Business War and Competition

Posts Tagged ‘Business’

Oh my, the sky is falling and we are in an economic downturn. It’s on the news and it is in the papers. Everywhere I turn we hear of the downward spiral of our economic state. I know what you are thinking; it’s time to cut that marketing budget. Signs of recession are all around us. Let’s start slashing costs and marketing is the first to go. Makes sense, right? No! Let me explain.

Don’t you dare cut your marketing budget. That is one of the first mistakes businesses make during times of economic crisis.

It’s time to get smarter about your marketing dollar and spend it to bring results. Sounds good doesn’t it? However, I can hear you – how do you do it? If ever customer intelligence was important it’s now.

The key is to look at your marketing dollars as an investment not an expense. Use the customer knowledge that you have and implement SMART marketing during these times of financial distress.

SMART marketing consists of the following

S – Strategize
M – Maintain market spend
A – Assess and allocate the budget
R – Research your customer thoroughly
T – Target and reach out to them

Stand fast during this time. I can not stress to you the importance of seeing your marketing spend as an investment during this time and not an expense. Companies have survived difficult times and have come out strong. You don’t have to take my word for it. I came a across a fantastic and informative study done by Penn State’s Smeal College of Business entitled Research: Proactive Marketing During Recession . All business owners should read this article. In this study they remind of us of companies that weathered the storm and succeeded. A few examples include:

Procter and Gamble – During the Great Depression they pushed Ivory soap.
Intel – In 1990-1991 during economic difficulty they pushed out the campaign “Intel Inside”.
Wal-mart – Walmart launched their “Every Day Low Prices” campaign in 2000-2001.

I am sure you recall all of these campaigns as I do. Even when there are difficult times well-positioned companies can in fact survive and thrive in them. It truly is about being SMART and taking marketing seriously now more than ever.

A major key is to know your consumer. Know them inside and out. Know what they think and know where they are. Know how these economic times are hitting them. Create your message around that pain. Reach out to them. Look and revise your product line if necessary. Look at developing lower cost solutions if possible. Be flexible, but at the same time be aware and always assessing.

Consider this – if you in fact cut your marketing budget, how will your consumers find you? You have severed your business lifeline and future hope of potential growth. Perhaps you have a secret that I’m not aware of and can reach that success without marketing. If you do I’m always willing to learn and I’d love to hear from you.

I stand with you during these times and wish you most prosperous marketing campaigns. Success can happen and it can be done, but marketing is involved.

It’s not a secret that many companies that downsize, re-prioritize or expand find outsourcing to be a cost effective decision to fulfill certain corporation functions. Outsourcing has become an essential aspect of business strategies and this included the marketing function.

Outsourcing allows a company to put more focus on product development and overall operations. It eliminates the delay the need to hire full-time staff and avoids tasking overworked staff. Many marketing consultants help companies market their products and services without extending their in-house marketing staff. They can often provide the same service as an in-house marketing department, but at half the cost.

By outsourcing you gain the following:

Specialized skills and expertise
An external perspective and view point

Outsourcing can be intimidating at first, but there are things to look for when choosing a marketing consultant or an outside marketing firm. Here are a few evaluating questions that should assist you in finding a marketing consultant that is right for you.

Area of Expertise

Find out what their expertise is in. There are many component to marketing. What do they focus on? Here are common areas of expertise:

• Search Engine Marketing and Optimization
• Branding
• Positioning
• Affiliate Marketing Development and Management
• Marketing Strategy and Plan Development
• Internet Marketing Strategy and Plan Development
• Lead Generation
• Sales and Marketing Campaign Development
• Marketing Classes, Seminars, and Workshops

Training/Education

What type of training and/or education is important to you. I will tell you that education is important, however experience and hands-on expertise can far out weigh education when it comes down to success in marketing.

This will also tell you how active they are in the marketing community as well as if they’ve been certified in certain areas of marketing.

Notable Achievements

What are the notable achievements that the marketing consultant has achieved. What work are they most proud of?

Client References

Never hire a marketing consultant without contacting client referrals. We can get very excited about the sales presentation and the marketing brochures we’ve been handed when looking for a consultant, but the truth is the proof is in the achieved results. If they could not succeed with other clients, what makes you think they can succeed when it comes to marketing your products and services? Call those references, it only takes a few minutes and it is worth your time.

Evaluate the Fees

Before signing any agreements make sure you are clear in the fee structure. Is it based on milestone payments, paying everything up front, or are they working on a pay-for-performance structure? Be clear about what you will be charged and how those fees are determined.

There are many marketing consultants out there and with the power of the internet they are not hard to find. Make sure you are comfortable with their experience and that you also feel they understand your marketing goals. They should take the time to listen to you about the vision of where you want to go and what you want marketing to achieve for you before they ever present to you a fee structure. If they are in a rush to have you sign the contract without taking the time to understand your business run away fast and find someone else. They should be patient in the courting process to gain your business, if you feel rushed it will only get worse after the agreement is signed.

A marketing consultant’s salary can vary from $40,000 per year to upward of $100,000 per year. The amount that a marketing consultant makes, depends on their experience, speciality, knowledge as well as years and exposure in the business.

Marketing consultants can work for themselves or within a corporation. An example of salaries within a corporation as reported by Glassdoor include the following salaries for internal marketing consultants:

Dell – $95,000 to $104,000 annually
Well Fargo – Start at $75,000 annually
Wachovia – Start at $55,000 annually

If a marketing consultant decides to work independently their salary will be solely based on the fees that they decide to charge. Consulting fees can range from $25 per hour to $200 per hour. How do you know what rate to bill? I suggest creating a hourly rate that is in line with your experience and expertise. Here is an example of common hourly rates charged by marketing consultants:

Entry Level
1 to 2 years experience
$35 to $50 per hour

Manager Level (Product or Marketing)
2 to 5 years experience
$50 to $75 per hour

Director / Senior Level
6 to 10 years experience
$75 to $125 per hour

VP Level
11+ years experience
$125 and up

In order to charge the higher consulting rate, you must be able to not only have the years of experience, but be able to prove your work, have client recommendations and a record of marketing successes that you can share.

Buying the Hot Stuff – Selling the Dogs

The conventional wisdom of buying low and selling high is Actually very good advice but Often people do the exact Opposite in practice. By the time you hear about a hot mutual fund or asset class, how many other Market Participants do you think have Heard about the same thing? If something is truly undervalued That you can bet more times than not the market will from know about it and the price of security Will Likely Reflect its true value. Of course, there are times Pls this is not true but the frequency of this is not very high.

The common mistake investors make-That is to buy a hot investment Pls it has already reached or come close to its peak. In the same way, many investors sell investments after a big drop in its price Because They are scared of Further drops. Not to say That one should not buy solid investments and sell poor ones, but buying the hot investment near its peak and selling at a trough is not the way one Should Be investing.

Buy High! Sell ??Low! ??

When an asset class will from peak? When Will it reach its low? If I Knew the answers to these questions I would be getting paid a lot of money by an asset management company. Timing the market is Difficult … Instead, look to the future and do your analysis from TODAY. Starting TODAY, based on your analysis, where Will the investment go? If you think an investment is a winner at today’s price, buy it today. If you think an asset is overvalued at today’s price, sell it today.

Know When to Hold ‘Em – Know When to Fold’ Em – Know When to Double Down

This may be the single most pervasive mistake made by investors. To Understand This mistake, one needs to Understand the concept of a sunk cost. A sunk cost is a cost-That has been Incurred And that can not reasonably be recovered. Should not sunk costs influence decision making processes but They Often do. Examples:

* A (bad) poker player knows with a high degree of certainty That s / he Will lose a hand but since s / he has invested so much money into the pot, They continue to play.
* You buy a movie ticket. You Decide later That you do not want to go to the movie. You can not sell the ticket. You Decide That you have to go to the movie Otherwise it would be “wasting” the ticket (which has already been paid for).

I Will post more on sunk costs in depth later but for now, just Understand the basic concept. So how does this relate to investing Mistakes? Good question. Too Often, investors will of an investment purchase only to have it consistently lose value over a period of time. They have already invested Since Their original principle in the investment, They refuse to sell off the investment losing Because They Do not want to think That They have made the investment for no reason. Why? I have no idea.

Psychological factors including Greed, denial, fear and cost investors bazillions of dollars every single year. Will discuss this article some of the Biggest That errors investors make. Probably you are aware of these in some capacity but They Will be Stated explicitly here along with some Reasons why They are Actually Mistakes as well as tips to Prevent yourself from making these Mistakes.

The Myth of the Inside Scoop

This is an error made by investors of many skill levels. When someone Gives Them a “hot stock tip,” they either IMMEDIATELY go and buy the stock or do a very quick and dirty check and then jump in head first. This is not the way it Should Be. Every investment decision you make-Should have sound reasoning behind it or else it is merely speculating.

There are some baseline questions That you Should Be Able to answer before you even think about making an investment. First, why are you making the investment? What * is * the investment you are making? Can you describe how this investment Will make you money? If there is an overarching economic reason for the investment and That rationale has already been priced into the investment? What are the factors That may cause the investment to move in the direction Opposite of what indicates your hot tip?

Jumping on “tips” without knowing the rationale for the investment is bad for Multiple Reasons. First, if you do not know what you are investing in, you may not know all of the risks INVOLVED in your investment. Are you investing in something with a lot of leverage? Are you investing in an inherently volatile security? Find out before you make-That purchase. Second, if you do not know exactly what you are investing in or what Will drive the price of this investment, then how on earth Will you know Pls to get out? What if the price doubles and you just sit there waiting for the triple Pls the market realizes the security is overvalued? Finally, if you do not do your homework and find out what you’re investing in and why, you will never LEARN how to determine if something is a good investment or not.

How to make money pursuing our

• we must have a value-added

the intention is what added value products we have compared
with sesame products owned by others

• must be communicated

IE the product / service that we have should be promoted to the a lot.

• to the right people

where we promote to the appropriate person or group
in order to buy goods / services we use have.

• in the right amount

IE if we want the money to pursue at least one product for which we
have no two consumers who will buy, and if we will buy
at least there are two manufacturers that we will buy the goods.

• with a quick

related to the way we publish content that is by promotion
appropriate, proper means of promotion, the right time and place.

Forex market daily turnover of about 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars while the stock market is only about 300 billion U.S. dollars In addition, the Forex market operates 24 / 5, so it can be done by traders regardless of their location and local time.

Do you want to join the rebate system?
Rebate Weekly Forex allows traders to earn money for every transaction of international companies InstaForex. What you need to do is trading and EUR 16 for each lot market (USD 1.6 for lots in InstaForex). This service is free of charge. Register for your trading account with the system program of the Company InstaForex – Weekly Forex Rebate – and your daily trading in Forex will become more profitable.
The most comfortable trading conditions offered by the Company InstaForex and given the greatest Rebate Rebate Weekly Forex system – that is the key to your success in Forex! In 2009 Rebate Weekly Forex services work together to agree an international broker InstaForex premises. And since it gained the trust of some traders.

What is Forex Rebate Weekly?
Weekly Forex Rebate is a payment system back some money to the Forex traders after they complete a transaction. Forex Rebate Weekly InstaForex help traders to get additional profit through the return of some spread trading in the Forex market internationally. Weekly Forex System Rebate is available only to corporate clients InstaForex.

It should be noted that the system is Rabate popular services provided only by a reputable Forex broker. Weekly Forex Rebate success not only in providing this service for free, but also in providing the highest rebate is paid for each transaction. Favorable conditions are only offered by some companies, but fully available to the client InstaForex.

It is not easy to build a retail business on the internet. But if five requirements are successfully met consumer, then success a matter of time.

As stated by Prime Space Abbi, distributors as well as retail businesses the latest technology devices. According to him, there are five services that consumers look for in online shopping.

“If the online store, which is seen only services,” said he tried to analyze market trends online retail business, Saturday (12/11/2011).

Fifth services, according to Abbi, payment is easy, has many payment options, goods delivered quickly, when there are complaints that it serves, as well as his company could continue to maintain consumer confidence.

“If all were met, the customer will feel very pampered. Finally, there was a sense of dependence and attachment. There are yet many are doing it that way,” he said further.

Based on the trend of the market needs it anyway, which led the company’s, launched the online trading portal specialized in the latest gadgets Buying and selling websites and community forums this gadget lovers, Abbi said, trying to present as a response to the positive trend of online transactions in Indonesia and continued skyrocketing market demand for the latest gadgets in cyberspace.

“Direct selling to our online transactions rose 170%. While the walk-in to the malls and shopping centers electronically inclined flat. Transaction online hype began high-high right now,” he said.

Another reason why choosing to engage in the online segment, described by Abbi due to the smaller investment compared to just open a physical store in the mall and other shopping centers.

“The investment is for building an online store in just a need for warehouse storage, databases, and everything needed for the network on the internet. The cost can be cut 1:8 up to 1:10 compared to open a physical store, but the results can be 1:2 sales from physical stores earlier , “he explained.

Currently you do not need to be confused if you want to start an online business opportunity. money is relatively difficult to make some businesses reluctant to start a business online. But now you do not need to be confused and difficult because Indonesia already have a merchant service provider. This service is specifically aimed at those who have an online business and are still difficulties in the financial transaction services, especially payment and cash withdrawal.

To avail this service you must create a personal account. This service will help you, especially in terms of online financial transactions such as payments, delivery, and withdrawal of money. Online transactions can be done with couple of media ie credit cards and debit cards. In this case you only need to register by completing the personal data such as name, address, email, and telephone. Your data will be stored securely so that you are calm in the transaction. Some packages also have been provided and can be selected based on the type of online business you’re in.. For example you run a business online article where you will be paid after posting the article. Such as I was the owner of the blog so I shall post the article itself and keywords article my friend a message. Examples of his article is “Financial Transaction Services for Sellers and Buyers Online” course, payment is done online. With the financial transaction services you do not need anymore trouble. You simply open your account and then decide you want to do the transaction in this case the withdrawal of money.

Multi-currency facility owned by an online service that makes you faster in taking your money because you do not need to make the switch first. Withdrawals can also be done quickly in the presence of 87  Bank in all regions of Indonesia. For that you can quickly learn about a business blog where you can use your blog as a medium to look for dollars with ease. Look for more information about the facilities at the top so that later you can use it optimally and of course to support a more advantage of online business you run today.