Copy Righted Articles

Companies hear a lot about public relations; often times PR is the popular buzzword in marketing and advertising. Although most know it’s important the benefits are not always understood, so I want to share with you the true benefits of public relations and why it should be important to you.

Public relations seems so glamorous, after all what company doesn’t want to say we just hired a PR firm? Public relations if done right can reach a large audience without the expensive cost of traditional advertising and marketing.

A few of the significant public relations benefits include:

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Are you operating a small or medium-sized online retail store? Have your ecommerce efforts been thwarted by a big online retailer? If so, take heart! Things aren’t as bad as they might seem. In fact, instead of being intimidated by the big online retailers – you should welcome the opportunity to compete with them! Here are some things that they won’t tell you that could give you a real advantage when trying to gain more ecommerce customers at their expense.

Here are some of the things that the big online retailers don’t want smaller competitors to know that they’re saying behind your back:

“We’re concerned that you can look just as big as us online”

Think about it – for all the time, money, resources, and energies that go into the website of a large online retailing operation – they still have most of their traffic landing on their home page. It’s the same with you, the small online retailer. When a potential online buyer looks at your home page, they can easily think that you are much larger than you really are. How do you tell the difference between a one-person operation, a ten-person operation, or a large retail site? It’s hard – even for professionals. One key point here: make sure that your home page design and layout measure up to the current standards of professionalism in the industry today.

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Your company name should have a common thread that leads to the core of the business. When this isn’t taken into consideration often mistakes are made. The same marketing energy that you use to develop your business name needs to flow throughout all integral parts of your business.

Your business name means everything when it comes to marketing your business, it could make or break your business, so do not take this part of planning lightly. A business name automatically contains a marketing element; your job is to choose a name that will help your marketing efforts. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, but you do want to spend some time doing it. I’ve listed some questions below that will get your creative juices flowing andjumpstart your thinking, so that you can begin developing ideas for your business name.

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I know what you are thinking “what does a tip have do with marketing and sales?” More than you think. The wait staff that we encounter in a dining establishment is an extension of the marketing of that establishment. It can be negative or positive and it can determine whether or not you ever return. On the flip side this could also be the first encounter a person has in a sales career. A waitress or waiter is a true picture of the sales cycle and the success or disaster that can come out of a selling and service transaction.

Last week I had the pleasure of dining with my colleagues on Friday afternoon. We received poor service and when questioned the menu was brought to my attention. I think it read something like this:

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This week was a busy week for me. I truthfully ran out of time. There were many people I needed to follow-up with, but because of my time constraints I had to make a determination on which marketing relationships I needed to nurture and how to go about it.

I was reminded that it is important to build relationships with the right people and companies regardless of their buying time. I think we forget this at times. If a potential clients doesn’t buy today we unfortunately drop them like a hot potato rather than continue to nurture that relationships into fruition. Am I the only one guilty of doing this? I’ve read your emails, so I don’t think so.

To nurture these relationships until the point of sale, I’d like to give you five tips that work. I promise you they don’t take much time, but they do get results.

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When thinking about the importance of referral marketing I’m always reminded of an incident that happened at a fitness center. I had decided to up my fitness regimen by joining a gym.

I was referred to a gym by a friend of mine, so a few of my friends and I called the fitness center to schedule an orientation appointment. After touring the facility we decided to join the gym and agreed to sign up for a membership. The person that had referred us was with us, so obviously being in the sales and marketing business I asked the representative what our friend would get for referring us to them. His response, “I can give her a water bottle.”

This response floored me, I could not believe that this fitness center had no referral program. A water bottle? I can go to a discount store and purchase one for under $5.00 yet this person brought them new business and it cost them no money. They didn’t pay for an advertisement, they hadn’t sent us a mailing, so their outgoing costs for this new business was null. Because of the referral of a current customer they had over $300 laying on the desk and two people signing membership agreements.

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This weekend I had a great time going into Missouri Wine Country, we took a 2.5 hour drive to explore a few wineries in Herman, Missouri.

I was reminded that 75% of a sale is experience driven. The first winery we attended took us through a tour and then a quick wine tasting; starting off with the wines that were really not our style. The second we were personally attended to. We were able to select the wines we wanted to taste and each wine was paired with a cracker to bring out the flavor of the wine. The lady behind the counter was attentive and courtesy. We walked out with a list of several wines that hit our favorite list. I believe some of the wines had a better flavor than the first winery we went too, but maybe it’s because we didn’t taste the wines that were of our personal interest? We were bundled in a group and each of us tasting the same wine. When we vocalized that we would prefer to taste the dryer wines the older guy behind the counter joked about confusing him. As a result of that experience we walked out of that winery without purchasing any of the wines we had tasted. The second winery sold us two cases and a few boxes of the cheese straws that they had paired with the wines.

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Marketing is an unfamiliar concept for many nonprofit organizations. It’s important that these organizations understand that marketing is more than just the old sense of making a sale or obtaining a donation. Marketing is a way to satisfying the consumer and donor needs, but where does the nonprofit organization start? Below are eight steps that will get you started in brainstorming marketing ideas that could make a significant difference in the bottom-line of your organization.

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n my ten years of experience working with clients one thing I’ve noticed is there are some business owners that have defined their niche market and have a clear picture of whom it is they are marketing to and there are others that tend to waiver or be unsure.

Often business owners view a niche market as narrowing their sales or cutting into a profit margin, so they fear it. The truth is a niche market could be defined as a component that gives your business POWER. A niche market allows you to define who you are marketing to.

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Customer retention is not only a cost effective and profitable strategy, but in today’s business world it’s necessary. This is especially true when you remember that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customer and clients. With these statistics I am wondering why most marketing and sales campaigns are designed for the new customer.

Take for instance the wireless telephone companies; if you sign a new contract you are given a large rebate or even a free cellular telephone. If you are a current customer you have the privilege of paying full price. Can someone please explain that methodology to me. With this type of promotion are we not just pushing current customers and clients to seek services elsewhere when their contract ends?

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