The Global Marketing: February 2012

Market Psychology

Today we are inundated with tons of information about the economy, stocks, government agencies and foreign governments. They show us charts and graphs of the increase/decrease in oil production over the last 5 years, the amount of maple syrup produced in Vermont for the past century, the time it takes to bounce a signal off the moon and all kinds of other nonsense that we can live without. The talking heads on the investment programs, both radio and TV, tell us how this is going to affect the price of certain stocks and the market in general. Well, maybe.

When you step back to get a better view of the market because the trees are in the way you really get a different view. No matter what stock or mutual fund you own there is one important factor that is causing all of them to change. It is the mass thinking of all the people who own equities of any type. The stock market is a reflection of this mass thinking and causes changes in human behavior. This mass thinking does not necessarily reflect what the economy is doing at any specific moment.

Market

Take the euphoria of stock buyers at the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000. All the mass psychology was bullish and everyone knew the market was going to go higher. The economy knew better and stocks headed down. The market was a reflection of what we could not see.

Currently many people are becoming bearish and think the market is headed lower, but no one really knows until after the fact. It is dangerous to be either bullish or bearish at this moment. So what is the best course of action when you are not sure of what to do with your money? Keep in mind that protection of your capital, especially your retirement money, is a prime consideration. If you own a stock now that has been going up you don't want to sell it, but you can protect yourself against loss and lock in profit by placing an Open Stop-Loss Order with your broker. Keep moving the stop up as the stock goes higher.

If you have a stock or fund that is going down you must either sell out or place an order to get out if it goes down further. Usually 10% is about right. If your stock is place your stop at .

If the mass psychology becomes too negative it can cause massive selling and even the best equities get flushed. All boats go down when the tides goes out. If you do not have a loss limit in place at all times you will lose your investment capital. The example of this was what happened when the World Trade Center was destroyed. Selling was caused by mass psychology and had little to do with valuation.

It is a herd instinct and you don't want to be led to slaughter will all the other dumb animals. Protect your money. Put in a stop today.

Market Psychology

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Natural Deodorants

Natural deodorants attract more and more attention of consumers. Many people have learnt already to choose their cosmetics wisely checking ingredients before buying. However, when it comes to picking a deodorant or antiperspirant, we still tend to opt simply for the most effective or, at least, advertised as such. Of course, modern lifestyle requires avoiding unpleasant smell almost at any cost, but as certain ingredients of the most popular deodorants are suspected to be carcinogenic or related to Alzheimer's disease, the cost can result too high.

This is the reason why so many people are searching for all natural deodorants and so many manufacturers market their products under such label. Nevertheless, many natural brands lack a reliable third-party certification of their components while average consumers get lost reading incomprehensible and incomplete ingredient lists. As well, we have to admit that many all natural products are sold due to the simple fact of being absolutely harmless, while just a couple of them actually work.

\"market Research\"

As the majority of things, different natural deodorants have different pros and cons; different people have different needs and priorities. Usually, we cannot avoid conducting our personal market research before taking an appropriate buying decision. And there is always a risk of being mislead by an unscrupulous advertisement or well masked anti advertisement. Even so, there exist a number of basic guidelines to keep in mind: it is always better to stick with properly certified natural products, avoid strong antibacterial and aluminum compounds and take care of synthetic fragrances, especially if a manufacturer does not disclose any information more then just a word "fragrance". Me personally, I would also recommend to choose items in environment friendly packages that can be easily recycled.

Probably, even after conducting a substantial deodorant market research, due to an unclear labeling or lack of some knowledge you may find yourself confused and unsure of what is really safe and natural. In that case, a good option is to try a couple of easy home made deodorant recipes that you can find on the Web. You can easily buy the ingredients of such deodorants in local stores or purchase them on line; they typically include essential oils, baking soda, starch, beeswax etc. Remind that before applying a deodorant that contain any ingredient that is completely new for you, for example, some essential oil, it is recommended to apply a small quantity of it on a reduced area of skin (avoid visible areas) and wait around 24 hours to check if you have any allergic reaction on it.

Natural Deodorants

Of course, many of you may still have some unresolved particular questions concerning deodorant health risks. I am going to continue publishing articles on this subject and many other topics related to strong and week sides of many deodorant types as well as some deodorant recipes that I find better. For additional information, visit my new All Natural Deodorant blog.

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Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

Getting the marketing mix right for your product or service means you are covering all of the important bases in your marketing campaign. Here is a definition of marketing mix and a description of its main components.

The term marketing mix refers to the primary elements that must be attended to in order to properly market a product. Also known as The 4 Ps of Marketing, the marketing mix is a very useful, if a bit general, guideline for understanding the fundamentals of what makes a good marketing campaign. Here is a brief description of each component of the 4 Ps of the marketing mix.

Marketing

Product: The marketing mix concept has its roots in the 1950s U.S. corporate marketing world, and the practice of marketing has obviously evolved tremendously since this term was invented. One of the changes is that there are a lot more services available nowadays, such as those available online. Also, the distinction between product and service has become more blurry (e.g., is a Web-based software application a product or a service?). Either way, product here refers to products or services. The product you offer needs to be able to meet a specific, existing market demand. Or, you need to be able to create a market niche through building a strong brand.

Price: The price you set for your offering plays a large role in its marketability. Pricing for offerings that are more commonly available in the market is more elastic, meaning that unit sales will go up or down more responsively in response to price changes. By contrast, those products that have a generally more limited availability in the market (but with strong demand) are more inelastic, meaning that price changes will not affect unit sales very much. The price elasticity of your offering can be determined through various market testing techniques.

Place: This term really refers to any way that the customer can obtain a product. Provision of a product can occur via any number of distribution channels, such as in a retail store, through the mail, via downloadable files, on a cruise ship, in a hair salon, etc. The ease and options through which you can make your product available to your customers will have an effect on your sales volume.

Promotion: Promotion is concerned with any vehicle you employ for getting people to know more about your offering. Advertising, public relations, point-of-sale displays, and word-of-mouth promotion are all traditional ways for promotion. Promotion can be seen as a way of closing the information gap between would-be sellers and would-be buyers. Your choice of a promotional strategy will be dependent upon your budget, the type of offering you are selling, and availability of said promotional vehicle.

Marketing has come a long way from the 4 Ps of yesteryear, and yet understanding this marketing mix is for your product remains very relevant today. The marketing mix serves as an excellent touchstone for continually checking that you are covering all of the bases in your marketing campaign.

Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

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What Is A Marketing Initiative?

Marketing is not as simple as many may lead you to believe. In order for your business to be effective, you need to understand what is involved in promoting what you are offering in terms of products and services. That is where a good marketing initiative comes in to play. A marketing initiative is essentially anything that is clearly defined as a marketing effort. Simple, isn't it? It is basically anything specific in your marketing plan. So what types of things are considered marketing initiatives? Here are a few examples that may help you.

For larger companies, a marketing initiative can be a theme. For instance, a set of commercials that use a specific character or funny situation over and over may be considered a marketing initiative. This, though, would certainly be more common with large businesses. An example of this is the Geiko commercials that feature the cute talking gekko. The initiative is to associate their car insurance services and products with a character that sticks in your head. Being cute is an added advantage. This is why many commercials use cute, cuddly characters such as babies and puppies etc.

Marketing

Another example of a marketing initiative is undertaking a certain method relentlessly. Sometimes you may wish to focus your efforts solely on one method of marketing. If, for instance, you decide to implement email marketing with great fervor, then you can call that your email marketing initiative. You will outline a plan very specific to that initiative. And you will carry it out. Focusing your efforts into a sole initiative demands that you understand it intimately. You better know what you are doing if that's the ONLY initiative you've got. In addition you also need to have a backup plan in case your initiative does not come through for you as you hoped. Often, when you put all your eggs in one basket, you better have more eggs!

Another type of marketing initiative you may invoke is a large scale shift in what you are doing. If you are going away from traditional marketing to exclusively use the internet that is a whole new marketing initiative you are putting in place. Though not as specific as other examples, it is certainly something that directly affects the marketing of your company. These types of initiatives are usually done parallely with your existing marketing initiatives. The old initiatives are slowly phased out as the new one takes over.

A marketing initiative can also be as simple as a shift in an idea. You can have a new marketing initiative that simply changes the way you promote your company, or more specifically what about the company you are trying to promote. A shift in positioning is a good example.

Marketing initiative is a broad term that is used often. However, if you understand what it is you will be more able to effectively put an initiative in place if you need to. Changing or implementing an initiative is a big part of the promotion of your business. So it's important that you understand what it means in the first place.

What Is A Marketing Initiative?

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Positioning Marketing

Positioning marketing is the process by which marketers endeavour to generate an image or character in the minds of their target markets for its brands, products, or organisations.

Re-positioning changes the identity of a product, in relation to the identity of rival products, in the collective minds of their target markets.

Marketing

De-positioning attempts to modify the identity of competing products, comparative to the identity of your own products, in the communal minds of the target markets.

The initial work on Positioning has a consumer market focus, and was not so much geared to the questions relative to competitive products as much as it was directed towards cutting through the background "noise" and institutes a moment of real contact with the proposed beneficiary.

In the classic example of Avis claiming "No.2, We Try Harder", the point was to say something so shocking (it was by the standards of the day) that it cleared space in your brain and made you forget all about who was #1, and not to make some philosophical point about being "hungry" for business.

The expansion of high-tech marketing may have had much to do with the move in meaning towards competitive positioning.

Definitions

Although there are different descriptions of Positioning, in all probability the most common is: recognising a market niche for a brand, product or service utilising the traditional marketing placement strategies of price, promotion, distribution, packaging, and competition.

Positioning marketing is a concept which was first popularised by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their blockbuster book "Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind."

This is slightly different to the context in which the term was originally published in 1969 by Jack Trout in the paper "Positioning" is a game people play in today's me-too market place" in the publication Industrial Marketing, where the case was made that the typical consumer is inundated with unwanted advertisements, and has a natural propensity to discard all of the information that does not instantaneously find a comfortable (and empty) slot in the mind of the consumer. It was then expanded into their ground-breaking book, "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind," where they define Positioning as "an organised system for finding a window in the mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only take place at the right time and under the right circumstances" (p. 19 of 2001 paperback edition).

Most people will agree that Positioning is something (a perception) that happens in the minds of their target market(s). It is the collective perception that the customer has of a particular service, product or company in relation to their perceptions of the competitors in the same market. This phenomenon will happen whether or not the management of a company is active, proactive, reactive or passive about the on-going process of developing a position. However, a company can positively influence the perceptions through open-minded strategic actions.

Positioning Marketing

My name is Tom Hardwick. I'm an Internet / Article Marketer with several years of interest, research and investigation into this interesting, fascinating and ultimately financially rewarding subject.

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What Is Marketing? Marketing Strategy for 2012

The objective of any marketing strategy is to create an awareness of who we are, what we have to offer and why that specific segmentation of the market should want to do business with us. Today 2011 is moving quickly to 2012. However, technology moves much faster than time. Each year, each month and each day bring new opportunities for the Marketer to advance the products, services and ideas of his/her organization.

Everything is faster; technology is developing so rapidly that new changes are occurring before you can even start implementing the last. This means that our marketing strategies must be cutting edge, adaptable to the next change, targeted and flexible enough to be implemented quickly so that we can leverage ourselves.

Marketing

So let's make a quick list of the changes that we can observe on a daily basis.

1. Shrinking Globe

2. Electronic Evolution

3. Trends in Marketing

4. Social Media

5. Search Engine Optimization - SEO

The Shrinking Globe and What This Means to Marketing

This is one of the major changes affecting the concept and implementation of any and all marketing strategies in all markets, all industries and all businesses worldwide. The availability of resources, ease of use and removal of physical boundaries has changed both the attitudinal as wells as the practical application of marketing. These changes have happened because of the extreme developments in electronic communication, the educational advancement of people everywhere, and the technological advancements that make all this possible.

Electronic Evolution / Revolution

The electronic industry is changing at fast, alarming rate which means that if we are to market competitively, everyone involved in the process must update their skills constantly. Computer systems and communication have had major breakthroughs which affect all areas of business including markting.

Trends in Marketing

Another issue that must be considered and understood is change in the trends of marketing. The bottom line of any business plan is to improve the return on investments - ROI. The marketing world, like the technological world is experiencing a dramatic revolution resulting in new channels opening up before the practicing marketers can even grasp or use the existing channels.

However, regardless of our education, our experience it is normal to feel overwhelmed in trying to keep up, trying to identify where to focus our efforts to further our professional development and improve our own marketing skills to keep up with the demands of today and the future. So let's see if we can put some of the trend changes into context.

1. Changes in Customer Service and the Benefit to Marketing

Today and yesterday and tomorrow, the priority for companies is to create and deliver great products and services. Being able to respond quickly and honestly to issues and problems identified by customers and of course, acquiring new customers.

However, customers today are different from yesterday and will continue to have increased expectations when dealing with their suppliers. Especially today when most everything can be done online, so customers today who get slow or poor responses from customer support departments or who don't have their expectations met, will quickly get on the social media forums and relate the experience to all their network contacts - who then in turn can re-tweet and forward the same negative message to their own contact. And the negative information will travel through cyber space.

Customer must now become our core marketing department. Our ability to grow our business, to expand our customer base can now be achieved, in part, by using the social media. However, our message must be very clear, very concrete and be part of a well-designed marketing strategy so that the results recognized actually assist your organization in the achievement of the company vision.

2. Social Media

What is Social Media?

The term Social Media is referring to using web-based and mobile technologies to create an interactive dialogue or communication channel with a variety of people categories. The objective of any social media forum is to allow the users to create their own content. Humans have always networked, whether at parties, conferences, other social or business events. Now, through social media we can network without physically being present with the other parties involved in the network we are creating.

One of the fastest changes areas in marketing today is the social media. Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, blogs, various mobile devices and so on, continue to give us alternative means of connecting to a wide variety of people, customers, clients and potentials globally. However, it is also very important to remember that the way we take advantage of this is very important because once we place something online, that SOMETHING, whether positive or negative is there forever.

Social media is not a one-size-fits all it is a tool that must be customized to fit the specific situation and the desired outcome.

3. Mobile Marketing

Today, more and more people spend time using their portable devices for much more than just to make a telephone call. We no longer even need a laptop because we have iPad, BlackBerry, etc... and can check our emails, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook accounts, create and update blogs, everything we need to do to stay visible online.

However, when we considered mobile marketing, we also have to be very conscious of what we want to accomplish. Because once something, a message, is out there on the internet and cannot be recalled. So make sure the message you are sending is the message you want passed to everyone with internet connections on any forum available today.

4. Email Marketing

Email continues to deliver customer value, brand recognition, saves expense expenditure, and create a buzz. Email, while yesterday's brain-child, is still getting stronger and still plays a vital role in all marketing strategies. Therefore, emails to individuals, mass emails and email campaigns need to be included in our marketing strategies.

Search Engine Optimization - SEO

With the new appearance of updated websites, mini websites and online promotions, search engine optimization - SEO is becoming a high demand competency for everyone working within the Marketing domain.

SEO refers to the use of specific keywords in the titles, abstracts and the body of any document, text or page found on the web. Keyword searches are recognized by search engines when any individual looks for information, products or service online.

Therefore, understanding the tools available, how to use these tools and how to optimize anything that will be published online is essential for the new area of marketing to be successfully implemented by you and your organization.

What Is Marketing? Marketing Strategy for 2012

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e-Marketing Strategy: 7 Dimensions to Consider (the e-Marketing Mix)

What is e-Marketing?

e-Marketing is still quite a controversial subject to talk about, since no one succeeded to unify the various theories around it; however there is one thing upon which there is no doubt - that e-Marketing first appeared under the form of various techniques deployed by pioneer companies selling their products via the internet in the early 90's.

Marketing

The frenzy around these new marketing techniques created by e-tailers and supported by the internet rapidly gave birth to a new dimension of what we knew as Marketing: the e-Marketing (electronic Marketing).

There are many definitions to what e-Marketing is, the simplest and shortest one being formulated by Mark Sceats: e-Marketing is Marketing that uses the internet as manifestation media. A working definition is that coming from a group of CISCO specialists: e-Marketing is the sum of all activities a business conducts through the internet with the purpose of finding, attracting, winning and retaining customers.

e-Marketing Strategy

The e-Marketing Strategy is normally based and built upon the principles that govern the traditional, offline Marketing - the well-known 4 P's (Product - Price - Promotion - Positioning) that form the classic Marketing mix. Add the extra 3 P's (People - Processes - Proof) and you got the whole extended Marketing mix.

Until here, there are no much aspects to differentiate e-Marketing from the traditional Marketing performed offline: the extended Marketing mix (4 + 3 P's) is built around the concept of "transactional" and its elements perform transactional functions defined by the exchange paradigm. What gives e-Marketing its uniqueness is a series of specific functions, relational functions, that can be synthesized in the 2P + 2C+ 3S formula: Personalization, Privacy, Customer Service, Community, Site, Security, Sales Promotion.

These 7 functions of the e-Marketing stay at the base of any e-Marketing strategy and they have a moderating character, unlike the classic Marketing mix that comprises situational functions only. Moderating functions of e-Marketing have the quality of moderate, operate upon all situational functions of the mix (the classic 4 P's) and upon each other.

1. Personalization

The fundamental concept of personalization as a part of the e-Marketing mix lies in the need of recognizing, identifying a certain customer in order to establish relations (establishing relations is a fundamental objective of Marketing). It is crucial to be able to identify our customers on individual level and gather all possible information about them, with the purpose of knowing our market and be able to develop customized, personalized products and services.

For example, a cookie strategically placed on the website visitor's computer can let us know vital information concerning the access speed available: in consequence, if we know the visitor is using a slow connection (eg. dial-up) we will offer a low-volume variation of our website, with reduced graphic content and no multimedia or flash applications. This will ease our customer's experience on our website and he will be prevented from leaving the website on the reason that it takes too long to load its pages.

Personalization can be applied to any component of the Marketing mix; therefore, it is a moderating function.

2. Privacy

Privacy is an element of the mix very much connected to the previous one - personalization. When we gather and store information about our customers and potential customers (therefore, when we perform the personalization part of the e-Marketing mix) a crucial issue arises: that of the way this information will be used, and by whom. A major task to do when implementing an e-Marketing strategy is that of creating and developing a policy upon access procedures to the collected information.

This is a duty and a must for any conscious marketer to consider all aspects of privacy, as long as data are collected and stored, data about individual persons.

Privacy is even more important when establishing the e-Marketing mix since there are many regulations and legal aspects to be considered regarding collection and usage of such information.

3. Customer Service

Customer service is one of the necessary and required activities among the support functions needed in transactional situations.

We will connect the apparition of the customer service processes to the inclusion of the "time" parameter in transactions. When switching from a situational perspective to a relational one, and e-Marketing is mostly based on a relational perspective, the marketer saw himself somehow forced into considering support and assistance on a non-temporal level, permanently, over time.

For these reasons, we should consider the Customer Service function (in its fullest and largest definition) as an essential one within the e-Marketing mix.

As we can easily figure out, the service (or assistance if you wish) can be performed upon any element from the classic 4 P's, hence its moderating character.

4. Community

We can all agree that e-Marketing is conditioned by the existence of this impressive network that the internet is. The merely existence of such a network implies that individuals as well as groups will eventually interact. A group of entities that interact for a common purpose is what we call a "community" and we will soon see why it is of absolute importance to participate, to be part of a community.

The Metcalf law (named after Robert Metcalf) states that the value of a network is given by the number of its components, more exactly the value of a network equals the square of the number of components. We can apply this simple law to communities, since they are a network: we will then conclude that the value of a community rises with the number of its members. This is the power of communities; this is why we have to be a part of it.

The customers / clients of a business can be seen as part of a community where they interact (either independent or influenced by the marketer) - therefore developing a community is a task to be performed by any business, even though it is not always seen as essential.

Interactions among members of such a community can address any of the other functions of e-Marketing, so it can be placed next to other moderating functions.

5. Site

We have seen and agreed that e-Marketing interactions take place on a digital media - the internet. But such interactions and relations also need a proper location, to be available at any moment and from any place - a digital location for digital interactions.

Such a location is what we call a "site", which is the most widespread name for it. It is now the time to mention that the "website" is merely a form of a "site" and should not be mistaken or seen as synonyms. The "site" can take other forms too, such as a Palm Pilot or any other handheld device, for example.

This special location, accessible through all sort of digital technologies is moderating all other functions of the e-Marketing - it is then a moderating function.

6. Security

The "security" function emerged as an essential function of e-Marketing once transactions began to be performed through internet channels.

What we need to keep in mind as marketers are the following two issues on security:

- security during transactions performed on our website, where we have to take all possible precautions that third parties will not be able to access any part of a developing transaction;

- security of data collected and stored, about our customers and visitors.

A honest marketer will have to consider these possible causes of further trouble and has to co-operate with the company's IT department in order to be able to formulate convincing (and true, honest!) messages towards the customers that their personal details are protected from unauthorized eyes.

7. Sales Promotion

At least but not last, we have to consider sales promotions when we build an e-Marketing strategy. Sales promotions are widely used in traditional Marketing as well, we all know this, and it is an excellent efficient strategy to achieve immediate sales goals in terms of volume.

This function counts on the marketer's ability to think creatively: a lot of work and inspiration is required in order to find new possibilities and new approaches for developing an efficient promotion plan.

On the other hand, the marketer needs to continuously keep up with the latest internet technologies and applications so that he can fully exploit them.

To conclude, we have seen that e-Marketing implies new dimensions to be considered aside of those inherited from the traditional Marketing. These dimensions revolve around the concept of relational functions and they are a must to be included in any e-Marketing strategy in order for it to be efficient and deliver results.

e-Marketing Strategy: 7 Dimensions to Consider (the e-Marketing Mix)

Otilia Otlacan is a young certified professional with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business, currently working as independent consultant and e-publisher. She developed and teach her own online course in "Principles of e-Marketing" and is also a volunteer Economics teacher.

You can contact her via her personal website at BRAINmarketing.net [http://www.brainmarketing.net] or check out her latest developing Marketing resources project at TeaWithEdge.com

The 7Ps of Marketing Mix

Marketing professionals and specialist use many tactics to attract and retain their customers. These activities comprise of different concepts, the most important one being the marketing mix. There are two concepts for marketing mix: 4P and 7P. It is essential to balance the 4Ps or the 7Ps of the marketing mix. The concept of 4Ps has been long used for the product industry while the latter has emerged as a successful proposition for the services industry.

The 7Ps of the marketing mix can be discussed as:

Marketing

Product - It must provide value to a customer but does not have to be tangible at the same time. Basically, it involves introducing new products or improvising the existing products.

Price - Pricing must be competitive and must entail profit. The pricing strategy can comprise discounts, offers and the like.

Place - It refers to the place where the customers can buy the product and how the product reaches out to that place. This is done through different channels, like Internet, wholesalers and retailers.

Promotion - It includes the various ways of communicating to the customers of what the company has to offer. It is about communicating about the benefits of using a particular product or service rather than just talking about its features.

People - People refer to the customers, employees, management and everybody else involved in it. It is essential for everyone to realize that the reputation of the brand that you are involved with is in the people's hands.

Process - It refers to the methods and process of providing a service and is hence essential to have a thorough knowledge on whether the services are helpful to the customers, if they are provided in time, if the customers are informed in hand about the services and many such things.

Physical (evidence) - It refers to the experience of using a product or service. When a service goes out to the customer, it is essential that you help him see what he is buying or not. For example- brochures, pamphlets etc serve this purpose.

The 7Ps of Marketing Mix

Medha Behera

Marketing Plan Basics - Marketing Objectives & Strategy

An important element of your basic marketing plan consists of the specific objectives you will try and attain and the overall strategy you will use to achieve those objectives.

It is worth noting that the marketing plan objectives should always lead to actual sales revenue. If not, you need to re-examine your marketing objectives and restate them so that they relate to sales results.

Marketing

Marketing Objectives

Your marketing objectives should be:

Clear and specific
Tangible and measurable
Be time-based, with a target achievement date

Some examples of a marketing objective you might include in your basic marketing plan are:

Launch new product line on January 1, 2009 to target market, achieving sales target of 0,000 by December 31, 2009
Re-launch "new and improved" product line to existing customer base, conveying enhancements and revisions and delivering 1,000 qualified sales leads by June 30, 2010.
Increase product awareness among the target audience by 30% this year.

In many cases, you will have multiple, concurrent marketing objectives, in which case you should make sure that they are consistent with each other and support your overall marketing vision.

Marketing Strategy

In the marketing strategy section of your basic marketing plan, you should outline the strategic plan by which you intend to reach the objectives stated above.

You'll want to specifically address the "four Ps" of marketing (also known as the marketing mix) to address four specific areas of your strategy.

Product - the specifics about the product or service you will be marketing
Price - your pricing strategy as it relates to the market conditions and your competition, specifying the exact pricing and offers you will make
Promotion - the high-level plan of how and where you will advertise your product or service in order to reach your target audience, including TV, radio, print advertisements, direct mail and online marketing efforts
Place (Distribution) - how the product/service and your prospective customer interact and engage in the selling process, including retail, mail-order, direct sales, telephone sales, wholesale or distributors, etc.

Although it may seem tedious, spending the time to carefully identify your marketing objectives and the overall marketing strategy you will use to reach those objectives will help you create the tactical marketing promotional plan that will ultimately inform and guide your marketing team on what specific actions need to be completed, when they need to be completed by and finally by whom they will be completed.

Marketing Plan Basics - Marketing Objectives & Strategy

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Different Types of Marketing

If you want your company to succeed, at some point you will need to begin marketing your products or services. The old adage that the worst type of advertising is no advertising is still true. No matter what your marketing budget may be, there are many different types of marketing that you can take advantage of. Let's take a look at a few of the more proven techniques that combine low cost with major results.

Online Marketing

Marketing

Online marketing has opened up incredible avenues for small businesses. Thanks to companies like Google and Overture, you can place ads for your company right along side the big guns at competitive prices. Never before has it been easier to market your business than it is right now.

New forms of online marketing are also making headway. Online video ads are easy and cheap to shoot and give you the kind of exposure that was previously limited to expensive national television campaigns. With low production costs and reasonable pricing, you can run an online video campaign at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

Offline Marketing

The benefits of traditional marketing cannot be overlooked in our digital age. Many companies are reaping the benefits of combining online and offline marketing techniques. For example, you can use direct mail or local advertising to drive potential customers to your site. This is a great and proven combination that results in increased traffic and better conversions.

You can actually save money on print campaigns by relying on your website to do the actual selling while the print ad can function as a pointer. You'll save money using less words while building brand awareness. Radio ads are still a proven way to increase awareness of your company. If you are new to radio marketing, try placing a sample ad with a local station. They'll be able to assist you in producing your first ad until you get the hang of the process.

Word of Mouth Marketing

Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful forms of advertising on the planet. The best word of mouth comes from satisfied customers. Go the extra mile for them, and really work towards building relationships with your customers. This will result not only in more leads but they'll keep coming back to you in the future. Try running special promotions or coupons for these regular customers to help them feel that they are special and you'll really be able to continue to build on these relationships in the future.

The best marketing strategies take advantage of all the different types of advertising. By spreading your ad dollars around you can be assured of greater success and better interaction with the public. Start small by combining a special promotion that will run both in print and online avenues at the same time. You can keep track of the success of each method by using coupon codes to see which form suits your company the best.

Different Types of Marketing

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Relationship Marketing

EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT

In the early 1990s the concept of relationship marketing was formally introduced into the field of service marketing. And further the concept was also found applicable in the case of industrial as well as consumer products. As the concept of relationship marketing has emerged the focus has been shifted from transaction marketing to relationship marketing as under:

Marketing

Transaction marketing - Relationship Marketing

* Focus on single sale - * Focus on customer retention

* Orientation on product features - * Orientation on product benefits

* Little emphasis on customer - * High customer service emphasis

Service

* Limited customer commitment - * High customer commitment

* Moderate customer contact - * High customer contact

* Quality is primarily a concern - * Quality is concern for all.

Of production - (TQM ).

NEED FOR RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

The aim of relationship marketing is to create strong, lasting relationship with core group of customers. It is to a firm's advantage to develop long term relationship with existing customers because it is easier and less expensive to make an additional sale to an exiting customer than to make a new sale to a new customer.

BENEFITS OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

The relationship marketing helps the customer on one hand and the service provider on the other hand.

The benefits which are associated with the customers are:

o Customers remain loyal and receive more value compared to the competitors.

o Customers have the sense of well being and quality of life as they have long term relationship with the service provider.

o Customer think that the service provider knows their preferences and have tailored services to suit their needs over a period of time and they do not want to change this arrangement they have remain loyal.

The benefits for the service producers are:

o Due to good relationship management the service provider gets committed and loyal customers, thus increasing the purchases, which in turn increase the profits of the company.

o Lower cost retaining the current customers cost much lower than making new customers as new customers attract advertising cost and other promotional costs, operating costs of setting up accounts and systems and cost of getting to know the customers.

o Free advertising through word of mouth.

o It is easier for the firm to retain the employees when the company has stable base of satisfied customers.
CONSTRAINTS OF CRM

CRM is not panacea for all marketing maladies. It has its own constraints.

o CRM is not for everyone. When the market consists of a myriad of customers and the unit profit margins are not much, for instance selling washing powders, basic marketing is enough. CRM is an apt strategy when customers are of long-time horizons and profit margins are much.

o CRM assumes that customers play a passive role in relationships. But in the networked world, they have the ability to play an active role in managing relationships. Now a-days the marketing is towards collaborative marketing, in which the company collaborates with customers and makes them an integral part of the company's marketing activities.

o CRM is mainly based on customer databases. The collection of data and storage of data for CRM comes in handy only. When the data collected is accurate and appropriate, is collected at a reasonable cost, analysed diligently, reported promptly in a lucid manner and kept secret from competitors. Simon London opines, "Data have little value on their own: They are useful only when they have context and relevance."

(2) RELEATIONSHIP MARKETING IN BANKING SECTOR

Introduction

In the past, customers were simple persons and were happy at whatever banks dished out to them. Over a period of time with the competition and technological improvements customers have become fully aware of their rights. They now demand nothing short of excellent and prompt services. And further expect improvements there on. In fact over a period of time customer service has become customer satisfaction and customer delight and it can be said what they look forward to now is customer ecstasy. Umpteen alternatives are available to enlightened customers and they choose only those banks that they consider best suites them.

Why customer Service?

A customer is the most important person who visits the premises of a bank. He is not dependent on the bank - rather the bank is dependent on him. He should not be considered as a rude interruption in work. Rather he is the purpose of the work. Further it must be realised that:

(a) It takes months to find and get a good customer but only seconds to loose one.

(b) It is easier to rectify a mistake than to go on arguing on a mistake with a customer.

Initiatives by Banks

Of late, banks have been taking a plethora of initiatives to reorient their basic customer service ethos. These include

o Emphasis on process reengineering for improving customers' terms of transaction.

o Shift from 'cost plus' pricing to competitive pricing of services.

o Progressive IT application for swift delivery channels

o Universal service obligation by creating 'bank within a branch' concept.

o Improving value chain for customers.

o Pursuit of TQM at operational and administrative units.

o Three pronged strategy of product innovation, product delivery and product servicing

o Focus on product augmentation as well as hybridization.

o Shift from a "selling" to "marketing" mode.

o Multiple platforms for swift redressal of grievances.

o Periodical rating of service quality in house as well as by external agencies.
o Enrichment of training calendar, with sharp focus on behavioral aspects of customer service.

Effective CRM: The Task Ahead

Any bank aspiring to grow in size, diversity, profitability and clientele base must adopt a four fold strategy. These relate to

1. Acquiring new customers more cost effectively.

2. Increasing revenues from existing clientèle.

3. Increasing retention rates, especially among high value clients.

4. Reducing the cost of sales and servicing.

Suggestions

For a better customer service, banks should emphasis on :

o Increasing the volume of business by extending working hours with the use of technology

o Widening the clientèle base by providing anywhere, anytime and any channel banking service to the customers.

o Increasing the number of delivery channels like ATM banking, phone banking etc.

o Improving service quality and operational efficiency.

o Improving management information system to use data as a business intelligence fool.

o Enhancing cross selling of products to existing customer.

o Service culture is to be developed among the staff. Human Resource Development standards should be maintained in the recruitments at all levels.

Conclusion

Banks, in the days to come, have to provide their broad based service package in the midst of stiff competition. To ensure their competitive edge in future they have to fight with rivals in terms of quality of their service. The challenges that lie before the bankers are four fold. First, they need to satisfy customer needs that are complex and difficult to manage. Second, they need to face up to increased competition from within the sector and from new entrants coming in to the financial sector market. Third, they need to address the demands based in supply chain. Finally they must continually invent new products and services to attract and retain the customer.

Relationship Marketing

Dr.Gomathi Viswanathan

Thanks To : The Global Marketing

20 Free Marketing Ideas

Marketing could make or break a small business. Successful marketing is one of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of your small business. If you are searching for good marketing ideas and have a limited budget, here are 20 that are completely free:
If your marketing offends someone it will probably be a success
Get someone to tell a friend. Hopeful someone will tell another friend and it will become viral
Collect email addresses from prospects so that you can build a relationship (with permission, of course)
Everybody makes marketing mistakes, learn from yours
Give a sample away for free.
Perform an outrageous publicity stunt
In some instances it is better to co-operate with a competitor rather than compete
Create a company blog
Ask clients for written testimonials
Study the marketing techniques of your competitors. Do what works for them
Be seen as an expert in your field by writing EzineArticles
Write a press release and submit it to newspapers and magazines
Differentiate your product. Just know that your product also must be good. A different product that sucks is useless
Give something of value away for free via a contest
Put your logo and website URL on everything
Learn from the pros - read Seth Godin's marketing blog, read the Guerrilla Marketing series of books
Don't just make a promise in your marketing message. Deliver on your promise or you will be seen as a liar
Sponsor a popular local event
Use the new media
Follow your gut instincts

Marketing

20 Free Marketing Ideas

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Viral Marketing Vs Conventional Marketing

To use your marketing tools correctly you have to know the difference between them, as well as how to use each tool in a way that yields maximum effect. In this article we will discuss the difference between viral and conventional marketing, and the appropriate ways to use them.

-Viral marketing is not online ads

Marketing

In contrast to traditional marketing, the aim of the viral marketing campaign is not to just post regular ads online. The goal is to create an interesting message that mentions your product and will be equally interesting if it didn't. This message because it is so interesting will compel the audience to share it with their friends, spreading the word about your product in the process.

-Successful Viral marketing is a complete process

Unlike a traditional marketing massage, viral marketing enables the customer to actually buy what you are advertising about on the spot, just after seeing your viral massage. This is done by simply placing an online purchase link somewhere along with your viral massage. This is never that easy in the case of conventional marketing.

-In viral marketing you give away stuff for free

You spend a lot during conventional marketing, but in viral marketing you give free stuff to the audience. If what you give them is good, they will tell their friends about you. If they don't then you didn't lose a lot, especially comparing the costs with those of conventional marketing.

-How to use both viral and conventional marketing.

Viral is great if you are just starting your business. When you don't have the budget for a conventional campaign and you desperately need the publicity, viral is the way to go.

On the other hand, if your target audience is unlikely to be internet savvy or can't be reached by a viral campaign, using conventional marketing is the way to go. However, viral and conventional marketing are not mutually exclusive. You can use conventional marketing to build awareness about your product then supplement it with a viral campaign to generate constant buzz and media exposure.

Knowing the difference between viral and conventional campaigns can be a great aid to you when you are deciding on which route you want to take with a new product.

Viral Marketing Vs Conventional Marketing

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4Ps & 6Ps - Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is one of the major concepts of marketing. According to the traditional base, there are 4Ps of marketing. These are referred to as the marketing mix. But in the modern use of the term, many more Ps have been coined. People have found six, seven even eleven Ps of marketing. In this article we will talk about the 4Ps and 6Ps.

Four Ps

Marketing

The four Ps of marketing mix consist of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Product means the thing that you are selling. It can also be a service like the tourism industry.

Price means the rate at which the product is being sold. A number of factors are involved in determining the price of a product. These include competition, market share, product identity, material costs and the value customers perceive of a product. In fact prices are also determined by competitor's products. If the competitors have the same product, then the price of a product will go down.

Place refers to the real or virtual place from where a product can be bought by a consumer. Another name used for place is called "distribution channel". Promotion is the way that a product will be communicated to the general public. There are four distinct ways in which this might be done- 'point of sale', 'word of mouth', public relations and advertising.

Somewhere down the line people felt that four Ps were not enough for marketing mix. It had to face a lot of criticism mainly on the grounds that it was extremely product focused. This was not enough for the economy which is based a lot on services as well nowadays.

Another criticism that marketing mix has to face is that it does not have a 'purpose'. So it should be looked upon as a tool that sets marketing strategy. Another criticism of marketing mix is that it does not discuss customers. This is why the concept of Six Ps of Marketing mix has achieved relevance.

Six Ps

The six Ps contain all the four Ps of marketing - product, price, place and promotion. In addition, it contains, two new Ps, namely People and Performance.

People include the potential and current customers of the business and how they make their purchase decisions. Market segmentation is also a part of this. It contains the features of market segmentation and the most attractive segments of this market.

The next P is Performance. This implies the performance of the business. The financial and strategic objectives of the business are dealt with here. It is also seen whether these objectives are achievable and realistic or not. The metrics of financial performance are also seen and appropriated in this division.

The six Ps of marketing mix help to overcome the criticisms of the four Ps. Hence the 6Ps serve to be a better alternative as compared to the 4Ps of marketing mix.

4Ps & 6Ps - Marketing Mix

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