Rabu, 01 Mei 2013

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing can be classified into two types based on the technology involved. The more traditional form involves marketing on the move like moving billboards and road shows. The second type refers to marketing on a mobile phone like cell phone. Since the onset of millennium, mobile marketing though cell phone has become very popular. Short message service popularly known as SMS has made marketing by this method a lot easier.

There were some problems in the beginning as unwanted information was being sent to the people. Most of the SMS that were passed around was spam and it received negative media response in all parts of the world. This was because a sector of the advertisers bought list of mobile users and began sending them unsolicited messages. They were later stopped due to strict security measures and laws passed. Marketing industry recognized the potential of mobile marketing and utilized it to the full extent. The mobile service providers coded guidelines and laws. It then became a legal advertising channel. The Mobile Marketing Association and Interactive Advertising Bureau also have laid down guidelines for the proper functioning of mobile marketing.

Mobile marketing has become popular in Asia and Europe as it is a novel idea and in Europe alone hundreds of millions of pounds have been investing in SMS advertising. Now SMS has become the most famous part of mobile marketing. Because of the popularity of short codes, SMSing has become a lot easier. This has created a new approach to reach out to potential customers. Now mobile short codes are looked upon as mobile domain name, by many of the brands around the world, when the customers message the brand at any occasion.

In America, the first SMS short code campaign was started in 2002. SMS containing short codes are easier to send a message with complete information. Short codes are usually numbers that are assigned to mobile operators of a particular location, which they use for brand campaigning and other purposes. They are very small, like they contain only four to five words. These numbers are always under scrutiny by the service provider and each and every message is monitored to see that they do not go against the original service description.

Like opt-in emails, customers have to opt for SMSes. This is the biggest criterion, which the advertiser has to follow in order to send a promotional SMS. Some of the mobile operators ask for double opt-in form from the receiver. At the same time opting out is made easy for the customer. When the customer wishes to terminate receiving messages, they have to send STOP word by SMS. All these guidelines have been laid by the Mobile Marketing Association consumer best practice guidelines and it's a compulsion to follow those by all the marketers who wish to do mobile marketing in America.

Now, service providers have started to provide the option of sending SMS to email addresses. Other than this, other services provided are mobile games, mobile tones etc., which are used for promotional purposes. This has lead to the invention of MMS or Multi-media Message Service, through which short promotional videos and animations can be send. Bluetooth is another good technology. It started in 2003, and many companies in Europe have found it useful. When a message is send via Bluetooth, the receiver should accept request from the sender. So, sending messages by this method is legitimate. The message transfer speed is high and is also a free service as it is a radio-based technology.

The method of sending SMS advertisement to mobile phone users based on their geographical location is known as Location based service. The customer is tracked via a GPS chip which is built-in the phone. Radiolocation signals from the nearest cell phone towers are used for this purpose.

Mobile marketing follows a very safe marketing strategy, as it is customer opted. The short message sent through this method is known as mobile originated or MO message. If the advertisement is done through a call, the call is known as mobile terminated or MT message. As there is a phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users, this kind of marketing is a sure hit.


 

 

Marketing through E-mail and Issues Surrounding it

Email marketing is one of the forms of direct marketing, which is done via Internet. Emails are sent to potential customers to boost the business, and gain the trust of the customer by disclosing relevant information and help them to make good shopping decisions. It also enhances the relationship with a current customer, by repeating business with them. In simple words the procedure of sending emails to customers is known as email marketing.

The major advantage of email marketing is that it doesn't consume a lot of time, is minimal resource consuming and is also cost-efficient. Within a short period, a large audience can be targeted. Features such as Subscriptions, bounced messages, web bugs, and click through help enables businesses to track potential customers. Since the customers can be directly reached, feedbacks can be collected with ease. In terms of cost also it is not as expensive as newsletters. Reports have proven that this is the next best marketing technique after search marketing. It is effective in tracking the returns on investments.

Email marketing is a modernized version of mail marketing. The advantage over direct mail marketing is that it takes less time to reach a customer than mailing. Like people check their mailboxes daily, inbox is also checked by majority of the Internet users on a daily basis. Over the period of time, lots of helpful tools and web services have been developed. List host is web service that provides lots of options to the marketers like managing huge emails and email address database. If the budget is more, list managers can be hired who can be given charge of opt-in-email newsletters and managing databases. Software is also available in the market that does this job too.

When the customer fills the form for the first time, there are check boxes to be ticked which reflects their interests. Depending on these choices, an advertiser sends information to them, this is known as opt-in-email advertising, because the customer has opted to receive emails and marketing like this isn't illegal. The content of the email can be elaborate, but it shouldn't be too long as people are really busy for that. The call to action, also known as effective words, in the email should be chosen with care. It's not necessary that the content should revolve around only one item; related product's information can also be included. This is known as cross selling. By using email blasting or sending an email to multiple customers at a time can save a lots of time and will also increase the efficiency.

The dark side of email marketing is spamming or also known as bulking. Some companies collect email addresses of people illegally and send irrelevant mails to them, which can be very annoying. Some hackers design an email like an advertisement, but when clicked on downloads adware and viruses that can destroy a computer, which makes it even more dangerous. To make matters worse, the Direct Marketing Association of America has petitioned to make spamming legal. Some prohibitions are also placed on providers who help out business organizations to manage their email marketing by giving them already prepared email templates.

Most of the mailing websites have added the facility of separating spam from genuine email by creating separate folders for both and this is known as spam filtering. But in case of large number of spam mails, a useful mail can go into that folder and can go unnoticed and gets deleted with the rest of the spam mails. This kind of mail is known as false positives. But the chances of this happening are rare. There are many laws against spamming like United States' Can-Spam act, Europe's privacy and electronic communications regulations. According to these laws, the companies should get their return address authenticated, false physical addresses should not be included and a one click unsubscribe link should be place in the email. The lesser penalty involves companies sending spam to be blacklisted and on a larger scale, they can be heavily fined.      

Selasa, 30 April 2013

Mobile Marketing


Mobile marketing can be classified into two types based on the technology involved. The more traditional form involves marketing on the move like moving billboards and road shows. The second type refers to marketing on a mobile phone like cell phone. Since the onset of millennium, mobile marketing though cell phone has become very popular. Short message service popularly known as SMS has made marketing by this method a lot easier.

There were some problems in the beginning as unwanted information was being sent to the people. Most of the SMS that were passed around was spam and it received negative media response in all parts of the world. This was because a sector of the advertisers bought list of mobile users and began sending them unsolicited messages. They were later stopped due to strict security measures and laws passed. Marketing industry recognized the potential of mobile marketing and utilized it to the full extent. The mobile service providers coded guidelines and laws. It then became a legal advertising channel. The Mobile Marketing Association and Interactive Advertising Bureau also have laid down guidelines for the proper functioning of mobile marketing.

Mobile marketing has become popular in Asia and Europe as it is a novel idea and in Europe alone hundreds of millions of pounds have been investing in SMS advertising. Now SMS has become the most famous part of mobile marketing. Because of the popularity of short codes, SMSing has become a lot easier. This has created a new approach to reach out to potential customers. Now mobile short codes are looked upon as mobile domain name, by many of the brands around the world, when the customers message the brand at any occasion.

In America, the first SMS short code campaign was started in 2002. SMS containing short codes are easier to send a message with complete information. Short codes are usually numbers that are assigned to mobile operators of a particular location, which they use for brand campaigning and other purposes. They are very small, like they contain only four to five words. These numbers are always under scrutiny by the service provider and each and every message is monitored to see that they do not go against the original service description.

Like opt-in emails, customers have to opt for SMSes. This is the biggest criterion, which the advertiser has to follow in order to send a promotional SMS. Some of the mobile operators ask for double opt-in form from the receiver. At the same time opting out is made easy for the customer. When the customer wishes to terminate receiving messages, they have to send STOP word by SMS. All these guidelines have been laid by the Mobile Marketing Association consumer best practice guidelines and it's a compulsion to follow those by all the marketers who wish to do mobile marketing in America.

Now, service providers have started to provide the option of sending SMS to email addresses. Other than this, other services provided are mobile games, mobile tones etc., which are used for promotional purposes. This has lead to the invention of MMS or Multi-media Message Service, through which short promotional videos and animations can be send. Bluetooth is another good technology. It started in 2003, and many companies in Europe have found it useful. When a message is send via Bluetooth, the receiver should accept request from the sender. So, sending messages by this method is legitimate. The message transfer speed is high and is also a free service as it is a radio-based technology.

The method of sending SMS advertisement to mobile phone users based on their geographical location is known as Location based service. The customer is tracked via a GPS chip which is built-in the phone. Radiolocation signals from the nearest cell phone towers are used for this purpose.

Mobile marketing follows a very safe marketing strategy, as it is customer opted. The short message sent through this method is known as mobile originated or MO message. If the advertisement is done through a call, the call is known as mobile terminated or MT message. As there is a phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users, this kind of marketing is a sure hit.
 

 


Tricks to sell your product


The whole idea of the marketing and sales is to play with the psychology of the consumers. In any campaign, efforts should be made it make it so influential that the decision making of the customer is totally in the favor of the company.

There are some tricks to manipulate the mind of the consumers, which can be utilized by not only ordinary sales person, but can be used by larger firms. Although they are used unknowingly, there is no set list.

Mutual exchanging is the first and powerful trick. The company can start with giving something for free to the customer. He will take it for the first time, but from next time he will feel obliged and will try to return the favor. Offering the product for free initially can do this. And if the customer is satisfied with the product, he will buy it for himself from next time. Some salespersons get confused with this principle.  For example, it is ineffective and wrong according to this principle, to quote 'Spend over $25 and get a free t-shirt'. The offer is not free; the customer has to spend something to get the free product. The product being given should be totally free without any condition to be fulfilled. For example, the line 'Get the latest lipstick shade absolutely free' will do the trick. If the shade is really good, they will buy it the next time and might even think of buying other shades of lipstick.

The next trick is to present something as of high value, but the company should incur only small or no amount in producing it, like information. It can tempt the customer by saying that the information provided to them is a big time secret and is not known to anyone at all. But some mess it up, by saying that they are providing very valuable information, but it turns out to be another advertisement.

Another example is giving out free sample to the targeted customers. Again the mistake made here is that companies distribute samples of poor quality or rejected products. This certainly lowers the customers liking towards the product and he will assume that's the way the product is actually and won't go ahead to buy it.

Use words, which initiate immediate action, like 'Limited time offer', 'Offer ending soon', and 'Offer till stocks lasts' are really motivating. The customer gets the impression that the offer will end really soon as the products are limited edition and he should go out and buy it at the very first chance. This works well specially with customers who have an interest in collecting antiques, collectibles and anything which are not easily available.

Tricking the customer in making a commitment is another next good method to increase sales. The trick is to make the customer to take small steps toward the goal, without realizing about it. Like when the customer requests for some information, provide them with the relevant information for free and make them fill a form and take contact information from them. This is like committing to get offers and information about products in future. Do not advertise in this step. In the next step advertisements about products and services can be sent to the customer to the address provided by them. Conducting surveys is another example.

Lottery is another good method. When a person buys a lottery ticket, he fills his address on the ticket. This information can be used to contact the customer in future. In the above practices it's very vital to not to advertise in the first step. Only after getting the customer contact information, should promotional mails be mailed to him. Long advertisements that are featured in the newspaper are a small twist to this trick. If the customer invests time to read the whole advertisement, he has committed and will surely respond to the ad.  
 

Selasa, 09 April 2013

What is Finance and how can you improve this in your business?

Every company on this planet has a Department of financial matters to take care of everything that is related to that. Each company also has a financial adviser who is hired to devise strategies of good development. For your business to grow, it will need a good Finance Department.

Finance is part of the things which cares for money, to put it in simple terms. We all have to do with financial issues all the time. When we make a purchase, we pay taxes and bills, all of those are financial situations that we are dealing with. Companies that have as well and as we said before, everything you need to get more money from your company have to focus a little on the Finance Department and make sure that it works correctly. As mentioned above, the best thing to do is hire a professional financial advisor who has a lot of experience behind him in this type of activity. You just need to present them with the problem and will be able to come up with a plan that ensures that their problem is dealt with effectively.

I know you’re thinking about small businesses, who needs a Finance Department? Well, not really, but sill it should still face financial problems anyway. You’d better get used to the task and start dealing with the problems on your own without any outside help that you have to pay for. Actually, that is the first financial problem solving. Slowly, you get to know what needs to be done in a given situation and you will begin to save you a lot of money from bad decisions for your business.

Nick wrote online articles for a while now. Not only does this author specialize in health, you can also check out his latest website on jeans for women of short reviews that lists the best jeans for short people to suite all women.

Import more money?

They say that the “love of money is the root of all evil”. So many people misinterpret as “money is the root of all evil”. But what matters most is where the heart is, at the end of the day. Is the heart of the Annals of moneymaking or is where it should be, going through the necessary disciplines in life before arriving finally at the end where rewards tarry long enough to enjoy the fullness.

Life is not all about making money. One must understand that while most people think that money makes the world go round, it is not enough, the only answer to the needs of life. There are many instances in life where money doesn’t fill the void that many people struggle with. If money is the answer to the most pressing questions of life, so most of the richest men and women of the world should have not been pressing for divorce cases and custody cases against each other. If money is the answer to everyone’s needs, then today’s celebrity was supposed to be the ones with happier marriages. If money can buy peace and happiness, and the vastness of the homes of millionaires and billionaires would have been filled with laughter conspicuous of their children, enjoying an almost heavenly atmosphere from their billions or million in the Bank.

But as it closes at the end of the day, the fact remains, that life has not been bought by money and that most of the essential elements of life cannot be bought by money. Here are insights that can show what most Americans value alive, according to polls.

1. health is the greatest achievement of his life, if the richest or the poorest, is the first target. As the saying goes, “man working to save money to save their health”. According to a survey, Americans consider their greatest wealth health. There is truth to the adage that says “health is wealth,” after all.

2. is absolute Joy, happiness is relative. Joy and happiness are two different concepts that are often used interchangeably. The joy is in fact a State to have peace in the midst of what is going on. Happiness is an emotional state when good things happen. In other words, one can be happy when good morning pouring and cannot be so when problems start coming. Joy on the other hand, is a result of peace even when no good seems to be underway. Keep the balance even with storms of life their bombardment from all angles.

3. money is not the answer. Most of today’s concerns in life are related to money. Money brings the food on the table. Money pays the Bills. Money makes the mortgage ends meet. Money makes a long list of things. But talk to the cancer patient who is in pain all day and ask him if his money took away the pain. Talk to the abuser who used to have a privileged life, but now is imprisoned in her do that can’t be undone. Talk to the suffering mother whose husband lives with another woman and built a Palace for her expensive as you.

These are some of the things that money can’t buy. While its true that money moved to Earth to heights never seen coming, the use of money is the factor that makes the difference. The proper use of the money fueling hunger and gives shelter to the homeless. The wise use of money Send poor children to school and open doors for them to live a good life. So, at the end of the day, it’s worth saying: “use money and love people?” The answer is in your hands.

The best advice on debt consolidation credit card

Currently it is common to hear that people have debts. While this is the case, there are people who are deeply submerged and especially credit cards. One of the main reasons that contribute to this state of affairs is the rise in interest rates on these cards. It is therefore important for them to find the best means to obtain the debt. This can be done in several ways, but one of the most popular methods is the credit card consolidation. Financial advisers recommend this as the most viable strategy. This is because it lowers monthly payments and makes it easy to achieve financial freedom.

One of the main ways in which this is done is to lower the number of cards you have. In essence, should be limited to a maximum of two or, Alternatively, you feel convenient. In addition to this, you should strive to live in a simple way. This way you won’t have to spend as much as you can afford and keep worrying about where to find the funds to pay the debt. To meet his end, it is important to assess how much spending and determine what cards you want to keep and which ones you have to get rid of. When doing this, it is important to be honest as this is the only way to choose a plan that fits your lifestyle.

Therefore, if you are the kind of person who makes a complete payment and balance on a monthly basis, make sure you consider the annual fee and on base percentage. On the other side if you don’t do this, then you should make APR absolute priority. First collection of credit cards, it is also important to read and understand the terms and conditions that they offer. This is important because it helps you determine the costs you will support and ensures that you expect. Instead of focusing on APR alone, you should also consider other factors such as late fees, annual fees and expenses balance transfer.

Make sure you understand all these factors to be safe. Also, note that you can negotiate for better deals, and as such, should not shy away from your worries and, especially, if you have been a loyal customer. To top it all off, it is ideal to consider getting advice on some of the best strategies for banking staff.