Learning marketing lessons from Bollywood Actor, Amir Khan

Amir Khan is one of the top stars of the Bollywood who has been credited with the title of "The Perfectionist" for the kind of excellence he tries to achieve in every endeavour. He is a class apart whether it is Lagaan or Taare Zameen Par (both were the India’s official entry into the Oscars.)

One of his recent pet projects Taare Zameen Par has won him accolades from various sections of the society (parents, teachers, school principals). Amir Khan, in an interview to a private TV news channel,  said that the movie got a standing ovation during special screening in Seattle, USA.

Here are some of the marketing lessons we can learn from him:

1. Focus & Dedication

Amir Khan is known for the fact that he does only one movie in a year, and that movie is always a hit, away from the league and a blockbuster. Ghajini,his latest movie released on 25th December, is also this year’s biggest blockbusters. He works with dedication on one film without diverting his efforts towards other projects (movies)

2. Brand Mark (developing viral idea)

His brand mark was the Ghajini Hairstyle, within few days many – a lot many youngsters were spot having it,

3. Special Marketing Team

He had a dedicated special marketing team to support him in every aspect of marketing. A good thing that means you should have specialized team for each function.

4. Special Screening before release (product testing)

He had a pre-launch testing with the audience and made changes based on their feedback.

While Gajhini was a super duper it, I never got a chance to watch it. And I will never got to watch it again.

Marketing Musical

* Por Mylton Casaroli Neto

Dentre os diversos segmentos drasticamente afetados pela estratosférica evolução tecnológica presenciada nas últimas décadas (ou anos), encontramos o da música. Não falo simplesmente do advento da música eletrônica, cada vez mais presente até mesmo dentre linhas mais clássicas da música. Falo da maneira como o negócio é administrado.

A tecnologia trouxe ao alcance de músicos tecnologias que antes estavam apenas nas mãos das gravadoras, como softwares especializados em gravação e edição de áudio, plugins, hardwares, infra-estrutura acústica. Com isso, há um crescente número de bandas e artistas independentes, que optam por fazerem seu trabalho por conta própria, mas com qualidade; é o famoso do it yourself (ou faça você mesmo). A tecnologia permite realizar gravações caseiras com qualidade profissional.

Outro fator muito afetado foi a distribuição da música. YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, blogs e outros artifícios permitiram aos artistas entregar suas músicas a um maior número de pessoas, em uma maior região geográfica, em um menor tempo e com um custo praticamente nulo.

Em uma rápida análise mercadológica, temos um cenário com poucas barreiras à entrada e à saída, um mercado crescente (cerca de 5% ao ano) e com diversos segmentos e nichos. Aplicando a análise das forças de Porter, temos um mercado de forte concorrência, com diversos novos entrantes e inúmeros produtos substitutos; temos clientes com forte poder de influência e fornecedores sobre os quais não há qualquer tipo de poder de barganha.

Se por um lado é mais fácil a um(a) cantor(a) ou banda produzir um trabalho com qualidade e distribuir com baixo custo hoje em dia, por outro lado vê-se que, perante o imenso número de artistas atraídos por essas facilidades, está cada vez mais difícil ser percebido pelos clientes (ouvintes). Tem muita gente fazendo muito barulho ao mesmo tempo. Como fazer para ser ouvido e percebido em meio a essa multidão?

Não é uma tarefa fácil, nem mesmo rápida. Em primeiro lugar deve-se ter em mente que a qualidade do produto é cada vez mais exigida, e portanto cada vez menos será visto, ou ouvido, artistas de baixa qualidade na briga por uma fatia do mercado. Outro ponto importante é a seleção do mercado-alvo. Parece algo muito obvio, mas muitas bandas tentam ser tudo para todos, perdendo o foco de seu trabalho e, conseqüentemente, perdendo mercado ou até mesmo encerrando as atividades. A seleção de apenas uma “tribo” pode ser o caminho para estabelecer o artista na cena musical e lhe dar condições de crescer e expandir a outras tribos.

A gestão da Marca é muito importante. As pessoas devem ver a banda ou artista e ter bem definido em suas mentes o que isso significa. Bandas como Rolling Stones, Beatles, Iron Maiden desenvolveram de forma muito seu posicionamento; basta lembrar-se desses nomes e imagens e valores vêm à mente. Lembre-se que nunca é tarde para fazer “correções no trajeto”, como é o caso do The Police que, após a entrada do Sting, alterou drasticamente seu som e tornou-se uma das maiores bandas do planeta na década de 80.

Dentro desse novo contexto, o fator que mais mudou foi a questão da comunicação com o mercado. Antes as bandas e artistas eram entidades distantes; qualquer comunicação com o mercado era motivo de euforia aos fãs. É possível atualmente estar próximo ao mercado e comunicar-se com os fãs em tempo real. Hoje mesmo eu soube, via Twitter, que um de meus baixistas preferidos, Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, Dave Lee Roth, BX3, etc…), está no Japão, indo de Osaka para Kyoto e que gostaria de estar em casa, pois o Halloween é seu feriado preferido, mas está sempre viajando na época. Isso tudo dito por ele mesmo. Esse é só um exemplo de como a comunicação passou a ser feita.

O artista que conseguir estabelecer um canal de comunicação sólido com seus fãs, conseguirá engajar seus fãs no negócio de maneira eficiente. Para isso, não só o canal deve ser eficiente, mas a mensagem deve agregar valor. Deve haver muito cuidado com a comunicação e com a promoção, fazendo de forma estratégica, avaliando os valores da tribo selecionada e as características do artista ou banda. Imagine uma banda do segmento gospel ir à mídia e falar um monte palavras de baixo calão? É incoerente ao segmento selecionado.

Algo muito polêmico é a questão do fator preço. Legal ou ilegalmente as músicas são baixadas “aos gigabytes” pela internet e essa é uma realidade com a qual no há como lutar. Uma saída para muitos tem sido a oferta gratuita de músicas como forma de incentivar a compra de mais músicas ou de discos. Além disso, a oferta gratuita de músicas pelos próprios artistas tem sido utilizada como forma de promoção através de sorteios, bonificações a clientes, etc. A lógica por trás da oferta de músicas pela internet é que o ouvinte que gostar da música desejará compra o CD, ir aos shows ou ver a banda ou artista na mídia, gerando receita através dessas outras fontes.

Um ponto a ser desenvolvido é a comunicação individualizada, o marketing de relacionamento. É praticamente impossível buscar oferecer um produto personalizado nesse caso, mas é possível manter registros de contatos anteriores, que devem ser considerados em novos contatos (curva de aprendizado). A vantagem é que o cliente possui grande interesse no relacionamento e é recíproco. Isso torna a banda ou artista ainda mais sensível ao mercado.

É claramente visível que a metodologia desse mercado está mudando, de forma nada discreta e a passos largos. Os sobreviventes serão aqueles que conseguirem adaptar-se à nova realidade e utilizar isso para obter destaque em meio a uma concorrência fortíssima. Preparem-se para não ver mais novas lendas da música, mas apenas projetos ousados, cujo foco não está mais nas gravadoras e nos grandes selos de distribuição, mas sim no mercado consumidor, nos fãs.

*Mylton Casaroli Neto é sócio-diretor da Gert Soluções Empresariais.

Unternehmerische Entscheidung: Handeln oder Abwarten?

    

 

 

Wenn die Lage der Nation in wirtschaftlicher Hinsicht nicht die Beste ist, passiert es schnell, dass auch im eigenen Unternehmen die Situation dem allgemeinen Trend folgt. Um dann das Niveau an Umsatz zu halten, muss man sich etwas einfallen lassen. Aber das Gute daran ist: Bleibt man wachsam und aktiv, kann man immer etwas tun!

 

 

 

Bei sinkenden Umsätzen gibt es drei wichtige Ansatzpunkte, die untersucht werden können: Liegt es an der Strategie, am Marketing oder am Verkauf? Der jeweils vorgelagerte Punkt beeinflusst die darauf folgenden Punkte. Natürlich können Kunden aus der wirtschaftlichen Situation heraus grundlegend zurückhaltender sein. Die Lösung dazu wäre aber bestimmt nicht Resignation, sondern natürlich mehr Kunden – durch mehr Anfragen und mehr Interesse. Ein logischer Weg, mit dem zurückgehaltene Aufträge ausgeglichen werden können. Ist es also die Strategie, die weiterhin für ein Geschäftsfeld mit Potenzial und Goodwill sorgt oder kann das Marketing optimiert werden? Oder ist es der Verkauf, der Unterstützung benötigt?

 

Der Kosten-Nutzen-Aspekt
Geht man davon aus, dass die Strategie funktioniert, dann wäre der nächste Ansatz das Marketing. Unternehmen, die sich ein gutes Geschäftsfeld gesichert haben und die erkennen, dass Marketing der Schlüssel zum Absatz ist, die sehen, wie wichtig dieses Instrument für die Zukunft ist, werden die Gewinner von morgen sein. Davon bin ich überzeugt. Es war noch nie eine Lösung in schwierigen Zeiten Marketing-Budgets zu streichen. Das wird auch nie eine Lösung sein. Das einzige, woran man dadurch mit Sicherheit sparen kann sind Interessenten und potenzielle Neukunden. Meiner Meinung nach ist der Kosten-Nutzen-Aspekt im Marketing wichtiger denn je! Effektivität und Wirtschaftlichkeit sind feste Maßstäbe für erfolgreiches Marketing. Und Marketing muss wirtschaftlich sein. Auch, wenn Kreativität und ein gewisser künstlerischer Anspruch in diesem Bereich ihren festen Platz haben.

 

Mit Erfolg gegen den Strom
Der zusätzliche Punkt ist: Gerade jetzt ist Aktionismus auffallend. Beispiel: In guten Zeiten stehen Sie auf einem überfüllten Marktplatz und versuchen, Ihre Ware an den Mann zu bringen. Sie müssen schon auffallen, um überhaupt gehört zu werden. Was passiert in angespannteren Zeiten? Die Anzahl der „Marktschreier“ ist spürbar geringer. Das heißt: man werden besser gehört. Vorausgesetzt natürlich, man wirbt.

 

Mein Tipp:  Gerade jetzt, am Ende des Jahres, wenn der große Stress vorbei ist, wenn die Urlaubszeit naht, wenn Budgets neu geplant werden und sich die Ansprechpartner zurückziehen, ist ein guter Zeitpunkt, um sich neu zu sortieren. Man kann die Strategie prüfen und die Effizienz im Marketing analysieren, um dann im neuen Jahr mit klaren Vorstellungen in die Vermarktung zu gehen. Zeit ist ausschlaggebend. Und wenn man im kommenden Jahr gleich durchstarten kann, kommen neue Kunden umso schneller!

 

Interns.

Lately, I’ve been hearing/seeing more and more debate involving interns and what a company should or should not allow them to do.

Don’t let your intern develop your social media presence! Don’t let your intern pitch a story to reporters! Don’t let your intern interact with clients! Don’t let your intern learn or the world will implode and everyone will blame you personally!

Okay, so I made up the last one. But seriously…how am I not the only one upset by this?

I have held three internships in my short life. Each one very different, with the vague commonality of public relations or communications. One was with a private online startup, one was with the federal government, and the other was in health care. I did everything from copywriting to party planning to missile sales promotion to pitching heartwarming stories about stroke survivors. You want diverse experience, you got it!

I don’t recall ever being told I couldn’t do something that my superiors were doing…in fact, in 2 of the 3 internships I was actually expected to carry the many of the same responsibilities as my senior staff members. I can also assure you that no one has EVER asked me to make coffee or fetch bagels. I was treated as a professional, whose knowledge–however naive or scarce–and opinions were valued. Sometimes, I was coached and then given the opportunity to do things on my own. Other times, I was thrown head first into the fire and had to figure things out as I went along. Sometimes I succeeded profoundly and other times I failed miserably.

But because of that? I learned. I learned so much that I can guarantee you that without these opportunities I would not have my job today.

And you know what else happened? I positively contributed, in a quantifiable way, to the efforts of each one of the organizations I worked for. Yep, that’s right they benefited, in varying degrees, from my work (and I have the references to prove it).

That’s what internships are all about. It’s not just a way for businesses to obtain cheap labor–it’s a quid pro quo relationship in which a business offers experience, knowledge and mentorship in exchange for work, ideas and results.

I understand perfectly that there are risks involved in relinquishing control to an intern and that not all tasks are appropriate for interns…but if you seriously fear that your intern is capable of compromising your brand, what does that say about your internship program or your recruitment process?

Shouldn’t you be hiring capable interns to begin with? Whom you trust? Shouldn’t you be training them? Mentoring them? MONITORING them?

I just don’t get it. Has everyone forgotten that really, when you think about it, weren’t we all interns once?

La Publicidad y el Marketing Viral, un recurso en alza entre las grandes marcas y empresas

La proliferación del marketing viral sigue siendo una tendencia en aumento a pesar de los muchos tópicos y leyendas urbanas generadas sobre su validez y eficacia.

Tal es así, que resulta muy difícil el saber con precisión o a ciencia cierta si la puesta en marcha de una campaña de marketing viral conseguirá el impacto deseado o cumplirá los objetivos para los cuales ha sido ideada. Para ello sin duda es necesario una buena dosis de creatividad, ingenio, buenas ideas y buscar las fórmulas y medios necesarios para conseguir atraer la atención y que sus efectos comiencen a “propagarse viralmente”.

Es cierto que muchas de estas campañas virales han logrado una fama y reconocimiento merecido pero a la vez, otras muchas han sido olvidadas o han pasado desapercibidas por no ser capaces de generar la suficiente atención e impacto, no han sido bien ejecutadas, o simplemente no eran tan geniales como sus propulsores se pensaban.

En el marketing viral suele ocurrir lo que también ocurre en las narrativas y episodios de nuestra propia historia. La memoria y el recuerdo están reservados para quienes lograron triunfar y obtuvieron su reconocimiento. Los grandes momentos de la historia del marketing y publicidad viral también han dejado su legado en forma de campañas o acciones que muchos siempre recordaremos, pues es lógico fueron diseñadas para ello y entre sus virtudes y características destacar un mayor impacto emocional sobre nuestra atención generando a su vez un mayor recuerdo.

Campañas virales como la protagonizada por el “gorila batería” de Cadbury, el popular video utilizado para protagonizar el film de “Monstruoso“, el ingenioso spot de nike protagonizado por un desconocido y “ágil” Ronaldinho o la secuencia con la Dove nos sorprendía mostrando un proceso de cambio imagen utilizando la última tecnología, han sido algunos de los virales que mayor impacto y repercusión han generado a través de la red.

Desde entonces, de forma regular siguen apareciendo nuevas acciones de marketing viral que como viene siendo habitual, recurren al video online como soporte para una rápida difusión y propagación, ayudado del boca a boca.  El desafío es que los consumidores hablen sobre un determinado producto y que también recomienden sus beneficios y ventajas a sus más cercanos.

En este aspecto también ha crecidola fórmula de complicidad entre este tipo de campañas y los medios de comunicación, (televisión, prensa, etc…) como canales o trampolines de información que aseguren un impacto más directo, rápido o inmediato para captar la atención.

Algunos de estos ejemplos podemos encontrarlos en campañas recientes como la del ya famoso OVNI gallego. Una filmación recogida en medio de la mar por una embarcación pesquera y que llegó a muchos de los telediarios y medios de prensa de nuestro país como noticia insólita y de sucesos. Finalmente se desvelaba su verdadero origen. El video correspondía a una ingeniosa y original campaña de marketing viral del portal terra.es

Han pasado pocas semanas desde que todos nos haciamos eco de esta noticia ufológica y su verdadera finalidad y sin tiempo para reponernos, es desvelada otra de las campañas de marketing con mayor repercusión a nivel mundial.

En esta ocasión, la caída de un meteorito en Letonia junto a la frontera con Estonia ha mantenido a medios, científicos y entusiasmados en vilo tras la difusión de un video que mostraba el descubrimiento del mismo dentro de un cráter de unos 20 metros de diámetro y 10 de profundidad. Tras las primeras valoraciones de los expertos todo indicaba a lo que mucho ya sospechábamos desde un inicio. Una nueva campaña con efecto viral, esta vez desarrollada por la compañía de telefonía móvil Tele2 que opera en el país.

Fuente: Puro Marketing

Why Browsing Beats Reading

I love to read, but I’d choose book browsing over reading any day. There’s so many titillating  promises on book jackets. It wasn’t always this way. There are copywriters and design teams whose sole purpose is to get book browsers like myself to choose their book over all the others. I want this job. My fallback would be to be a movie-critic, but I don’t write all that well, so it’s probably not realistic.

Lately I’ve been gravitating towards the Science section. Just being near this section makes me feel smart. Books about Einstein and cosmology and quarks. Most of the book jackets claim that you don’t need a PhD to understand them. I keep eying this book called “Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.” It has all these rave reviews on the back how it’s going to blow my mind, but whenever I try reading a page I run into all sorts of formulas and big math words and I feel a little bit dumber.

Also, books that center around “loneliness” have been jumping out at me lately. One’s in the essay section - Jonathan Franzen’s “How to Be Alone: Essays.” The other one is in the Science section. I can’t remember the title, but it’s supposed to be about how we’re all social animals and yada yada yada. If there was a book called “How to Cure Loneliness,” I’d buy it in a second. I guess what I enjoy about book-browsing is the promise. All the great reviews, the thoughtful front covers, the author’s full resume…

I’ve been going to the bookstore every day now for the past week. I’ve been mixing up the locations so I don’t appear to have an addiction. At first I was looking for a magical well of blogging ideas. The best I could find were boring trivia books. Writing every day for this blog is tough. If I ever imply that it’s easy, then I’m probably lying. I still look for blogging how-to books in the Computer section, but I’ve gotten better. I quickly move to another section, because blogging about blogging does nobody any good.

I spend most of my time wandering aimlessly, telling the friendly staff that I’m just looking. What I’m looking for, I’m not quite sure. I was close to buying this book called “The Peep Diaries: How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors,” but it was 17 dollars (2 dollars over my per-book limit). I think the title sort of speaks for itself, so I won’t elaborate. Non-fiction, the societal implications of social media (and yes, blogging).

I started my search several days ago hoping to find that well of ideas. If there was a book called “1000 Ideas for a Blog Post” I would certainly have bought it days ago, albeit with some embarrassment, but instead I found something even better – the Art section. I’d been looking in all the obvious places like the Writing section. There’s all sorts of writing books that claim to contain the cure for writer’s block, but most are crap. Writing is creative, art is creative. Why hadn’t I thought to look in art?

One of the ideas that used to be big at my office was the notion of “business topography.” In a nutshell, it’s the idea that you can often find ways to improve your business by stealing ideas from unrelated industries. For example, did you know that the assembly line process made famous by the Ford Motor Company was partly inspired by processes already employed in the Chicago meat-packing industry? (I’m 80% sure I got that factoid right. Use it at your own risk.)

While I didn’t find the idea generating book I’d originally envisioned, I found this whole ‘nother related section right under my nose. Restated: What I really wanted was the 50-year anthology of Playboy centerfolds (Art?), but then I remembered I was in a bookstore and not a porn shop. The next best thing was this short book on art in the everyday, “The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa” I’d almost recommend this book to you without my having read it, but I won’t. It’s taken me 7 days to find this one book, so it must be good, right?

Who's your group?

I remember thinking, this is great, seven of us, sitting around, talking and challenging each others business ideas. We call our group the “Mastermind Meeting”. We meet once a month to share laughter, ideas, experience and to discuss any new intellect any of us has acquired. What is really interesting is that we all come from different backgrounds, we all have different reasons for being in the room and for the most part we really don’t spend much time together outside of the meeting. However, for this one night, we are a tight group, and the ideas and insights we gain are invaluable.

I share this with you because this month I want to ask, who’s in your group? Where do you go to bounce ideas, share experience and learn a different perspective? Do you even have a group that you can draw on? I think it is enlightening to have “fresh eyes” looking at your business. Many times, I find we get too close to our business and we automatically start filling in the gaps in our own thinking. By doing this we miss obvious holes in our logic, we make assumptions that are wrong or we give too much credence to concepts that may not be true.

For me, being part of this group gives me perspective. I know everyone is different, we all think differently and we all filter our reality differently. For example, this month two of the group members presented their business ideas. While their plans were solid and made sense, each one of us gave our own personal tweaks and nudges that helped to shift some of the thinking. The end result was, the presenters walked away with lots to consider and a handful of fresh ideas for their next steps.

I think as a business leader you need a group too. Whenever, I meet with business owners, especially start up or struggling ones, I ask whether they have an advisory council in place. It doesn’t need to be formal, just a group that can offer a diverse opinion. A group will help flush out thinking on your upcoming business plans, marketing concepts or even HR related challenges.

Would a group be good for you? Why not look through your personal network and find 5-7 connections you really admire and invite them to join you one evening. It is especially valuable if you invite people on the outside fringe of your network (i.e. the people you don’t always socialize with). The ground rules are simple, have a brief agenda, park all egos at the door and at all times feelings are to be acknowledged and respected. Outside of this, the world is fair game.

As a next step I hope one day that our group starts to capture our sessions on CD so that we can share it. I think others might find the humour, insights and ideas we share helpful for their business too. So thanks Tom, Peri, Trevor, Randy,

Rick and Michael for being a valuable “group” of people to hang with.

Market your ability

Share your knowledge, become an expert then earn money

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Negócios

Entendendo a Mudança no Mercado Varejista. “Cada vez mais me apaixono pelo segmento do varejo, pois as mudanças são constantes e desafiadoras”. Leia +

Varejo – Como Espantar Clientes. “Hoje a época é outra”. Leia +

Negócios, Networking e Twitter. “Empresas e profissionais que desejam construir uma excelente rede de relacionamentos, precisam se atualizar”. Leia +

3 Things to Do Before You Submit To Article Directories, Plus 4 things you must not Forget

To all writers and non-writers out there, now is the time to start digging up those creative writing skills back.
With modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers. This is why article writing, submissions and publications are also getting popular.

There are already many tools that people can use to make the process of distributing their articles more easily. Though this is invaluable in getting the contents more exposure, which is only half of the story.
Let us take a look first at the common mistakes that some people make before submitting their contents to article directories:

1. Publishing content that does not help your readers.
Maybe in the process of writing articles, you are thinking that all that is you wanted is links back to your site. And any visitors it can generate are fine.
Guess what? Not all article banks and directories are going to accept your content automatically. Oftentimes, they have some guidelines and specifications on the articles that they are accepting.
You can double the number of sites you can submit to by writing articles that the directories want to share with other people. All it takes is one publisher with a hundred thousand readers to increase your potential audience overnight.
Write the articles that publishers want in their publications if you want your article marketing to work the most effective way for you. This also means you have to obey the standard guidelines, spell checks, researching on a good topic and even hiring a writer to produce a good content on your behalf.
In the end, it is all really a matter of choice on your part. You can start getting a little exposure from increased links back but on a very basic level. Or enjoy massive exposure from a little extra time making quality contents.
It will be your choice. You may not be aware of the fact that an article submitted on directories is not meant to have the same level of exposure as highly-targeted content ones geared on a narrow group of people.
Learn the difference between these two and it will surely help you know what kinds of articles to write and to submit.

2. Confusing the reason to promote the articles with the reason to write them.
In article writing, there are three key benefits why you are promoting them; branding, lead generation and promotion, which are all part of your optimization efforts.
But there is only one reason why you write an article, and that is to inform your audience. If the article is not focused on this primary and most important purpose, it will fail to achieve the three promotion benefits because no one will be interested in reading them.
You need to figure out first how to get people to read what is in your article, then make them click on your resource box. You can achieve this by producing better contents.

3. Failing to maximize the promotional opportunities of article marketing.
You may know already that your articles can help you generate additional links back to your site. But do you know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results from that same articles?
Mention keywords at strategic places. Just be sure not to overdo them. Some are even using anchor texts which is also an effective method. But it is important to know that majority of the directories are not able to support this.
Remember that is not only about the links back to your site. Part of doing well in your article marketing is getting picked up by publishers with a large number of audiences and gaining the ability of leveraging other brands because of the quality of your work. Better search engine results also are great benefits.
But these things do not put much money in your pocket. There are other factors that can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity that can boost your earnings. Not just increase the number of visitors to your site.
Start out with a plan and see to it that your article will serve the function that you intended it to have.

4 Things ALL Articles Must Have – Don’t Forget!

The importance of articles in today’s websites and internet based companies are immeasurable. They dictate a lot in the success and the drive of traffic into one’s site.   It has become a key element in making a site work and earns a profit. A website operator and owner must have the good sense to include articles in his or her site that will work for them and earn them the many benefits articles can give to their site.

Articles have been known to be the driving force in driving traffic to a website. Articles are a factor in giving site high rankings in search result pages. The higher a site ranks the bigger slice of the traffic flow pie he gets. With a huge number in traffic flow, there are more profits and more potential for other income generating schemes as well.

But, it is not just about stuffing your site with articles; they have certain requirements as well. These requirements must be met to obtain the maximum benefits an article will provide for your site. A well written article will catch the eyes and interest of your customers and keep them coming back for more.  They would also be able to recommend your site to others.

Here are some tips to help you and assist you in making your articles. Below you will read about four things all articles must have to make it successful and helpful in making your site a profit earning and traffic overflowing site.

•    Keywords and Keyword Phrases.

An article must always be centered on the keywords and keyword phrases. As each website visitor goes to a site, there are those who are just merely browsing but actually looking for a specific something. When this happens, a searcher usually goes to a search engine and types in the keywords they are looking for (e.g. Toyota Camry, Meningitis, Tax Lawyer and Etcetera). It could be anything they want.

The Important thing is that you have an article that has the keywords that are related to your site. For example, if you maintain an auto parts site, you must be able t have articles about cars and their parts.  There are many tools in the internet that provides service in helping a webmaster out in determining what keywords and keyword phrases are mostly sought out. You can use this tool to determine what keywords to use and write about.

•    Keyword Density

Know that you have your keywords and keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to “feel” its presence. Articles should at least have ten to fifteen percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results. Getting a high rank is what articles do best for a site.

Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used on an article. The number varies depending on the number of words used in an article. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high or too low. With a very high density, the essence of the article is lost and may turn off a reader as well as the search engines. It comes off as overeager. A low number may be ignored by the search engines.

•    Good Article Content

Like what is stated above, you cannot just riddle an article with keywords. They must also be regarded as good reading materials. Articles must be able to entertain people as well as provide good information and help for their needs. Articles should be written well with correct spelling and good grammar. If you want people to trust you, make your work good and well thought out.

People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Try to get great information and as many facts as you can. A good and well written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic. As more people believe in you. They will be able to trust you and your products.

•    Linking Articles

And another important thing to remember. If you are going to submit articles to ezines and/or contribute your articles to newsletters and other sites, DON’T ever forget to include a link to your site. A little resource box with a brief description of your site and you should always be placed right after your articles that you have submitted. If people like your articles, they will most likely click on the link directing them to your site.

Business Development Triage

Resources of time are finite and no one in sales or new business development can or should pursue every opportunity that presents itself. So how do you prioritize?

Here is my step by step guide to courageous opportunity prioritization.

Business Development Triage (Step by Step Prioritization) View more documents from Mark Walmsley.

The PDF is here

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Objectives of Advertising

There are at least three different viewpoints taken in attempts to evaluate the contribution of advertising to the economic health of the firm. The generalist viewpoint is primarily concerned with sales, profits, returns on investment, and so forth. At the other extreme, the specialist viewpoint is represented by advertising experts who are primarily concerned with measuring the effects of specific ads or campaigns. A middle view, one that might  be classified as more of a marketing management approach, understands and appreciates the other two viewpoints but, in addition sees advertising as a competitive weapon. Emphasis in this approach is given to the strategic aspects of the advertising function.

Building on objectives for advertising can be assigned that focus on creating awareness, aiding comprehension, developing conviction, and encouraging ordering. Within each category, more specific objectives can be developed that take into account time and degree of success desired. Obviously compared to the large number of people advertising makes aware of the product or service, the number actually motivated to purchase is usually quite small.

In the long run and often in the short run, advertising is justified on the basis of the revenue it produces. Revenue in this case may refer either to sales or profits. Economic theory assumes that firms are profit maximizers, and the advertising outlays should be increased in every market and medium up to the point where the additional cost of gaining more business equals the incremental profits. Since most business firms do not have the data required to use the marginal analysis approach, they usually employ less sophisticated decision-making models. There is also evidence to show that many managers advertise to maximize sales on the assumption that higher sales mean more profits (which may or may not be true).

The point to be made here is that the ultimate objective of the business advertiser is to make sales and profits. To achieve this objective, the actions taken by customers must encompass purchase and continued repurchases of the advertised product. Toward this end, an approach to advertising is  is needed that provides for intelligent decision making. This approach must recognize the need for measuring the results of advertising, and these measurements must be as valid and reliable as possible. Marketing managers must also be aware that advertising not only complements other forms of communication but is subject to the law of diminishing returns. This means that for any advertised product, it can be assumed a point is eventually reached at which additional advertising produces little or no additional sales.

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Top Seven Tips To Think Your Way To Success

Every great business product or service that exists today was once first conceived as an idea in someone’s mind. No matter whom you are or what your experience, everyone has that same ability to think of the next revolutionary idea as culturally enhancing as the paperclip.

1. Read books and magazines regularly and often. The more knowledge and information you provide your brain, the higher the probability it will be able to return the next million dollar idea.

2. Take 30 minutes to an hour each day to think up new and interesting ideas. The more you ask your brain to provide this kind of information, the better it gets and producing it naturally and spontaneously.

3. Work through ideas, and figure things out. Everyone has good ideas however, the most successful people are the ones who take the time to think the idea through and flesh it out.

4. Don’t beat yourself up for bad ideas. You know you’ve had them—that idea that you were certain was a winner but turned out to be a stinker. That’s part of the process of working through ideas; accepting when you discover insurmountable flaws in your plan that its time to move on the next one even though you already told your spouse and close friends about this brilliant idea you had. My wife accuses me on a regular basis of not being able to focus on one project for long enough to complete it. My response is that I’m able to focus just long enough to figure out something is not feasible given my current resources.

5. Embrace the possibilities. You’ve heard of the expression, “there are many ways to skin a cat.” Well there are a myriad of ways to accomplish your ideas if you are willing to explore every avenue and chase down every dead-end until you find the most workable solution.

6. Keep a pad and pen by your bedside. Some of my best ideas come either just as I’m trying to get to sleep or when I wake up from a dead sleep with an idea or a solution to a problem I’ve been considering. There are two important things to be aware of. First, the times you have a difficult time falling asleep is your body’s way of telling you that you need to do a brain dump and get your thoughts down on paper. The minute you do, you’ll settle back down into bed and fall asleep almost instantly. The second consideration is that if you wake up in the middle of the night with a great idea and you fail to write it down (thinking of course that you’ll do it in the morning), you will most like not be able to remember parts of or all of the idea, and then it’s gone from your mind until you see someone else has implemented it.

7. Don’t say that it’s already been done so you can’t do it; ask how you can do it better. So many great ideas are iterations of other good ideas that accomplished a purpose but did not grow to its full potential. The best ideas are often improvements on other concepts. Keep an open mind.

If you follow these suggestions, you’ll find your mind spontaneously producing more ideas than you know what to do with at the present time. Not only is this an enviable position to be in, that is exactly what you are striving for. Once you have a plethora of ideas to draw from, simply pick and choose the best of your best ideas and get working. Before you know it, you’ll come up with that $100 million idea that will change your life forever and leave a legacy behind you.

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Advertising 101

There are a lot of words thrown around that have similar meanings to advertising, so you might be wondering what advertising really is and if a specific definition really matters. Advertising is basically anything a business does to try to get consumers to have a positive view of their company or to get consumers to purchase their goods or services. There are four basic purposes for advertising.

Creating Demand
The objective for advertising is sometimes to create a demand for product or service. There are two types of demand: primary and selective. 

• Primary demand is the demand for a type of product. The Got Milk? ad campaign is an example of this type. The advertisers are merely promoting the consumption of milk in general, not a specific brand of milk. Unlike the milk example, primary advertising is usually done to promote a new product; in this case the marketer tries to create a demand for something the public doesn’t currently use.
• Selective demand is the demand for a specific brand of the product. Selective demand advertising kicks in once the new product has competition.

Promoting a Brand or Company
Another purpose for advertising is to shape the public impression of a brand or company. An advertisement might try to make a company seem reliable, cutting edge, or customer-oriented. The hope is that if people think the company is a good one, they will be more likely to use it rather than the competition. For instance, a printing company might have a commercial showing the bands it has helped make famous by completing quality poster printing projects.

Causing Action by Consumers
The desired action by consumers might be direct or indirect.

• Direct action advertisements call for consumers to buy this product or service soon. The ads do this by having limited time offers of special prices or packages. For example, a print company might offer poster printing at a reduced rate until a specific date.
• Indirect action advertisement is a lot like promoting a company. The purpose is to get consumers to have a positive view of the brand or the product a company makes. This type of advertising is aimed at building a customer base over the long run. 
   

Benefiting the Public
The purpose of some advertising campaigns is to promote public safety or well being. Campaigns that encourage people to wear seat belts are an example of this.  Another example is when regional forest reserves do a poster printing campaign to promote fire safety.

Now that you have a basic knowledge of advertising, you can better know where you should start with your advertising campaign. Your next step is to research specific advertising campaigns and hire professionals so that your advertisements can be as effective as possible.

Mittelgrosse Werbeagenturen bedroht

Den Schweizer Werbeagenturen fehlt es nicht an Aufträgen, aber der Kampf um den kleineren Werbekuchen ist härter geworden und drückt auf die Preise. Die krisenbedingte Konsolidierung trifft vor allem die mittelgrossen Agenturen mit ein bis zwei grossen Auftraggebern.

Die Y&R Gruppe-Schweiz in Zürich spürt die Krise, doch an Aufträgen fehlt es der zweitgrössten Kommunikationsgruppe des Landes nicht: «Rezessive Zeiten wie die aktuelle sind uns hinlänglich bekannt, sie sind unangenehm, aber sie gehen vorbei.» CEO Andreas Widmer gibt sich unerschrocken, was die aktuelle Situation der Werbebranche betrifft. Bereinigungsprozess ja, aber: «2008 ist für uns gut verlaufen, daher ist die Veränderung zu relativieren», sagt Markus Gut, Chief Creative Officer (CCO).

«Die Schweizer Werbebranche entwickelt sich rückläufig», beobachtet Peter Felser, CEO und Partner der Zürcher Agentur Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett. In Zahlen: Im 1. Halbjahr wurden laut Mediafocus 7,4% weniger in Werbung investiert als im Vorjahr; die Anzahl Inserateseiten ging gar um 20% zurück. «Wider besseres Wissen werden die Werbeausgaben in jeder Krise gekürzt», bedauert Rolf Helfenstein, Client Service Director bei Jung von Matt/Limmat.

Ruinöser Preisdruck

Frank Bodin, CEO von Euro RSCG Schweiz und Werber des Jahres, spricht für das laufende Jahr zwar von vielen Neuaufträgen. «Aber ob sich unser Erfolg auszahlt, ist sehr fraglich.» Denn die konjunkturelle Flaute führe zu einem ruinösen Preisdruck von Seiten der Auftraggeber. «Bei Forderungen nach Preisabschlägen von 25% kann ich nicht mehr mithalten», sagt Bodin. Diese Entwicklung schlage zwar noch nicht auf die Resultate des laufenden Jahres durch, aber in Bezug auf das kommende ist er skeptisch. Und er ärgert sich über das Preisdumping, «denn wir stellen ein geistiges Gut her». Auch die Y&R-Gruppe merkt, dass Preise heute viel härter verhandelt werden. «Der Wert unserer Arbeit hat sich verändert», bedauert Gut.

Immerhin: «Das Positive an der Krise ist, dass sie zu einem Innovationsschub führt», sagt Andreas Widmer von der Y&R-Gruppe. Die konjunkturelle Krise beschleunigt den technologischen Wandel zur Digitalisierung. Schon länger verbindet die Y&R-Gruppe klassische mit digitalen Formen der Kommunikation. «Wer Werbung macht wie vor zehn Jahren, liegt falsch», ergänzt Markus Gut.

Wie präsentiert sich die aktuelle Auftragslage? «Sie ist erfreulich gut», hält Peter Felser von Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett fest. Aber der Zeitdruck ist enorm: «Man hat weniger Zeit für einen Auftrag, muss ihn effizienter ausführen», sagt Gut. Zahlreiche industrielle Auftraggeber haben ihre Werbebudgets reduziert und wägen ihre Medienausgaben genau ab. Die Agenturen müssen sich nach neuen Kunden umsehen, um ihre Umsätze zu halten. Doch das schrumpfende Marktvolumen setzt der Neuakquirierung enge Grenzen.

«Nicht alle werden gewinnen, die Konsolidierung in der Branche betrifft vor allem das mittlere Segment von Agenturen mit 10 bis 15 Personen», erklärt darum Andreas Widmer von der Y&R-Gruppe. Häufig bringe diesen Firmen ein einziger Grosskunde 50 bis 60% des Gesamtumsatzes, was die Agentur in Krisen anfällig mache. «Es gibt sicher Gewinner mit Supermandaten», sagt Frank Bodin. Doch auch er äussert sich skeptisch über Agenturen mit ein bis zwei grossen Auftraggebern. Hingegen seien die Top 15 der grossen Agenturen breiter aufgestellt und verfügten über Manövriermasse. Diese Ansicht teilt Peter Felser. Da die Agenturlandschaft durch eine Vielzahl von KMU geprägt sei, lasse sich die gesamthafte Veränderung der Anzahl Mitarbeiter aber nur schwer schätzen.

«Neue mediale Ordnung»

Wird die Y&R-Gruppe mit rund 150 Mitarbeitenden in Zürich und Genf Personal abbauen? «Wir haben gewisse Kapazitätsanpassungen vorgenommen, aber sie sind nicht dramatisch und betreffen vor allem unsere Freelancer», erklärt Widmer. Über Euro RSCG Schweiz mit 67 Angestellten sagt Frank Bodin: «Wir befinden uns im Blindflug, ich kann noch nichts sagen. Das Jahr 2009 bringen wir noch über die Runden, 2010 macht mir mehr Sorgen.» Peter Felser – seine Firma hat rund 60 Angestellte – betont: «Der Personalbestand muss laufend angepasst werden – momentan stellen wir Leute ein.» Bei Jung von Matt/Limmat werden Ende Jahr gleich viele Personen beschäftigt sein wie Anfang Jahr.

Die strukturelle Umwandlung führe zu einer «neuen medialen Ordnung», der sich Agenturen stellen müssten: «Gewinner werden die Agenturen sein, die alle Kommunikationsdisziplinen aus einer Hand anbieten», sagt Rolf Helfenstein. Dem Channel Planning kommt heute grosse Bedeutung zu: In welchen Kanälen bringe ich welcher Kundengruppe welche Botschaft?, lautet eine der Kernfragen. Denn bei Cross-Media-Kampagnen wechseln die Kommunikationsformen. «Wir fördern die Interaktion zwischen Auftraggeber und Konsument», erläutert Gut.

Wertewandel

Verändern sich in der Krise die Werbeinhalte? «Die Komplexität unserer Arbeit hat enorm zugenommen», sagt Widmer. Der Trend gehe weg vom Massenkommunizieren und hin zum individuellen Arbeiten mit Communities, die man kennen müsse.

«Eine Marke muss klar sagen, welchen Nutzen sie leistet», sagt Rolf Helfenstein von Jung von Matt/Limmat. Peter Felser hält fest: «Die Botschaften gehen schon seit einiger Zeit wieder vermehrt Richtung ?reales Leben?. Gefordert wird das Authentische, das Echte.»

Bodin sagt: «Wir haben klare Indikatoren für einen gesellschaftlichen Wertewandel, zu dem der Mensch aber gezwungen werden muss.» So sensibilisieren heutige Kampagnen etwa für Probleme wie Wasserknappheit. «Die Werbung hat ihren Zenit überschritten, denn die Menschen durchschauen sie», sagt Bodin. Daher drängen sich ein auf Nachhaltigkeit bedachtes Engagement und ein «Vertrauensmarketing» auf.
Dieses «neue Denken» führt laut Bodin Emotionen und Technologie nahe zusammen. Die Medienformate veränderten sich; doch die Bedeutung der «strategischen, exzellenten Agentur» werde nicht abnehmen.

Weder Depression noch Euphorie

Wenn sie auch für die Branche als Ganzes skeptisch sein mögen: Für ihre eigenen Firmen hegen die befragten Werber positive Erwartungen für das laufende und das nächste Jahr. Besonders zuversichtlich ist Rolf Helfenstein von Jung von Matt: «Wir werden 2009 leicht über 2008 liegen und gehen 2010 von einem Wachstum aus.» Andreas Widmer von der Y&R- Gruppe ist vorsichtig optimistisch: «Sowohl Depression als auch Euphorie wären fehl am Platz.» Bodin ist zumindest «äusserst zuversichtlich» für die Agenturen, welche das «neue Denken» pflegen: «Wir werden mit weniger Leuten mehr Content machen, die Branche wird exklusiver.» Peter Felser gibt sich vorsichtiger: «Wir werden umsatz-mässig 2009 dank substanziellem Neugeschäft auf Vorjahresniveau abschliessen. Für 2010 stellen wir uns auf ein hartes Umfeld ein.

Beste Gruesse
Ralph Wagner

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Earn Money From The Internet

Every person wants to earn money quickly. Very few individuals are willing to wait for months to get rich. That is why marketing and networking schemes that promise quick bucks are becoming very popular.

The big question is: Is it really possible to earn large amounts of money in a short period for time? The answer is a resounding yes! Many individuals have been able to do so and so can you.

One of the best places to earn money quickly is through the World Wide Web. And a very surprising fact is that you don’t even have to have your own website and hundreds of products to sell to become a part of the Internet wealth revolution. It is sad that many individual shy away from Internet business opportunities because they think that its is hard and complicated to earn money from the Internet.

And on the Internet, the best and quickest way to earn money is through affiliate programs. By becoming a part of an affiliate program, you will earn money by finding customers and through the sales generated.

As an affiliate program member, you do not need to have your own website. This is the because the affiliate will be more than willing to provide you with your own web page which you can use to invite prospects.

Getting involved in affiliate programs is the ideal way for those who are new to the Internet who wants to earn money. This is because affiliate programs are very easy to understand and does not require special knowledge and skills. The secret to becoming a successful affiliate program member is to get yourself involved with a product that best suits your interests.

By doing so, you will have an easier time in selling and marketing your product. Once you get the hang of selling products online, you will discover that it can be a very enjoyable way of earning money and becoming rich. Also through time, you will learn the best way to sell or market your products through the World Wide Web.

Another advantage of affiliate programs is that it gives you the capability to have multiple streams of income. This can be done by selling different types of products online. Having multiple streams of income means that you will be able to earn more money quickly and become rich faster.

So how does one become a success through affiliate programs? Below are some valuable tips on how to be a true success and earn money through affiliate programs.

1. Survey the affiliate programs available and choose 3 to 5 affiliate products that you thinks are the best. The best affiliate products are usually the ones with the high commission.

2. Although it is not necessary it would be to your great advantage to create a website for each products that you are selling. This will deliver you more sales in no time.

3. Write interesting and informative articles about your products. This is the only way that people will know your products so give it your best shot.

4. Provide article directories with articles and information regarding your products,. Give them permission to reprint the articles. This would give your product maximum exposure.

By doing the steps above, you are well on your way to earning money through the Internet and live your dreams.

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Maruti Suzuki! How could you miss this? The diwali bonanza!

Maruti Suzuki Corporate

Everyone for sure remembers the corporate ad that was made for Maruti Suzuki by Rajeev Menon which ended with the tagline – “India comes home in a Maruti Suzuki”. Moreover it had a brilliant emotional connect, when you saw the youngster asking for a lift after his bus broke down and in his HELP signcard, it was written -  Need to be home for Diwali.

Brilliant ad. Hats off to Rajeev Menon and the people involved in it.

I don’t know how many of us know that today there was a news in which it was reported how around 50 passengers were stranded in the Vizag airport due to technical snag in the plane and were suffering from an emotional snag by the lack of empathy of the Air India officials too who didnt even bother to serve a glass of water and were passing on the buck.

What does Maruti Suzuki have to with Air India?

Air India - Going down..coming?

Imagine this hypothetical condition: If Maruti Suzuki officials had  came to know about it and arranged a private jet or a chartered flight to transport them to Delhi. And while they were on flight they advertise their corporate ad that they had made. Imagine the news spreading like wildfire among the news channels and you have Maruti Suzuki’s ads being shown. Imagine how many people would be in awe of the company. Imagine how many people would spread the news through word of mouth. Imagine the number of blogs written and a few awards in its name too. Imagine the magazine articles written on it and the chat room talks about it. Imagine the coverage on advertising websites. Imagine the whole range of possibilities. How they could have leveraged this to tailor future communications. Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant!

creating happy customers

The cost would have been far lesser to promote you brand in a cricket match that people would just skip as soon as the ads came in. What a chance to increase their brand awareness and brand recall and etch themselves permanently in the minds of the people. What an opportunity to leverage yourself on your competitors service failure. The same thing could have been done by other brands like Deccan or jet or kingfisher too. Imagine the image that would have been made. That is the power of what Competitive Service Recovery (Hey I just made a word. Sounds good too. How do you trademark that?) would have done. Maruti Suzuki still has time . Approximately three to four hours, but unfortunately my blog is not that famous as Seth Godin or Guy Kawasaki to spread like wildfire even if they are irrelevant.

Probably this is what Al Ries called as the power of PR. Publicity creates brands and advertising maintains it – The 22 immutable laws of branding.

I think it is Capital advertising that handles Maruti Suzuki’s corporate account. I am surprised how something so obvious did not strike them. Even I tried calling them and even the Maruti Suzuki headoffice but none of the numbers were in use or none was picking it up. Shame.
I still believe that they can make a really strong ad from this incident  and that too at the cost of Air India with whom it is not even competing. Although, the previous option would have been a goldmine any day.

Formula For Exploding Your Sales

If you are new to an internet business, then no doubt you are becoming EXTREMELY frustrated that you aren’t making any sales.

You pictured being on the beach with your laptop, just counting how much money you made every day from your residual income.

You imagined being able to buy whatever it is that you want to buy without even thinking about how much it cost.

You saw yourself in your dream car and home, being able to spend more time with your family.
You have poured in a significant amount of time and dedication into your business so far, yet you haven’t seen any results.

Infuriating isn’t it? But you must remember that the only way to fail in this business is to quit. I guarantee that you will run into hundreds of extremely tempting businesses, all enticingly projecting the false image that you can make a fortune while doing practically no work if you sell THEIR product. Remember to focus on your current business and stick with it. It is not the product that will determine the outcome of your success, it will be YOU.

This may come as a shock to some, but in order to become extremely successful with an internet business, just like any other business, it takes TIME and EFFORT.

The great thing about the internet is that it’s actually very easy to make sales. You only need two things to make a FORTUNE on the web:

• A legitimate product with an enticing sales page
• Traffic to your site

That’s it! Traffic is your visitors to your website. No Traffic equals no sales. Period.

There is a very common misconception about the internet that causes SO MANY could-be millionaires into quitting their business. Let’s say you have just launched your new website with a legitimate product which you are hoping to sell and make a fortune. That is actually a GOOD attitude to have, however many people seem to think that somehow a swarm of potential buyers will magically visit your site and buy from you. Unfortunately this is not the case. You have to face the harsh reality that right now, your site is impossible to find.

So we have established that in order to make sales, you need a constant stream of traffic to your website. This is where 95% of internet marketers get stuck.

So how do you get traffic to your site?

An EASY method that is FREE and extremely effective that is always good to start with is article submitting. All it takes is a little bit of time, and creativity on your part.

Write an article about your home based business, and your experiences (Make sure it’s not just a sales page, include your name and a link to your site at the bottom but make sure the article is actually good content that people will want to read.)

Next, submit the articles to article directories. You have two possible ways of doing this. Try typing “article submission” or “free article submission” and there should be hundreds of article directories where you can submit them manually for free.

OR you can automate your article submission. You can pay a small fee to have someone submit your article to THOUSANDS of directories FOR YOU (which I would recommend.) (http://www.justarticlessubmission.com/ is a very good service.)
Be sure to include a link to your site at the bottom of each article. That way, each article that is submitted will be an open doorway to your website. The more articles you submit that are linking to your site, the more doorways you are creating.

Your Business is what YOU make it.

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Kellogg’s pone su logo en los copos de los cereales para luchar contra las imitaciones

Kellogg’s ha desarrollado una tecnología para estampar su logo en los copos de cereales en una estrategia destinada a luchar contra las imitaciones. La compañía ha adelantado que se trata de una prueba realizada con su marca Corn Flakes (los del gallo), pero que si es exitosa se ampliará a otras enseñas como Special K, Frosties, Crunchy Nut y Bran Flakes, según informa The Guardian.

Kellogg’s, hasta ahora líder de su mercado, está viendo cómo la marca de la distribución le come cada vez más terreno. “Queremos que nuestros compradores estén absolutamente seguros de que Kellogg’s no fabrica para otras marcas”, han declarado fuentes de la compañía en medios internacionales, mensaje que se puede leer desde hace años en sus cajas.

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10 Things Marketing Is NOT

Business success requires effective marketing. People have spent considerable energy trying to define marketing, but just for fun I’ve listed 10 things marketing is not.

1. A silver bullet. Some people unrealistically expect a single marketing tactic to be extremely effective or to easily cure a major prevailing problem.
2. Pixie dust. Although marketing can produce magical results, there’s no magic potion or formula that can produce instant results.
3. Icing on the cake. Marketing must always be an essential ingredient, not something that’s added later to make the product or service look prettier or taste sweeter.
4. Communications. Too often, especially in nonprofit organizations, communications is used synonymously with marketing. They are not the same thing. One is a subset of the other.
5. A black hole. Rarely does an investment in marketing disappear into the cosmic void. Marketing does, however, require a minimum investment of resources for it to yield the desired return.
6. Rocket science. There’s an art to marketing, but it is not an esoteric science. Brain surgery—yes. Rocket science—no.
7. Snake oil. Rightly done, marketing has no gimmicks, fakery or fraud. Neither is it a panacea that cures all.
8. Hocus pocus. Marketing is not “putting a spell” on anyone to manipulate them into doing something against their will.
9. Quick fix. The law of the harvest tells us that you’ve got to plant the seed and nurture the crop before you can expect to reap a bountiful harvest.
10. Cotton candy. Although cotton candy is colorful, sweet and attractive, it lacks substance and nutritive value. Effective marketing is both attractive and substantive.

Marketing is sometimes hampered by unrealistic expectations so occasionally it’s helpful to look at what marketing is not.

Branding Libraries: Final Steps- Live the Message! - Measurements - Conclusion - references #library

Live the Message

Remember the brand name is also a promise about the library’s services to the community. Because of this that promise can never be broken. It must be shown through not only the brand image, the logo, the advertising, but also through the person-to-person interactions with the public while they are in the library. Any action that takes place in the library where a customer interacts with a librarian is an example of the pledge to maintain the promise of the library services. This means that every librarian on duty at all times must fully understand what the brand image that the library is attempting to project is and work every time with every customer to continue telling the story of the brand to the customer. By understanding that the staff has the ability to make or break the brand (as shown with the Abercrombie example earlier) they can make better decisions about their interactions with the patrons.

Measures and Measurements
Once the brand has been established and the plan is put into effect the job becomes one of continuously measuring the brand’s equity against that of the competitions and against itself. This measurement can be done through a number of ways. It can be accomplished through a variety of market research methods such as conducting market surveys, studying the sustainability of the library brand, and conducting focus group research to get an idea about the public’s perception of the library in their community. If it is found that the results of the measures are not the same as the library would like then the process becomes one of measuring the weakest areas for possible improvements and making adjustments in order to make those improvements. This is an ongoing and continuous process for the maintenance of the brand’s image and should not stop once the measures produce the desired results. If the desired results are found then the measurements must continue so that any noticeable slippage in the opinions of the public can be acted upon immediately to re-improve the brand’s image.

Conclusion
With a well-branded image of libraries the public can be given a sense of the importance of the library within their community. This kind of definition of image can lead to a number of benefits for the library including an increase of circulation and use as well as the potential for a renewed interest in the services of the library within the community. This in turn can lead to improved voting records for the library and eventually the potential for improved funding.

References

Allbusiness (2006). What is a brand? Retrieved November 17, 2006 from
http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/branding-brand-
development/416-1.html

Chominskey, Dennis (2002) Cyberbranding essentials. Retrieved November 13, 2006
from http://www.phptr.com/articles/article.asp?p=30023&rl=1

Dempsey, B (2004). Target your brand. Library Journal

Gobe, M. (2001), Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to
People. New York: Allworth Press.

Hendry, C (2006). Create your own brand. Wards Dealer Business

How to create a logo (2006). Retrieved on November 10, 2006 from
http://www.hotwebdesigntalk.com/logo-brand-identity/8-how-create-logo.html

Kirkendall, C. A. (1986) Of Princess Di, Richard Dawson, and the Book Review Digest
Research Strategies

Kranich, N. (2001). ALA at your library. Retrieved on November 13, 2006) from
https://cs.ala.org/@yourlibrary/nancymessage.cfm.

Lindstrom, M (2005). Brand Sense; Build powerful brands through touch, taste, smell,
sight and sound. New York; Free Press

Muniz, A. M. O’Guinn, T. C. (April, 2001) Brand Community. Journal of Consumer
Research

Roberts, K. (2004), Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands. New York: Powerhouse
Books

Schau, H. J. ( March, 2005) Religiosity in the abandoned. Journal of Consumer
Research

Walker, S. Lawson, L. V. (1993)MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media
Librarianship, v1 no.1, Spring 1993:16-28

Underhill, P. (1999) Why we buy; The science of shopping. New York, Simon and
Schuster

Anyone Can Make A Facebook App and $$$

A new Facebook application offers ordinary users the opportunity to build their own applications.

App Bank has a simple and intuitive interface which means that non-programmers now have the tools build a Facebook app themselves without engaging the services of a professional.

AppBank is free to use and even pays people to create applications with it.  According to AppBank their top-earner makes $769 a month.  At the moment only users in the USA and Canada can take advantage of the revenue stream from Facebook advertising but that is sure to change in the future.

Whilst AppBank provides the tools to build a facebook app, there will be many businesses where they will still want to hire someone to do this for them. This will enable new companies to provide these development services where ideas people don’t need costly programmers to build their envisioned application.

If you want a Facebook application created for your company, get in touch with Simon Says Media.

With a hat tip to MomGadget.

Rede social é relacionamento

Sim, rede social é relacionamento e pode contribuir com o planejamento de marketing de uma empresa, mas não substitui a propaganda tradicional.

Um fato é trabalhar a imagem de uma organização e proteger a sua marca dentro das redes e outro é divulgar o que ela faz, nos canais mais adequados para isso.

Confira este rápido vídeo do Multishow, no link do programa “Urbano”.

Harnessing the Power of Social Media to Fill Your Sales Funnel and Close More Business

Check out this SlideShare presentation delivered by Lori Turner, Managing Partner of RedRover, and James Hutto, Director, Valeo Design & Marketing at a recent Sales & Marketing Society of the Mid-South workshop.

Workshop Title: Harnessing the Power of Social Media to Fill Your Sales Funnel and Close More Business.

http://www.slideshare.net/valeo/harnessing-the-power-of-social-media-tools-to-fill-your-funnel-close-more-business?src=embed

"Eating Healthy" Marketing and public services

This was a great opportunity to shoot a video to market my radio show and also leverage it as a marketing idea people can use. This fits well with my brand and let people know we are difference and gets them interested.

This wellness dialogue is about preserving mental, physical, and spiritual balance in order to promote and maintain optimal health. Dr. Maiysha Dr Life Clairborne is a board certified Family Physician and her practice specialties include Wellness Coaching, acupuncture, and lifestyle management. And her co-host Stephen T. Jones is a Consultant, Professional Networker, and an Inspirational Speaker that is brings a different perspective to this fun and exciting show. Please visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/DrLife every Monday live from 1pm to 2pm (EST) or any time to download archived shows

Google enseigne le marketing

Voici 10 leçons qu’enseigne Google sur le marketing

1. La pertinence est la maîtresse de tout.

La raison pourquoi Google est rendu là où il est tout simplement parce qu’il rend les résultats les plus pertinents à une recherche.  Pour les publicitaires qui cherchent à se retrouvé en haut du classement, ou encore que votre produit atteigne une part de marché de type Google, la clé du succès que de rendre votre marque pertinente. Apple est un des meilleurs exemples d’entreprise qui s’organise pour demeurer pertinente: en convertissant ses clients en ambassadeurs – en continuellement lançant de nouveaux produits qui fonctionnent mieux lorsqu’utilise avec d’autres produits Apple ou qui sont tout simplement meilleur que la version précédente. Ils s’alignent aussi avec les passions de leur auditoire pour la musique et le design.

2. Sondez le savoir collectif (wisdom of crowds)

Comment est-ce que Google atteint les résultats les plus pertinents? Son algorithme secrète recherche la quantité et qualité des liens entrant vers chaque site qu’il catalogue — essentiellement il compte les votes de confiance envers votre site, établi par tous les autres qui ont volontairement inclus un lien vers votre site. De la même façon, il classe les annonceurs payants non seulement sur le CPC, mais sur le taux de clic, ainsi que d’autres facteurs — essentiellement comptabilisant les votes des usagers plus que la pression des annonceurs. Un annonceur qui s’appui avec succès sur le pouls de la foule est Doritos, avec ses pub dans le Super Bowl créés et voté par ses consommateurs. Threadless est une autre entreprise qui a compris comment en profiter — imprimant des T-shirts suggéré et voté par ses clients.

3. Gardes ça simple! (KISS)

Certaines personnes sont convaincues que la dominance de Google est due beaucoup plus à sa simplicité qu’à sa pertinence. Alors que la tendance (début 2000) était aux portails complets et complexes Google s’est démarqué avec une page blanche très propre et simple qui ne vous offrait que de faire une recherche. Vous aussi en tant que publicitaires devez être aussi claire en tout temps: partagez à un ami, demandez à votre médecin, cliquez ici; et débroussaillez l’environnement publicitaire qui est rendu pollué de toutes sorte de messages de complexité et intelligence extrêmement varié pour amenez votre cible à faire ce que vous voulez qu’elle fasse (venez au magasin, allez sur notre site, appelez nous, essayez notre produit…). Ce n’est pas toujours aussi facile que “Just do it – Nike” ou “Dive one – Ford” faites votre possible. 

4. L’état d’esprit compte

Google connaît un succès car il permet aux annonceurs de rejoindre des gens qui sont en train de les chercher – tout comme les pages jaunes dans le siècle précédent. C’est un environnement commercial, pas dans le sens de regarder des pub, mais transactionnel – des gens en quête de quelque chose. Oui souvent les gens utilise Google et autres moteurs de recherche pour trouver un contenu ou une réponse, mais on s’en sert aussi pour trouver les produits et services, entrepreneurs et commerçant près de chez nous. La raison pour laquelle les pubs sur les réseaux sociaux ne fonctionnent pas aussi bien est que les gens y sont pour converser ensemble, pour communiquer, pour se divertir, pour s’amuser ou pour partager, mais pas pour magasiner. Dans ces environnements la pertinence compte d’autant plus pour que ça fonctionne.

5. Soyez là où se retrouve votre auditoire

Outils, bureau (d’ordi), sites tiers, documents, courriels, cartes – nommez-le, si vous êtes en ligne Google vous a à l’œil… je veux dire est là pour vous servir. Pour les publicitaires, la leçon n’est pas “bâtissez-le et ils vont venir s’en servir.” Vous devez engager les tactiques de guérilla et placer votre marque partout où il y a conversation sur vous et votre catégorie — blogues, réseaux sociaux, bistros café, salles de bain, etc. C’est quelque chose que la campagne pour l’élection d’Obama a fait de façon extraordinaire.

6. N’interrompez pas.

Même si Google est aussi omniprésent que dieu, comme dieu il interrompt que très rarement les gens de ce qu’ils font (soit pour un de ses produits ou annonceurs) . Google, et la recherche en ligne en général, est du marketing de type “pull”: tu as besoin de produit ou service? en voici plusieurs; contrairement à désolé d’interrompre, voici des produits/services, au cas où tu en as de besoin. Pour un annonceur, c’est important de reconnaitre la mince différence entre semé un sujet de conversation et l’interrompre. Best Buy démontre qu’ils ont compris la différence.

7. Agissez comme du contenu.

Une manière de ne pas interrompre les gens est de ne pas agir comme de la publicité. Agir comme du contenu est exactement ce qu’est requis pour l’optimisation des moteurs de recherche. Google récompense ce comportement. Créez du contenu intéressant – suffisamment intéressant pour que d’autre veulent y faire référence, mettre des liens vers ce contenu – et vous vous démarquerez, pas juste avec Google, mais avec votre clientèle cible. Donnez l’impression aux gens que vous leur donnez ce qu’ils veulent ou ont de besoin, pas de leur vendre sous pression, et vous gagnerez leur fidélité. American Express fait ceci brillamment avec son initiative Open Forum (ressource pour PME).

8. Testez tout.

S’il y a une chose sur lequel Google est obsessif c’est tester. Ils ont apparemment testé 41 teintes de bleu sur leur barre d’outils (toolbar) pour voir laquelle générerait le plus de clics. N’importe quel professionnel du marketing par moteurs de recherche vous indiquera qu’il faut tester : des nouveaux mots clés, textes, pages destination, design, etc… Ceci fait parti du protocole quotidien du SEM. Les ramifications pour les publicitaires en général sont claire – ne prenez rien pour acquis (le plan média qui fonctionne depuis 20 ans, la circulaire dans le publisac, encadré dans le bottin pages jaunes, la bannière qui fonctionne bien depuis 3 mois…). Une petite chose comme la couleur de fond sur la dernière séquence de votre 30sec télé pourrait être la différence entre le rappel et l’oublie. Malcom Gladwell a écrit le livre là dessus citant des marques tels Airwalk and institutions tels “Sesame Street” et “Blue’s Clues” pour leur attention portée au détail.

9. Mesurez tout.

Bien entendu, la seule façon de valider quels tests portes plus de fruits que les autres c’est la mesure. Google mesure tout pour ses annonceurs. C’est pourquoi ils ont acheté DoubleClick et Urchin. De plus en plus que les médias sont distribué numériquement, de plus en plus ils sont mesurable en temps réel (recensement vs sondage) – et tout ce qui est fait via ces médias est aussi mesurable.  Aujourd’hui, cela devrait être un crime de ne pas savoir quelle portion du plan média a contribué quoi au résultat final – quelle est la part de chacun et y’en avait-il un de trop / inutile? L’exemple parfait ici est les spécialistes de marketing direct comme l’entreprise Kaplan qui suivent un identifiant unique sur chaque pièce (ex.: leur DRTV).

10. Fiez-vous au données pour vos décision (l’égo n’a pas rapport).

Trop souvent un publicitaire va mesurer pour valider une idée à laquelle ils sont déjà vendus. En autre mots, l’agence a développer un concept qui fait du sens, ils le “ressentent” que c’est la bonne. Ils vont faire des testes (souvent des groupes de discussion (focus groupes)) et inconsciemment vont poser des questions dont les réponses ultimement valideront leur idée. Pas Google. Selon Marissa Mayer, Google “laisse la mathématique et les données diriger vers où les choses s’en vont. Il y a tout un écart entre laisser les données décider et y aller avec votre instinct, mais si vous êtes imputable envers votre patron, client ou actionnaires, les chiffres sont ultimement plus fiable que votre instinct et se défendent beaucoup mieux, particulièrement si les tests étaient exhaustifs et bien ciblés.

D’autres leçons suivront dans quelques semaines – toujours inspiré de Google.

inspiré de “Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google” par Aaron Goldman , le 26 août 2009 dans le Search Insider de MediaPost

Why iterations matter

When it comes to startups iterations matter a lot. They are evidence of the business pulse. They mean we are progressing and building momentum.

But there are some deeper reasons as to why iterations matter. Iterations give us a reason to go back.  To go back to the market ‘our people’ and re-engage in a conversation. It gives us something to talk about,  stimulate interest and demand. To glean feedback from, regardless of who this conversation happens to be with. Our business is essentially a large complex set of conversations, and the changes we make facilitate them.

So who can we go back to with our iterations?

- Our customers who want to know how these iterations help them out

- Our employees who can get excited about the cool stuff they have been / will be working on

- Our suppliers who can get excited about the prospect of more business

- The media want to report on innovation, updates and the industry

Pic via Alex Figueroa

All of these conversations stimulate our business, our industry and ultimately the market place. Our iterations have a much bigger impact than we think. It’s far more macro.

Iterations are social, and we are social creatures. If nothing has changed or improved, then we move on. It is human nature.

Tu bouffes où à midi? On mange ensemble?

Rengaine immuable de tout open space digne de ce nom, la fameuse question “Tu bouffes où à midi? On mange ensemble?” a enfin trouvé une réponse plus intéressante que “japonais ou sandwich, comme tu veux”, qui devrait également satisfaire les curieux, les gens qui veulent s’esquiver sans passer pour des sauvages, les galériens et les célibataires.

Entre Midi et 2 est un site qui permet aux personnes travaillant dans le même quartier mais ne se connaissant pas, de se rencontrer autour d’une salade ou d’une entrecôte le temps d’une pause déjeuner. Une fois votre adresse entrée sur le Google Map intégré, vous visualisez les autres inscrits et les invitez à se joindre à vous, sans restriction aucune (ambiance “tell your friends to call my friends, so we can be all friends”).

Et même si le site précise dès la première ligne que ce n’est pas un site de rencontres amoureuses, si l’on tient compte des statistiques qui prouvent que la majorité des couples mariés se sont rencontrés sur leur lieu de travail, ça augmente grandement les chances de transformer les herbes coincées entre les dents en tendre moment d’intimité. Entre midi et 2: le nouveau 5 à 7?

The end of AIDS?

September is traditionally the month of AIDS walks within North America. For a reason completely unbeknownst to me (World AIDS Day is in December, but perhaps this time of year is far too cold for AIDS walking in the Northern hemisphere), the AIDS czars of yore decided that early Fall would mark the annual era of fundraising for HIV prevention, treatment, and care. And so for decades, concerned North American citizens would flock to their local parks on a sunny weekend day, handing pledges over to local and international AIDS organisations and showing support by marching for miles in red t-shirts and shiny red ribbons. I have participated in such walks for seven years now, and throughout my university career in BC spent four consecutive Septembers raising money and lacing up my shoes for Vancouver’s annual event. AIDS Walks would prompt Stanley Park to be happily filled with representatives from the city’s gay, lesbian, Aboriginal, and medical population, as well as those otherwise generally concerned or involved; and while the park would not be overwhelmed with walkers, the atmosphere was certainly a-buzz with excitement, not to mention lots and lots of donated money. There was a sense of jubilation surrounding these walks: despite the epidemic’s horrific figures, the Walk provided a feeling of hope, stemmed in most part by the large number of people coming together who cared about the issue and who were committed to making a difference. Red booths, balloons, and crimson-clad singers helped to make the day brighter and more festive, and downtown Vancouver was momentarily hit with an overwhelming sense of community.

Author and friend at Vancouver AIDS Walk 2009

But as I stepped into the park on a beautiful sunny Sunday this year, the atmosphere was markedly different, markedly more depressed and depleted. Far fewer people walked through the welcoming red-ribbon gate; even fewer were scattered around the main stage, listening to no acts and wandering between a handful of AIDS organisations’ booths, most of which oddly included health and wellness groups, few of which represented any AIDS organisations, and certainly none that focused their work outside of North America: the most prominent booths were that of the Compassion Club, a medical marijuana society, and a very large massage booth. I had been away from Vancouver for a year, missed one AIDS Walk. What happened? The energy was low, the feeling lethargic yet also hurried: everyone seemed to just want to get the walk over with, and be on with their lives. In short, people were just so over AIDS.
Over the last several years I’ve often wondered how much longer the movement could hold up. How many more times can we ask people to donate money to the same cause, and especially one without a definite end, one who’s end is, in fact, largely indefinite? There is no cure for AIDS, and while recently reports tell of increased treatment and decline death rates, there is certainly no end in site. All the more reason for our funding and interest in AIDS to stay strong and steady; but paradoxically, harmfully, also all the more reason why people are becoming fatigued with AIDS fundraisers and talks. In an age of hyper-stimulation within the Western world, we need something to keep our attention; and unfortunately the same sad—and very true—sob stories about orphans in Africa just don’t seem to be cutting it. People who are only mildly interested in HIV are getting tired of hearing about it; and those who have worked in fighting the epidemic for decades are understandably fatigued, fighting against an unbelievably strong virus and a tireless epidemic. AIDS has also become shrouded by other pressing issues. The new hot topics of climate change and the recession are apocalyptic in nature and threaten more than just a percentage of the global population, and more than just a population far away from those of us in North America. Despite decades of marketing campaigns attempting to convince us otherwise, HIV is still seen as largely an “African problem;” with the economy and the environment, conversely, we understand our lives and livelihoods as directly under threat, and even feel some responsibility for such wreckage, making it hard to look away.

Our fatigue and disinterest is understandable on a certain level; and unforgivable on another. While celebrity support moves from AIDS to climate change, and media attention shifts from health to economy, it makes sense for our interest to shift too. But the waning fads of humanitarian and environmental campaigns impacts more than just what we talk about over dinner: it impacts the lives of millions, and specifically the funding for the testing, treatment and prevention of HIV for most of those who need it most in the world. Many of our greatest government programmes and non-profits that deal with HIV are currently facing a funding shortfall, and our disinterest contributes to such shortages. Much of the luxury of living in North America is that we are lucky enough to be removed from much of the burden of so-called “Third World diseases;” but in being so removed from those most affected, we are also removed from our collective responsibility to help care for those in need and to recognize how our attention affects their treatment and support. For much of the history of the epidemic, AIDS was branded and marketed effectively, drawing our collective attention; now as the marketing wanes and flashy commercials and star-studded concerts choose climate over a virus, so do our dollars, leaving millions at the peril of our easily diverted attention.

Watching this trend has made me think about the global system of dependence on foreign aid; and of our responsibility, as a rich nation, within such a system. Will decades of work, finally producing results, be turned back due to our short attention span and our need for ever-novel stimulation?

My Vonage Lies Over The Ocean and I.M. For Idiots and Dummies

This Week On Twitter

If you’re not following me on Twitter, here’s a sample of what you’re missing (from this week’s entries):

1. Free online Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer – just enter the headline text for instant results http://is.gd/3KGBH.
2. Great YouTube video: “More sales training tips to get customers excited” http://is.gd/3LaNK
3. Cool – yet useful – website: “The Business Channel” http://is.gd/3LbP5.
4. Article: “21 Must-follow Tips for Optimizing Your Time in Social Media” http://is.gd/3Npju.
5. Article: “How to Monitor Your FaceBook Page Insights to Improve Content” http://is.gd/3Npdh
6. “Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.” -  Mark Twain
7. Article: “10 social media strategies from top brands” http://is.gd/3Np9q.
8. Article: “Advertising Agencies And Social Media: A Culture Clash” http://is.gd/3Np4g.
9. Article: “Windows 7 Review” http://is.gd/3NoIO.
10. Free webinar replay “Attracting clients for your professional practice or coaching business” http://is.gd/3OWTO.

You can follow me on Twitter at http://tinyurl.com/naqnv8.  I normally follow everyone back within 24 hours.  The noted exceptions are folks who unfollow me and other noted exceptions (I.E. – escort services, porn stuff, etc.).

Interesting exercise.  Plug in the long running, National Enquirer Ad headline – “Corns Gone in Five days or money back” at  http://is.gd/3KGBH.  In case you wonder, it’s from one of the best cash guzzling ads of all time. What does the online heading analyzer says?

Internet Marketing for Dummies and Idiots

If you’re into Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, viral marketing, or any related endeavor – this may be for you!  There’s a series of books entitled the Dummies and Idiots guides.  If you live in the U.S., the local public library can usually obtain a copy.  If they don’t have it, they try to obtain it from another library.  Here are three I’m obtaining:

1. Web Marketing for Dummies by Jan Zimmerman
2. Search Engine Optimization For Dummies by Peter Kent
3. The Complete Idiots Guide To Search Engine Optimization by Michael Miller

Don’t be fooled by the words “idiot” or “dummy”.  These are excellent books and I’ll share more, as they cross my paths.  Descriptions and user reviews can be found at http://www.amazon.com.

The Long and Winding Road of VOIP

In the past couple of weeks, I made the transition to all VOIP.  An article entitled  “How Does VoIP Work?” is found at http://is.gd/3OQzz.  I was a solid ATT person before the switch.

• ATT land line
• ATT DSL
• ATT cell phone

But the ATT taxi meter kept ticking.  I was paying around $50 a month for cell phone usage.  Then I found a solution at WalMart.

A phone company produces a pay-as-you-use plan.  It’s a South American phone company subsidiary named Tracfone, with their prepaid cell phone plan.

Great!  Now I have a solid back up plan, in case VOIP fails (i.e. – power outage, Internet connection failure, etc.).   Couple this with already using Skype to connect to US phones for business.  As Sponge Bob Square Pants says, “I’m ready.”

Not exactly!

I wanted to keep my ATT DSL and ditch the phone line.  Small problem!  ATT would charge me $200 for some “rewiring”.  So what to do?  I’ve already ordered Vonage world plan.

The solution?

Comcast was handling my Cable TV, so I elected them for my Internet provider.  It’s not smooth sailing.

The Drop Problem

Sometimes I would lose parts of conversations.  It’s almost like hearing voice for 5 seconds, followed by a pause.  This necessitated a few calls to Vonage.  The tech support was very good – yet some technicians were more knowledgeable than others.  One cool site I learned about was http://is.gd/3OSJo.  You can run a speed test (i.e. with Java installed) and it provides data on VOIP capacity.

After a few tweaks by Vonage technicians, along with a few packet loses of over 10% (as shown by the VOIP speed test website), I experienced this problem periodically.  Packet loss is explained for the layman at http://is.gd/3Ptj2.

Next I contacted the Comcast technicians by phone and web chat.  I mentioned my usage of both Skype and Vonage, along with chats from the Vonage technicians, and tests from the  http://is.gd/3OSJo website.  They sent out a technician, who conducted some tests, and chatted with a Vonage technician.  Comcast didn’t find any issues (neither would a mechanic via electronic diagnosis, on a vehicle with intermittent problems).

So far, everything has been smooth the past couple of days.  I’m even used the free Google directory assistance at 1-800-GOOG-411 and I’m on the notification list for Google phone.   To be safe, I have briefly related my finding on Linkedin, seeking advice in the technology Q&A , and the telecommunications group.   My next venture is upgrading from Windows Vista  to Windows 7.

Randy Kemp
Blog http://b2b-techcopy.net
Business http://b2b-techcopy.com

Building a Successful Private Practice - A Review

Finally!  The one HLPCA meeting I have been waiting for all year has arrived.  And it was everything I hoped for.  The presenter this month was Rachel Eddins, LPC who owns her own practice and does personal and career counseling.  Since they didn’t teach Practice Building 101 in my graduate program,  I was dying to hear what the woman had to say, and it was juicy. 

The first point that Ms. Eddins made was the importance of preparing to be your own boss.  Part of the preparation, is valuing what yourself, and what you have to offer.  Another part of preparation is having a vision, and defining it in detail.  You can’t just say, “I want my own practice.”  You have to define what that means and put it on paper.

The second point that she made had to do with the importance of marketing.  How can you build a practice if no one knows who you are?  It was especially nice that she gave us tips on marketing and even matched marketing tips to personality types.  One tip we spent a lot of time discussing was the need to find a specialty, a niche market if you will.  For example, the speaker from last month was Angelina Rodriguez, who specializes in Art Therapy.  Recently, she informed me that she was thinking of narrowing her niche down even further and focusing on grief and loss using Art Therapy.  I found that to be intriguing, because it seems to me that focusing on a niche would limit your client pool.  But according to Ms. Eddins, focusing on a niche, does not exclude you from seeing clients with other problems.  If your specialty is drug addiction, but a client you have refers a friend who is dealing with depression due to being laid off, are you going to deny the client just because depression isn’t you niche market? Of course not, a client is a client, and we are here to help those in need.  She even advised us interns to begin focusing on our niche markets now, while we are still under supervision.  That way, you can hit the ground running once you have your 3000 hours.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the seminar was the fact that Ms. Eddins does not take insurance.  Before the seminar, it never occurred to me that you could have a successful practice, and not take insurance.  She was very informative on the matter and explained that the price of the convience of being on an insurance panel is lower fees for you.  I’m not sure I’m ready for that trade-off.   

Overall, I’m glad I was able to attend this seminar.  Ms. Eddins was able to explain in detail what it takes to get out on your own in plain language.  The question is, now that I have the information, will I act on it?

Seeking marketing bloggers to interview...do you know anyone?

Part of online marketing is about reaching out and helping others in your industry build their businesses and brand awareness. As more and more business marketing goes online, it becomes crucial to leverage the internet and social media marketing strategies to keep your current prospects and customers abreast of how what you do can solve problems they are having.
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Australia’s biggest education fair in Malaysia!

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“STUDY IN AUSTRALIA 2009 – Explore Australia. Discover Yourself”

Australia’s biggest education fair in Malaysia! 24 and 25 October 2009, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

Australia continues to be the destination of choice for Malaysian students. Enrolments for Malaysian students have increased 10% from 2008 to 2009. There are approximately 21,000 students who are studying in Australia and an additional 15,000 students enrolled in Australian programmes offered in Malaysia.

click to register to win AirAsia seats to Australia

The “STUDY IN AUSTRALIA 2009 – Explore Australia. Discover Yourself” education fair, is targeted at students and their families who are weighing up the important choice of ongoing education. The Australian Government takes a strong interest in maintaining the quality of education for Australians and international students alike. With its very sophisticated education and training system, students are not only exposed to world-class courses of study but also specialist support services. That is why more and more students from all over the world come to Australia to participate in its world-class higher education, progressive vocational education and training (VET), excellent schools and international English courses.

This year’s event is the biggest yet, with 36 leading Australian education institutions from ALL states in Australia participating in the ‘Study in Australia’ education fair on 24 and 25 October 2009 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. More than 60 representatives from Australian colleges and universities will be on-hand to provide course and career advice for students and their families.

This year we will see an increased focus on Vocational & Education Training (VET) as another pathway to gain education qualifications recognised by Australian government and employers. The National Quality Training Framework ensures Australia’s national VET system provides high quality, industry relevant training and qualification recognition. There will be four (4) of these institutions participating in our special 2-hour VET seminar to talk about workplace training in various disciplines. This will be held at 3.30pm on Saturday, 24th October in the exhibition hall itself.

Other scheduled seminars by Australian education institutions include talks on reasons to study in Australia, new directions of education and industrial expectations. There are also seminars on student visas for Malaysian and other foreign students. Like the education fair itself, admission to all seminars is FREE.

The Study in Australia fair is organised by the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and supported by Australian Education International (AEI).Perth Education City, a prime student market is the platinum sponsor of the fair whilst, AirAsia and CPA Australia are co-sponsors.

Two return economy tickets to Australia flying AirAsia will also be given away at the exhibition as a lucky draw prize. Students and their families can now fly to Melbourne, Gold Coast and Perth with the lowest fares available online at www.airasia.com. Students and their families can pre-register for the fair online at www.studyinaustralia.org.

STUDY IN AUSTRALIA 2009 –Explore Australia. Discover Yourself.

24th – 25thOctober 2009

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

12pm to 6pm daily.  Admission is free.