Run Your Enterprise on Excellence

If you think that I am giving big celebrity examples only, let me give you a simple example of an entrepreneur. Let us call him Vikas. He is an entrepreneur in Nashik. Started his first unit supplying to Foundry manufacturer in early 1990's. Went through huge difficulty during recession. Now runs a unit of wire. Employees from 1990's are working with him still. ( Please remember that entrepreneurs find it difficult to retain good people !). Vikas follows highest standard guidelines of managing hazardous material called REACH. Has no target set for his unit, other than producing excellence. What makes entrepreneurs like Vikas practice excellence in business, where entrepreneurs do anything to justify 'business'?

What do you find common between Vinod Chopra, Aamir Khan and Vikas? They practice excellence, and believe that it will fetch them the desired revenue. For them, Money is means to end, not an end by itself. For them, money is a byproduct of what they do, not the end by itself. For them, doing something 'right' is more important than doing something 'ok', even if that ok is acceptable to the majority.

More importantly, they have one important quality. They are not impractical and unrealistic zealots who practice 'quality' for the sake of 'quality'. Instead they understand the constraints of their excellence and are willing to work with it. For instance, Vidhu Chopra knows it takes so long to make these films and is willing to live with that constraint. Even when he makes a movie like Eklavya, he knows that the audience is not ready for it and is willing to wait for it. Or Vikas is ready to work with limited customers to ensure that his quality is 'paid' the right value.

Like others, they do not blame people and customers for not 'paying' them enough for their quality. Instead they are contended and wait for the right opportunity to come. This ability to wait for the right opportunity separates them from the herd. Instead of chasing money and projects, they chase 'excellence'.

I know of many individuals who have managed to chase excellence without chasing money. Money just followed them. It requires a specific mind of mindset and a 'set of skills' to do it. Do you have it in you to chase excellence in your field?

Combinations are More Important Than Single Skills

Why is the deficit to be estimated so high? Because Data analytics requires a combination of skills - statisticians, behavioural psychologists, business analysts and technologists - which are difficult to find. How does this process work?

Statisticians are required to make sense of the huge data in the databases. They will use their knowledge of statistics to find  strange correlations between two seemingly unrelated sets of data. For instance, the risk profile of a single adult is higher than rhe risk profile of married adult, for say giving , automobile loans or housing loans. This can be discovered from the available data in banks by statisticians. However behavioural psychologist is required to confirm that this data is not mere correlated data. It has got underlying causes to justify this. So he needs to find the causative factors and confirm the hypothesis that 'risk profile of single adult is infact higher due to xyz factors'.

Once this is established, business analysts converts this 'information' into useful 'knowledge' by finding business figures: single adult customers, married customers, returns from both customers, the growth of these customer population in last three years and so on. He makes a business case and converts this 'knowledge of single adult behaviour' into 'business strategy'. Technologists then comes into the picture to ensure that 'all the different applications' which are sitting in different technologies ( ERP, BI and front end softwares) are integrated to produce the desired result.

Of course, this process does not happen in the above sequence only. The process can be initiated by anyone, while others have to pick up from that place. The dependency between the four skills is however very very high.And that is what makes it difficult for companies to find 'good data scientist'.

So who are data scientists?
Are they statisticians, psychologists, business analysts or technologist? Because the dependency between these four skills is very high, if you start as a business analysts, you have to learn a lot about 'statistics' to converse intelligently with 'statisticians'; a lot about 'technologies' to understand the limitations and benefits of different technologies and a bit about behaviour psychology (something one reads now in the books of Friedman) to understand what 'needs' to be understood. In other words, a business analysts must have 'sufficient' depth in the other three areas to become a data scientists (to make the process between the four skills seamless and transperant). If you are a technologist, you must acquire sufficient depth in the other three areas, and so on.

Online Marketing Tips for Beginners

Check the realistic limit for the projection of your online marketing … If your competitor analysis shows the average value of products, the market and the volume of searches, you can sell an unrealistic assumption that the engine to achieve top ranking. Similarly, if you know send the average selling price per branch, you can plan the amount you need to relationships and how fast you need to recruit, they recruit. If you want a quick sale on the market for online pay-per-click advertising, you can test the return on investment very quickly. With spending on pay-per-click search in terms of a test with a different sales copy, it is easy to obtain statistics that are useful for forecasting future revenues and earnings growth to begin. The key is to understand the conversion rate and the expected average product margin on the product or service. Without these two numbers is hard to find spreadsheet models to run business sales goals and profit expected.

Market research and analysis – The first phase in the form of online marketing is to find as much as possible about what your potential customers want. By examining the information market studies, examination of competing sites, industry surveys to get feedback online, get company reports, search using the search engines and like, the quality of corporate strategy can be formulated. Without the discovery of the collection of information, the unknown and learn, is the creation of business strategy is nothing more than conjecture. The main areas to qualify and quantify information: the target size, industry conversion price, the Web site traffic, sales channels, consumer behavior, testing sales copy, the elasticity , legal and regulatory restrictions and product testing company. By far the best form of market research and analysis of key feedback from potential customers (as opposed to the general revision of the research industry against party-3), secondary outcomes of the survey are to most obsolete and data collection, analysis and conclusions are questionable. Convenient way to get feedback from customers to test ideas for new products may be questions seeking comment on the online survey, free samples of interesting free gifts, special offers for the confirmation page, form contact, newsletter, discussion forum and quiz competition.

Choosing the right business model – now you have created a number of quantitative targets, the next step is to decide how they will be booked online.

- Dominate print “Natural Organic” – An introduction to the top of search engines is the first priority for any business, when we talk about organic rankings. 80% of Internet users not only in the three best results of each search term, visits and most troubling of your search results by millions and hundreds or thousands of competitors to choose site. Once at the top of various search terms that are very relevant, the possibility of money to the point where the scale reaches the market demand for the search term. How long does it take the top search engines take? There is no quick way to the top of search engines. There is no quick way to search engines. Talk to people, the results suggest that conflicts with other people who have reached risking your money. It is true that the ability to dominate the ranking, depends on several factors, we examine how top rankings are achieved and what factors in our section on optimizing search engines. SEO encompasses a wide range of areas, professional website design, affiliate marketing, pay-per-click advertising, email marketing, user interactivity, social networking, blog marketing, viral marketing and methods traditional advertising. The main factors, including competitiveness in the market for a particular search term, the relevance of site content, site age, the effectiveness of link building, to name a few.

- Distribution channels are partners – through the sharing of profits from sales to other Web sites, it is possible for webmasters to generate increased sales. Affiliate marketing is a very best method of selling online. Thousands of existing subsidiaries of multinational brands schedules on the site depending on the niche online store – all in order to motivate entrepreneurs, portal, etc. to promote their products and services. The great advantage of affiliate marketing is a high sales volume with a nominal sales effort. The biggest drawback is a much smaller margin as a subsidiary to pay a commission to stay motivated. The model is based on a reasonable margin, to be distributed on each sale between the owner of the site and its affiliates. A thorough knowledge of the software online affiliate tracking and services to ensure timely paid to affiliates may be assigned at the beginning of sales in just a few members and recruiting new automatically. Ask yourself the basic question … if it takes 6 months to 100 stores, has been a turnover of 200 corresponds to £ 100,000 profit at that time more than 200 products distribution at the time (and how much profit), if you focus on only generate direct sales recruiting. Visit our affiliate marketing for more information.

- The increase in advertising revenue – With this business model, your traffic webmaster website visitors to expenditure on advertising alone. By increasing awareness of the site, whether by conventional means such as radio or newspapers online, visitors to the site attracted and buy something. Simple model based on deep pockets and extensive knowledge of the margin, break even on the base and the product is a good old fashioned marketing skills. For example, a sales letter attractive and unique selling points related to the needs of the target buyer. To find out, read our section on online advertising. The global market for online advertising (dominance of advertising pay per click) is now a whopping $ 40 billion per year and is expected to double to 80 billion per year from 10 years to generate. For webmasters a variety of promotional methods potentially available instant visibility of the site and provides access to thousands of potential customers almost immediately. Unlike TV advertising is very expensive (usually used for awareness), online advertising can be a level playing field for Webmasters offer flexible services agile, with smaller budgets to compete in niches.

The main types of sites are …

- Website Brochure only – that the goal of a website and brochure to promote the image of the organization. Most small businesses choose the type of site, because most consumers expect information about the company. When potential customers use search engines to the phone number from a local dealer to have a good website and a brochure with a professional appearance are given in the dough in the current market situation. Brochure site only includes information about products and services, history and context, its employees, how to find things.

- Portal – Portal of the Single Point of Contact for web users are interested in specific information. They are (or a product to sell, or offer to passive advertising for their website visitors) mostly do not have the products and services, but value-added services around these products to give. Good examples of our real estate advertising portal that Rightmove.com or Realtor.com. These areas are real estate agents to sell their property or to advertise on this site and mechanism, integrated search and an integrated clear what is there, users have the property or the property of being quick and easy . Crucial to the success of the portal site is a single degree of textual content, information technical advice interesting and exciting. For example, an inventory of fine antiques and antique restoration article interesting niche, a point of contact for different types of users …. Dealers, restaurants, retail, collectors and home owners all have an interest in this type of niche portal may have. Portal offers an excellent opportunity to share information and generally use the forums or discussion groups to get people to relevant articles, questions and answers. Do you like the machine because the content portals focusing on specific topics. This means (formula used by search engines to rank your web pages) algorithm, site ranking in terms of content for all pages, providing search results that are highly relevant to users.

- E-commerce purchase for consumers – are the focus of e-commerce sites selling products and services (physical or online services such as subscriptions or memberships). Users expect that the promise of special offers and the quality of friends will be sold. They hope that we can quickly enter their credit card check encrypted shopping cart page. For an online shop e-commerce capabilities is knowledge of local laws and banks typically require companies to verify their identity before being allowed to trade online. Critical success factors for e-commerce site is governed by the local geographic markets and the overall competitiveness of the products or services. Users expect a clear offer to sell, and offer cheaper high street, the brand name, clear delivery and return of goods and chat on the phone. There are a variety of vertical online directories that focus on specific consumer goods. In addition, applications such as Froogal ‘search engines a great new channel on the market and the traditional luxury boutiques is impossible.

Set yourself on the continuous cycle of career growth?

Career intelligence is both an art and science. It is science because we know the steps to acquire it; but it is also art because one has to creatively apply it in one's work-life. We can discuss about the 'science' here; you will have to talk to me if you cannot apply it in your work-life.

1. List down the metasysems of your job
Metasystems are systems on whom you depend ( or who depend on you ) for getting key inputs/resources for your work- performance.
If you are working in sales in a pharma company, you depend on marketing ( for its marketing schemes both above the line and below the line), Finance ( credit limits for retail outlets) and you internal sales department's inputs ( which product to sell more, which geography will have higher sales budget), product development department ( who has developed a new product which is being tested in your territory). Finance department also depends on your 'collection target' achievement, while product development depends on your inputs in their product development efforts. So in certain cases, the dependencies are 'mutual. 

2. Understand the purpose and criteria with which the metasystems are evaluating your work performance or depending on you to improve their work performance

Your sales metasystem is depending on achieving your 'total sales target', while finance is depending on your achieving your 'collection target', while product development depends on achieving your 'new product target'. It is important to understand the underlying 'purpose' of these metasystems, and the criteria by which they evaluate your work-performance. 

3. Identify the constraints and supports that each metasystem is offering to improve your visible work performance

While sales metasystem is offering 'sales budget' as a support, marketing system is offering the 'marketing budget'. Product development may be offering 'extended budget', while finance may be offering 'good collection discounts' 

On the other hand, they also offer constraints. For instance, sales metasystem has the constraint of meeting 'x doctors a day' or 'three towns a month'. Marketing system has the constraint of promoting 'x' product more than 'y', which may be beneficial or harmful for your territory sales. 

4. Identify the leverages ( within the constraints and support tools) that you can manoever

For instance, one can make three doctors' calls in a day by meeting 'three proximous doctors in a town', so that one can spend more time with a new doctor to get more mileage. Or one can use the marketing budget differently, say by offering more 'sales schemes' in one town and more 'off the shelf promos' in another town. Or one can meet the overall collection target, by targeting 'A' distributors. 

5. Actively work with the perceptions of metasystem to ensure that your work performance is recognised

For instance, one has to be smart enough to sense that 'marketing' has more clout in designing a promotion scheme and use that knowledge judiciously to 'side' with marketing so that one's sales budgets can also be met. Or focus on meeting the target of product development in your territory ( because you are not able to meet your territory's target) and borrow 'additional time' to meet your sales targets. In other words, it is important to actively work with the perceptions of different metasystems. 

White 10 Ideas That are Changing Your Life

I hadn't seen such clearly articulated ideas until I read the March 12 issue of TIME magazine: 10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life. For those who didn't see it, I created a Cliff's Notes of excerpts and paraphrasing here. Thank you, TIME. Important, human insights for those trying to create relationships, serve, and design for people. There is also an optimism about them that I love.

1. Your Head is In the Cloud
Research conducted by Betsy Sparrow at Columbia has identified three new realities for how we process information in the Internet age. 
*) When we don't know the answer to a question, we now think about where we can find the nearest Web connection instead of the subject of the question itself. 
*) When we expect to be able to find information later on, we don't remember it as well as when we think it might become unavailable (eg if it is saved or unsaved; favorited or just part of a flow on a twitter stream). 
*) The expectation that we'll be able to locate information down the line leads us to form memory not about the fact itself but where we'll be able to find it. We are becoming symbiotic with our computer tools. People have long done with "transactive memory" with other people. Now it is happening on a larger scale with machines. Why does this matter? Children need a level of factual knowledge to precede skill. But even for adults, it is fascinating how we are processing and remembering information. Each day the average American spends about 12 hours consuming information, taking in more than 100,000 words that total 34 gigabytes of data.


2. The Rise of the Nones
The number of people who say they have no religious affiliation -- called "nones" by some -- has more than doubled in the US since 1990 to 16% of the population. "For the most part, they're not rejecting God. They're rejecting organized religion as being rigid and dogmatic," according to Erin Dunigan an ordained Presbyterian at the Not Church. There is a strong American trend: turning away from organized religion and yet seeking rich if unorthodox ways to build spiritual lives. The fastest growing religious group in the US is the category of people who say they have no religious affiliation, yet many have not given up on faith. Only 4% of Americans identify as atheist or agnostic. The hunger for spiritual connection and community hasn't gone away.


3. Living Alone is the New Norm
The extraordinary rise of solitary living is the biggest social change that we've neglected to identify, let alone examine. In 1950, 4 million Americans lived alone and made up only 9% of US households. By 2011, nearly 33 million Americans live alone making up 28% of all US households.  The percentage of households increases as you look internationally to Sweden 47%, Japan 31%, and Britain 34%. According to sociologist Eric Klinenberg, living alone helps us pursue sacred modern values -- individual freedom, personal control and self-realization which are trumping economics. Solitary dwellers are primarily women, with the majority in the US being middle-aged adults from 35-64. In recent decades, young adults from 18 to 34 have been the fastest growing segment of the singleton populations. Fascinating, there is little evidence that the rise of living alone is making Americans more lonely. Living alone provides an opportunity to turn off and be better selves when we reconnect. 

4. Hand Prints, Not Footprints
We leave positive as well as negative imprints on the planet and that positive psychology is important for action. Daniel Goleman bought a bag of chips with 14 g of fat and 75 g of carbon released into the atmosphere to make, transport and recycle them. It was depressing. A more encouraging way to think about our impact is handprints: the sum of all the reductions we make in our carbon footprints (a common way of referring to the negative trail we leave on the planet). This is the brainchild of Gregory Norris, a lecturer of the Harvard School of Public Health, after discovering that once his students learned how to calculate carbon footprints, they said the planet would be better off if they had never been born.  Elke Weber, a cognitive scientist at Columbia says when folks do things to harm the planet they feel bad and want to do something to make themselves feel better -- which causes them to tune out. But if there is a positive, manageable goal in mind, we feel good and are more likely to keep going.


5. High Status Stress
As you near the top, life stress increases so dramatically that its toxic effects essentially cancel out many positive aspects of succeeding--professionally, socially and economically. However, some socialists believe that hard driven, work devoted people will likely get habituated to an all-demanding professional culture and having no memories of a time when work generally stayed at the office. They will be desensitized. 

6. Food That Lasts Forever
Without new and more sophisticated methods of food preservation, we could fall short of feeding a global population expected to top 7 billion this year. According to John Floros of Penn State, "We're not just talking about long-term space missions. We're talking about survival here on earth."

7. Black Irony
"Black irony is about people using blackness as a text to comment on and perhaps critique or reconfigure it. It's about challenging and rejecting the notion of hegemonic blackness. It's about the relationship many blacks have with our past. Black history is filled with pain. Black irony admits that but seeks to reclaim the emotional response to those painful images and gain power over them, " Toure.

8. Privacy in Public
There is now a legal right to privacy in public spaces for the first time in American history, thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision. It involves GPS tracking of suspected drug dealers and unreasonable search and seizure without a warrant. This is a very specific case, but it is a harbinger of discussions and legislation to come about the use of GPS data and cell phone history. It is clear that what privacy is and Americans expectations of it will be hotly debated and redefined as governments try to monitor and companies try to monetize vast amounts of personal data never before available.

9. Niche Aging
As 78 million baby boomers approach their sunset years, the generic retirement model is giving way to what developers call affinity housing -- niche communities where retirees can grow old along side others who share their specific interests.  These affinities range from country music, Asian cultural immersion, and sexual orientation. There are already 100 such communities in the United States. Many more are expected as developers drive the shift trying to attract the boomers who control 70% of US wealth. Also evolving are the attitudes toward retirement and the desire to remain active as long as possible.


10. Nature is Over
Little of nature is left untouched by humans -- and that demands a rethink of environmentalism. Humans have had a direct impact on more than three-quarters of the ice-free land on earth. Almost 90% of plant activity takes place in ecosystems where people have played a significant role. According to Nobel-winning chemist Paul Crutzen, "It's no longer us against 'Nature.' Instead, it's we who decide what nature is and what it will be." And we're not very good at it yet. He refers to this phenomenon as Anthropocene. Nearly 1/5 of vertebrate species are threatened. Conservationists may be winning the battle for nature preserves and losing the war for wildlife.

Listening Wrong is as Bad as Not Listening

I think this is at the heart of making marketing more meaningful--not just meeting expectations, but blowing them out of the water. I love that there is so much focus on listening to customers. But I wish there was as much attention among marketers on how to do it. In other words, how to interpret and then act on it. I have simplified this to three basic scenarios for customer listening based on what a marketer is trying to do.

Serving Customer Needs
What do customers like about a product? What isn't working? What features are they asking for? What are they complaining about? Even the mere act of creating a place for customers to express their opinions is important to respecting them. People who generously give of their own time to let you know insights about your product as they use it deserve to be heard. Part of building a relationship with them is hearing their feedback, acting on it and making sure they know it.


Creating Communications
I worked with a great consumer marketer who insisted on starting all marketing communications with a guiding customer insight. She defined it as: a forward-looking, fundamental truth that connects with your customers and your brand. The guiding insight is informed from customer research, as well as a connection to a brand's promise.

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is such a perfect example. Dove's history of natural ingredients fit beautifully with the insight they surfaced that many women have insecurities about airbrushed ideals of beauty everywhere in magazines, movies and more.


The guiding insight is where customer research turns the corner into communications strategy and planning. A guiding insight is based on something we choose from a multitude of things we hear. Across all three of these scenarios, the voice of the customer is such an important input and part of the joy of what we do, but customers won't do our jobs for us. That's why we're here.

Network Value and the Role of Marketing

http://marketing-career.blogspot.com

I write a lot about crafting a marketing career, since I love this profession and in the last 2 decades it has seen extraordinary change. This year I turned the lens on my own career and listened to [insert a really large number] of engineers and tech product managers suggest my life's work was obsolete or only for "sucky products." Imagine a very smart, successful Silicon Valley engineer saying something like, "With the Internet and social media, the best products don't need marketing. Look at Facebook and Instagram."


I listened. I really, really listened. The growth of products like Twitter without marketing is undeniable. And in the past, I've worked for amazing entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and have seen their technology magic-making first hand. So I wanted to figure this out as humbling as it was to be the Hulk-smashed rag doll myself. As an "open source marketing hacker" (Coined by my real hacker friend. Nice), I am sharing it with you.


wo Themes of Marketing Change
In the changing role of marketing and confusion about our craft, I have boiled it down to two themes that keep coming up. First, marketers' tools--media, data, product, content and channels--are dramatically changing and integrating. Second, the word marketing is mistakenly being used too narrowly as a synonym for paid media and this largely embraced notion that the best products don't need marketing. (Yet ironically they rely on it to make money (eg Google, Facebook).


I believe these are two of the most critical forces of change in marketing And in the spirit of always striving for even more simplification, these aha's can go one step further into a single thought:
Marketers make meaningful value and scalable connections for products that don't naturally do it themselves--and they largely do this through products that do.

Products that market themselves 1) have value that increases for users when more peers use them and 2) create connections that automatically get the word out and acquire users in more effective ways than paid marketing. If a product doesn't literally market itself, then you need marketers.

Network Value Determines the Role of Marketing
Both the best marketers and best engineers agree that the product is king. It is our common ground. So I started there. I became obsessed with the differences between marketing Instagram vs. a BMW or Facebook vs. a Tonka Truck. It became clear that the differences in these products are network effects vs. inherent value (aka non-network effect). And that this determines the role of marketing.

World Marketers as Inspirers

I am not going to get into the skills of writing a kick ass brief here, more on that later. But I will dwell on inspiration and the art of briefing. As I continue to (b)log the best of the best I have found so far, this is an iconic example of how to capture inspiration in a brief by Damian O'Malley who is a savvy agency planner in Europe. He recreated the story of Michelangelo's brief for the Sistine Chapel. It also helps bring to life why creative collaborators get a wrinkle in their forehead when you literally tell them what to do: "Change this color to red." "Use the word 'joyful', instead of 'happy'". "Customers think we are X. Tell them we are Y." Creative teams work from a concept and why they are doing something, not what they are working on or how they do it. Thank you Damian O'Malley for getting this point across in such a compelling way. 

Please don't perceive the comparison of creating a product or a brand to the Sistine Chapel as disrespectful. It is meant to be the exact opposite. Brands and the companies behind them create jobs, protect money, plus much more. It is an awesome responsibility that should be taken seriously and with integrity. I think branders should strive to find the significant meaning for customers, even if that means reaching for aspirational analogies like this that are very far out of our realm.


When someone asks me one of the proudest and most important skills I have as a marketer, I always say collaborating with creative teams to produce amazing work--some of the proudest of their careers, I always hope. "The process of getting a bit of paper containing a brief and turning into a real life experience is pretty great." Just think, it is the marketer's brief that needs to light that fuse. This requires translating the business, simplifying the customer insight, conveying what the product does in clear way, and tying it to a higher purpose for the brand. Most importantly, it requires talking to teams in a way they will hear you. And for designers and creative teams, that means they need to feel it.

Factors Institutional Investors Look For In Hedge Funds

The problem I have with this is often selecting hedge funds in a "deliberate and cautious fashion" often boils down to a RFP or due diligence checklist where you are basically looking for those 30 hedge funds that can check every box on your list. This is not a bad thing to have in itself but often it becomes the real life and center if not whole process in selecting a hedge fund manager.

"Headline risk" was named by 37% of survey respondents as their biggest worry, followed by lack of transparency (19%) and poor performance (15%). Institutions also remain cautious in selecting hedge funds, the survey found, devoting an average of seven months to due diligence and 12 additional weeks to approval.

Interviewees ranked "consistent, stable returns," "uncorrelated returns," and "high risk- adjusted returns" as more important objectives than "high absolute returns." Seventy-two percent of interviewees said the investment strategy, rather than performance, is their starting point for hedge fund selection.

Paul Schaeffer, managing director of strategy and innovation for SEI’s investment manager services division says, “To maintain that growth trajectory, the hedge fund industry will need to branch out from its traditional high-net-worth, foundation and endowment clientele to serve the broader institutional market.” He adds: “But to compete for those assets, the industry must recognize that large institutions have a distinct set of demands.”

Top 4 Factors Institutional Investors Look For In Hedge Funds

1. Reporting & Transparency (85% of institutional investors reported that they would not invest in a strategy they did not understand)
2. Institutional Quality Infrastructure and Operations (54% of institutional investors pointed out that better managed firms return higher performance)
3. People. Build stable hedge fund management teams At all levels the hedge fund company
4. Shift away from focusing exclusively on performance to investment disciplines

The take-away message is that institutions clearly prefer to do business with institutional-style organizations," concluded Schaeffer. "For hedge funds, the challenge will be to fit the profile of an institutional-quality fund while preserving the performance attributes that attracted major investors in the first place."

White 5 Differences Between Advertising and Public Relations

The following ten properties just scratch the surface of the many differences between advertising and public relations.


1. Creative Control Vs. No Control

• Advertising:
  Since you're paying for the space, you have creative control on what goes into that ad.
• Public Relations:
  You have no control over how the media presents your information, if they decide to use your info at all. They're not obligated to cover your event or publish your press release just because you sent something to them.

2. Paid Space or Free Coverage

• Advertising:
  The company pays for ad space. You know exactly when that ad will air or be published.
• Public Relations:
  Your job is to get free publicity for the company. From news conferences to press releases, you're focused on getting free media exposure for the company and its products/services.

3. Shelf Life

• Advertising:
  Since you pay for the space, you can run your ads over and over for as long as your budget allows. An ad generally has a longer shelf life than one press release.
• Public Relations:
  You only submit a press release about a new product once. You only submit a press release about a news conference once. The PR exposure you receive is only circulated once. An editor won't publish your same press release three or four times in their magazine.

4. Wise Consumers

• Advertising:
  Consumers know when they're reading an advertisement they're trying to be sold a product or service.
  "The consumer understands that we have paid to present our selling message to him or her, and unfortunately, the consumer often views our selling message very guardedly," Paul Flowers, president of Dallas-based Flowers & Partners, Inc., said. "After all, they know we are trying to sell them."
• Public Relations:
  When someone reads a third-party article written about your product or views coverage of your event on TV, they're seeing something you didn't pay for with ad dollars and view it differently than they do paid advertising.
  "Where we can generate some sort of third-party 'endorsement' by independent media sources, we can create great credibility for our clients' products or services," Flowers said.

5. Creativity or a Nose for News

• Advertising:
  In advertising, you get to exercise your creativity in creating new ad campaigns and materials.
• Public Relations:
  In public relations, you have to have a nose for news and be able to generate buzz through that news. You exercise your creativity, to an extent, in the way you search for new news to release to the media.

White 7 Ways to Run Your Own Advertising Campaign

http://marketing-career.blogspot.com/


Once you have your marketing plan, you must create a plan of action. This model shows you how freelancers and agencies put their own plan of action in place. Your plan of action also gives you crucial info you can use in executing your ad strategy.

1. Know Your Target Audience 
You can't advertise effectively if you don't hit your target audience. Know who they are before you start creating your ads. If your company sells scooters to seniors, you don't want to invest in cable ads to run on MTV.

2. Hunt for Affordable Opportunities 
Running your own ad campaign means you have to be your own media director. You've got to find the best ad placement and the most affordable opportunities to fit into your budget. If you're limited to a very small budget, you can find many ways to bypass high advertising costs.

3. Know Your Target Audience
You can't advertise effectively if you don't hit your target audience. Know who they are before you start creating your ads. If your company sells scooters to seniors, you don't want to invest in cable ads to run on MTV.

4. Define Your Advertising Budget
How you advertise depends on your ad budget. You need to strategically use your advertising money. If you're only allowing a small portion of money to advertising, you wouldn't want to throw it all into the production of one commercial that runs at 2 a.m. Know exactly how much you will spend on your advertising first so you can make wise decisions in the creation and placement of all ad mediums.

5. Don't Be Afraid to Hire Freelancers
If you can't turn your advertising over to an agency, still consider hiring a freelance copywriter and/or graphic designer. These professionals know what makes a good advertisement. Many freelancers have worked in advertising agencies so you get thebenefit of their expertise. Plus, freelancers can give you professional copy and materials at an affordable cost.

6. Frequency
Buying space for one radio commercial that airs once at 4:30 in the morning isn't going to get much of a response. You want commercials to have a larger frequency so you can increase your chances of hitting that target audience. If you're running a direct mail campaign, decide the frequency of your materials up front. Once you send your initial materials out, how many times will you send out follow up materials? Know the answers before you begin to help maximize your strategy's success.

7. Books
When all else fails and you still run into questions, there are plenty of books you can use to give you guidance. Also be on the lookout for titles that have just been released so you can keep on top of current advertising trends.

Small Businesses for Advertising Ideas

http://marketing-career.blogspot.com

This collection of small business advertising ideas presents both the tried and true and advertising ideas you may not have tried yet – advertising ideas for your small business to effectively reach your target market and attract new customers.

Tried and True Small Business Advertising Ideas

1. Newspaper advertising.

Besides box ads and advertising inserts, local newspapers also often offer special advertising features showcasing particular businesses – all powerful small business advertising opportunities. Don’t overlook special interest newspapers as an advertising idea if they exist in your area. They may be delivered to exactly the audience you want to reach.

2. The Yellow Pages.

There’s still a lot of people who use the yellow pages to find the businesses they’re looking for – and they won’t find you if your small business isn’t listed there. Get the biggest yellow page ad you can afford; the more visibility the better.

3. Direct mail.

Direct mail can be very effective small business advertising – and is much more favourably received than other direct marketing media, such as email or telemarketing. And even if you don’t have a mailing list, you can still geographically target your mail.

4. Magazine advertising.

This advertising idea can be a very effective way of reaching a target market. The trick is to choose the magazines or e-zines that best match the market you’re targeting.

5. Joining professional/business organizations.

Every professional or business organization offers exclusive advertising opportunities for their members, ranging from free promotion on the organization’s website through special section newspaper advertising. And being a member can be good small business advertising in itself.

6. Business cards.

Sure, they’re advertising. Every time you hand one out to a prospective client or customer, you’re advertising your small business. But why not take this advertising idea further

7. Vehicle advertising.

The reason you see so many vehicles emblazoned with advertising is that it works; vehicle advertising is very visible small business advertising. If you’re not ready for custom graphics or a magnet quad sign that sit atop your vehicle, go for a magnetic sign that you can take off when you want.

8. Sending promos with invoices.

Little advertising ideas can be powerful, too. If you’re sending out an invoice, why not take the opportunity to include some small business advertising? To draw new customers, try something such as a “bring-a-friend” promotion.

9. Cable TV advertising.

So you can’t afford to advertise your business during the Super Bowl. That doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the household reach of TV. Cable TV companies offer advertising ideas within the budget of small businesses, from advertising on the TV Guide Listings or Real Estate channels through running infomercials.

Business Plan - Sales and Distribution Plan

Traditionally there are three parts to the Sales and Distribution section of the marketing plan, although all three parts may not apply to your business.


1. Outline the transaction process between your business and your customers.

What system will be used for processing orders, shipping, and billing?

What methods of payment will customers be able to use?

What credit terms will customers be offered? If you will offer discounts for early payment or impose penalties for late payment, they should be mentioned in this part of your marketing plan.

What is your return policy?

What warranties will the customer be offered? Describe these or any other service guarantees.

What after-sale support will you offer customers and what will you charge (if anything) for this support?

Is there a system for customer feedback so customer satisfaction (or the lack of it) can be tracked and addressed?

2. If it's applicable to your business, outline your sales strategy.

What types of salespeople will be involved (commissioned salespeople, product demonstrators, telephone solicitors, etc.)?

Describe your expectations of these salespeople and how sales effectiveness will be measured.

Will a sales training program be offered? If so, describe it in this section of the marketing plan.

Describe the incentives salespeople will be offered to encourage their achievements (such as getting new accounts, the most orders, etc.).

Lastly, when you're writing a marketing plan, you need to develop an Advertising and Promotion plan. The next page of this article provides details on how to do this.

3. Outline the distribution methods to be used.

How is your product or service going to get to the customer? For instance, will you distribute your product or service through a Web site, through the mail, through sales representatives, or through retail?

What distribution channel is going to be used?

In a direct distribution channel, the product or service goes directly from the manufacturer to the consumer. In a one stage distribution channel it goes from manufacturer to retailer to consumer. The traditional distribution channel is from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Outline all the different companies, people and/or technologies that will be involved in the process of getting your product or service to your customer.

What are the costs associated with distribution?

What are the delivery terms?

How will the distribution methods affect production time frames or delivery? (How long will it take to get your product or service to your customer?)

If your business involves selling a product, you should also include information about inventory levels and packaging in this part of your marketing plan. For instance:

How are your products to be packaged for shipping and for display?

Does the packaging meet all regulatory requirements (such as labelling)?

Is the packaging appropriately coded, priced, and complementary to the product?

What minimum inventory levels must be maintained to ensure that there is no loss of sales due to problems such as late shipments and back orders?

Marketing Or MLM Which One is Better?

If you have been online and active on Facebook or Twitter. For a fair amount of time. You will have no doubt seen ads for various work from home business opportunities.

Most of these business opportunities. Fall under  MLM (Multi Level Marketing)  or Affiliate Marketing.

There are still a lot of mis-informed people. Who think,  they are one and the same thing.  If this includes you. Then I’m here to say that you are WRONG!

My way of describing the difference between the two. In layman’s terms is.

MLM is all about the  people. Whereas. Affiliate Marketing is all about the product.

Facebook and Twitter are prime targets for most MLM.  If you study their profiles on those websites. You will usually find that they have.  Loads of followers. Probably a link somewhere.  To a slick sales presentation video. And last but not least. Never ending self promotion messages.  In their Twitter Timeline.

Multi Level Marketers, use these tactics. To try and convince you to sign up to their so called free business proposal.

But after closer inspection. You will soon discover that you must pay a basic introductory Fee. To stand a chance of making any real money. Now the key point to remember about this introductory Fee.  And what makes MLM different from Affiliate Marketing is.

How much they charge you for joining. From personal experience.  I can tell you that it can cost anything from a few dollars. To a couple of thousand dollars.

Most people who have crashed and burned. In MLM. Will be quick to tell you that the only ones making it big.  Are the guys who started it. They would also say. That for the most part.  Multi Level Marketing is a flawed model.

Because...!

You as the opportunity seeker.  Are essentially the only person buying the product.  And you as the dreaming entrepreneur. Will be left holding the baby. When it comes to marketing the product.That is why there is such an emphasis on recruiting people to go under you. Think about it,  all the hype and all the sales pitch talk is about. You making money from recruiting more representatives.Little or no talk is invested on the product, mainly because the product is usually of poor quality, or readily available via other marketing channels. Also, because of the way the compensation plan is set up with all the bonuses and what not. And the price for the product being so ridiculously high.  There is little chance, that anybody will ever buy it from you.

Let’s Talk  Affiliate Marketing

I will start of by saying that.  All of the tactics used by MLM on Twitter and Facebook.  Are also used in Affiliate Marketing. However. There are 2 big differences. That you should be aware of.

1) Most Affiliate Marketing Programs are FREE to join.

2) Affiliate Marketing has a far greater range of product choice.

Let me just state for the record. That nothing in Online marketing is ever truly free. And most Affiliate Programs do advertise an optional upgrade offer.

People who have tried and failed in Affiliate Marketing. Will tell you that. It is a flimsy business with a revolving door of “hot programs” that come and go on a monthly basis.

They will also say that it has very little infrastructure. No customer support. and it is run by  yuppies. Who stroll around all day long in their bathrobes.

Another disadvantage of AM is that it has a far steeper learning curve. When compared to Multi Level Marketing.

Some of the basic skills you need to learn include. Email Marketing, Video Marketing, Blogging, and how to use wordpress.

In theory, you should be able to make money easier in AM. Because of the wider product range available. But in practice it very rarely works out that way.

A common complaint from people involved in Affiliate Marketing is. Suffering from the dreaded Information overload.

This occurs when you sign up to a few  news-letters from Affiliate Marketers. And they send you emails. Telling you that everything  you have learned so far. About making money online is wrong.

They then proceed to try and sell you the latest product. Promising to make you thousands of dollars in a few months or less.

What Are the Different Types of Network Marketing Jobs?

Network marketing, at its simplest, involves independent salespeople purchasing goods and possibly paying a startup fee in order to sell those products for a profit. A good example would be a door-to-door cutlery salesman who gets inventory from a distributor and sells to customers. What makes network marketing different from normal sales jobs is the salespeople's opportunity to recruit other salespeople to work under them and taking a cut of the profit. Each of the three types of network marketing jobs entails elements of sales, management and logistics.

A salesman is the most basic of all network marketing jobs. In this role, the seller is in charge of purchasing the goods and selling them, normally keeping the profit for themselves in order to purchase more goods. The seller is also in charge of generating leads in order to find possible buyers for the goods. Sales jobs normally entail either at-home visits or online marketing, soliciting buyers via email or social networking sites.

A more profitable type of network marketing job, and often the next step up from a salesperson, is that of a recruiter. This marketing job still involves buying goods from a distributor, but this person normally finds workers to do the selling for them. This person manages a sales force, often acting as a middleman by purchasing the goods directly from the distributor and having the sales force purchase the goods from them. Often there is also a commission paid to the recruiter on a per-sale or annual basis.

If a person wishes to go directly to the top of this pyramid, a distributor offers more control than all other network marketing jobs. This person is in charge of collecting money from sellers and recruiters and distributing the goods for sale. Commonly, this person charges a setup fee to newcomers on top of the money needed to purchase the goods.

Some network marketing jobs have a bad reputation for scamming clients, and people need to be aware of the risk, no matter whether they have one of the network marketing jobs or are a customer. The biggest risk is that most distributors have a no-return policy, meaning that if a seller does not move the products, they will not get that investment back. Also, some charge large setup fees. Finally, some network marketing companies are just fronts to take money and never send any products to salespeople or customers, so doing background research is always a smart idea.

Steps for Developing a Marketing Career

Introduction:
The Office of Career Development (OCD) created the Career Path series to assist students with the career
search process. Each Career Path handout examines a common business functional area in which Stephen
M. Ross School of Business graduates pursue jobs each year. The first four steps of OCD’s recommended
career search process are detailed for each specific business field.

This handout includes the following sections:
* Marketing Overview
* 4 Steps of The Marketing Career Search
* Brand Management Resume Tips
* Commonly Asked Interview Questions
* Timeline of Marketing Career Search Process
* Bibliography of Information Resources

MARKETING OVERVIEW
Ross School of Business Statistics
The Ross School of Business is considered a strong “brand management” school, with most top
marketing firms recruiting on-campus, including companies on both coasts and in the Midwest such as
P&G, Kraft, General Mills, PepsiCo, Nestle, J&J, and Clorox. In addition, Ross is also highly regarded
for both Healthcare and Technology marketing. Both the faculty and the Marketing Club contribute to
students’ success b working closely together to ensure that courses are relevant and beneficial to careers
across the marketing function. In 2010, a total of 25.5% of Ross graduates accepted positions in a
marketing function, with 15.5% choosing a role in product management, 5.2% accepting positions in
other marketing roles, and 1.8% going into general marketing.

Successful marketers must possess many of the same skills as a general manager. Therefore, students
interested in entrepreneurship or general management may also want to consider starting their post-MBA
careers in marketing. Research and self-assessment tools available through OCD will help students to
better understand their long-term career objectives as well as help clarify the advantages of each career path.

Job Descriptions
Product and Brand Management roles in all industries use general management and marketing skills to oversee the development of a product or service throughout various stages of its life cycle. Marketers develop marketing plans to set positioning, pricing and strategic direction for products/services. They also design and implement programs to improve brand equity through innovation and advertising and increase profitability by identifying ways to become more efficient. In addition, marketers facilitate communication with partners and customers along the distribution channel. Finally, marketers collaborate with and lead cross-functional partners, driving teams toward common marketing goals and objectives

Just About Everyone is Carrying a Cell Phone to Make Mobile Part of Your Marketing

The first step in taking advantage of mobile devices is to think about every possible place where your business has a chance to interact with potential customers. 

For example mobile marketing. :

• Viewing an ad
• Browsing the web
• Walking into your store
• Visiting your office
• Meeting you at a networking event
• Talking to a friend

Once you have a list of places where you typically interact with prospects and customers, compare your list with the following five mobile interactions to see which of them can help you to win a sale at the point of interaction or shortly thereafter.

1. Price Comparisons
One of the ways people are using smartphones is to compare prices at the point-of-sale to make sure they are getting the best deal. Instead of giving people free rein to compare prices on their own terms, you could offer a mobile site or digital brochure that compares your products to the competition you select for comparison. Ask people to scan a barcode, text-in, or visit selected mobile sites to compare prices and online reviews. One note, when you offer your own comparisons, make sure the comparisons you offer are true and accurate.
 

2. Mobile Discounts
Sometimes getting people to make a buying decision is as simple as offering a little extra value in return for acting immediately. Instead of promoting a coupon or discount offer to the masses, you can make your customers feel special by asking them to request an exclusive discount at the point-of-sale via a mobile device. For example, you can use a mobile text-messaging platform to enable mobile text coupons and then ask customers to text the words "your company coupon" to your short phone number (known as a shortcode). When they text-in, the system responds instantly with a coupon or discount offer just for them.

3. Mobile Commerce
If someone is ready to buy at the point of interaction, you can win a sale by suggesting an immediate mobile purchase and payment. You can point people to a mobile website for a web-Some people who encounter your advertising, website or in-store products are ready to buy right away and aren’t necessarily expecting a convenient way to make an immediate purchase. You can offer a speedy customer experience and strike while the iron is hot, so to speak, by pointing people to a mobile website for a fast web-based purchase, or by swiping a customer’s credit card from anywhere using your own mobile device and a mobile payment service such as Intuit's GoPayment solution.

4. Snap and Share
Even when your products or services aren't the right fit for your prospects and customers, they probably know other people who would like what you offer. Ask people to use their mobile devices take a picture of your product or advertisement and share it with friends who may be interested. Offer to extend any discounts or special offers to the friend or colleague so the person referring you the business has something to offer their friend.