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 Friday, December 26, 2008 Using Billboards As a Part of Your Business Marketing Plan Outdoor advertising is a low budget and effective way of advertising your company's product. Among all available marketing and advertising channels, billboard advertising is the most widely accepted method, and has been proven to be the best sales strategy in the recent times. Nearly 5.6 billion dollars was spent on billboard advertising alone in the year 2007, as analyzed by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. Billboard exposure is the best bet in outdoor advertising and isn't that costly when compared to other mediums. And with the amount of eyes the product gets, the money is worth it. In the past few years several factors have triggered billboard signs and cost effectiveness being one of the prime reasons. One of the reasons is if an ad is placed in the local newspaper or a television channel, the advertisement gets noticed for only thirty seconds and when the same advertisement is placed on billboard, it gets noticed through out the day, for months. Thousands of people view billboards everyday on their way to jobs or home. It also doesn't get lost in the pages like an ad placed in a newspaper or magazine. There is a frequent and continuous delivery of message. No other marketing method can grab the attention of people like billboards can. It creates brand awareness and strong name recognition. One of the reasons behind the cost being low is technology. In the early years, billboards were hand-painted due to which the labor cost was high. Now, advertisers design and print their sales or ad copy on a huge poster board or vinyl board by a computer-aided printer, which is very cost effective. Creativity can be achieved to the highest extent, with ease and less money. The brighter, colorful, creative the artwork is, the more eye-catching it becomes. With the advancements in technology, it takes very little time to design outdoor campaigns with unlimited possibilities. Before placing a billboard ad in a particular area, it's better that research is done about the interest of the people in and around that area. Like if the advertiser desires to post on a highway, he can choose the advertisement on a motel, cafeteria, or gas station. The cost for an outdoor marketing campaign is very reasonable. It varies from $1,000 to $3,000 per month depending on several factors, of course. Ten advertisements will cost around $ 30,000. It might look like a big amount, but it costs almost the same if placing a full-page ad in a newspaper for only a day. And if the effectiveness is considered for both the methods, newspaper marketing is not even half as effective as billboard advertising. Billboard advertising has high-impact on people and is a cost-effective method of reaching target customers. The above-mentioned ideas are but a few of the many advantages of billboard advertising. From placing the you ads at a theater multiplex, highway, airport, and even pasting them on cars, any kind of product can be advertised to any kind of audience using billboard marketing.  Labels: 2009 Business Marketing, Billboards, Business, Business Marketing Plan, Marketing Strategy 
 Tuesday, December 16, 2008 5 Small Business Marketing Mistakes to Avoid Small business owners can have a hard time finding the right ways to market their product or service. There are plenty of right ways to do things, and plenty of wrong ways. Here is a brief overview of some of the mistakes to avoid when marketing your small business: Mistake #1: Not researching your product need Conduct market research, hold focus groups and only make a small run of your product - a few hundred or so - to test your target market with. This can save you a lot of money and heartache in the long run. Mistake #2: Thinking that the product will market itself You must consistently market your product, which means you need to create a marketing plan. You must define your target market, your unique selling point that distinguishes you from your competition; you must develop a marketing action plan and decide on a marketing budget. These are just the bare-bones basics of a marketing plan. You need some kind of plan to be successful. If you don't know how to create a marketing plan, just Google "marketing plan" or "marketing agency" - many agencies are hired to just create marketing plans. Mistake #3: Preparing and then not taking action Mistake #4: Constantly changing your marketing campaign Mistake #5: Don't play monkey-see, monkey-do with your competitors If a competitor is known as a "low price leader," don't try to beat him out of that title - choose another like "high quality leader." Find an important quality that your competitors aren't giving to your shared target. Labels: Business Marketing, Marketing Mistakes, Small business
Sunday, December 7, 2008 Ecommerce Business Basics Starting an ecommerce business where you sell items online as a revenue source is becoming more popular every day for both existing retail stores and new entrepreneurs looking to add another revenue stream. Before diving in head first into an online business venture it is important to understand all the basic building blocks that make a successful online store. Legal Concerns First you need to make sure you form the business with proper legal procedures just like you would for any other business. This includes filing a fictitious business name, obtaining a resale license, paying taxes and proper bookkeeping. You must also follow all the legal guidelines for equal opportunity employment if you plan to hire anyone to help out. Product Offering Existing businesses already have stock for the products they sale which gives a bit of a head start since finding a supplier is not needed to start. New businesses will either need to make their own product which will incur manufacturing costs or may opt to purchase products from an authorized distributor. In order to be competitive you need to get your products directly from the source or as close as possible. A quick way to identify "middle man" distributors is if they charge any type of membership fee. This is a red flag that you are likely dealing with a third party instead of the company you should be partnering with or getting your own account. Note it is common to have minimum order requirements usually based on a dollar amount. Another common requirement is that your account makes a minimum dollar amount of purchases in a given fiscal year. Payment Processing One of the most common items that falls to the bottom of the list is how your ecommerce business is going to collect money from customers. There are options such as PayPal and Google Checkout which do not require a credit check or you can opt to go for a normal merchant account that has an online payment gateway. You can obtain this either through your bank, a specialized merchant payment company or via your shopping cart provider sometimes. Other options include using a fulfillment service or affiliate based website that handles all the payment processing for you; the downside to this option is you have less control over the actual purchase process. Customer Service Last but certainly not least is determining how you will offer customer service. The cheapest option is usually email but also builds the least amount of customer confidence. You may also want to offer live chat customer service during normal business hours; this eliminates the "business in a garage" ideology some get when purchasing online from an unknown site. Although you may be operating out of your home you do not want to give this impression to your customers. Even though we live in a digital world of email and chat customers still want to be able to pick up a phone to call for support if necessary; especially when giving up their credit card number to a new business (new to the customer). You can boost the revenue for your ecommerce business by offering all three options to your customers. This lets the customer talk to you on their terms which is whatever is the most convenient for them. There are many other factors that go into starting an ecommerce business such as website design, shopping cart selection, customer management and order management to name a few. The four aspects outlined above will give you a great start and get you thinking in the right direction to be successful on the web. Labels: Business, Business Basics, Ecommerce
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Name::Rick From::Los Angeles, California, United States 23-year old dad to a 2-year old kiddo; a responsible husband and father; an auditor; entrepreneur; traveler;
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