service is targeting? What are their other common needs? Do you have any competitors? If yes, do you consider them possible threats? What are the things that can probably go wrong?

3. If you currently own a small business or are planning to own one, it is important that you turn a lot of your attention to organic growth. That can be accomplished primarily by getting more customers. To become a lot better in customer acquisition, it is important to do lots and lots of research and formulate an excellent marketing strategy. Also, make sure that the price of your product or service is reasonable enough for your target market.

4. Most of all, you have to be a believer of what you are selling. It will be much easier to market something that you are also a user of and not just something you are forced upon.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: ,

Property Marketing and International Property – What You Should Know

January 22, 2011 By admin

This may sound a bit odd. First of all, Property Marketing is something you barely even hear of spoken about these days. You might not have even heard of it at all. So what’s the deal about it?

Well, Property Marketing is not really that obscure if you are working in the business world. In fact, it is actually a very common thing. Property Marketing is actually another term used to refer to Real Estate. Yes, you read it right. Property Marketing and Real Estate are pretty much synonymous with each other. When you come to think of it, Property Marketing is the more appropriate term to use. But it so happened that Real Estate is a lay man’s term which makes it more commonly used the Property Marketing.

Property Marketing is a legally-accepted term referring to land and the efforts being exerted to further improvise them. Examples of these so-called improvements are buildings, recreational areas, fences, and many more.

If you are a budding Property Marketing practitioner, the first thing you have to learn about is the right way of picking your spots. You should be aware that due to the worldwide economic crisis suffered by several people nowadays – not everyone are potential clients. In fact, you will rarely find clients who are interested. Tough business, indeed.

So what market exactly should you target when entering Real Estate? This is the most important part. The ones who are just about to start their own families should not be in your market. The most ideal would be middle aged individuals who have already had a lifetime savings in their pockets and might be willing to spend on “a house to grown old in”. You also have to consider the financial status of your potential clients. Buying a house is no cheap thing to accomplish – even for the ones who are financially stable.  Those are just some of the factors you have to put in mind during Property Marketing.

At times, the desire for some to purchase an International Property may really work to your advantage. This is because in International Property Marketing, the target market will be “foreigners” who want to start a living in your country. They definitely would want to buy a house to help them settle in.

That’s exactly what picking your spots is all about. Property Marketing and International Property Marketing have relied on this principle for years with seemingly significant success attained.

Filed Under: Property Marketing Tagged With: ,
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