How do you handle customer complaints? Do you take them into account?
Having a box and a pack with complaint forms in the corner of your store doesn't sound like a proactive way of managing customer complaints and measuring satisfaction! Do you offer a form with every product or service you deliver? What about customers who are in their own place? Do they have access to these forms? Do you personally ask each and every customer about the level of service and satisfaction they perceive when they consume your products and services? These are proactive ways of handling customer complaints. You need to show real and authentic interest to your customers. You should encourage them to air their grievances. Bear in mind that your goal is not just a one time purchase but repeated sales. How are you going to achieve that if you have dissatisfied customers?
I know many people (I also am one of those!) that when they get dissatisfied with a service or product they will never buy from that company ever again. You certainly don’t want this happen. Furthermore, these customers do not complain or argue with you. They just leave quietly. You need to feel when a customer is dissatisfied or even not pleased with your level of service and try to change his/her attitude before he/she switches brand and left you wandering what went wrong. Complaint management is not as obvious as it sounds mainly because you don’t always get those disappointment messages. So next time you interact with a customer try to be a little more thorough, ask questions, view from the customer’s angle and be proactive.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Paid to Read Industry
In this post I express some thoughts about the industry of “paid to read” stuff.
The “Paid to Read” phenomenon has been taking place for a while on the internet. Paid to read is meant to refer to an advertisement or a message carrying an advertisement (on it) in which someone is being paid just for reading. That kind of “business” can take several forms; most of them are emails, on-site ads and links. There is always an intermediate part between the advertiser and the ad viewer. That part publishes the advertiser ads and offer one portion of the advertising revenue to the viewers. In that way, the service provider motivates people to read ads. Both parts; the intermediary and the client benefit; it’s a win-win situation. Some questions, arise though; for example what about the benefits of the advertiser? Does he/she win? Are one’s ads effective? Below, I try to offer some perspectives…
One can state that as long as people read the ads just for the money incentive there is no real attention to the advertising message but only passive clicking actions. On the other hand, advertisements not including any incentive have the same appealing: no one seems to really enjoy seeing ads. You may be amused with some ads but I bet you are not looking forward to turn your TV on or browse a magazine just to see ads. Ads are always distracting. They try to distract you from whatever you were doing to pay attention to them. In most occasions that is the case. It’s Seth Godin’s distraction marketing theory. Consequently, whether there is, or there is not an incentive (of any kind), people in most cases do not authentically look forward to read ads.
Thus coming to the very first question about the effectiveness of a “Paid to Read” advertising message, if an ad is being placed just to inform consumers about the existence of a product or service, I hold the opinion that both ways of advertising (paid and non paid ads) are almost the same (as concerns effectiveness).
As concerns brand preference and reminding ads my views are: Usual advertising costs a lot more expensive in traditional media that Paid to Read ads. That may lead to the association of a brand being advertised through traditional ways with high value and successful product / service. On the contrary, cheap advertising of paid to read messages might cast a lightly negative impact to the viewers. The previous statements concern ads that are trying to remind the product / service to the user (or call to act) and to improve conceived brand value. Contrary, when there is too much clutter on reminding advertising it may affect viewers of traditional media channels negatively while this is not the case for viewers that get paid to see them. In other words, “Paid to Read” ad networks can effectively bear a lot of ad clutter while other common networks cannot.
…some more views:
Most common and simple forms of “Paid to Read” services refer to emails containing a direct link or/and an embodied advertising.
I personally use some Paid to Read networks, I have been paid a few dollars. Of course in this industry no one should expect to get rich.
Almost all of the “Paid to Read” networks offer user referral systems.
There is also the “Paid to Click” alternative industry. This is very similar to the “Paid to Read” stuff. I will not analyze it (at least in this post).
The “Paid to Read” phenomenon has been taking place for a while on the internet. Paid to read is meant to refer to an advertisement or a message carrying an advertisement (on it) in which someone is being paid just for reading. That kind of “business” can take several forms; most of them are emails, on-site ads and links. There is always an intermediate part between the advertiser and the ad viewer. That part publishes the advertiser ads and offer one portion of the advertising revenue to the viewers. In that way, the service provider motivates people to read ads. Both parts; the intermediary and the client benefit; it’s a win-win situation. Some questions, arise though; for example what about the benefits of the advertiser? Does he/she win? Are one’s ads effective? Below, I try to offer some perspectives…
One can state that as long as people read the ads just for the money incentive there is no real attention to the advertising message but only passive clicking actions. On the other hand, advertisements not including any incentive have the same appealing: no one seems to really enjoy seeing ads. You may be amused with some ads but I bet you are not looking forward to turn your TV on or browse a magazine just to see ads. Ads are always distracting. They try to distract you from whatever you were doing to pay attention to them. In most occasions that is the case. It’s Seth Godin’s distraction marketing theory. Consequently, whether there is, or there is not an incentive (of any kind), people in most cases do not authentically look forward to read ads.
Thus coming to the very first question about the effectiveness of a “Paid to Read” advertising message, if an ad is being placed just to inform consumers about the existence of a product or service, I hold the opinion that both ways of advertising (paid and non paid ads) are almost the same (as concerns effectiveness).
As concerns brand preference and reminding ads my views are: Usual advertising costs a lot more expensive in traditional media that Paid to Read ads. That may lead to the association of a brand being advertised through traditional ways with high value and successful product / service. On the contrary, cheap advertising of paid to read messages might cast a lightly negative impact to the viewers. The previous statements concern ads that are trying to remind the product / service to the user (or call to act) and to improve conceived brand value. Contrary, when there is too much clutter on reminding advertising it may affect viewers of traditional media channels negatively while this is not the case for viewers that get paid to see them. In other words, “Paid to Read” ad networks can effectively bear a lot of ad clutter while other common networks cannot.
…some more views:
Most common and simple forms of “Paid to Read” services refer to emails containing a direct link or/and an embodied advertising.
I personally use some Paid to Read networks, I have been paid a few dollars. Of course in this industry no one should expect to get rich.
Almost all of the “Paid to Read” networks offer user referral systems.
There is also the “Paid to Click” alternative industry. This is very similar to the “Paid to Read” stuff. I will not analyze it (at least in this post).
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Traditional products’ marketing & a practical advice on how to become more effective in your business (whatever field you are in).
In the weekend I and my girlfriend were on vacation on a small town (very popular as a tourist attraction). One day in a traditional tavern they gave as after lunch a shot of a traditional drink. It was a sweet liqueur which helps one to digest food. Later on that day as we wandered through the main road of the town which is full of little shops that sell traditional products and souvenirs, we found that drink (which is called Tentoura) and we both instantly bought one bottle for our relatives. It was a very impulsive purchase. The same kind of purchases has occurred to us many times in the past and surely has happened to most of the people. The point here is that one “clever” shop owner of traditional products may exploit those impulsive purchases. He/she may make a deal with tavern owners to supply them for free with Tentoura on the condition that they give each client a shot of that drink after lunch or dinner. It’s a win-win situation; both the tavern owner and the shop owner earns from that kind of strategic alliance. I firmly believe that the shop owner will boost up his/her sales. Thing here is that (I believe) it’s hard to imagine such a marketing technique if you weren’t told about (at least it didn’t occur to me).
I mention the above story because it led me to the following (and now very obvious to me) conclusions:
We often say that one should think from the customer’s perspective and get on his/her shoes to figure out more ways to service one and market to him/her. Personally I totally agree with the above statement; however how was it likely to me to think of the above (marketing) technique? I mean, ok, I am going to think from the customer’s point of view…hm …em …let’s put some ads in the town’s stations and populated places…hm… let’s post an article on traditional products in the local newspaper/magazine or website…etc. To think out of the box – off the beaten track is easy to say but sometimes hard to actually do. Just thinking from the customer’s perspective many times is not enough; one should simulate customer’s experiences: he must go on vacation (although he is in his origin), he must live and act as a customer and try the same experiences and actions. Thinking is not enough; one may need to acquire some input (feelings, thoughts, senses, impressions, etc.). How can one implement the above conclusion? Try to find out a solution/opportunity/challenge not only with thorough thoughts but by interacting with people, places, objects; get a lot of input from anything you get in contact with.
I mention the above story because it led me to the following (and now very obvious to me) conclusions:
We often say that one should think from the customer’s perspective and get on his/her shoes to figure out more ways to service one and market to him/her. Personally I totally agree with the above statement; however how was it likely to me to think of the above (marketing) technique? I mean, ok, I am going to think from the customer’s point of view…hm …em …let’s put some ads in the town’s stations and populated places…hm… let’s post an article on traditional products in the local newspaper/magazine or website…etc. To think out of the box – off the beaten track is easy to say but sometimes hard to actually do. Just thinking from the customer’s perspective many times is not enough; one should simulate customer’s experiences: he must go on vacation (although he is in his origin), he must live and act as a customer and try the same experiences and actions. Thinking is not enough; one may need to acquire some input (feelings, thoughts, senses, impressions, etc.). How can one implement the above conclusion? Try to find out a solution/opportunity/challenge not only with thorough thoughts but by interacting with people, places, objects; get a lot of input from anything you get in contact with.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Advertising – Human Ads
Human Ads:
- Word of mouth
- Celebrity marketing
- Body advertisements (e.g. Tattoos of brands)
- Surname ads = name of brands (to change one’s surname to a brand’s name)
The first three are obvious and well-discussed. As concerns the forth, I have never seen that kind of advertising anywhere or heared of something similar. One day I thought that someone could just change his/her surname into a brand’s name for advertising purposes.
Offers for body advertisements can one find very often on Ebay.
- Word of mouth
- Celebrity marketing
- Body advertisements (e.g. Tattoos of brands)
- Surname ads = name of brands (to change one’s surname to a brand’s name)
The first three are obvious and well-discussed. As concerns the forth, I have never seen that kind of advertising anywhere or heared of something similar. One day I thought that someone could just change his/her surname into a brand’s name for advertising purposes.
Offers for body advertisements can one find very often on Ebay.
Post’s deletion
Should one delete old posts of his/hers blog? What if one has changed writing style or topics in one’s blog? What if one has improved his/her style dramatically? Blogging of course will improve one’s writing skills as time goes by, should that guy erase the old “unacceptable” and bad posts of his? Or is he/she obliged to keep them since he/she used to think like that and these old posts are truths of one’s world? What if I changed my mind on something I believed or wrote on a previous post? Shall I hide my previous way of thinking? Shall I delete that post?
A Branding Dilemma
Suppose you have created your own super widget and you want it to spread it and to be branded and put on thousands of other blogs, websites, etc. Widget is consisted of one squared area with the widget’s main function in the center of that square. You then add a link (usually) on the bottom of this square which refers to your website (the widget’s webpage) and to the sign-up / register / download – get yours page. Now a real marketing dilemma is raised: Suppose your widget is called PerWid (i.e. Perfect Widget ;-)). Do you put PerWid’s logo and name on that bottom link or you just add a plain link that writes “get yours instantly”? There are 2 approaches in that problem: The branding approach which enforces us to use logo and widget’s name as much as possible for several advantages (brand awareness, brand recognition, brand repetition & recall) and the simplicity approach, the approach corporations like google use. The later approach is based on the fact that if one sees the widget and likes it, he/she will click the link to get one for himself/herself too. You don’t need to confuse him/her with logos, brands and marketing tricks. I like it, I download it, I use it! (I cite that this is the google’s approach because google use to have a very simple and plain interface; no extra graphics, impressive effects, sounds, colors, etc. It only has the name of the search engine and the search bar; real simple and real clever! Sometimes success comes out of unexpected, of surprisingly different and controversial. We used to think that if we add more buttons and more graphics and more stuff we give customers more options and more features and thus more satisfaction but is this so? Don’t we just confuse visitors?
Does simplicity approach has any meaning in this particular example (the widget application)? Or the “normal” marketing – branding approach is better? I really don’t have any answer to that question. Should one use the common approach or try to differentiate? Of course both approaches are right but one might be better. Which one do you think?
Does simplicity approach has any meaning in this particular example (the widget application)? Or the “normal” marketing – branding approach is better? I really don’t have any answer to that question. Should one use the common approach or try to differentiate? Of course both approaches are right but one might be better. Which one do you think?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Hibernation
Days in Army: 183
Days left: 183
[Finally this blog woke up from deep hibernation for just a few moments. In a week I’ll be back in the camp again (away from the comfort ness of my home, lacking civilization and my normal life).]
To write and publish anything non fictional you need to read. In fact you need to read a lot. This blog is referred to the internet and marketing and in order to contribute my thoughts I definitely need to have a lot of input. The past 6 months that I’ve been in the army I’ve pushed myself to start posting again (in a process of firstly writing down on a notepad and then typing and posting on an internet café on the first available opportunity) but I found that I’ve lost contact with blogging and since I wasn’t informed and updated with current trends and the blogosphere in general I couldn’t be productive. During the past 6 months the last 3 ones I had computer access but no Internet connection (and no spare time at all!). These days, fortunately I am home relaxing and getting used to civilized life again. Life in army really sucks and I don’t want to remind myself that I have another full 6 months left.
While trying to fill my flash disk with RSS feeds so that I can read while in camp I found out many great marketing blogs which I will now start to read (whenever this is possible!). Now I am constantly trying to read all these feeds and compensate for all that lost time. Maybe at the end of these free days I write another post too…
Till next time I’ll get online take care and… keep blogging ;) !
Days left: 183
[Finally this blog woke up from deep hibernation for just a few moments. In a week I’ll be back in the camp again (away from the comfort ness of my home, lacking civilization and my normal life).]
To write and publish anything non fictional you need to read. In fact you need to read a lot. This blog is referred to the internet and marketing and in order to contribute my thoughts I definitely need to have a lot of input. The past 6 months that I’ve been in the army I’ve pushed myself to start posting again (in a process of firstly writing down on a notepad and then typing and posting on an internet café on the first available opportunity) but I found that I’ve lost contact with blogging and since I wasn’t informed and updated with current trends and the blogosphere in general I couldn’t be productive. During the past 6 months the last 3 ones I had computer access but no Internet connection (and no spare time at all!). These days, fortunately I am home relaxing and getting used to civilized life again. Life in army really sucks and I don’t want to remind myself that I have another full 6 months left.
While trying to fill my flash disk with RSS feeds so that I can read while in camp I found out many great marketing blogs which I will now start to read (whenever this is possible!). Now I am constantly trying to read all these feeds and compensate for all that lost time. Maybe at the end of these free days I write another post too…
Till next time I’ll get online take care and… keep blogging ;) !
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Call of Duty
Like I said in the previous post I will be offline till July-August of 2007 due to military obligations (unfortunatelly military service is obligatory in Greece).
Monday, June 19, 2006
My absence
It has been very looooong time for me to post! This is due to my addiction with World of Warcraft: These days I‘ve been playing for hours. That happened because I had set a goal to reach level 60 (the maximum level) before I join the army. I almost reached my goal so now I can continue my normal activities like blogging, reading, living lol. I also reached another goal of mine to make 500 $ from the internet within 2 months. Notice that I said something about army above. This August I will be called to join the army for my military obligation (yeah there are still countries in which you are obliged to join the army for a period :((( ). So I will be gone for about 12 months or maybe even more! More later...
Monday, May 22, 2006
Blogs and reality TV
At the beginning there were journals. There were online dairies in which some people used to express their thoughts and facts from their everyday life. That was the beginning of blogging. Later, too many started blogging so that online journals are a very common phenomenon. The surveillance of one’s life was supposed to be somehow exciting; now it is quite boring at least for those that do not mention something special and memorable. There is a strong resemblance with reality TV. These blogs are similar with big brother reality shows. There was not a specific theme, an important or extraordinary cause of existence. When people had enough of big brothers (or online journals) something else had to come for people not feeling bored. Blogs, just like reality TV, evolved to have a particular and theme specific topic. Nowadays there are corporate, meme games blogs, political and cultural ones, audioblogs, photoblogs and many many other theme related blogs. In recent reality TV shows there are specific goals to be fulfilled, there are specific environments and stories that set the scenarios for each one (like talent shows, survivor games, etc.). Undoubtedly the resemblance is strong and the evolution is common for that wealth of user-created content. Lastly blogs are now starting being exploited for commercial use; through advertisements and product sales blogging is even more close to reality tv.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Personal touch and human presence for online success...
I read an article about how can the human presence build online sales and increase conversion. You can find the article here: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/9597.asp (in imedia connection; brought by The Marketing Experiments Journal). The article cites that just a few changes in our webpages (so that they bear a more personal touch and have a human presence) can have a major impact in sales. The experiment carried out, showed that the same page had a 40.7 percent increase in sales by just converting the text to first person, adding a photo of the writer and his/her signature. Well, next time you write something, you‘d better keep it personal and be direct...
Further reading about direct and indirect ad copy at a previous post: http://zip3.blogspot.com/2006/04/ad-copy.html
Further reading about direct and indirect ad copy at a previous post: http://zip3.blogspot.com/2006/04/ad-copy.html
Monday, May 15, 2006
Interview with Eileen Trainor
Eileen Trainor (CyberCelt) has two blogs about advertising (CoolAdzine & Advertising for Success) a website about advertising (CoolAdz.com) and a travel blog (Texas RV Travel Blog). In this post I am taking an interview from Eileen about her blogs, the internet and her experience in the advertising industry. Enjoy...
Q: Two of your blogs are about advertising. Why is that? What are the
differences between the two blogs?
CoolAdzine for Marketers is syndicated and bring visitors to the blog
and to the associated website, CoolAdz.com, which is resource site for
advertising, promotion and design.
Advertising for Success blog began as an experiment in search engine
marketing and page rank, during the launch of an online advertising
company. With this experience, I learned the power of the blog and the
incredible potential of feed marketing.
I guess you could say CoolAdzine is more old-school marketing and that
Advertising for Success is the future.
Q: Do you believe that advertising in blogs can effectively deliver any
additional income for bloggers? What about advertisers? Do they really
enjoy any benefits?
Blogs that are updated frequently and contain professional, topical
content suitable for publication in special interest areas (such as
travel, women's issues, technology, politics and local metro information) are
ripe for making money.
Advertisers are lining up to advertise on specialty feeds, podcasts,
blog networks and gaming sites. Their target market is the 18-34
year-old adults that do not watch traditional TV, listen to AM radio or read a
newspaper offline.
Q: Some predictions about the future of online advertising / marketing and
its techniques (email, rss, blogs, podcasting, etc.)
Feed advertising, non-existent until mid-2005, generated spending of
$650,000 in 2005 and will be the fastest growing segment over the next
five years. Blog advertising accounted for $16.6 million, of total
spending on blog, podcast and feed advertising in 2005. Podcast advertising
is projected to grow larger than blog advertising by 2010.
Q: Finally, anything else you want to mention?
Blogging and feed marketing are just the frontier of a brave new web of
advertising and marketing. User-generated content is fresh and
pertinent to the times in which we live. Accent your efforts at blogging and
syndication by tagging with Technorati, del.icio.us or your own tags,
writing and submitting useful articles, joining online communities like
Gather.com, and applying for publisher status on Blogburst.com.
Eileen Trainor is a writer, webmaster and marketer with over 20 years of experience. Visit CoolAdz.com, visit her blogs on Blogger, or subscribe to her feedburner feeds: CoolAdzine and AdvertisingForSuccess
Q: Two of your blogs are about advertising. Why is that? What are the
differences between the two blogs?
CoolAdzine for Marketers is syndicated and bring visitors to the blog
and to the associated website, CoolAdz.com, which is resource site for
advertising, promotion and design.
Advertising for Success blog began as an experiment in search engine
marketing and page rank, during the launch of an online advertising
company. With this experience, I learned the power of the blog and the
incredible potential of feed marketing.
I guess you could say CoolAdzine is more old-school marketing and that
Advertising for Success is the future.
Q: Do you believe that advertising in blogs can effectively deliver any
additional income for bloggers? What about advertisers? Do they really
enjoy any benefits?
Blogs that are updated frequently and contain professional, topical
content suitable for publication in special interest areas (such as
travel, women's issues, technology, politics and local metro information) are
ripe for making money.
Advertisers are lining up to advertise on specialty feeds, podcasts,
blog networks and gaming sites. Their target market is the 18-34
year-old adults that do not watch traditional TV, listen to AM radio or read a
newspaper offline.
Q: Some predictions about the future of online advertising / marketing and
its techniques (email, rss, blogs, podcasting, etc.)
Feed advertising, non-existent until mid-2005, generated spending of
$650,000 in 2005 and will be the fastest growing segment over the next
five years. Blog advertising accounted for $16.6 million, of total
spending on blog, podcast and feed advertising in 2005. Podcast advertising
is projected to grow larger than blog advertising by 2010.
Q: Finally, anything else you want to mention?
Blogging and feed marketing are just the frontier of a brave new web of
advertising and marketing. User-generated content is fresh and
pertinent to the times in which we live. Accent your efforts at blogging and
syndication by tagging with Technorati, del.icio.us or your own tags,
writing and submitting useful articles, joining online communities like
Gather.com, and applying for publisher status on Blogburst.com.
Eileen Trainor is a writer, webmaster and marketer with over 20 years of experience. Visit CoolAdz.com, visit her blogs on Blogger, or subscribe to her feedburner feeds: CoolAdzine and AdvertisingForSuccess
Monday, May 08, 2006
2 uses for blogs
Blogs are useful to a lot of people. I blog and I bet you blog too. Whether you have a business blog, a little mall (exploiting SEO friendly and rich content blog) or a personal diary one thing is for sure: your blog is useful. The fact is that blogs can be used literally for every use. There is no limit other than one’s imagination.
In this post I will cite the two professions that are most benefited from blogging. These are journalists and writers. Journalism through blogging is a very effective mean for establishing one’s reputation, fame, for doing one’s passion and also a must for beginners. Writers can also be great benefited: they can post small samples of their work. This is similar to offline merchandising: just think it like a bakery that uses scents to lure passersby to shop. Moreover, writers can also start their career from blogging as this can facilitate the process of being noticed and stand out from the crowd.
Because of journalists’ and writers’ products being intangible word arrays, blogging is the perfect carrier.
In this post I will cite the two professions that are most benefited from blogging. These are journalists and writers. Journalism through blogging is a very effective mean for establishing one’s reputation, fame, for doing one’s passion and also a must for beginners. Writers can also be great benefited: they can post small samples of their work. This is similar to offline merchandising: just think it like a bakery that uses scents to lure passersby to shop. Moreover, writers can also start their career from blogging as this can facilitate the process of being noticed and stand out from the crowd.
Because of journalists’ and writers’ products being intangible word arrays, blogging is the perfect carrier.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Tenant
Visit my new tenant (http://www.tworedpaperclips.com/). I was going to write a review about my new tenant but I won’t. I will not do it because this blog is very different and peculiar. It is about a project and it has a diary form. By reviewing it, I may spoil the concept so just pay a visit and you will understand what this is about. Oh… read the posts, they are interesting. The whole project although not innovative is really authentic so take some time.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Business Strategy Evolution: Part C
This is the third part of some thoughts about how business strategy will evolve in the future. Have a look below to see the previous part too. These were my thoughts at this time. Should I have more thoughts about this topic at a later time, I will post it.
Information Overflow
Businesses were always striving for more information to enable them decision-making and more accurate predictions. That led to advanced information systems, technological advancements, IT departments stuffed by experts, ERP, CRM and other software to handle all that information. That information race however led to information overflow. Moreover web 2.0 made information available to all consumers and facilitated its exchange and sharing thus resulting in companies having to manage that overflow both internally and externally. Nowadays companies will have to adopt sophisticated systems to easily and effectively manage information flow into the corporation, out of the corporation and furthermore track and take (some) control of the relevant information that exists out there. Imagine a dissatisfied blogger posting his/her grievances on his/her blog and even worse commenting on thousands of other about your bad customer service or product. How a company can track that information and find ways to answer back or apologize for a bad incidence?
Further Segmentation of Markets
Another characteristic of modern markets is its variety and diversity of products. A single need can now be satisfied with hundreds if not thousands of similar products. Companies have developed targeting and niche markets in order to succeed and survive in the long-term. However competition is now starting to even strike niche markets and highly targeted consumers have plenty of alternatives options. In the not to far future, businesses of all sizes will have to segment the market they deliver to, even more. They will have to develop more niches, target at even tighter groups and aim at keeping their clients loyal and satisfied. It will not be easy anymore to substitute a dissatisfied customer with a new one, so customer service and loyalty programs are number one success factors. Thus for business to find their niches, they will have to strive more: it will be difficult to track them, advertise at them and convert them to customers and later on to advocates (very loyal customers, free and quality advertisers). Businesses will have to offer a lot more to get far less that they used to. Common advertising will be highly ineffective of course.
Information Overflow
Businesses were always striving for more information to enable them decision-making and more accurate predictions. That led to advanced information systems, technological advancements, IT departments stuffed by experts, ERP, CRM and other software to handle all that information. That information race however led to information overflow. Moreover web 2.0 made information available to all consumers and facilitated its exchange and sharing thus resulting in companies having to manage that overflow both internally and externally. Nowadays companies will have to adopt sophisticated systems to easily and effectively manage information flow into the corporation, out of the corporation and furthermore track and take (some) control of the relevant information that exists out there. Imagine a dissatisfied blogger posting his/her grievances on his/her blog and even worse commenting on thousands of other about your bad customer service or product. How a company can track that information and find ways to answer back or apologize for a bad incidence?
Further Segmentation of Markets
Another characteristic of modern markets is its variety and diversity of products. A single need can now be satisfied with hundreds if not thousands of similar products. Companies have developed targeting and niche markets in order to succeed and survive in the long-term. However competition is now starting to even strike niche markets and highly targeted consumers have plenty of alternatives options. In the not to far future, businesses of all sizes will have to segment the market they deliver to, even more. They will have to develop more niches, target at even tighter groups and aim at keeping their clients loyal and satisfied. It will not be easy anymore to substitute a dissatisfied customer with a new one, so customer service and loyalty programs are number one success factors. Thus for business to find their niches, they will have to strive more: it will be difficult to track them, advertise at them and convert them to customers and later on to advocates (very loyal customers, free and quality advertisers). Businesses will have to offer a lot more to get far less that they used to. Common advertising will be highly ineffective of course.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Business Strategy Evolution: Part B
Ok, this is the second part of the evolution of business strategy. I have some thoughts but unfortunately very few spare time to write them down and post them here... This is the second part which is very short but I am already working on the third (and maybe last) part.
The Beta Products
Harsh competition forced many companies to speed the process of product development and resulted in a model where customers are also testers of the early stages of products. Beta versions are very popular and common on the internet. Furthermore beta versions apply more to services and tangible products rather than regular products (I can’t imagine Beta toothpaste!). Two are the key points when discussing the beta products: Firstly, betas mean less testing for the company thus lower investments. Lower investments lead to lower risks associated with product failure. So, we come to the second point: The collaborative model where business and customer cooperate for the interest of both (company for increased profits, customer for better experience). In that model, customers constantly give valued feedback to the company and in a way they actively participate in the product development.
So in brief, Beta products help companies be ahead of competition and lower the risk of product failure, which in normal occasions is very high (the majority of products fail either in development or at their launch).
The Experience Approach
Businesses are trying a different approach in delivering products; a holistic approach. From the core product, we have advanced to an escorting set of services as a point of differentiation. From now on, companies are starting to transform products’ & services’ consuming to “Experiences”. That is a new emerging approach that is unexploited yet. Experience means more integration of services, more customer satisfaction and a strong focus on loyalty and value for customer.
The Beta Products
Harsh competition forced many companies to speed the process of product development and resulted in a model where customers are also testers of the early stages of products. Beta versions are very popular and common on the internet. Furthermore beta versions apply more to services and tangible products rather than regular products (I can’t imagine Beta toothpaste!). Two are the key points when discussing the beta products: Firstly, betas mean less testing for the company thus lower investments. Lower investments lead to lower risks associated with product failure. So, we come to the second point: The collaborative model where business and customer cooperate for the interest of both (company for increased profits, customer for better experience). In that model, customers constantly give valued feedback to the company and in a way they actively participate in the product development.
So in brief, Beta products help companies be ahead of competition and lower the risk of product failure, which in normal occasions is very high (the majority of products fail either in development or at their launch).
The Experience Approach
Businesses are trying a different approach in delivering products; a holistic approach. From the core product, we have advanced to an escorting set of services as a point of differentiation. From now on, companies are starting to transform products’ & services’ consuming to “Experiences”. That is a new emerging approach that is unexploited yet. Experience means more integration of services, more customer satisfaction and a strong focus on loyalty and value for customer.
Monday, April 24, 2006
The Evolution of Business Strategy: Part A
I saw a post in one of the blogs I read (The Messaging Times) about the evolution of Strategic Management and Business Strategy. See the post here: http://www.messagingtimes.com/blog/?p=218. Dmitry Linkov (http://www.dmitrylinkov.com/) is writing his Master Diploma work and he can use some help and thoughts about the evolution of business strategy and management.
Below I post some of my thoughts about the subject… this is the first part:
SME Shelter
The internet is the last frontier for small and medium sized businesses in order to compete with the contemporary giants. I foresee two possible scenarios:
The Referring Economy
Another trend that will gain much popularity and importance is the “Referring Economy”. Referring Economy is the system in which each individual will have great referring power and he/she will be in position to make really great impact in economy and markets. This goes further than the average affiliate selling program; each of us will have a great amount of information and choices thus enabling us to refer others to use the services and consume the products either we know and trust or we have a vested interest at them. Viral marketing and word-of-mouth will be the case in the first occasion and affiliating / referring the later.
Below I post some of my thoughts about the subject… this is the first part:
SME Shelter
The internet is the last frontier for small and medium sized businesses in order to compete with the contemporary giants. I foresee two possible scenarios:
- Web 2.0 and modern internet trends will shelter small and medium sized businesses and will become the strategic center where these businesses will answer back and proactively claim customers’ attention and preference. That will happen through management of change, customer careful listening / trend watching and finally through advanced specialization, know-how, intensive and innovative ways to compete.
- Big corporations and multinationals will fast and easily respond to the latest trends such as blogging, internet affiliating and referring, infolust, etc. They will carefully adapt those latest developments and moreover they would be available to evolve those concepts to even more innovative projects and wealth channels for them.
The Referring Economy
Another trend that will gain much popularity and importance is the “Referring Economy”. Referring Economy is the system in which each individual will have great referring power and he/she will be in position to make really great impact in economy and markets. This goes further than the average affiliate selling program; each of us will have a great amount of information and choices thus enabling us to refer others to use the services and consume the products either we know and trust or we have a vested interest at them. Viral marketing and word-of-mouth will be the case in the first occasion and affiliating / referring the later.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Ad Copy
Copy is the message that an ad is trying to communicate. Sometimes it is a written message in a newspaper or a website and sometimes a short video in tv or an audio file on a radio broadcast, etc. Whether written, read or transmitted in any way, copy is what the advertiser wants us to listen and pay attention to.
All advertisements tell a story; sometimes a story is more appealing or less appealing than others. So, in order to have an eye-catching, effective ad you need an attractive story but also the right copy. Think of that: The same story seems to appeal differently from storyteller to storyteller. Exactly the same applies to different copies for the same story.
Every ad message is based in either logical reasons or sentimental reasons. Sometimes it refers to both ways. There is no perfect solution; according to the product or service and the ad audience it may be preferable to enlist logical reasons (e.g. for a business software or an ERP) or sentimental reasons (e.g. for a luxurious and status car).
As regards the ad copy there are two options as well. You can either be direct to your audience or indirect. Direct copy means that it is written like you refer to the each of the audience personally while indirect is more of a general call for action. Direct copies are very common in internet ads and in infomercials. Indirect ads are more common in other media like regular tv ads and newspapers. There is also no better solution between those two. Sometimes it is more preferable to be direct and other to be indirect. An example of preferable direct copies may refer to products that sales are based in impulse purchases while in products where much consideration is needed before an action is taken, indirect messages may be better. Generally in low involvement products or services, direct ads are better. On the contrary, in high involvement products indirect messages may be better. Of course this is not a rule and doesn’t apply in all occasions.
It is also very common for ads based in sentimental reasons to use copies that respond directly to the audience, while those that cite logical reasons to have a more indirect approach.
Fine Resources on the net about how to write effective ad copies:
All advertisements tell a story; sometimes a story is more appealing or less appealing than others. So, in order to have an eye-catching, effective ad you need an attractive story but also the right copy. Think of that: The same story seems to appeal differently from storyteller to storyteller. Exactly the same applies to different copies for the same story.
Every ad message is based in either logical reasons or sentimental reasons. Sometimes it refers to both ways. There is no perfect solution; according to the product or service and the ad audience it may be preferable to enlist logical reasons (e.g. for a business software or an ERP) or sentimental reasons (e.g. for a luxurious and status car).
As regards the ad copy there are two options as well. You can either be direct to your audience or indirect. Direct copy means that it is written like you refer to the each of the audience personally while indirect is more of a general call for action. Direct copies are very common in internet ads and in infomercials. Indirect ads are more common in other media like regular tv ads and newspapers. There is also no better solution between those two. Sometimes it is more preferable to be direct and other to be indirect. An example of preferable direct copies may refer to products that sales are based in impulse purchases while in products where much consideration is needed before an action is taken, indirect messages may be better. Generally in low involvement products or services, direct ads are better. On the contrary, in high involvement products indirect messages may be better. Of course this is not a rule and doesn’t apply in all occasions.
It is also very common for ads based in sentimental reasons to use copies that respond directly to the audience, while those that cite logical reasons to have a more indirect approach.
Fine Resources on the net about how to write effective ad copies:
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
New Tenant!
I am very happy to announce that I have a new tenant (this is actually the first time I use the renting feature in my blog)! It is a very good blog about advertising on the internet, online promotion and the use of technology and new developments (such as blogging) for marketing and success. The blog's name is CoolAdzine for Marketers and the blogger is CyberCelt.
I am particularly happy not only because of the relevant content but also for the quality of the posts and the freshness (at least one post every 2 days). So pay a visit, you will like it!
The url is: http://cooladzine.blogspot.com/
Most recent posts so that you have a sample:
I am particularly happy not only because of the relevant content but also for the quality of the posts and the freshness (at least one post every 2 days). So pay a visit, you will like it!
The url is: http://cooladzine.blogspot.com/
Most recent posts so that you have a sample:
Monday, April 17, 2006
Sites about Small Business Resources
All Business is a very good website with resources about small business, business advice, answers from experts, business plans and many business administration and management topics (including sales, marketing, finance, accounting, etc.). The url for this site is: http://www.allbusiness.com/.
Other good sites about Business and particularly small ones are:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/ - Business and Small business resources
http://www.startupjournal.com/ - Start up Journal (Wall street journal, center for entrepreuneurs).
- Do you know of other good sites about business resources, marketing, management? Post a comment please...!
Other good sites about Business and particularly small ones are:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/ - Business and Small business resources
http://www.startupjournal.com/ - Start up Journal (Wall street journal, center for entrepreuneurs).
- Do you know of other good sites about business resources, marketing, management? Post a comment please...!
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