Many Types of Content to Select From

It's amazing how many times people have asked me in recent times about content and how they can routinely come up with content that is consistently funny, informative, newsworthy or just plain interesting.
As someone who knows all about the pressures and stresses associated with producing a consistent weekly amount of data for the Rad Scholars marketing blog, I found it interesting that an interesting infographic was recently  developed by RecessionSolution.com and shown on the graphic below.

Depending on your market, brand and product range, different types of content listed above may well be more attractive than others, but the key point here is that over time a good blog will provide posts that reflect most if not all of these areas, thereby ensuring that occasionally all the sought after and anticipated types of content are provided to the blogs keen readers.

No doubt over time you will see from first hand experience that certain types of  content are better received, liked, shared and commented on by your specific audience, and obviously you'll also want to make sure that these are seen more often than others, but not invariably. Because with blogging, as with all other things in life, variety really is the spice of  life.

Let us know what type of posts work best for you and until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards
Daniele

Creating Wow Factor Means Going Beyond

Like so many other intangibles Wow Factor is difficult to define, identify and certainly quantify. But one thing that is certain is that we all know and recognise it when we see it. What is wow factor and how do we create it in the minds of our target audience, customers and prospects alike?

In simple terms, wow factor is when someone's expectations are not only achieved but significantly surpassed. As a consumer of many products and services I can honestly say that I rarely if ever see a genuine wow factor, but when I do I rave about it.

Recently I was doing an intrastate trip for business where I was due to give a presentation to a group in Portland and drove for several hours to arrive by 6pm with the scheduled starting time being 7.30pm.

On arriving I drove into the hotel I was staying at that thankfully was also the venue for the nights presentation, and on leaving the car noticed how incredibly dirty it had become through the trip and how I would need to find a car wash in the morning before starting my 6 hour journey home or else risk being stopped and fined by the police for driving an unroadworthy car. Annoying but for now I couldn't do anything about it, so I put it out of my mind and continued to prepare and focus on the workshop that I needed to deliver in an hour or so.

The next morning after having successfully negotiated the workshop the night before I went to my car and was amazed to find it clean. Under the window whipper there was a small printed note saying,
" The Management and Staff at the Premier Inn would like to express their appreciation for you staying with us and would like you to please accept this small gesture of appreciation in the hope that you have a safe trip back home." Wow Factor.

Incredible a business that is overtly interested in me and my needs, that have nothing to do with my hotel room, meals and costs me no extra.

Think about it for a while. What additional product (good and / or service) can you potentially offer to the mix to add this type can you add to your existing mix to generate this type of goodwill and excitement. There are probably plenty and all it needs is a little extra thought. And please by all means let's hear about some of your new ideas to generate some thoughts that may help others as well.

Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards

Daniele.

LinkedIn Update

Stolen Passwords

Recently LinkedIn announced that LinkedIn passwords had been stolen.Some of the passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts. The next steps management will pursue are:

1. Members that have accounts associated with the compromised passwords will notice that their LinkedIn account password is no longer valid. 

It is worth noting that the affected members who update their passwords and members whose passwords have not been compromised benefit from the enhanced security we just recently put in place, which includes hashing and salting of our current password databases.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our members. We take the security of our members very seriously. If you haven’t read it already it is worth checking out my earlier blog post today 

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

Linked has recently updated its Privacy Policy and User Agreement to provide greater control over your data with further clarity.

Here are a couple of key areas the updated Policy will encompass:

• A shortened time personally identifiable information obtained through our plug-ins and our off-site advertising is kept.
• Enhanced member privacy controls by making  public profile setting information by giving greater control about what can be accessed outside of LinkedIn by search engines and third parties.

Until next time, Good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.

Solving the Mystery - What Business Are You Really In

The first thing that the overall analysis sets out to do is to answer the question, “What business are you really in?”

On the surface this may appear to be an absurd question to ask. Certainly most if not all small business owners/managers can tell you what market their business operates in.  For example: the book market, the shoe market, the men's wear market, and so on.  However knowing this is not enough.  You must also know exactly what market segment your business caters to.  For instance, based on the examples given above, your business might be in:

1.      The educational book market for primary and secondary level schools but not tertiary (as part of the overall book market).

2.      The high–fashion, leather shoe market catering only for women and not men (as part of the overall shoe market).

3.      Affordable, medium quality/medium priced men’s wear clothing and accessories (as part of the overall men’s wear market).

In each of these three examples, the business operates in one segment and not in all segments of their respective markets. Constructing a profile with key descriptors about your business will help you to identify the specific segment to which your business belongs. You may want to create this profile by using a checklist of ‘who, what, when, why and how’ regarding your customers and their needs.

Checklist of key questions

 

1        Who are your main customers currently?

2        What other potential customers could be targeted by your business?

3        What are the main products (goods or services) sold by your business to these current customers?

4       What is the key need that is met by these products?

5        What other products could your business supply to its customers?

6        When do your customers mainly buy?

7        Why do they buy the product to begin with?

8        How do they buy?  (Buying patterns and methods).

9        Why do they buy from your business?

10     What don’t your customers like about buying from your business?

11     What related items do they buy elsewhere and why?

	EXAMPLE

 

The owner of a small but profitable computer-programming firm considered that his business specialised and catered to no particular market segment.  He believed that his business designed software with a fairly even cross section of customers from various industries. 

However, on closer examination, the owner discovered to his surprise that about 40% of his customers were accounting firms.  This realisation prompted the firm to target this area more rigorously, with the result being an increased clientele list and increased profitability.

What really happened here? :

Over time, the business had developed a superior and specialised knowledge of accounting systems in direct response to customer needs. Because the specialisation was gradual, this market segment was not identified until an analysis of the business was conducted.

(iv). Think broadly about the business you are in.

Once you have accurately determined exactly which business you are in, the next step is to take a broader look at what (beyond the actual product) the customers are buying from you.

	EXAMPLE

 

Have a look at the three columns in this example. In the first column, the names of a number of well-known businesses are listed. The second column displays their respective product offerings.  It is, however, more important to identify what the customer is actually buying beyond the product itself. This is found in the third column.

Business                                 Product offering                      What’s in it for the customer

Universal Studios                      Movies                                     Entertainment

Revlon Cosmetics                     Make-up                                   Beauty

Telstra                                     Telephones                               Communication

Carrier                                      Air-conditioning                         Comfort

Mt. Buller                                  Skiing                                       Recreation

Metrail                                      Trains/Trams/Buses                 Transportation

Coca-Cola                                Soft Drink                                 Acceptance

Club Med                                  Travel & Tourism                      Escape

From this type of analysis, the true nature of a business is quickly revealed.

Consider Cadbury Schweppes Company.  Their product offering is food and beverage.  But what are the customers really buying?

Mark Smith (Managing Director of Cadbury Schweppes – Australia & New Zealand), said:

               “I work for an outstanding company. And I'm really passionate about what we do, 

                 which put simply, is to bring delight into the lives of millions of consumers.

Therefore, Cadbury Schweppes is in the business of putting joy and fun into people’s lives.  Not simply selling confectionery. 

  

The customer’s perception of your product can be more important than the product itself. Coca-Cola is a classic example of this.  The long-term popularity of the Coca-Cola drink has been sustained over many decades. This would suggest that there is more to the drink than its taste.  The advertising is perennially the same and is targeted at young people. “Coke is it” really says, “Drink it and with it comes acceptance, status and fun.”  Not bad for a soft drink.

Similarly, once it was established by Revlon that women are really buying ‘beauty,’ Revlon tailored the marketing strategies, packaging and advertising to reinforce this perception.

By understanding what a customer is really buying, your marketing strategies and promotions will more accurately hit the mark.

LinkedIn - Update

You may have seen that there have been some recent changes made to LinkedIn Today, the LinkedIn social news product. The product is now not only easier to navigate, but has had a total revised look and feel, so you can get quicker access the site and read its content.


One of the key design principles that has driven the approach for the visual change was to simplify the experience; creating an elegant, delightful and customized experience for news consumption.

One of the core focus areas for LinkedIn Today has been to design a user interface that is engaging and simple to use. The default magazine theme layout creates a nice page hierarchy that allows users to quickly scan and identify the most interesting and relevant news and content.

It also gives users an overview of who’s sharing articles in your network – a great way to find like-minded people. Users can use the “Share” and “Save” buttons to share in their network in a timely fashion and save articles for reading later.

Easier Customization Experience 

You’ll also notice changes have also been made across the product experience to offer further customization of news so that members can receive the most timely and relevant news impacting their peers and industry. You’ll see this when you click on the “Customize your news” tab on the right hand module, as well as when you click on the gear setting icon on the upper right corner of the page. Those links will lead you to the news setting page where you can easily follow more industries & sources, as well as change the news email settings.

Having access to realtime information and insights can be just the competitive edge you need to deliver a productive meeting as well as help you be empowered for your workday. And we’re thrilled that we’re able to keep coming to you with new ways to make it even easier to be more productive and successful.

Strengthen businesses performance through planned marketing

                   What exactly is marketing and how can you apply it to great effect?

Imagine you have a product for which there is a demand — that is, you are able to sell it to the right person at the right price. In essence, it’s a voluntary exchange from both the buyer’s and the seller’s point of view.

How does marketing differ from selling?

Imagine you have a couple of hundred items for which there may not necessarily be a demand and, more importantly, you may not have identified a target market that is willing and able to buy that product. With marketing, on the other hand, you’ve actually investigated the market and found out what it needs before you’ve developed the product,

Unless it’s the first product of its type, people will already be using it. So, to some extent, their needs are already being met. But what about their unmet needs. The opportunity lies not just in fulfilling the met portion of their needs, but more importantly, the unmet portion of their needs. Therefore, marketing is really about recognising and creating demand, and anticipating demand in advance. However, many businesses try to force a transaction where no desire currently exists.

It is true that many businesses survive in spite of themselves. Perhaps they had a good product offering or were fortunate in not attracting a lot of competition initially. But markets have globally become more sophisticated and competitive, and consumers have become more sophisticated and knowledgeable, particularly with the growth of the internet. A common refrain, particularly from small businesses, is: ‘Our profitability has been going down for two or three years, but as far as we know we’re not doing anything differently.’

Essentially these businesses need to realise that they need to adopt a marketing focus to help ensure their survival. 

 The four key elements to marketing

The marketing plan (or the marketing planning process) will ask you four questions.

Where are you now?

This question will force you to look at your business internally as well as the external market that your business operates in, and take a snapshot of where it’s at today.

Where do you want to be in the future?

Where do you see yourself in the next one to five years? This question will force you to set objectives. It is incredible how many businesses fail to set robust objectives, for to operate any business without them is analogous to sailing a ship without a reliable compass.

How do you get to where we want to go?

This question forces you to look at the strategies, and the tactics behind those strategies, that will allow you to get there with minimal cost and effort.

Control or feedback function

This step, largely not performed by smaller businesses, is where you ask the questions: ‘Where did we end up last year? Is it where we should have been? Why did it happen? Do we need to change things? If so, how do we need to change things?

A marketing plan will give you that necessary structure that will allow you to understand these four key areas.

What about the costs?

Most people in small-to-medium enterprises don’t have a lot of money for marketing or promotion. But when you work for a big company you’re in the fortunate position of having potentially millions of dollars in what is called ‘departmental promotional expenses’ (DPE), which is the amount of money you have every year to stimulate the growth of that product. Fortunately, the above four processes can be used to formulate the necessary planning for a small-to-medium business.

Importance of knowledge

You’ve got to get the knowledge and apply it. You also need to set yourself timelines, such as for completing an analysis of the market you’re in. From this starting point, you to find out what the trends are, the key drivers and capture it all in a SWOT analysis, so that you know what the opportunities and threats will be over the next 12 to 18 months. You can then match up those opportunities and threats to the strengths and the weaknesses of your business. If you’ve got that down on paper, you will be in a position to make some rational, measured and, hopefully, strategic decisions.

Don’t promote your product to everybody

Perhaps the single biggest mistake made by smaller businesses is to promote their products to everybody. You need to find your target customer and know exactly what do they want. Get a sheet of paper and literally close your eyes, and profile the customer. Think about how they dress, what they do socially, the type of car they drive, their buying behaviours, the TV shows they like and so on. And be decisive about who you’re targeting the product to.

Ultimately, you need to understand the unmet needs of customers — and if you do that you’ll find that you’re targeting a smaller number of people who are more passionate about what you’re doing, and they will be more willing and deal with you. This type of singular customer focus is one of the keys to successful marketing.

The biggest change in marketing today

The availability of information is at unprecedented levels —and we have to accept that our customers are well armed with information. You need to have greater insights into what customers want and what they don’t want; your packaging of their needs has to be correct with regard to price, the specific blend of goods and services that go into that product, the promotional blend, the language of promotion, the distribution, and all other elements also need to support the customer and their unmet needs.

Facebook Price Continues Its Fall

Sadly after the first couple of weeks since its launch, the Facebook share price has continued to fall from its original price of $38. Specifically Facebook Inc stock has fallen by around 26% to around $28.

Despite this, there are still some fund managers keen to see share values decrease by more.

 Because of both a technical glitch coupled with a communications breakdown, directly effected the official launch on  May 18,leaving market watchers with the belief that the Facebook stock value had been artificially inflated for the initial offer and subsequently contributed directly to its subsequent drop in the two weeks since.

The key concern about Facebook's true value revolves around Facebook's ability to consistently generate revenues from advertising its advertising tolls.  

Under a fee-based structure is a possible evolution for Facebook which would typically ask its vendor clients to pay for each user that goes to their site from Facebook, along the lines of Google Adwords.

This is a model that has proven very successful for Google and may well be a valuable approach for Microsoft too.

Suffice to say that old adage that investors should never put all their eggs in the one basket, has yet again been proven to be right. At least for now.

Until next time,

Good marketing and good luck.

Daniele.