Predictive Analytics - The New CRM

Data is expected to get to 44 zettabytes (1,000,000,000,000 gigabytes) by 2020. Retailers analyze data and apply it in the real world to predict purchase behaviors, optimize which products get shown on a page while scrolling, allow institutions to stop fraud, etc.

Customer relationships management software (CRM) have remained stagnant since the 1990s. CRM has become largely inefficient because reps have to spend tome manually entering data and spend even more time searching through it.

Machine learning and predictive data engines is bringing us closer to enterprise apps that tell users what the highest-value or most-urgent tasks are so they can be prioritized with artificial intelligence and decision support algorithms. The future of CRM is predictive analytics and knowledge of a specific industry and workflows of the business function.

CRM isn’t dead yet, but it will be unless it gets smarter and can save more time rather than wasting tme with data entry and lookup.

Event Marketing

Every four years a city gets chosen to adopt the Olympic Games. Hosting an event that attracts more attention globally than any other event comes at no small cost. The most recent Olympics in Rio had the heavy price tag of $20 million dollars. So how do you market an event that is as expensive as the net worth of Snapchat? To reach every household in the world is no easy task, but let’s take a look into what marketing tricks are used for the customers actually attending the games.

The marketing director from the Rio Olympics, David Giglio, was asked to give three tips for fan engagement that were utilized from the Olympics that could be applied to the marketing of other events. His first tip was to “Let them live vicariously.” At the Rio Olympics there was an event centered on an activity that was a green screen that allowed the fans to use props and backgrounds that allowed them to get in the mind set of an athlete. It gave them the competitive drive that the Olympics is built on. What this means for your company is that you should put the customer in the shoes of the athlete, product user, or actor that you are trying to market.

The second tip that Giglio provided was “Bring in the talent.” What can better market your event than the athletes participating at it? The event marketing team pushed the Olympians to attend as many meet and greets and other sessions as they could to both benefit the event and the promotion of themselves. This method could easily transition to your event by utilizing your celebrity endorsers or even current loyal customers.

The final tip that Giglio provided was “Educate them.” With an event having such a deep history as the Olympics, there is plenty to learn. Marketing with information is a great tool to utilize because the customer actively wants to learn more about what you are selling. This method can easily be transferred to any type of business. In the end, customers want to learn more about the product that they are buying. It is the job of event marketing to ensure that nobody leaves an event just as educated as they came in.

http://www.eventmarketer.com/article/tips-on-fan-engagement-road-to-rio/

Retail Marketing

Green Friday?

              With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, many retailers are anticipating not the holiday itself, but the day after. Black Friday is a huge day for retailers all over the nation who offer exclusive deals online and in stores. This year, one retailer is looking to make a positive impact through this lucrative tradition. High-end outdoor apparel and gear retailer, Patagonia, is donating 100 percent of its Black Friday sales to save the environment.

 The retailer stated it will donate an estimated 2 million dollars to grassroots environmental groups that protect local communities’ air, water, and soil. These groups are small and typically underfunded. It is not unusual for Patagonia to donate money to positively impact the environment; the company values the environment and bases numerous company decisions off the company’s environmental impact. Patagonia has had issues in the past regarding sustainability and ethics, so over the past few years, the company has planned and implemented changes to these issues, and planned to increase their contribution to saving the environment.

The company’s main motivation for this campaign stems from President Elect Trumps alterations to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulations on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. Being an outdoor oriented company, the environment is of high value to Patagonia. In the past, the popular retailer has participated in several sustainable projects including creating a $35 million fund to help pay for solar rooftop panels. With Black Friday quickly approaching, Patagonia is hoping to make another successful contribution to the environment. Keep this in mind while you are out shopping with your family the day after Thanksgiving. Perhaps this year you can make your Black Friday a Green Friday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/patagonia-black-friday-environment_us_58345f37e4b058ce7aacf01b?section=us_business

Sales Blog

For many sales professionals, this team of year is not joyous and wonderful. It is crunch time…it’s the fourth quarter. Sales professionals around the country are scrambling to hit their quota’s so they can deem their year a success. But what is stopping them? Colleen Stanley, CEO of SalesLeadership Inc. says that sales people tend to work harder and not smarter and forget these three main points. The first point is identifying the company ‘pain point.’ Is there a place where your company is consistently being chosen over your closest competitor? Finding these areas will help many companies increase numbers and set up well for the first quarter of 2017. The second area, is in a prospects psychographics. A salesperson needs to identify which traits a qualified prospect has and only target those people. As Colleen mentioned earlier, at this time of the year professionals tend to work harder and not smarter, targeting prospects who have good characteristics will help increase numbers. If all else fails, the third way that Colleen talks about, is lead sources. These are non-competing vendors that will sell good prospects to a professional. These sources can be a good way to get a final push for numbers when heading towards year end. Colleen Stanley gives a few good ideas for professionals to use as they enter the final push of the sales year.  

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/three-reasons-your-sales-team-isnt-hitting-quota-colleen-stanley-ceo

Digital Marketing

Kohl’s Black Friday

Being the second largest department store chain in America Kohl’s is expected to drive customers into their stores on Black Friday, the busiest day of the year.  Kohl’s needs to stay ahead of the game and gain the attention of shoppers, this year they are getting help from Weber Shandwick.  Together they developed a media strategy which includes a trivia contest offering prizes, and reaching out to customers by dealing with them in the act of shopping. They teamed up with Disney’s Frozen and they were the head of the Frozen conversation. Kohl’s asked the first trivia question at the American Music Awards and that created a lot of conversation and helped Kohls accomplish their goals. Kohl’s made top brand in the overall Black Friday conversation.  Most of the mentions came from Twitter, and they consistently made the Trending Top List.  These two campaigns gave Kohl’s a very nice advantage from the beginning. They achieved being a go-to-source for Black Friday.

The social strategy started with the AMA’s when they aired a commercial about the sweepstakes for Black Friday. They next day Kohl’s launched a Twitter contest (#KohlsSweeps) where people can win gift cards if they answer the trivia question correctly.  There were tweets sent out before the actual question to get more people to participate and create build up.  This helped a lot more consumers to look at the Kohl’s Twitter page. They also posted content for the contest every fifteen minutes which maintained their social presence. The other campaign that is going on is Frozen.  Kohl’s has had a partnership with them since 2014 and is considered one of the top retailers for Frozen merchandise.

Kohl’s held the title for top organic trending hashtag during the Black Friday hours. 64% of brand mentions were for Kohl’s. According to Nate Koch the Social Marketing Planner at Kohl's “Overall, Kohl's saw a 234% shift in percentage of positive sentiment during Black Friday week, gained over 11K new fans across social platforms, and generated over 370K Twitter mentions, resulting in over 255MM potential impressions. The retailer surpassed 2013 results by 400%, with 450K total engagements received on Twitter during the campaign timeframe (inclusive of paid content). On Twitter, the engagement rate grew 35% from 11/24-11/27, as excitement and awareness for the contest continued to build”.

Digital Marketing

Top Three Things To Do To Transition To A Digital Marketing Job

http://www.spectacledmarketer.com/top-3-things-to-do-to-transition-to-a-digital-marketing-job/

            Digital Marketing is growing more and more every day.  If you have considered going into this field read the tips below to help you transition and get a job in digital.  

1.     Invest in Building Your own Online Presence

Now a day’s employers will Google candidates’ names to find out more information about them. If nothing shows up when someone types your name into a search bar that will make it extremely difficult to even get considered for job in digital marketing.  You will want to build strong profiles on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  You can even have your own website or blog to grow your online presence as well.  Having solid profiles can bring you exposure and hep you network with many different kinds of people. 

2.     Educate Yourself and Stay Updated on Things

Digital marketing is always changing and at a very fast pace.  If you are not familiar with the new technology or new social media than this filed may not be for you. This job requires knowing exactly what consumers and customers want and being able to adapt to the changes in the market quickly.

3.     Stand for Soemthing!

When an employer Googles your name, you want them to be able to know exactly what you stand for or believe in after reading about you. That is how they get to know you and see things from your viewpoint. This is also how employers see if you will fit in well with their company and lets them know what filed you are interested in. 

As more and more people turn to social media, and the internet, the bigger the demand for jobs in digital marketing.  Take these tips and start your path into a long career in Digital marketing. 

            

Sales Blog

On a daily basis, sales people crank out messages that are scripted well but lack relevance to a prospect. Barbara Giamanco is a sales and digital media strategist, she cites interesting facts about sales emails. She says that the standard email format when comes to sales provides no value to the potential buyer. A weak sales pipeline is a concern organizations however, the answer is not always to simply do more, but rather to fine tune and improve the messages that companies are sending. As Barbara says, measuring the number of messages sent should not be the only metric, rather, organizations should also measure the number of messages that result in sales activity. It’s hard for an email to stand out to employee, but just how many emails does someone receive on a daily basis. According to Barbara, about 121 and almost 66% of them are ignored and not opened. It is obvious that people are buried in emails and when they do not see that the message will provide something of value to them, they are not going to waste their time in a sales meeting. Sales messages must contain information that is relevant to the buyer if there is any hope for a meeting.

Barbara gives a great example of time wasting message: “For example, I get pitched almost every single day by one lead generation company after another. Without exception, the messages are awful. What these messages tell me is that these are companies (and people) I would never hire to represent me. Here is the latest one:

"Hi Barbara, Could I get a few minutes of your time to discuss about our lead generation service? We might be able to offer a different perspective on how our unique approach can get you in front of the prospective clients you are trying to reach. Are you the best person to speak with regarding this? If yes, do you have any availability today or Monday next week for a quick discovery call? Please let me know the best number to reach you."

Messages like this one are devoid of any relevance to the prospect. Furthermore, as Barbara explains:

1. “Do not start by asking if you can get a few minutes of someone's time. You haven't given them any reason to say yes. Notice that the first sentence in the email also doesn't make sense grammatically, which does turn people off.
2. Instead of saying "we might be able to offer a different perspective," tell me what that different perspective is and why it would be important to me.
3. Not the best idea to say that you have a "unique approach to getting me in front of prospective clients" when you are not using a unique approach yourself. Since the approach wasn't disclosed and since the salesperson is sending me sales spam, I can only conclude that their lead generation tactics are like so many others - generic, ineffective and outdated. I wouldn't hire them to represent me.
4. When someone asks if "I'm the best person to speak to," it makes me nuts. I realize that in much larger companies finding the right decision maker can be tougher. But with the plethora of business intelligence tools, it isn't as hard as it used to be. In this case, though, I'm a small business owner. It is very easy to determine that I'm the right person. All you have to do is look at my website or LinkedIn profile.
5. Asking for someone's time on the same day you send the email and thinking they will say yes is pretty unrealistic. The seller does ask about time next Monday but doesn't suggest any time blocks.
6. Why would I give up my time for a "discovery call". What that says to me is that the salesperson did no research, knows absolutely nothing about me, and wants me to spend time educating her about lead generation needs I might have. You might be asking, why is that a problem? In a word - time. It isn't the buyer's job to educate you. You need to self-educate before prospecting for business. I realize that you won't be able to figure out all you need to know to determine if your solution could be a fit for someone. But I think with the internet, social networks, and business intelligence platforms, you can take a big step in the right direction.”

  

Use these tips to improve your sales ratios and enjoy more success in your career.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/can-i-get-few-minutes-your-time-barbara-giamanco

Retail Marketing

Amazon Takeover

              It has recently been leaked that in the coming year, Amazon will be branching out from the online scene to claim a stake in the brick and mortar marketplace. After the success of the company’s 21 kiosk-style pop-up stores in the United States, Amazon wants to takes its physical presence even further. It is speculated that 30 shopping mall pop-up stores will be in existence by the holidays; these stores currently sell Amazon hardware including the Kindle Reader, Fire TV sticks, and Echo speakers. With pop-up stores being well received by consumers and Amazon’s determination to compete in every market, the company has made plans to enter several new markets.

              Amazon’s next steps include the launch of its grocery store pilot program. By 2018, the company plans to open 20 grocery stores in large cities including Seattle, Las Vegas, New York, Miami, and San Francisco. It is still undecided whether these stores will be open to the public or reserved for Prime Fresh Club members only. These stores will face main competitors, Lidl and Aldi, but if successful after the test run period, will spark the creation of over 2,000 stores by the mid 2020’s. These stores are planned to be compatible with the AmazonFresh home delivery service that Amazon is currently running which will make delivery quicker and guarantee freshness.

              It is also speculated that another upcoming move from Amazon will be book stores and clothing stores. Amazon already sells numerous clothing and accessory brands on their online store, so it would not be surprising to see products from big names like Rebecca Minkoff, Diesel, Kate Spade New York, Roxy, Calvin Klein, and New Balance in the new brick and mortar stores. Research done by Amazon in recent years has shown that consumers value the opportunity to physically touch the product they are buying. The company has tried to appease consumers through online efforts including their new feature which allows consumers to flip through and read the first few pages of a book before purchasing it. Although modifications like these can be made, they do not completely replace the experience of physically touching products. With the 18 successful distribution centers that have been built in Amazon’s most recent quarter, the next obvious step towards claiming a slice in the brick and mortar market is for the company to branch out.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2016/10/31/why-amazon-will-have-many-food-and-book-stores-in-strategic-places/#1278983e4750

Millennials

              It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that millennials like to spend their money on experiences. What might surprise you is that 78% of millennials would prefer to spend their money on experiences rather than goods, goods such as new cell phones, smart watches, or the newest gaming system. Millennials are driving up attendance at events such as concerts or sport games. Some have seen as high of an increase as 10%. With a generation influencing such of a significant percentage of sales, it is no surprise that event planners are looking deeper into the millennial generation’s preferences. There are four tips that have been given to help market to millennials.

1. Don’t Overstuff Technology - When it comes to marketing an event towards millennials, many companies will immediately look towards technology. But the question arises, is the way to impress the generation of technology really with more technology? Having technology at an event for the sake of having technology does little to drive the generation of millennials.
2. Millennials Get Their Hands Dirty - Millennials want to get involved, and it is a company’s job to make them want to get involved in their company by connecting with their interests.
3. Don’t Be Afraid To Get Creative And Bold - This goes back to marketing basics. Give the customer a unique experience that will associate your company with the message you want conveyed.
4. Cultivate a Holistic Experience – Millennials are looking to experience life more than the possessions they can obtain. How do companies tailor their booths to this? This is an heavy responsibility for the digital marketing department of your company. Millennials look at the image that the company portrays on social media.

With millennials continuing to grow in population in the world of consumers, it’s detrimental that companies tap into the buying power of this group. Using these tips to help market your next event towards the millennial generation will benefit your company for years to come.

http://superbook.eventmarketer.com/global-experience-specialists-ges/content/how-to-attract-millennials-to-your-next-event?_ga=1.134296881.1795861356.1477313020

Sports Marketing

Cubs Curse is Lifted

If you have not heard, the Chicago Cubs have taken Chicago, and the United States by storm. The team defeated the Cleveland Indians in extra innings, coming back from a 1-3 deficit in the series. Not only was this impressive, but the team’s goat curse has been lifted. With this outstanding win, the city of Chicago has been on another level. It’s bars and stores have been pleased with the revenue, and the Cubs brand has been booming.

When a professional sports team wins a championship, many people look to buy the gear released with ‘World Champions’, or some saying such as that, to show off their team. A team and city can make a lot of money off of the team’s success. Although it takes a whole season, perfect mesh between players, and good management, when a team can get their city to rally behind them, it really can boost the local economy. Everyone will want to go with their friends to go to the bars, people will travel, thus having free time to shop, and much more. The Cubs winning the World Series is much more than just a championship, letting Chicago thrive and rejoyce.

Would you be more inclined to go out to watch a professional sports championship if ‘your team’ was in it? Why or why not?

Do you feel the urge to buy championship clothing if your team wins? Do you think your local economy would benefit? Why or why not?

Market Research

If Market Research is a career you want to pursue, then consider checking out MRA- The Management Association, a small market research firm. Eric Nuelk, a former Creative Marketing Unlimited president, is a Survey/Research Systems Analyst at MRA and has offered some of his insights on his current job and advice for students.

Eric chose market research because it blends his creative and analytical side. When he was with CMU, he began to look at how research was conducted and how to draw conclusions on findings from that research. After he graduated, he got an internship at Colony Brands in the housefile/ circulation department. After that position, he got a job at the small research firm as a programmer and now he is an analyst. He thinks the process of learning how to conduct research and pushing himself to be more analytical has allowed him to succeed in his positions. CMU helped lay the groundwork for his future success in the professional environment.

MRA-The Management Association is a non-profit trade association (501(c)6). It was founded in 1901 by 23 business leaders who were convinced of the advantages of a united approach to problem solving. By pooling information, exchanging ideas, and conducting educational programs and meetings in a voluntary association, employers recognize mutual problems and find ways to resolve or avoid these problems.

Eric’s position's primary responsibility is to collect and compile compensation information from member companies through a variety of surveys they host throughout the year. A secondary focus of his role is to work towards improving data collection processes and standardize data cleaning procedures. Finally, they conduct additional “custom” research for companies on an as requested basis.  His department publishes compensation reports for the Midwest and has reports on many positions including:

• Industrial
• Production Trades
• Managerial
• Office Clerical Technical
• IT & Engineering
• Sales

http://www.mranet.org/Pay-Benefits/Surveys/Learn-About-Surveys - You can learn more about his department here.

Some Important Advice From Eric:

Learn the basics. You need to learn how sounds research is conducted. This is groundwork for more advanced analysis and pushing forward with your career. Also, don’t be afraid to fail. Sometimes making a mistake can set you back, but it shouldn’t discourage you. Also remember, Everyone views things differently and this is a good thing. Differing views can help get you to the best solution for a problem. And the most important thing you need to remember is to have fun!

Event Planning Blog

In a recent report from Forrester, event marketing’s effectiveness is expected to increase 44% by 2020. For this reason companies have been investing more of their money and time into event planning, with hopes to have a high ROI.

Event planning has been largely planned on opinions of previous events and working off of those ideas to ultimately guess what the consumers would like to see next. Companies are at a point where instead of basing future events off of what they felt was successful in their past events, they want data to support their future decisions. Most companies are at a point of investing too much money into events that are based off of opinions.

The flaw to most companies’ method to pbtaining data was that they were soley looking at sales. Flaws were reported in this method due to the timespan of new customers first purchasing the product. Researchers never really knew when to analyze sales because of the wide timespan of new customers. With advancements to technology, it is easier than ever to obtain data outside of sales that can be utilized towards future events.

There are four key areas that can leverage data from an event: establishing your goals, developing an event strategy, on-site experience, and pre/post event planning. For a company to establish its goals, they must look back to previous events’ results and create challenging but reachable goals to encourage their event team and keep them on task. The second key area, developing an event strategy, is the most data driven of the four strategies. Without strong data the company is running a heavy risk of the planning team and the customers being on different pages. The four types of data that would be beneficial to look at are CPL targets, event data, site planning metrics, and customer experience funnel.  The third area to collect data is from the on-site experience. This is the most useful of the four strategies because it is the direct contact between the brand and the customer. This data includes information experience engagement, customer dwell time, the amount of attendees, and the ratio of leads to the amount of conversations had. The fourth and final pre/post planning. This step leans more towards the post-planning, emphasizing the importance of wisely using the leads obtained and keeping a close watch on the company’s drive to their website. With more data obtainable, there is more opportunity for a business to develop event marketing plans closer tailored to the customer more than ever before.

http://info.usa-expo.com/data-driven-experiential-marketing?utm_source=MailChimp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Whitepaper_DataDrivenMarketing&utm_content=MainCTA_Button

Coffee in China

              The coffee giant, Starbucks, has just announced plans to expand their presence in the massive global market of China. By the year 2021, Starbucks will more than double the number of stores they have in China, bringing the total to 5,000. Belinda Wong has been appointed the CEO of the chain in China; she had previously been in president of the chain. Now, she will oversee the 2017 opening of China’s first international Roastery and Reserve Tasting Room in Shanghai.  The Roasteries show consumers how Starbucks coffee is made, from bean to the final product, in a unique tour experience. They showcase different brewing methods, types of beans, roasting methods, and much more. China’s fast-growing economic market has been key for development of the Starbucks’ global brand. Over 17 years it has been home to 2,300 stores in over 100 different cities. With big growth and expansion in the future, all eyes will be on Starbucks to see what they do next.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/starbucks-planning-major-push-china-wants-5-000-stores-2021-n668736

Endorsing The Future

It is game seven of the NBA finals, the game has seconds left, and the league all-star hits a buzzer beater. That is a dream for many basketball players today because they want to be like that all-star. Now dig deeper into the situation. What type of shoes was the player wearing? Well, it could be a big branding strategy to have that player wear your company’s shoes, and for all the basketball players across the world see them and want to buy them. Adidas may not necessarily focus on this type of situation, but the company has been focusing heavily on endorsing in the last few months

Adidas is a very large company, with high hopes to stay on the top of the sports market. They have been sponsoring many teams in the past, but are now looking to shift away from that. The brand of Adidas will be almost completely portrayed through endorsements of players. Adidas believes that this will generate more cash inflow due to people looking to be similar to the athletes wearing their gear, excluding uniforms. The company is taking many ‘shots in the dark’ because they have endorsed many rookies who could end up being out of their respected leagues in no time. Adidas is hoping that this new brand strategy will propel not only their business, but make everyone believe that Adidas is the superior brand in the world.

Do you believe that Adidas is making the correct move by moving away from team sponsors and more toward player endorsements? Why?

Do you think that Adidas is a dying brand? If yes, what do you think they need to survive? If no, what makes you think they are still thriving?

Resource:

http://www.nicekicks.com/interview-adidas-basketballs-sports-marketing-director-discusses-new-brand-strategy/ 

Sales Blog

 Any aspect of business and sales in specific is the ability to be effective on the phone. As Marc Wayshak explains there are five main mistakes made by sales people when talking on the phone that cripples their sales. As he explains, many people may say that the age of the phone call is over but nothing could be further from the truth. Many people cripple their pipeline by making five mistakes.

For example, not picking up the phone. Marc says that many people have a perceived fear of making phone calls. Because of this many people do not regularly prospect on the phone and lose out on the opportunity to talk to many good prospects. A good explanation as to why sales people may have a fear of the phone is because many refuse to use a script. The reason many don’t like to use a script is because they have too much pride to use a script. “Sounding scripted” is much better than not using any script at all. The final mistake that many sales people make is failing to clarify what the next step is. Having great language is great but it has absolutely no benefit if a salesperson fails to put another date on the calendar. Marc Wayshak gives a lot of great advice as to how to improve five of the most common mistakes made by salespeople. 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/282943

How To Use Digital Marketing To Transform Your Business

Marketers have always been in charge of bringing the product to the market, bringing brand awareness and product adoption, all while being influenced by internal and external stakeholders. Companies that fail to adapt to the growing technology tend to get left behind and loose business.  Customers are buying online more than ever and if companies are not focused on digital marketing and updated technology it can be a serious problem for their future.  Many businesses used to be household names and everyone heard of them.  Some of those same companies filed for bankruptcy because they could not keep up with how their customers wanted to be engaged with and now they are forgotten about.  Other companies that did not continue to adjust and did not go out of business had to make many sacrifices including cutting costs, employee layoffs, and cut out other factors that added to the cost of running the company.

In order for marketing to work properly, we need to get rid of the misconception and confusion that can make it difficult to focus on the goals and objectives that matter the most; those that ultimately. At a high level, these objectives should address the Top of the Funnel (TOFU), Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) and Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU):

• TOFU -- If you need to increase traffic to your website, utilize tactics like blogging, Search Engine Optimization & Social Media

• MOFU -- While blogs are very effective at bringing visitors to your website, they won’t help you qualify prospects or make a sale. To turn visitors into leads, MOFU tactics like ebook offers & webinars will help you get there

• BOFU -- By the time a lead reaches the bottom of the funnel, they are ready to buy and the only question is who they will buy from. This is the chance for marketers to add more qualified opportunities to the sales pipeline by using tactics like lead nurturing through email marketing & case studies

Once these objectives are top-of-mind, the marketing department can create a strategy that turns them from a cost center into a profit center, fully capable of explaining results and impacting the company’s growth in a positive way.  Keeping up with all of the changing technologies and marketing strategies is difficult but it is a major key for staying successful and keeping customers satisfied. 

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-use-digital-marketing-to-transform-your-business#sm.00006nfaimgkmdsgzqj20huzoc5ev

Ethics: A FIFA Scandal

Ethical decisions are easy for some people to make, but are difficult for others. If an individual does not follow any of the rules of ethics, there are usually repercussions. Repercussions could be small, such as if you fire a friend and they no longer talk to you. On the other hand, repercussions can be devastating, such as a large fine and many years in prison. Members of The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, known as FIFA, decided to take a risk and not follow any rules of ethics.

Recently, a member of FIFA, that was included in the scandal, pleaded guilty of bribing sports marketing firms and embezzling money. FIFA makes its money by selling sports marketing rights for commercials, but the extra bribery is where the ethical decisions went wrong. This scheme went on for 24 years and ran smoothly. The hit that the representative, whom pleaded guilty, will take is more than $14 million and up to 20 years in prison. It is amazing how such a scandal happened for so long and was practically unscathed. Although it may be hard to make ethical decisions, the fact that you may lose millions of dollars and face prison time is why it may not worth deciding what is right and what is wrong.

Do you believe that FIFA is not the only organization that has been unethical in its past? Why or why not?

Have you ever been in a situation when you’ve had to make an ethical decision? How did the scenario play out? Do you believe you made the correct decision?

Resources:

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2016/10/19/ex-sports-marketing-exec-to-plead-guilty-in-fifa.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/soccer/sports-marketing-boss-pleads-guilty-bribing-fifa-officials-article-1.2838907

The Marketing Strategy

Segmentation. Targeting. Positioning. These are key components to developing a marketing strategy. It is important to localize target markets to get the most value out of selling goods and services because consumers are unique; however, the article “Why Localizing Marketing Doesn’t Always Work,” suggests that consumers might not be as different as marketers presume. It is easier to develop a study or test that shows differences among the population. Tests that show similarities are almost nonexistent.

Consumers do have similarities such as human needs such as a desire for security, wanting to belong, and providing for one’s family. Products and services that address these needs don’t require much localization. Many resources are used to localize offerings such as positioning, prices, and promotion.

Organizations have been trying to focus on using both similarities and differences to position their products using three methods.

1.       Statistical tests of difference should be more practical and realistic rather than being close-minded. It should also consider the amount of resources are being used to localize offerings.

2.       Companies that operate in several countries thrive on scale. They are more biased towards similarities rather than differences.

3.       Since markets and media are becoming more global, similarities are becoming more visible and statistical tests are beginning to identify converging consumer tastes.

6 Steps to Promoting Your Small Business on Facebook

6 Steps to Promoting Your Small Business on Facebook

            If you are a small business owner you cannot afford to overlook Facebook and all it can do for you.  The website is always coming up with new components to make it easier for small businesses to be found and be connected with.  Almost all consumers use the internet to search for businesses and nearly all of them are on Facebook.  Facebook is still the largest social networking platform in the world, with over a billion active users.  Many people don’t realize the power of presence and how connecting with a small number of people can grow your business. These are the first 6 steps on how to use Facebook to help promote your small business.

1.Create your Page

To start you need a catchy Web address people will remember.  The Page is the same as a normal profile only altered to the company or business. This Page is the first thing the consumers will interact with so be sure it conveys the message and brand.  Use the business logo as the profile picture.

2. Share!

Having a Facebook Page will not be enough to reach everyone though; you will need to post a lot to get the content to your followers. Short and graphic posts are the ones that get shared the most because it is more appealing to the viewer.  The goal is to get users to comment, share, and like. Facebook created a new tool that provides information on the activity of your followers.  It can tell you when the most users view the content to help you better time when you post.

3. Start making connections

Facebook makes it as easy as possible to make connections even when you do not know where to start. To invite Facebook friends and email contacts to follow your page you can use the “Build Audience” tool.  Any materials you use to market your business you will want to put your Facebook Page’s Web address. 

4. Engage your followers

To have your followers share your content you should keep it interesting and post regularly. Update your audience on the most relevant information, and try to keep a friendly and inviting tone. Facebook Offers is a tool that allows you to make coupons that can be used in your store or online.

5. Leverage friends of fans

When fans have a good interaction with your Page they are more likely to tell their friends and family about it. When your followers are active on your Page it will show up on their follower’s newsfeed.   To get the most interaction create polls and ask questions on your Facebook Page that people will want to respond to. Also, a good way to create more activity is offering promotions to users that us the “check in” feature.

6. Consider Facebook ads

Facebook lets you target your audience and what you advertise to them. You can position and customize your ads and they appear as promotional posts for anyone who clicks straight to the website. The platform features uses analytics to help you recognize which ads drive the most interest and sales.

 http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2013/11/14/6-steps-to-promoting-your-small-business-on-facebook.html

Sales: How to Recover

For many in sales, the year to year goal is to always improve on the previous years’ number. With that being said, what should a sales person do when they fail? Per Colin Nanka, the best course of action is to embrace the failure. Colin cites his experience with the market downturn of 2008 and 2009. After taking a vacation to clear his mind he came up with a few tips to help other salespeople recover from a down year.

The first tip is to own failure. Just because someone fails doesn’t make them a failure, learning to recover is crucial. People need to fail to fully understand their strengths. Being able to fail shows that a sales person has grit. Having grit is the ability to go the extra mile when someone feels that they have nothing left. Being able to put in this extra work is imperative to being successful. It teaches someone to not quit but also to go the extra mile when possible. Furthermore, it is important to accept difficulty. If anything in life was easy everyone would do it. To have success, one must be able to accept and embrace the challenging aspects of the job. Lastly, it is important to invest in yourself. Find out what your strengths are, and train to improve your weaknesses, nobody improves without improving themselves. 

https://www.salesforce.com/quotable/articles/rebound-from-bad-sales-year/

Importance of Doing Market Research

Importance of Doing Market Research

              Brian Fletcher’s article on MarketingProfs.com titles “Five Reasons Why Market Research Matters (and Five Tips for Using It)” is a great look at why it is crucial for new and existing businesses looking for success to conduct market research. This will be an overview of the first part of his article, the five reasons why market research matters.

              Fletcher’s first reason is that market research centers your business on your consumers. He indicates that the customer should be driving your brand, not internal politics and agenda. One way that a business can keep communication open between their customers (which Fletcher calls the “boss”) is through research. “Even if you purchase your company’s products, you are not your consumer, and therefore, focusing on your consumers and their perspective is critical,” Fletcher says. The next tip he calls out is that market research keeps you focused. He recognizes that marketers have a tough job multitasking with all the objective/goals/deadlines they must meet. Brian says that marketing research should help prioritize these objectives and use time efficiently. The third reason he lists is that it allows you to pursue the most lucrative growth opportunities. “Marketing research can help you weigh and quantify opportunities to prioritize those with the highest revenue potential for your brand.” Next, Fletcher also indicates that it helps keep you relevant and future oriented. He says that it is very important to adapt and evolve our brands to meet long-term goals. He expressed that although short term results are easy, focusing on brand longevity will prove most successful. Lastly, Brian’s last reason is that it improves your decision-making capabilities and reduces your risk. His implication for this is that the decisions can be made with much more clarity and confidence. “By having research to back up your marketing decisions, you can optimize your brand strategy choices and minimize your risk for failure.”

              According to the Bureau for Labor Statistics, only about 50% of all new businesses survive 5 years or more and only a third survive one 10 years or more. Based on Fletcher’s reasons to conduct market research, it is evident that this number could be greatly reduced by doing research instead of relying on your own heuristics. Especially in larger companies, it can be easy to build your brand based on company “politics” like Fletcher says, as well as longer decision making times. Although it may sound cliché, your customer is the center and should be influencing all your decisions. Based on your research, it also should give you an accurate “roadmap” of the types of objectives you should achieve and tell you what is most important in your marketing plan. Feasibility testing of a market research project should also be conducted, especially when creating a new product. The profitability is what is driving your success, and is ultimately the reason some new businesses fail. Working in the field of marketing, we also know that society, technology, and peoples wants and needs are ever changing. Market research helps tackle this issue as well for new businesses, giving you relevant information to start up in the industry effectively. In addition, using market research to reduce your risk is essential. If you can back up your decision and projects based on facts, it minimizes the problems you could encounter in the long run. I think one tip I would add in is to make sure you are doing research that can both help you in the short run as well as in the long run. Doing this, you can optimize your objectives for now and for the future and measure success from it at any point in time.

Stay tuned for a review of the second part of his article “The best ways to use marketing research”.

Article referenced: http://www.marketingprofs.com/opinions/2013/23874/five-reasons-why-market-research-matters-and-five-tips-for-using-it

Ikea and the American Dream

Ikea and the American Dream

              Over the years, the idea of the American Dream has greatly been altered by changing societal views. Swedish retailer, Ikea, has noticed this shift, and has decided to use it to their advantage. The American Dream is no longer seen as having an extravagant home with luxurious furniture; the new focus for the American Dream is centered on ‘the daily grind’. Ikea’s new advertising campaign “We Help You Make It”, features vignettes that illustrate the daily life of everyday millennials rather than focusing on the furniture itself. Many different races, economic and social classes, family types, and other demographics are targeted by this new campaign. Ikea’s hope in these snapshot ads is to capture the transformed idea of the American Dream and realistically portray the lives of consumers.

              Ikea plans to utilize their website, online advertisements, and social media like Instagram and Twitter to reach consumers. They want to express that, “No matter who you are, what you do, or how much you make, you can still make the dream yours”. Millennials are a main target for the company and make up a large portion of their sales, so Ikea altered its typical advertising strategy. Millennials value the experience over the product, so that because the campaign focus. If effective, the new ads will reflect real-life situations and connect with consumers on a deeper level. Do you feel Ikea’s new take on advertising will be effective?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/business/media/ikea-strategy-ditches-the-dream-home-for-the-daily-grind.html?ref=business&_r=0

Event Marketing

Businesses use anniversaries to promote their business. This company used their 45^th anniversary to launch a six-month promotional campaign, which turns out helped them in the long run.  All it takes is a little planning to promote your business.  The planning consists of preplanning, promotions at the property, and promotions to the community.

Get the employees involved in the planning for the celebration. The company would hold meetings for two hours at a time to brainstorm how to promote the anniversary. They took the 10 best ideas for each group and created a plan. They had incentives for those with the ideas to keep the planning with the employees stress free and motivational.

“A Tradition Built on Excellence” a tag line that was posted on the ads for the event. The ads included lists of properties in the area as well as the tag line listed above. The areas where they were having problems they tied in special rental incentives for the event. The personnel at the rentals wore buttons with a “45” on it. This was to start conversations with rentals. The ten promotion ideas were used and posted all over the rental offices.

Along with the promotions at the properties they also went and had promotions in the Community. They had personalized products made to give out to venders and others who provide significant services to their company. They are in the process of making a brochure, but sticking with the anniversary theme. They sponsored various side events to promote the big 45^th anniversary event. 

With the event promotion period, the occupancy and rentals increased substantially. This helped in finishing the promotions for the event. Event Marketing is a great way to promote your business.  It keeps those in the office and those out in the community engaged. A great way to promote your business is put on events that promote your anniversaries just like this real estate company did.