Strategic Marketing - Customer And Competition

To begin an effective strategic marketing strategy, it is imperative to know your customer, as well as your competition. Knowing what your target audience is, and knowing who your target customer is, will be the first step towards developing a marketing strategy. Once you have identified your audience, you can then begin to tailor your marketing strategy, including your collaborative marketing efforts.

Who is your customer?

You can start by making a series of imaginary profiles of your potential clients and customers, asking specific questions such as:

- What is the age range of my potential clients?

- What is their income range/

- What are their lifestyles and hobbies?

Depending on the product you are marketing, your phantom client profile will vary. The motivation here is to think of the customer as an individual, rather than as an amorphous group of unknown clients. Once you identify a potential client profile, it will be a more natural process to tailor a marketing scheme.

An effective marketing plan begins with thinking specifically in terms of whom your market is, and who you are trying to entice to use your products and services. An advertisement, email or website display will vary greatly depending on whether you are targeting college age, financially conservative students, middle income families with small children, or single, young professional adults. The same series of advertisements is likely to appeal to a diverse variety of clients than a variety of ads tailored specifically to reach an audience. The same product may very well be suitable for a variety of clients, but the same product is less likely to sell to a varied consumer base with the same marketing strategy.

Don't reinvent the wheel

Knowledge of your competitors' marketing scheme and how they market their products is almost as important as being able to identify your prospective clients. There is a lot to be learned from studying a competitor, especially if they are a well established business with a solid marketing strategy.

Marketing is the way to get your products noticed-this is why it is an essential aspect to a successful business. If nobody knows about you, how can they purchase your wonderful goods and services?

Build upon what has proven successful

If you know of a business in your industry that has catchy marketing ads, it is a good idea to try to understand what they have done to be successful. This is important for two reasons: you don't want to exactly replicate another marketing strategy, and you want your advertisements to stand apart from what is already being produced. This will help you to develop and tailor your marketing scheme to your target audience, in a way that is different from your competition-and get you noticed!

Awareness of how similar businesses in your industry approach marketing will help you develop the edge you need to target your own clients. Intimate knowledge of who these prospective clients are will set you in the right direction for developing a successful marketing strategy that is unique and specific to your business. Knowing your target market, and how the market is targeted by others in your industry, will put your business on a successful path for growth and recognition. Based upon this knowledge, you can even choose a synergistic competitor and create a collaboration marketing campaign.

Copyright (c) 2008 Christian Fea

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A strategic Collaboration Marketing consulting firm. He empowers business owners to discover and implement Integration, Alliance, and Joint Venture marketing tactics to solve specific business challenges. He demonstrates how to create your own Collaboration Marketing Strategy to increase your sales, conversation rates, and repeat business.
Contact: christian@christianfea.com
http://www.christianfea.com

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Promote Your Business - Name Badges - It's The Little Things That Make Big Differences!

"Can I take your order please?" When I look at the waiter who is happily asking me that question, I'm immediately drawn to his professional appearance & the smart-looking name badge that is pinned to his uniform shirt - it reads: John. "Thanks John, I'm not ready yet. Can you give me a few more minutes?" John gives me a big smile, "Absolutely! I'll be back to take your order."

This simple exchange has assisted in establishing a positive relationship between myself and my server. Not only do I feel more at ease knowing that I have a great meal & excellent service to look forward to, but the server is inclined to be more attentive as well.

My friends have always thought it was humorous how I would point out name badges wherever we went. Restaurants, Department Stores, Banks, Supermarkets - you name it. Granted, I work for a company that manufactures name badges, & may be somewhat critical of the appearance of a name badge, but consider this - if a restaurant server, bank associate or retail salesperson has on a sloppy, filthy uniform; wouldn't you question the quality of the products and service you're about to purchase?

The same thought process should apply to a name badge. Why should a name badge look unprofessional, old & worn-out with a scratched logo or peeling employee name? It shouldn't! If a corporation goes through the effort to try and increase sales by renovating a restaurant chain, adding new selections to menus, offering promotional discounts to attract additional customers into their stores; they better be prepared to successfully deliver at the frontline - with their salespeople. A salesperson's appearance delivers a subtle message to customers. If a restaurant conveys low or mediocre standards, customers will go elsewhere. A sharp-looking uniform & a professional, appealing name badge go a long way when it comes to drawing customers into your establishment.

Now, consider quick tips from a name badge marketer at Stoffel Seals Corporation. When purchasing name badges for your staff; make certain to:

• Carefully select from the variety of standard shapes and styles that are offered such as reusable name badges, laminate name badges, plastic name badges and metal name badges.

• Never settle. If a standard style doesn't instantly capture your company's image, continue your search. Custom name badges should be considered and can also be incredibly cost-effective.

• View all the available name badge attachments (pins, magnetic backs, bulldog clips or lanyards).

• Choose from an array of colors. Both standard and custom name badges can be created in a variety of colors.

The name badge you choose to place at your frontline should be eye-catching, appealing and without a doubt represent how you want your customers to view your product and service. Name Badges are definitely little things that will make a big difference to all customers; not just to name badge marketers like myself! Wishing you much success!

For additional information on Stoffel's Name Badges, please contact: Tina Henry, Business Unit Manager - Stoffel Seals Corporation - http://www.stoffel.com

Phone # 800 344-4772 - email address: info@stoffel.com

Elizabeth Traynor is a Marketer & Contributing Writer for Stoffel Seals Corporation. Selling has never been more simple! Go to http://www.stoffel.com to view all of Stoffel's Name Badges.

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Boost Your Sales And Make Money

So many online businessmen are daily confronted with the task of how to improve sales. While some get intimidated by disturbing economic situation,others have have fail to adopt methods. For both,change of attitude and approach to sale, will go a long way in positively affecting the fortune of their business.

There are 3 strategies you can use to make money in boosting your sale online.

1.Meeting the demand of your customers: customers will keep on patronizing you for long as you meet their demands,you should ensure that your products meet the needs and wishes of your customers. This should always be the case regardless of market changes.

One online textile dealer says that if one's goods and services did not meet the wishes of customers,then the business will start experiencing declining patronage.

2.Product packaging: the packaging of your product count a lot, if you have a product that is not well packaged, customers will not be encouraged to buy such products. Packaging going a long way in convincing the prospective customer that's your product is the right choice, as in case of your goods are well packaged, you have no problem.

3.Sales promotion: at regular intervals,you should engage in promotion that would help you increase sales. Such promotion might include raffle draws, quiz competition etc. Product promotion enhances healthy relationship with your customers,this sustain patronage. In doing all this,you have a lot of chance of making money through boosting your sales online. This is what sensible online marketers do to make their money online without stress.

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The Importance Of Marketing Your Online Business

Just like any other business in the world, if you want to succeed at your online business you have to let people know about it. You cannot sit back and expect people to come and find you. It is up to you to go out and start marketing your online business. And with the proper marketing techniques, you can develop a successful online business.

You have to look at it like this; no matter how great your site is, it is nothing if nobody knows about it. Therefore, become a social entrepreneur and get your businesses name known. The more marketing you do, the more recognizable your name and your business name will be.

Obviously you want to promote heavily when first starting out your online business. It is like getting your foot in the door. You want to promote for several hours a day to get the name of your business out there. But one mistake many people make is not marketing the business once they begin to generate traffic.

You can never have too much traffic coming to your site. And with the way the internet is constantly changing with new sites emerging, it is vital you market the business no matter how much traffic you are receiving. Not only do you need to put in the time, but you must be consistent as well. When marketing your online business, make sure to do so on a daily basis. Otherwise, you are just wasting a perfectly good business of yours.

The great thing about the internet is there are numerous ways you can market your business. Not only are there paid advertising methods, but there are several effective free ways to market as well. The benefit of paid advertising is you will generate traffic far quicker. But over time, you can reel in just as much if not more traffic with free advertising.

The benefit of free advertising is you get to actually speak with the person and build a relationship. With many forms of paid advertising, all people see is a banner or a link to click on. But posting in forums and talking in a blog allows you to display your expertise, build a relationship, and gain the trust of those you are marketing to.

So when it comes to effectively marketing your online business, you must be persistent and consistent. Get out there and make your voice heard. There is no success to be had from sitting and waiting for visitors to come to you.

Ruth Lanham Entrepreneur, Author, T-Shirt Designer Ruth Lanham is a T-shirt designer who authors several websites and writes on various topics relating to the Internet, Christianity, and T-shirt design. Please visit Ruth at Top Tee Designs Occupation T-shirts and Gifts More Occupation T-shirts and Gifts Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ruth_Lanham

Important Things To Know When Making Your Brochures

If you haven't considered it already for your marketing, I'd suggest looking into brochure printing. A great looking brochure gives you a way to get a lot of information into a potential customer's hands.

When you do choose to use brochures to promote your company, there are a few key details you need to know before you send anything out.

The smaller your company is the more you need to squeeze out of your marketing budget, I'm sure. Most small businesses don't have the same deep pockets other companies do, so if you are going to use brochure printing, be aware of the costs associated with it before you put in any orders.

The size of your order isn't always going to have a big impact on price. When it comes to a printing press, the number of copies made is only a small part of the cost. Getting the equipment set up to print your order at all is where the biggest expense lies. Because of this, the difference between an order of five hundred brochures and seven hundred isn't going to be nearly as big as the difference between a single five hundred order and a single two hundred order.

If you want to make your money go as far as possible print the largest order you can. Stock up on brochures for the full year all at once if you need to. Having too many is going to be cheaper than going back to print more three months down the line.

When it comes to actually designing the brochure itself, you might consider consulting a graphic designer to handle the project. This might be more of an initial cost to hire an outside source, but at the same time you'll get a much better product. If you are going to print out a year's worth of brochures all at once you want to make sure they're as good as possible.

Talking with the printer you plan on using is a good move if you want to be sure of all the cost saving measures before you start the printing. Let's say you're going to use color brochure printing. The way the colors look on your computer screen isn't always going to be the same as what comes out on the paper when it's printed. Talking to the printer can help clear up any possible problems before you spend all the money printing something that doesn't look like what you wanted.

Don't let any of this make you uneasy about using color brochure printing. The effectiveness of brochures for marketing is a long established truth. The main thing you need to be aware of is what all goes into it before you begin using them for the first time. Just like with anything else in life, the more you know, the more control you'll have over the situation.

For more information, you can visit this page on color brochure printing and brochure printing.

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