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Other Added - The M-Word (Marketing) Phase 2
As I sat at lunch with the young insurance executive, he raised a question. He had an exclusive contract with an insurance company to sell only their products, but his agents wanted to sell a competitive product as well. My friend wanted to know if it would be morally right to do this through another company in which he had a vested interest. I reminded him that he had made a covenant, a promise. His word or reputation as the most valuable possession he had. Short-term gain would lead to long-term broken promises and pain if he pursued this course. I asked him to consider the intent of the contract, not just the letter of the law.Business is about relationships and relationships are built on long-term commitments and established trust. Most of us violate promises every day on the job. We commit to be at a meeting, or to get a report completed by a certain time, or to deliver a new product, or to ship by a certain date, or to pay within terms. Most inefficiency in business is caused by broken promises and lack of meeting deadlines. For example,
* Tap new markets. Why do clients come to you in the first place? Is it because they have a real problem, an immediate need, and no choice but to hire you? What if you could tap a less crisis-driven, more pro-active market that provided you with more predictable and lon
1. Employees are resource-oriented. Entrepreneurs are opportunity-oriented. A person with an employee mindset might say, “I would start my own business but I don’t have the money.” Or “I’d love to invest in that piece of real estate, but I don’t have the down payment.” In both of these examples the person focuses on their resources–in this case their lack of money, rather than the opportunity.In a similar situation, a person with an entrepreneur’s mindset might say, “Let’s start the business and we can finance the business from the cash flow.” Or “Tie up the property and we’ll find the money later.” Robert Kiyosaki’s poor dad was a man who saw many opportunities, but failed to act on them simply because he was resource-oriented. Instead of taking action, he often said, “I wish I could do it, but I can’t afford it.” Or “I would go into business for myself, but I need a steady job. I have a mortgage and you kids to feed.”On the other hand, Robert Kiyosaki’s rich dad (his best friend’s father, an entrepreneur who taught him a lot about how t
Skip Phase 1 and chances are you'll do a really good job at spreading the wrong message about your firm in the marketplace. Not only is this confusing for prospective clients, it's a waste of your firm's time and resources. You can learn more about these crucial steps in last month’s e-newsletter at http://www.turningpointemarketing.com:8080/icms/icms.php/cs/9/Articles.html.
So let's say you've done your Phase 1 homework and are ready to communicate with your marketplace. Where do you start and what should you consider? In Phase 2 you have a number of communication channels to tap, all of which should be working together. The basics include a business card and stationery, a website, a keep-in-touch system (ideally an e-newsletter, but a paper version works too), perhaps printed materials or leave behinds, a core set of articles and other freebies, and a basic talk you can give (i.e., at an industry networking event, local conference, or Chamber of Commerce event).
At a minimum, you need business cards/stationery, a website, and a valuable article or two to demonstrate your expertise. If you don't have these tools, you're going to have a hard time establishing credibility and differentiating yourself in today's marketplace.
This month, let's focus on the most important of these tools: a solid website. Much more than an electronic brochure, a well-done website can do a lot of the marketing "heavy lifting" if you couple it with a smart online/offline strategy to get people to visit your site. Done right, here’s what a website can do for you:
* Build relationships. Marketing your professional service firm is about creating and sustaining a trust-based relationship with your intended and current clients. A good website and online promotion strategy can do just that, without requiring more of you precious billable hours to be present in your clients’ and prospects lives.
* Tap new markets. Why do clients come to you in the first place? Is it because they have a real problem, an immediate need, and no choice but to hire you? What if you could tap a less crisis-driven, more pro-active market that provided you with more predictable and long
One of the responsibilities of a human resources professional is to let employees know that their job has been eliminated. It is seldom easy to do and often painful for the person who is hearing the news.Just recently, I was involved in communicating a large layoff to employees at a Fortune 500 company. I sat with one woman after she had heard the news to tell her about the career transition services she could take advantage of. The woman was in shock and not ready to hear about transition services for her self. She said out loud several times, “How am I going to tell my kids this?”When I asked her why she would not want to tell her kids, she said that her teenage son had been having a hard year in school and she did not want to upset him. She asked my advice.Recently, my mother-in-law died. Losing a loved one and losing a job have similarities. Both involve losing something you love. Both involve change. I thought back to how my husband and I told our children that their grandmother had died. I remembered that we told them the truth
So let's say you've done your Phase 1 homework and are ready to communicate with your marketplace. Where do you start and what should you consider? In Phase 2 you have a number of communication channels to tap, all of which should be working together. The basics include a business card and stationery, a website, a keep-in-touch system (ideally an e-newsletter, but a paper version works too), perhaps printed materials or leave behinds, a core set of articles and other freebies, and a basic talk you can give (i.e., at an industry networking event, local conference, or Chamber of Commerce event).
At a minimum, you need business cards/stationery, a website, and a valuable article or two to demonstrate your expertise. If you don't have these tools, you're going to have a hard time establishing credibility and differentiating yourself in today's marketplace.
This month, let's focus on the most important of these tools: a solid website. Much more than an electronic brochure, a well-done website can do a lot of the marketing "heavy lifting" if you couple it with a smart online/offline strategy to get people to visit your site. Done right, here’s what a website can do for you:
* Build relationships. Marketing your professional service firm is about creating and sustaining a trust-based relationship with your intended and current clients. A good website and online promotion strategy can do just that, without requiring more of you precious billable hours to be present in your clients’ and prospects lives.
* Tap new markets. Why do clients come to you in the first place? Is it because they have a real problem, an immediate need, and no choice but to hire you? What if you could tap a less crisis-driven, more pro-active market that provided you with more predictable and lon
You can give useful gifts to employees and casual business contacts while advertising at the same time without seeming tacky or tasteless. One great gift is a printed mini-umbrella. Not only can these fit almost anywhere but they can be used in the sun, rain, snow or wind. They can be given to both men and women, family types and single executive ladder climbers. Young and old, democrats and republicans, people from all walks of life can appreciate and use a printed umbrella.Where to Give Them If your industry hosts a trade show during the spring shower season, consider handing out printed umbrellas at the exit door. Can’t afford ?2.60 a piece? How about offering to walk people out to their car under your printed umbrella and a business card swap?If you have a store front, leave a bucket of printed mini-umbrellas by the door in case of a storm. Mini umbrellas are handy to keep in the glove compartment or storage containers in vehicles since they fold up so small. Each time a storm comes around they’ll think of your business. They’ll also ad
At a minimum, you need business cards/stationery, a website, and a valuable article or two to demonstrate your expertise. If you don't have these tools, you're going to have a hard time establishing credibility and differentiating yourself in today's marketplace.
This month, let's focus on the most important of these tools: a solid website. Much more than an electronic brochure, a well-done website can do a lot of the marketing "heavy lifting" if you couple it with a smart online/offline strategy to get people to visit your site. Done right, here’s what a website can do for you:
* Build relationships. Marketing your professional service firm is about creating and sustaining a trust-based relationship with your intended and current clients. A good website and online promotion strategy can do just that, without requiring more of you precious billable hours to be present in your clients’ and prospects lives.
* Tap new markets. Why do clients come to you in the first place? Is it because they have a real problem, an immediate need, and no choice but to hire you? What if you could tap a less crisis-driven, more pro-active market that provided you with more predictable and lon
Positive or negative thinking is sometimes visualized by a person expression his or her vision about the level of a glass; being either half FULL or half EMPTY.Try to remember a situation in which you thought you had a deal with someone, but in the end, there wasn’t such a deal, only an intention. For example: You had stored 900 Mb at one of your free internet mail providers. You stored important documents and the next time you logged in it appears that they were no longer there. There was however 1Gb of free space on your account. You are offering an internet service to your clients, they login to your tool environment, they pass the credit card payments and all of a sudden your server is down. You received the payment, but they didn't find their service... A service is –- in difference with a product -– a facility that is provided by someone, or a company which support the other (Company) in achieving its process. This (primary) process could be selling or to producing a product.A special feature of
This month, let's focus on the most important of these tools: a solid website. Much more than an electronic brochure, a well-done website can do a lot of the marketing "heavy lifting" if you couple it with a smart online/offline strategy to get people to visit your site. Done right, here’s what a website can do for you:
* Build relationships. Marketing your professional service firm is about creating and sustaining a trust-based relationship with your intended and current clients. A good website and online promotion strategy can do just that, without requiring more of you precious billable hours to be present in your clients’ and prospects lives.
* Tap new markets. Why do clients come to you in the first place? Is it because they have a real problem, an immediate need, and no choice but to hire you? What if you could tap a less crisis-driven, more pro-active market that provided you with more predictable and lon
This article will provide brief overview about definition, conceptual views as well as possible environmental actions related to the notion of business’s social responsibility. Example will be cited to highlight successful facilitation of a socially responsible business.With ever increasing concern on environmental hazards and issues related to various products and services, it is becoming an undeniable fact that a business should ensure its social responsibility to facilitate a societal sensitive corporate image. Koontz & Weihrich (1990) asserts that corporate social responsibility is nothing more than seriously considering the impact of company’s action on society. However a more comprehensive definition refers social responsibility with the degree to which a company recognizes what being a good community and global citizen means and acts accordingly (Slocum, 1995:17).It was further asserted that there are three basic conceptual views of social responsibility are generally acknowledged. First ‘traditional social responsibility’ is referre
* Tap new markets. Why do clients come to you in the first place? Is it because they have a real problem, an immediate need, and no choice but to hire you? What if you could tap a less crisis-driven, more pro-active market that provided you with more predictable and longer-term cash flow? Amazingly, an integrated online/offline marketing strategy, centered around your website can do that for you.
* Accelerate your sales cycle. By the time someone calls you, chances are they’ve already visited your website. With the right online approach, you can increase a prospect’s confidence that your firm is the right one to call, reduce the number of unqualified prospects, encourage a "call to action," and begin a long-term relationship.
* Stay in sight and top of mind. The adage, "out of sight is out of mind" is true, even in business. There is simply no guarantee that an existing client will return to your firm the next time they need similar services. Too many variables and influences can intercede, particularly if a lot of time passes between needs. Your website and online strategy can painlessly bridge the gap between more time consuming, "off-line" keep-in-touch activities (i.e., phone calls, direct mail, customer surveys) that are often hard to carve out time to do and expensive to implement.
* Turbocharge your business development efforts. A well-constructed website can be the "hub" of your firm’s presence in the marketplace. Ideally, your website is the first place prospects go when they learn about your firm through a referral, while networking, in the press, or perhaps a direct mail piece. Once they’re on your site, you can educate them, build their loyalty and confidence, demonstrate your results, and motivate them to take action…all for a fraction of the time, energy, and money these things require off-line.
* Manage your marketing dollars more wisely. Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell which off-line marketing activities pay off and which ones don’t? With the right approach, you can do just that, using your website – and underlying technology – as a tool for "measured marketing." You’ll never have to wonder if the money you spend on direct mail, networking, or publicity is really worth it again – you’ll know for sure!
For specific tips on what to consider in developing (or upgrading to) a website that really works, keep reading...
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