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Casual Articles - 7 Deadly Sins of Marketing
The Single Worst Mistake You Can Make When Buying A BusinessOkay, so you've spent several months shopping around for a business to buy.You have your financing lined up.The numbers look excellent.Everything seems profitable, and everything is perfect.Except for one thing.And that is...unless you've bought a business with a system in place that literally "runs itself" -- whether or not you show up every day -- all you've done is buy yourself a glorified job.A job where you will probably make (if you measure your income per hour) less than most of your employees.A job that will likely cause you an enormous amount of stress, anxiety and pressure every single day of the week -- including weekends.Why do I say this?Because that is wh b>SIN #2 - Assuming your product will be in demand and needed by your audience. Never make assumption about what your audience will want. They are not exactly like you and they have difference needs and interests. Yes, you can create a new market but that takes time and a lot of effort. You need to gather proof that there is a need for your product. This can be accomplished through surveys, doing test samples, interviews, and such. Don't waste your money on developing a marketing Five Powerful Tips for InternsInterning is about more than earning money during summer break. It's a wonderful way to gain work experience and lay the foundation for your future career. But to get the most out of it, you have to do more than just land the job, show up for work and collect your paycheck. Here are some tips that will help you get the full benefits of interning:
1. Pay Attention. This is more than a job, it's a learning experience. And unlike school, this is the real world -- where you'll be spending the rest of your life after graduation! Your coworkers know you are new to this and will want to help you, but they can't spend all day explaining things to you. So when they answer your questions or show you how to do s When I started my first marketing job I was asked to prepare a flyer and have it delivered to all the homes and businesses in the area. The company would then track the response rate and see if this number matched the norm for this type of marketing campaign. However, they measured the success by the number of sales from the campaign rather than the number of responses. In fact, they had no idea how many people responded but they did know how many people bought. When they dropped the campaign, the reasons were all wrong. They did not have a problem with response, they had a problem with converting responses to actual sales. The measurement tool they used did not fit the situation. They measured based on what the sales department did with the responses and not how effective their marketing tactics actually were working. Sound familiar? I have had many marketing experiences since that time but it seems that most companies I worked for are all doing the same thing and I mean the exact same thing! The results tend to fall into the same patterns just like using a cookie cutter to create each campaign. If the results are good, there is no real reason to change it but what if you could improve the odds and improve on the results at the same time? This is only possible if you do not commit the 7 deadly sins of marketing. -
SIN #1 - Relying on what works for others . By thinking what works for your competition will also work for you may have some truth in it but you are setting a trap for your company. By relying on someone else's successful campaigns you are not doing a thorough enough job. It may work in the short term but in the long term you will not be able to make quick changes because of the lack of knowledge. The knowledge you will be lacking is what was actually tested to make the campaign successful, you may not know the demographics in enough detail even though your product may be very similar.
- SIN #2 - Assuming your product will be in demand and needed by your audience. Never make assumption about what your audience will want. They are not exactly like you and they have difference needs and interests. Yes, you can create a new market but that takes time and a lot of effort. You need to gather proof that there is a need for your product. This can be accomplished through surveys, doing test samples, interviews, and such. Don't waste your money on developing a marketing
Radio Advertising For Auto ServicesIn advertising on the radio for auto services it is important to paint a picture in the listener's mind and therefore it is important to describe events, objects and paint scenarios so that they can understand what they should be seeing in their minds when they listen to the radio. It sounds difficult but it isn't really and they say a picture is worth how many words, well quite a few. Another important thing for radio advertising for auto services is to use a little humor. Why you ask?Well when people consider spending money on their car sometimes they cringe and instead of listening to your message they are busy in their minds thinking of the last time they spent thousands of dollars to get their car repaired for somet gn, the reasons were all wrong. They did not have a problem with response, they had a problem with converting responses to actual sales. The measurement tool they used did not fit the situation. They measured based on what the sales department did with the responses and not how effective their marketing tactics actually were working. Sound familiar?I have had many marketing experiences since that time but it seems that most companies I worked for are all doing the same thing and I mean the exact same thing! The results tend to fall into the same patterns just like using a cookie cutter to create each campaign. If the results are good, there is no real reason to change it but what if you could improve the odds and improve on the results at the same time? This is only possible if you do not commit the 7 deadly sins of marketing. -
SIN #1 - Relying on what works for others . By thinking what works for your competition will also work for you may have some truth in it but you are setting a trap for your company. By relying on someone else's successful campaigns you are not doing a thorough enough job. It may work in the short term but in the long term you will not be able to make quick changes because of the lack of knowledge. The knowledge you will be lacking is what was actually tested to make the campaign successful, you may not know the demographics in enough detail even though your product may be very similar.
- SIN #2 - Assuming your product will be in demand and needed by your audience. Never make assumption about what your audience will want. They are not exactly like you and they have difference needs and interests. Yes, you can create a new market but that takes time and a lot of effort. You need to gather proof that there is a need for your product. This can be accomplished through surveys, doing test samples, interviews, and such. Don't waste your money on developing a marketing
How to Get Started on Your Marketing PlanWhen developing or updating a marketing plan, knowing where to start is often a challenge. To better develop effective marketing strategies, begin by gathering information about both your business and the larger business environment (competition, trends, statistics, etc).Internally, the amount of information you gather about your own business will depend on your company size. Information can include business strategies and plans; company marketing plans; pricing; and income statements. Employee knowledge is also a valuable resource. As you gather information, if you at first turn to internal sources then expand your understanding through external resources you will do fine.External information about the business envi an the exact same thing! The results tend to fall into the same patterns just like using a cookie cutter to create each campaign. If the results are good, there is no real reason to change it but what if you could improve the odds and improve on the results at the same time? This is only possible if you do not commit the 7 deadly sins of marketing.-
SIN #1 - Relying on what works for others . By thinking what works for your competition will also work for you may have some truth in it but you are setting a trap for your company. By relying on someone else's successful campaigns you are not doing a thorough enough job. It may work in the short term but in the long term you will not be able to make quick changes because of the lack of knowledge. The knowledge you will be lacking is what was actually tested to make the campaign successful, you may not know the demographics in enough detail even though your product may be very similar.
- SIN #2 - Assuming your product will be in demand and needed by your audience. Never make assumption about what your audience will want. They are not exactly like you and they have difference needs and interests. Yes, you can create a new market but that takes time and a lot of effort. You need to gather proof that there is a need for your product. This can be accomplished through surveys, doing test samples, interviews, and such. Don't waste your money on developing a marketing
Does your Business Capitalize on Trends or do Trends Cannibalize your Business?What was the latest fad chased or trend adopted by your business? Why did your management team jump on the band wagon? Has the trend or fad generated an increase in revenue or gains in efficiency and/or productivity?Most organizations that demonstrate a “heard mentality” when rushing to adopt the latest trends will likely experience yet another in a long line of great adventures that ended in frustration due to the time wasted and the investment squandered. The reality is that many businesses are quick to recognize great ideas, but they often have no plan for how to successfully integrate them into their business model.My advice to you is not to let your business get caught up in trends and fads…At least not without have some truth in it but you are setting a trap for your company. By relying on someone else's successful campaigns you are not doing a thorough enough job. It may work in the short term but in the long term you will not be able to make quick changes because of the lack of knowledge. The knowledge you will be lacking is what was actually tested to make the campaign successful, you may not know the demographics in enough detail even though your product may be very similar. - SIN #2 - Assuming your product will be in demand and needed by your audience. Never make assumption about what your audience will want. They are not exactly like you and they have difference needs and interests. Yes, you can create a new market but that takes time and a lot of effort. You need to gather proof that there is a need for your product. This can be accomplished through surveys, doing test samples, interviews, and such. Don't waste your money on developing a marketing
The Benefits Of Multiple Sources Of IncomeInflation and economic trends require families to have two incomes just to stay even with their expenses. It may be that, in the future, even two incomes will not be sufficient. It is a good idea to be prepared for bad economic times rather than to simply hope for the best and suffer if the best does not come. Families should have multiple flows of income to guard against facing an insecure future. It is very important to have a source of extra income.Wealthy people have always known that it is important to have more than once source of income. If one of their income sources failed for some reason, they always had fallback sources to carry them through. People with ordinary, average incomes have generally faced problems if b>SIN #2 - Assuming your product will be in demand and needed by your audience. Never make assumption about what your audience will want. They are not exactly like you and they have difference needs and interests. Yes, you can create a new market but that takes time and a lot of effort. You need to gather proof that there is a need for your product. This can be accomplished through surveys, doing test samples, interviews, and such. Don't waste your money on developing a marketing campaign if you are not sure if there is really a market for your product. - SIN #3 - Not defining the target audience in enough detail. Audiences should be narrowly defined to maximize the spending for marketing. Audience details would ideally include (but not limited to) demographics (age, gender, income, number of children, etc.), psychographics (lifestyles, spending habits, sports interests, hobbies, etc.), and geographics (location details such as neighborhood, city, county, state, etc.). If you can pinpoint your audience, you will likely see an increase in the results for your campaign.
- SIN #4 - Creating a market for your product after the product has been developed. You may think of this as not the function of the marketing department, nothing could be further from the truth. Marketing needs to be the first line of defense before a product is developed. Marketing needs to do the research to make sure there is a market for the product long before it comes off the drawing board and into production. Spend dollars on feeling out the marketplace as to needs and wants and then develop only those products that people will buy.
- SIN #5 - Spending the entire marketing budget on one or two tactics. If you spend all of your marketing dollars on developing a brochure to mail out, you will only get the response rate from a direct mail campaign. You should always test several tactics to find which ones work and then choose the ones where the response rate is the greatest. Often companies simply develop one type of marketing collateral and so with it without thinking about other tactics that may outperform the current one. You should be constantly testing tactics and if the budget permits, using more than one tactic at a time.
- SIN #6 - Not paying attention to seasons or holidays. Too often organizations do not appropriate plan their campaigns
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