Ways You Can Use Twitter In Your Marketing

Ways You Can Use Twitter In Your Marketing

There are several ways you can use Twitter but here are some which can help you immediately:

Build An Audience

This is most important as you want to build an audience of followers (that's the Twitter term for people who subscribe to your posts) who are interested in what you're doing. Have a special going on? Send a Tweet. Is there an important news event in your industry that you wrote about? Send a Tweet pointing to that article. Give lots of value and make conversation, not selling, your goal.

Monitor What They Say About You

Find out what people are saying about you and your industry. This is one of the best ways to stay on top of what is really happening (not just what you think is happening).

Monitor What They Say About Your Competitors

You need to be aware of what is happening in the world. Using Twitter is one of the best and fastest ways to keep up with what is going on today.

Become A Resource, Not A Screaming Salesperson

One of the cardinal rules of marketing with Twitter and other Web 2.0 tools is to be a resource of information and not an annoying, pest selling stuff. Hey, there's nothing wrong with selling and I believe everyone is selling something. However, today you have to do it in a conversational, problem-solving way. Provide lots of valuable information (valuable as defined by your market) and people will want to be around you.

This is a beginning. Twitter is a serious business tool. Wade into it slowly and get familiar with the territory. You'll be glad you did.

How Businesses Use Twitter Today

How Businesses Use Twitter Today

Southwest Airlines is using it to let people know about flight changes, conditions and more. They also use it to find out what passengers are saying. If a delay or disruption occurs on a given flight, Southwest knows about it as they have dedicated people monitoring Twitter regularly.

Zappos is a great online shoe company. They monitor what customers are saying and what they want. They also use it to grab customer feedback -- good and bad -- and respond accordingly.

Even General (Government) Motors is using Twitter. They want to keep up with what people are saying about them and (at least in theory) help solve customer problems.

Filtering Twitter

A big complaint from many is that there is so much information they can't keep up with it all.

This is why experienced Twitter users (called "Twitterers") use tools to process the filtering. TweetDeck (www.TweetDeck.com - free) is a commonly used tool to monitor key streams. You can set up a search for your company name or your competitors' names and receive notifications whenever something is said. This helps to manage the torrents of information coming through Twitter. With TweetDeck You can monitor not only important Twitter mentions but also update and monitor what is happening that is relevant for You on Facebook and Linkedin. This gives You a "command module" to keep up on the important things in Your world.

HootSuite (http://hootsuite.com/dashboard - free) is another tool to monitor what is happening. It is also useful to schedule messages you'll send to others (called "Tweets"). This way you can schedule a message to go out a few times a day. Hey, the cable news networks repeat the same stories because they know their audience changes every 20 minutes -- or less. Yours does too and a tool like this helps to reach more people with your message â€Â" when it is convenient for them!

Twitter posts come on Google Buzz after 8 hrs.

Twitter posts come on Google Buzz after 8 hrs.

Facebook's new layout

Now that we have another Social Media [Google Buzz] there needs to be facility for single interface for practically all Social Medias. Looks like Google Buzz first victim is Twitter. Google Buzz seems to be buzzing. With Google Buzz and Social Networking - chats seem to be passe. Google Buzz: http://www.google.com/buzz.

Facebook has a new layout

Facebook has a new layout: good to navigate?

Social Media purpose?

Is Social Media a rambling of the mind with purpose?

Online Reputation is not just TLDs

Managing your reputation isn't what it used to be. It's about Online reputation management (ORM), a concept that has become an industry unto itself with all the accompanying accoutrements–experts, gurus, online tools–one expects from the modern internet.

ORM is "the practice of consistent research and analysis of one's personal or professional, business or industry reputation as represented by the content across all types of online media" You may have your own personal website and blog, Facebook and Twitter profiles, and professional site and writing all out there on the internet, and it all has a story to tell about you. One of the oldest tricks in the ORM playbook is the practice of purchasing top level domains (TLDs) associated with your name or products. There have been many instances over the last decade of companies suing to gain control of TLDs that reflect trademarked names. TLDs rank highly in search, as do official pages on social network sites.

Tweet your way

1.   Who do you want to connect with? What are they interested in? What are they searching for?

2.   Find your Voice. If you are using Twitter as part of your client attraction strategy, think about your 'Twitter Positioning'. In other words, what do you stand for and how do you want to be seen by other Tweeters? This will lead to your 'Twitter voice'. For example: informative, helpful, relaxed and humourous.

3.   Be a Giver. People will follow you if you have something to give them. For example, helpful, useful and interesting tips and ideas.

4.   People first, business second. Twitter is first and foremost a social network, so be sociable!

5.   Reveal something about yourself. You are a unique and interesting human being. We want to know more about you, as a person.

6.   Be Helpful. Recommend other Tweeters. ReTweet interesting stuff. Answer questions. Connect people to each other.

7.   Engage with people, by joining in and becoming part of the conversation.

8.   React now! Twitter works in real time. It is a continual flow of conversations, feedback, ideas and chit chat. Become part of the flow and react quickly to what's going on in the Twitterverse.

9.   Your website. Upload helpful, useful and interesting material to your website, using a CMS (Content Management System). For example, 10 top tips, 'how to' guides, and case studies. From time to time, Tweet about this content and point your Twitter followers towards your website. Ask them to ReTweet (RT) these messages.

10. Commitment. Use Twitter regularly, i.e. every day.

Social Networking at a glance

Social networking media can be a helpful tool for companies to generate more business, marketing experts say.
The most common sites for business purposes are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, experts say.

Twitter: A free, real-time messaging service that lets users send out messages, or "tweets," of up to 140 characters to "followers" who sign up to receive the tweets. Authors can choose to send tweets to only their friends via the Web site or they can let anyone read the messages.

Facebook: Users can post information and pictures of themselves and communicate with other users, known as "friends." Users send their friends brief messages, Web site links and other bits of information through the site.

LinkedIn: A business-oriented networking site where users can put their resume online for other users to see. Professionals can find other professionals by typing in key words on the Web site to find people in their network who have information that can help them with their business needs. There are more than 50 million professionals on the site.

Authenticity and Transparency Are Social Networking Cornerstones

The words "authenticity" and "transparency" may seem trite, but I believe they remain the cornerstones of this new media-marketing paradigm. Be real. Be open. Be honest. Admit mistakes when you make them.

Content Is Still King, but Conversation Is Queen (and Conversion Is the Prince)

Nothing beats well-written, informative, entertaining content in all its forms: blog posts, tweets, videos, podcasts, images, webinars, or whitepapers. Place yourself in a position of being a knowledgeable expert (assuming you are, of course). Community is the context.

Moreover, keep content and commerce separate. Never the twain shall meet is a good rule of thumb. Editorial and advertorial content should be distant kin, if related at all.

Salesforce.com Introduces Chatter

Salesforce.com has announced that it has developed a collaboration platform that brings social networking into the enterprise -- Salesforce Chatter. And for the more than 60,000 Salesforce.com customers, Chatter should be something to talk about.

Chatter will be more like the other social networking tools many people are already using in their personal lives. With functionality similar to Facebook, Salesforce Chatter allows employees to set up their own profiles including contact information, photo, work history and area of expertise. Users can also pull in any existing information from Facebook profiles.

Employees will then be able to collaborate internally through real-time status and content updates, similar to the way friends do on Facebook. Business applications also have a place in Chatter to keep everyone up to date on inventory, for example. Well, only those you want to stay in the loop. Chatter also allows you to filter certain information to the appropriate employees.

Slide Share updated Account Types

At Slide Share previously there was just one type of account, namely an Individual Account. Now the team of Slide Share have realized that there is more to it. That there are companies, NGOs etc all onboard. Hence now we can select the type of Account we have from the below:

New Account Types:

• Company
• Non Profit / Gov
• Ad / PR / Marketing Agency
• University / School
• Professional Speaker
• Presentation Design Firm
• Event Organizer

Personal Branding on FaceBook

Facebook is growing fast and as their list of users grows so does the list of people getting hired, fired, embarrassed and shunned.

Globally, as you can see there are vast opportunities on Facebook for personal branding but the opportunities for tainting your reputation or losing your job are even more vast. In fact, nearly 1 out of 10 employers globally now admit to firing employees because of their activities on Facebook [The actual number is much higher because many employers would never openly admit to doing this, even in a survey.]

Don't use Social Networking loosely

1. Don't use social networking to make a generic sales pitch to thousands of people.

2. Do start a dialog of conversation by sending updates that will be interested to people. Offer valuable information.

3. Don't use public forums for private messages.

4. Do ask people if they want to receive your FREE newsletter before you start sending it to them.

5. Never, ever post negative comments on other peoples blogs, profile pages or websites. You always want to be positive.

6. Don't rely on one group or one website for all your networking needs.

7. Be sure to read other people blogs, tweets, websites to keep up to date on industry changes as well as staying connected to like minded people.

What are Google Alerts

What are Google Alerts?

Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to you when there are new Google results for your search terms. You can also choose to have your alerts delivered via feed to the feedreader of your choice (e.g., Google Reader or add the feed to your iGoogle page). We currently offer alerts with results from News, Web, Blogs, Video and Groups.

What are the different types of alerts I can sign up for?

Google Alerts currently offers 6 variations of alerts - 'News', 'Web', 'Blogs', 'Comprehensive', 'Video' and 'Groups'.

• A 'News' alert is an email aggregate of the latest news articles that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google News search.
• A 'Web' alert is an email aggregate of the latest web pages that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top twenty results of your Google Web search.
• A 'Blogs' alert is an email aggregate of the latest blog posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Blog search.
• A 'Comprehensive' alert is an aggregate of the latest results from multiple sources (News, Web and Blogs) into a single email to provide maximum coverage on the topic of your choice.
• A 'Video' alert is an email aggregate of the latest videos that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Video search.
• A 'Groups' alert is an email aggregate of new posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top fifty results of your Google Groups search.

What kinds of topics make for interesting Google Alerts?

Well, if it's interesting to you, it's a good subject for a Google Alert. We've found that many alerts are set up by people who are:

• monitoring a developing news story
• keeping current on a competitor or industry
• tracking medical advances
• getting the latest on a celebrity or sports team
• watching for new videos that match a specific topic

How to Write a Great Article for the Internet

Article writing is one of the best ways to get your knowledge out and provide you with great free exposure for your business or your website.

Here are seven simple tips and some examples that will teach you how to write a great article for the Internet:

1) Create a catchy title
Your article's title can be a make or break for readers. A short, attention-grabbing title will pique reader interest and draw them in. Be sure that your title remains relevant to the topic you are writing about.

2) Keep it short
People are reading your article because they want information on the topic at hand. Get right into the meat of the article after a brief introduction. Effective Internet articles tend to be relatively short as people are turned off by seeing too many words on their screens. An ideal article for SelfGrowth.com contains approximately 500-1500 words.

3) Keep it simple and straightforward
Keep in mind your main purpose for writing the article to express your points as clearly as possible. Use language that is easy to understand and conversational in tone. Maintain a clear and organized structure throughout the article, and ALWAYS proofread and edit your article before submitting it.

4) Include a beginning, middle, and end
Every good article has a clear beginning, middle, and end. The beginning should be a short introduction about main focus of your article. The middle, or body, should contain the meat of the article: all of the important facts, ideas, instructions, etc. And an article should always end with a conclusion that wraps up or briefly restates your main points.

5) Write what you know
Be sure to pick a topic that you are knowledgeable about. It is much easier to write about something you are familiar and comfortable with, and your expertise will shine through in your writing. Plus, you will enjoy the writing process!

6) Teach something new or at least teach it in a new way
What point is there in sharing information that has already been brought to the table countless times? Teach your readers something new. Your knowledge is unique: Let your readers see this. If it's a popular topic, try to put a fresh spin on it or explore an area of your topic that is not commonly written about.

7) Include a short bio
Give yourself credit for your work by writing a brief bio. State who you are and what makes you an expert on your topic. You can also use this section to include links back to your website or contact information.

Are you in favor of SideWiki?

Google has set up a controversial new tool that permits the public to comment about any web site in a side bar displayed in their web browser.  Guess this tool will open a wave of problems with spammers talking rubbish about great sites, there is also nothing stopping someone's competitor using this tool under lots of Gmail id's and creating a hate campaign against its rivals.

The tool is integrated in the latest version of Google Toolbar and works with both Firefox and Internet Explorer but ironically, not yet Google Chrome. To use Sidewiki, download the most recent version of the Google Toolbar and set it to enhanced.

Once activated, Sidewiki glides across from the left and becomes an browser sidebar, where you can compose entries in a vertical column and read the entries of other people. To activate Sidewiki, you simply click on the Sidewiki button in your Toolbar menu or the little talk bubble on the left hand side of your screen.

Tips for Making a Corporate Blog Stand Out

Talk about something other than yourself. Too many corporate marketers make the mistake of creating blogs as purely another mechanism to talk about their products and services. While increased sales and improved brand visibility may be two fundamental goals of a corporate blog, there are more effective ways for achieving those goals that just pushing product.

The most successful corporate blogs leverage product and service information with relevant industry news, human interest pieces, case studies and other useful information. That balance is what keeps readers coming back time and again.

Keep your blog focused. Whatever message you chose to deliver, stick with it. Unfortunately, some corporate blogs lack a clear message and include posts on topics all across the board. Because goals were never defined, these blogs have a difficult time gaining readership.

Blogs gain strong, consistent followings by giving readers the information they want and expect to find. A reader might visit a shoe retailer's blog expecting to find information on the latest shoes styles and celebrity fashion news. If the readers have to sift through information on travel, home décor, and health & fitness in order to find what they're looking for, they may not return.

Give your blog a distinct personality. Whether you choose to feature just one blogger or multiple bloggers, let the blogger's voice come through in the posts. Without a distinct personality, your blog will be just like every other faceless corporate blog.

Let your readers see behind the corporate and marketing jargon, and instead discover the real people behind your organization.

Have some fun. Another effective method for letting a corporate blog stand out from the rest is to infuse some humor and excitement. Granted, this technique may not be appropriate for all corporate brands. But if you're able to, consider creating a blog that can be light-hearted, relaxed and at-times funny. It's just another way to humanize and personalize the brand for customers.

Provide readers with something they can't get anywhere else. Use a corporate blog to announce company breaking news or highlight original research in order to make the blog truly unique. Assuming the information is interesting and useful, readers will keep coming back for more. The simply can't get it anywhere else. Plus, your customers can form a close connection with your brand because they feel as if they're gaining an inside look or exclusive information.

Data: Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment

Screening Phase

Examine data for five different kinds of possible errors:

1. Lack of data – Do some questions have far fewer answers than surrounding questions?
2. Excess of data – Are there duplicate responses?
3. Outliers/inconsistencies – Are there values that are so far beyond the typical that they seem potentially erroneous?
4. Strange patterns – Are there patterns that imply cheating rather than honest answers?  For instance, does a respondent alternate between ratings of 4 and 5 on every other topic in a matrix question?
5. Suspect analysis results – Do the answers to some questions seem counterintuitive or extremely unlikely?

Diagnosis Phase

From the Screening Phase you have highlighted data that needs investigation. To clarify suspect data, you often must review all of a respondent's answers to determine if the data makes sense taken in context. Sometimes you must review a cross-section of different respondents' answers, to identify issues such as a skip pattern that was specified incorrectly. 

With this research complete, what is the true nature of the data that you've highlighted?  The five possible values the authors give:

1. Missing data – Answers omitted by the respondent or questions skipped over 
2. Errors – Typos or answers that indicate the question was misunderstood
3. True extreme – An answer that seems high but can be justified by other answers (e.g., the respondent working 100 hours a week because they work a full-time job and two part-time jobs)
4. True normal – A valid answer 
5. No diagnosis, still suspect – The verdict is out on this "idiopathic" data. When it comes time for the Treatment Phase, you may need to make a judgment call on how to treat this data.

Treatment Phase

You've screened the data and tried to come to a verdict on whether suspect data is guilty or innocent. You have three choices for what to do with suspect data:

1. Leave it unchanged – The most conservative course of action is to accept this data as a valid response and make no change to it. The larger your sample size, the less that one suspect response will affect the analysis; the smaller your sample size, the more difficult the decision.
2. Correct the data – If the respondent's original intent can be determined, then I am in favor of fixing their answer.  For instance, perhaps it is clear from the respondent's explanation for their ratings that they reversed the scale in their minds; you can invert each of their answers to this question to correct the issue. Some statisticians will argue for imputation, replacing the answers with imputed values, such as the mean for that variable, but the techniques for imputation can become quite elaborate and are best left to professional statisticians.
3. Delete the data – The data seems illogical and the value is so far from the norm that it will affect descriptive or inferential statistics. What to do? Delete just this response or delete the entire record? Whenever you begin to toss out data, it raises the possibility that you are "cherry picking" the data to get the answer you want. 

However you choose to treat the data, make sure to document in your survey report what steps you took, how many responses were affected and for which questions.

Screening Phase

Examine data for five different kinds of possible errors:

1. Lack of data – Do some questions have far fewer answers than surrounding questions?
2. Excess of data – Are there duplicate responses?
3. Outliers/inconsistencies – Are there values that are so far beyond the typical that they seem potentially erroneous?
4. Strange patterns – Are there patterns that imply cheating rather than honest answers?  For instance, does a respondent alternate between ratings of 4 and 5 on every other topic in a matrix question?
5. Suspect analysis results – Do the answers to some questions seem counterintuitive or extremely unlikely?

Market Basket Analysis

Market Basket Analysis is used to identify or gain interesting insights into the way customers buy items. It finds out the combination of items which are most likely to be bought together. For example buying milk and bread together can lead to buying butter. Identifying such patterns from the transaction data collected over the years provide new window of opportunity to explore and understand the purchasing behavior and thus can be used to increase sales through cross selling and targeted marketing. Market basket analysis is not limited to retail sales but are applied to a wide range of areas like analyzing credit card purchases, fraud detection for insurance claims and so on. Data Mining technique called association rule mining is usually used. Algorithms like FP-Growth and Apriori algorithm are usually used for mining the transaction data to get the desired patterns.

Dos and Don'ts: Online copywriting

Consumers interact differently with copy on the Web than they do with traditional marketing media. Transferring copy from a printed brochure online is not a recipe for success. Web copy must embrace online consumer behavior and be relevant to the audience's needs.

Don't: Forget to listen

Make sure you are creating a dialogue, not a monologue. Give the audience a part to play. Be attentive. With every reaction and interaction, they're telling you something about themselves. If you haven't given them anything relevant or a way to engage/respond, you'll lose them fast. Use this information to lead them through click by click. Are they looking for cold, hard facts? Do they want to be entertained? Make the information accessible, easy to understand and interactive. Listen and learn.

Do: Optimize your copy for people in addition to search engines

Sure, having searchable words and targeted keywords is crucial if you want the search engines to find you, but you don't want to lose your readers in the process. Selling is about connecting with people and building relationships. Your words are your virtual handshake, extending to those who probably trust a stranger more than they trust your brand. What you write needs to inform, educate and entertain, but it also needs to connect and build trust. Your readers want to know that you get what's going on in their lives and that you actually care about them. So get to know who they are. And then write the way they speak. People instinctively trust those who speak like they do. Keep it conversational, concise and simple. Big words may impress, but your job is to communicate and engage. Avoid words that sound like you're selling something because it will just sound like you're selling something. And the only thing that will build is resentment.

Don't: Try to retrofit a static piece of offline copy into an interactive medium

You're now speaking to an impatient online reader or, more appropriately, an impatient online scanner. Gone is the luxury of the beautifully crafted setup. On the Web, your reader wants the conclusion up front. Think the "inverted pyramid" approach to writing copy. Every word has to hold their attention and move them toward whatever it is they're looking for. Headlines have to be meaningful rather than clever. One idea per paragraph is a good rule of thumb. Speaking of which, stay away from clichés. Include searchable words and targeted keywords so the search engines will find you. Of course, there are rules in the offline world that also apply to the Web. Know who your target is and convince them of what the product can do for their life rather than how many cool features it has to offer. And when you have figured out that magnificent amalgamation of the traditional and the technological, don't let a typo be the thing they remember.

Do: Try writing your next line of copy in 140 characters or less

If you look back four to five years ago, people interacted with Web copy in a somewhat passive way. They would navigate to a Web site or see a banner and then take action – hopefully click and buy. Today we are consuming digital content in a completely different way; one that is short, dynamic and increasingly personalized. The task in front of us as digital copywriters to get our complex and sometimes long-winded thoughts condensed into smaller segments. To start, the approach needs to maintain some fundamentals like understanding the audience, being concise and most importantly bringing a sense of humanity into your work. When constructing the line, script or piece of Web content, remember the consumer is time-starved and success lies is in making each word count in the Facebook and Twitter world.

Easy Database Marketing

Some business owners assume that database marketing requires a level of sophistication that is beyond them.

While it is certainly true that some systems can be quite complex, there's one powerful database strategy that is within everyone's grasp. The concept of Recency.

As long as you have a database that records customer transactions, you can use this powerful concept to help market to people most likely to respond. This will help reduce your overall marketing costs while increasing your response rates.

Determining Keywords For Your Web Pages - Research on Google Key Words

Determining keywords that are profitable is one of the most important techniques you can master as you bring your small business online.

Just in case you haven't heard the term "keyword" before, here's a brief explanation.

Any time someone uses a search engine, they type in a word or phrase. This word or phrase is known as a keyword (even though it can be longer than one word.) The search engine goes out and retrieves all the web pages that focus content on that particular keyword or keyword phrase.

The more relevant the web page is to the keyword, the higher the page ranks in the search engine. Each web page contains a place in the HTML coding to insert these keywords. This helps the search engines determine page content. This is a bit of a simplification as search engines use many other criteria to rank pages. However, keyword focused content pages are the most important on-page criteria.

Deliver poor content that is not keyword focused and you will have a difficult time ranking highly in any search engine.

So, the questions becomes this. How does one choose the proper keyword for any particular web page? The answer is quite simple. You research keywords that pertain to your business and choose the ones that have a high demand and low supply.

The Demand of a keyword is a measure of the number of times people have searched for that keyword in a particular period of time. The Supply of a keyword is a measure of how many total web pages focus on that keyword. Keywords with a high demand and low supply will allow your page to rank higher in the search engines and will drive more traffic.

The best way of determining keywords is to use a good keyword research tool. The purpose of these keyword research tools is to allow you to enter a specific keyword related to your business and then see how many times people searched for that keyword (keyword demand) as well as how many web pages are focused on that keyword (keyword supply.)

In addition, a good keyword research tool will come up with new keywords related to the initial one you typed in, giving you ideas for branching out and coming up with dozens of other high quality keywords.

Meta Tags

It's very simple - if you don't optimize your web pages, the search engines will have a difficult time figuring out your content focus and you can forget about increased website traffic.

These are the things you build into your web pages so that the search engines find your site and rank it favorably. You should also know that there are many dozens of off-page criteria that the search engines (SE's) look at as well - but that's a topic for another article.

How does an SE know that a page has relevance to a particular search term? They use one or more of the following on-page criteria.

1. File Name
2. Page Title
3. META Keyword Tag
4. META Description Tag
5. H1 Headline
6. Keyword Density
7. Links
8. Image Alt tag

While various search engines rank the importance of the above criteria differently, you should be consistent in applying all of them to your pages for increased website traffic.

Understanding Google PageRank

Understanding Google PageRank is not as mysterious as some would have you believe.

So what exactly is PageRank and how does it affect your rankings in the search engines? This article will set you straight on this often misunderstood topic.

PageRank is essentially the measure of a web page's importance relative to all other web pages. While no one knows the exact algorithm Google uses to calculate PageRank, one of the major factors is the number and quality of inbound links pointing to the page in question.

The key to understanding Google PageRank is to realize the democratic nature of inbound links. A link to your page from some external site is really a vote or "thumbs up" for that page. The more votes (i.e., inbound links) a page gets, the more important the page must be.

While your Meta tags and main page keyword help determine the relevance of your page, PageRank determines the importance of that page. When Google returns search results, it wants to return a page with the highest relevance AND the highest importance.

Polish Off Your Reading List for Freelance Writing

We all do know that unread piles of books, magazines and papers sitting around your office would make you nervous. And anxious. A fresh start entails catching up on your reading list. Magazines like Writer and Poets & Writer are excellent selections to read monthly for fresh ideas and new instruction, but they don't do you any good if they pile up and cause anxiety.

Get a Better Understanding of Customers via DataBase

Most companies have a base of regular customers, but few know why those customers keep coming back. Quality, price, delivery, convenience; these are some of the factors that could explain why a customer continues to buy from your company but, unless you understand the factors behind your success, you cannot plan a customer retention strategy for the future. The discipline of building and using a database helps you concentrate on these important issues. By bringing this information together in a single database, you can get a comprehensive view of individual customers and customer groups and assess the effect of different marketing activities on their purchasing behavior. This is the kind of customer and market profile you can develop using database techniques:

• Which market sectors do customers and prospects fit into?
• How many are in each sector?
• What products do they buy?
• What other products could be offered to these sectors?
• Which sectors offer the best growth opportunities?
• Which are the most valuable sectors?
• Who are the key customers in each sector?
• How profitable are the key customers?
• What is the cost of each customer?

What DataBase provides

The information in your database provides you with a detailed picture of the market and allows you to answer questions such as:

• Who are our most important customers?
• How many are there?
• What characteristics do they have?
• What other prospects have similar characteristics?
• Are we generating the maximum amount of business from each customer?
• Are we maximizing the business opportunities from each customer contact?
• Do we really know what our customers want?
• What factors and marketing activities affect their buying behavior?
• Can we identify every product our customers might use?
• Do we know every transaction they might want to make?
• Is information available to everyone who might need it?
• Is our organization giving the right information to the marketplace?
• What would happen if we varied our marketing spend or used different marketing channels?

Database marketing is used by most Marketers

One of the most successful forms of marketing used by marketers is database marketing. Database marketing is essentially about sending targeted promotions to any segment of the customer and prospect lists and measuring the value of each individual customer and tracking the promotional efforts, measuring responses, purchases, and the return on investment for the spent on the promotional efforts.

Database marketing is essentially the technique of gathering all the information available about your customer, leads, and prospects into a central database. This central database is then used for the information, and it is this information then that drives all the marketing efforts.

This information collected in Database marketing is stored in a marketing database and then can be used at both the strategic and tactical levels to drive targeted marketing efforts.

A company that chooses to utilize the concept of database marketing for their marketing efforts continually gathers, refines, and analyzes data about its customers, their buying history, prospects, past marketing efforts, demographics, and etc.

The company also analyzes the data to convert the data into information and it is this information that supports all their future marketing and sales programs. Some of the more enlightened marketing companies also use customer and prospect interests and preferences, which are generally gathered from their web site, to tailor design the marketing efforts to the individual level.

Database marketing can also further be defined as a way of organizing a company's customer and prospect data so that it can be used more in a more effective manner in a direct marketing effort. Database marketing is also a way of organizing the whole marketing process. Database marketing allows the company to choose what to market to whom and when based on the sum total of the knowledge and experience that lies with a customer or prospect.

Get That Prospect Off Your List

Congratulations!  You've got a real live prospect on the line.  Your first task is to start selling, right?  WRONG!  At the very beginning of the sales cycle, your most important task is to find out if you can eliminate the prospect completely from your to-do list.

Yes, you heard me correctly.

Many sales pros (particularly novices) are so thrilled simply to be talking to a real live prospect that they don't want to burst the happy bubble.  So they pretend that the mere fact that a prospect has shown a little interest (by not hanging up) means that they're a potential customer.

Nothing could be further from the truth. There are at least half-a-dozen reasons a prospect might show interest but never buy. For instance, the prospect may:

1. feel bored or lonely and just want to talk to somebody.
2. hope to have the offering…someday in the far future.
3. be looking for a catspaw to play against your competitor.
4. be confused about their firm's real needs.
5. think your pricey offering fits within their teeny budget.
6. be looking for new contacts for a future job hunt.

Look, the last thing that you want to do with your valuable time is to waste it on somebody that's who NOT going to buy.

So it's a BIG WIN for you, if you can eliminate a prospect from your to-do list.  And it's an even BIGGER WIN if you can do this within the first five minutes of talking to the prospect.  Here's what you need to know:

• Do they really need your offering?
• Is the financial impact big enough to justify a purchase?
• How do they buy this kind of product?
• Do they have a budget or can one be secured?
• What's their time frame for addressing this issue?
• Who says "Yes" and who can say "No"?

If you can't get a decent answer — or a process to get an answer — to any of these questions, then you're WASTING YOUR TIME.

On the other hand, if you can get answers — or a process in place to get those answers, you've got a real opportunity.

But let's be clear: if that prospect ain't gonna buy, you wanna exit ASAP.

Should You Let Your Interns Manage Twitter?

Would you let a 21-year-old intern work the phones without training? Then why would you let one manage your company's Twitter account, where they have direct contact with loads of extremely vocal customers?

Fresh joinees are often given charge of a corporate Twitter updates because they tend to be Web savvy.

But their lack of experience can be a drawback, especially when they're dealing directly with customers.

They may struggle to pick up on the culture, image, direction, and goals of a company in the short time they are there. And when they leave, they take their Twitter skills and style with them, leaving the company to find fill that void every few months.

Here are four tips to ensure your Twitterer is adding value:

Find the best people for the job. Interns are not your only option. Your company probably has people who are using Twitter. Find them, and recruit them for the task of becoming your official Twitterers. Already being familiar with the service will give these people a leg up.

Train them. Give them the same basic customer training that you give to the rest of your customer service team — how to interact with customers, what the company wants to communicate, the language that works best, and the image it wants to convey.

Let them become experts on Twitter. Give them the time and resources to learn the ropes. Twitter is a tiny bit more technical than working the phones (though you would train your phone reps on your phone system, wouldn't you?). Especially important is Twitter etiquette — a backlash on Twitter spread across the Web can be damaging to your reputation.

Keep them in the loop. Give your Twitterers the same information you'd supply other customer service reps — promotions you're currently running, as well as any ongoing product or service issues. A customer who Tweets a complaint is just as important as one who calls one in, and if your Twitter-er is in the dark about the nature of the complaint he or she could just make a situation worse. Remember — an angry phone call can't go viral.

Incentivise the role. What kind of reward can you offer your Twitterer for interacting individually with a set number of customers, or generating a certain number of re-tweets.

Backlinks to your websites

We all need backlinks to our websites.

A backlink is an inbound html code that points to your website. You are probably wondering why you would want a backlink.

If you have many websites with one-way links to your website, the search engines interpret this in your favor. You want to make sure that your website is at the "hub of the wheel" so to speak -- all the spokes, or links, are pointing to your website.

Your goal should be that the search engines view your site as an "authority site". If a website provides excellent, interesting articles and other content, and has many readers, that website could be called an "authority site". Websites mention and point to, or refer to, articles and videos on the authority site.

Let's step back a bit and explain links in an example:

If Sally's site links to you, then you have one inbound link. However, if your website links back to Sally's site, the links balance each other out and no one wins - that is called a reciprocal link. Don't look for reciprocal links. You should look for links back to your website from other websites where you don't have to link to them.

Now who is going to do that? Any website marketer who has been around for some time does not want reciprocal links. He wants one-way links to his site.

Sources of Inbound, One-Way Links:

• Links from directories
• Links from articles you write

Are You Socially Acceptable?

One reason social media sites have caught on like wildfire among users is that, by and large, they operate on basic principles of social decency. always have a check on: Do your social-media skills match the subtle standards set at sites like Twitter and YouTube?

Not sure? Well, here are a few site-inspired rules to help ensure your online outreach efforts are socially acceptable:

Don't stifle the conversation. It's easy to react negatively when you spot a negative review at a social site, but first take a deep breath. Consider this: do the comments have merit? If so, acknowledge them and commit to making a change. If they are silly or mean, it's probably best to let them go.

Bring something besides your product to the table. People don't want just a pitch, they want a person. Don't spend precious social-media time pushing your wares; pass a little time with your audience. Let them get to know you and your brand.

Be responsive. Agencies have spent decades trying to get people to cultivate emotional connections with logos and labels; it's only natural that, now that they have a soapbox, users demand to know why they should ally themselves with you. Demonstrate that you care what your customers, donors or clients think: Follow their discussions, engage them in dialogue, express interest in who they are.

Suggest: Toe the social line. Social media sites are about being natural—in acceptable ways. Make sure your outreach—no matter how fun or creative—always shows consideration and respect.

Past and Current customer behavior are the best predictors of Future customer behavior

Past and Current customer behavior are the best predictors of Future customer behavior. Think about it. Any entity you can define as a
customer – external, internal, distributors, manufacturers, suppliers – they all pursue certain routines, and changes in these routines often indicate an opportunity or challenge is ahead in your relationship with them. When it comes to action-oriented activities like interacting with a web site, this concept really takes on a very important role. You can predict future behavior based on an understanding of past behavior, and use this knowledge to improve marketing or service programs.

Take these two groups of potential buyers who surf around the 'Net:
People who are a perfect demographic match for your business, but have never made a purchase / subscribed to a service online
People who are outside the core demographics for your business, but have repeatedly purchased / subscribed to a service online
If you sent a 20% off promotion to each group, asking them to visit and make a first purchase, response would be higher from the buyers (second bullet above) than the demographically targeted group (first bullet above).
It works because actual behavior is better at predicting future behavior than demographic characteristics are.

High ROI Customer Marketing Tactics!

Go beyond using simple customer demographics to start looking at past customer behavior, the most reliable source of data for predicting the potential value of a customer and their likelihood to remain a customer.  When you nail down these behavioral metrics and start measuring their trends, you will be able to:

* Identify customer segments with the highest future potential
* Focus on growing the profitability of middle potential customers
* Stop wasting resources acquiring and marketing to low potential
 customers

Once you identify these groups, you can manage their value by:

* Emphasizing the ads, media, and products creating long term high potential value customers and downplaying ones that don't

* Creating High ROI marketing programs that maximize customer value by increasing sales while lowering expenses

* Predicting when best customers are about to leave you and reacting with customer retention and save-a-customer programs

* Quantifying the profitability of marketing and operational initiatives by linking them to potential customer value

what is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free analysis tool which gives you information on where your website visitors are coming from, which pages they visit, how long they stay, and a lot more. There are plenty of paid stat counters available which present data in different ways, but Google Analytics is one of the best, and it's free.

One can over-analyze or under-analyze any website. Some people spend too much time checking stats, analyzing, and planning, and don't spend enough time writing good content and getting new readers to their blogs.

On the other side of the pendulum, you could go on week after week, blindly publishing content and flailing along with offsite promotíon, without seeing what results your campaigns are getting, which type of content is the most popular for your visitors, and which traffic-generation techniques are getting the best results.

In between, we have a happy balance.

1. Find out which of your website's pages are getting the most traffic, and optimize those pages.
2. Find out which referrers are generating the most traffic, and continue any actions you have been taking to generate traffic from those referrers.
3. Find out which keywords you are ranking the best for, and see which ones you can "push to the top."
4. Find out which pages keep your visitors' attention for the longest.
5. Look at the graph of your bounce rate.

What is Market Basket Analysis

Market Basket Analysis is a modelling technique. The basket enables us to diagnose on who is buying what product and what he/she 'may' 'most probably buy'. Based upon the theory that if you buy a certain group of items, you are more (or less) likely to buy another group of items. To put it simply it is Affinity Analysis.It is a technique that discovers co-occurrence relationships among activities performed by (or recorded about) specific individuals, groups, etc.

In the case of retailers with stores, market basket information enables the retailer to understand the buyer's needs and rewrite the store's layout accordingly, develop cross-promotional programs, or even capture new buyers (much like the cross-selling concept).

The set of items a customer buys is referred to as an itemset, and market basket analysis seeks to find relationships between purchases.

The challenge has been how to leverage this data to produce business value. Most have already figured out a way to consolidate and aggregate their data to understand the basics of the business: what are they selling, how many units are moving and the sales amount. However, few have ventured far enough to analyze the information at its lowest level of granularity: the market basket transaction.

At this level of detail, the information is very useful as it provides the business users with direct visibility into the market basket of each of the customers who shopped at their store. The data becomes a window into the events as they happened, understanding not only the quantity of the items that were purchased in that particular basket, but how these items were bought in conjunction with each other. In turn, this capability enables advanced analytics such as:

• Item affinity: Defines the likelihood of two (or more) items being purchased together.
• Identification of driver items: Enables the identification of the items that drive people to us that always need to be in stock.
• Trip classification: Analyzes the content of the basket and classifies the shopping trip into a category: weekly grocery trip, special occasion, etc.
• Store-to-store comparison: Understanding the number of baskets allows any metric to be divided by the total number of baskets, effectively creating a convenient and easy way to compare stores with different characteristics (units sold per customer, revenue per transaction, number of items per basket, etc.).

When Bad Buzz Happens to Good Companies

It seems almost inevitable these days: You run a search on your company's name or product and a negative review, remark or blog post appears in the top listings. What do you do? Don't  ... lose your cool and try to retaliate, It often does more damage than good. Instead what you probably could do is:

Do your best to resolve the issue with the dissatisfied person—publicly. It shows that you are persistent and take your customers' satisfaction seriously.

Take action to push the negative reports down in search-results pages. Submit a press release to PR distribution sites, or start a new blog about your company's products or services. Make sure you share the good information about your business, such as favorable stats or testimonials. All that good news will likely be listed in search results before the bad stuff.

Use social networking to build—and spread—positive buzz. People will refer your site if it has appeal for their peers. So provide pertinent and buzz-worthy info.

So in short: Hold your head up high. With proper planning and a few positive strategies, you can mitigate any damage done to your rep by a few bad comments—and you may boost your goodwill in the process.

Maximize Your Social-Networking Investment

You don't get to be a social-networking superstar without paying your dues. You ought to try to maximize the value of the time spent.You should talk about others eight times for each thing you say about yourself. There's a good reason for doing so: The more you discuss what others say and do, the more likely they are to reciprocate. You're going to be more successful in social networks if people have an idea of the real you—not just the business you, not just the consultant you. But beware of sharing TMI [too much information], a common mistake in the world of social networks. Some people go crazy and they're all out in the ether, talking about weird stuff.

Make your brand talk. But not chatter away.

Home Office writer

If you're working out of your home, you most likely have some sort of a home office. No matter what type of home office you have, there are some things that every office should have. Get ready to get rid of the clutter and get your home office looking more modern and better than ever!

Essential Home Office Tools:

What do you need for an effective home office? Don't fall for all of the high-tech, fancy gadgets on the market today. To have an effective home office for general business that will meet your everyday needs, you only need the following:

•  An all-in-one printer, fax, copier, and scanner
• Either a desktop computer or laptop computer
• A working landline or cell phone

Those three things mentioned above are the essential tools needed
in your office. Get rid of that old scanner, the dated fax, and the
crappy copier and pick up an all-in-one. This saves space and
leaves no room for clutter, not to mention how easy it is to
operate. Throw away the filing cabinet and scan documents and save
them onto a hard drive. Get rid of your old bulky CRT monitor and
turn it in for a new flat-panel LCD.

A Separate Space For Work

Get out of your bedroom office (if you can) and use that spare
bedroom to convert it into the ultimate office space. You need a
space dedicated to work, so that way your work won't invade your
personal area, as each day you will technically be "commuting to
work" when going to your own personal office.

A separate space is also beneficial because if gets you away from
distractions. This way, you go in, do your work, and leave. Very
similar to a job away from home, except the commute is much shorter!

Keep It Clean - Keep It Simple

There's no need to go overboard when dressing up your office. Keep
the walls a dark color. Avoid bright painted walls. Avoid excess
clutter on the walls, such as too many picture frames or paintings.
Also make sure your desk is clean and organized. A cluttered desk
is a distraction, which will eventually lead to you not getting
done what you need to get done.

Take some of these things into consideration when getting your home
office ready. I can assure you that these tips will make for a
better, more modern home office.

Tweet Like You Mean It

Lots of companies are trying out to see how they can use Twitter to promote their products and services. The fact is a few good tweets can also provide great customer service. 

Send out tips on maintaining your products. Your years of experience can help you gain credibility on Twitter as a leader in your profession,

• A jeweler can tweet a few tips on cleaning and maintaining that wedding ring. "How often should you have the prongs checked?" .
  
• A dry cleaner can tweet advice about attacking a stain before you bring a garment in to be cleaned. Or he could talk about treating stains on a variety of fabrics, one tweet and one fabric at a time.

Announce new arrivals of inventory. These tweets can be particularly effective when targeted to customers who have registered their product preferences.

Twitter isn't the sole solution to surviving the recession, but it can be one of the many strategies you employ to reach new and current customers.

So go on, Reach out and tweet someone. If you make a list of 10 or 20 tips, you can send one out each day, Ross says. What a great, free way to provide active customer service during the downturn.

Economical methods to touch your customer

Start with e-mail
If you can get your e-mail through and read, it can be a quick and cost effective way to generate responses and identify qualified leads. However, e-mail experts will tell you that most unsolicited commercial e-mail is now blocked, and they privately admit that from 20% to as much as 70% of opt-in e-mail never gets through the spam filters, or past the delete key, to be read by prospects. If you want to generate the maximum number of leads from your database, you need use other lead generation tactics too.

Reach customers and prospects with direct mail
If your budget is tight, consider personalized, laser-printed letters or postcards. These formats are some of the lowest cost-per-touch mail formats and are a way to reach prospects you can't e-mail. These mail pieces are getting through and getting the attention of your prospective customers. They also are cost effective (if the other tips are followed) on a cost-per-lead basis.

Use search engine optimization or paid search if you want more leads that represent short-term sales opportunities
You need to increase the likelihood of being found at the top of the search engine results when buyers are actively searching for products or services like yours. Despite what the SEO experts say, optimizing your pages can be as easy as putting the right words or phrases in the right places on your Web pages. If you can't get to the top of the results that way, consider spending a portion of your limited marketing funds on carefully targeted pay-per-click ads.

Leverage social media as another inexpensive way to stay in sight and in mind with your prospects
Being in sight and in mind at the right time is often the key to generating qualified, sales-ready leads. All it costs to use social media, like LinkedIn or Twitter, is time. Start by investing an hour a day to read whatever you can find on the subject. Soon you'll know more about social media marketing than most. Then, join appropriate LinkedIn groups and search in Twitter for terms related to your products or services. Observe for a while to get a feel for what's working, and then jump in and start contributing to the conversation. And even if it doesn't get you lots of leads, it will keep you from twiddling your thumbs because you have no budget to do marketing.

Use multi-touch direct marketing to increase your chance of being in-sight and in-mind at the right time with your prospective customers

You'll generate more by touching 1,000 prospects three times with your direct marketing, than you will by touching 3,000 prospects once. Each contact is another chance to be in the right place at the right time.

Make offers that your prospective customers can't refuse

Compelling offers or calls-to-action are the key to getting prospects to identify themselves and take the next step in their buying process, from awareness to inquiry to consideration to qualifying as sales-ready leads. With this in mind, create a suite of offers each designed to address those different stages of your prospects' buying cycle. Be sure to include some "buy-now" offers intended to incentivize prospective customers to buy now rather than later.

Avoid one-size-fits-all messaging

Group your prospects and customers by similar industries, company sizes, applications or job functions. Then tailor the messages to address each group accordingly. For example, use jargon that demonstrates a familiarity with their industry. Address a specific problem that is widespread in companies their size. Make relevant offers that address their unique application for your products or services. Use testimonials from others with similar job functions. These tailored messages will increase the number of sales-ready leads generated.

Focus first on your existing prospect and customer database

The in-house database is often the most productive source of short-term leads and sales. That is because the people in the database have already expressed an interest in your products or services by responding to previous marketing programs, inquiring or buying. They also may have been added to your prospect database because they were similar to your best customers, or they appeared likely to have problems or needs your products or services can solve. That makes them the right people to target with lead generation campaigns.

Marketers weave web of loyalty

Many multichannel merchants are investing in the e-commerce customer experience as a way to drive results even as economic pressures force them to cutback in other areas. These retailers are also delving further into the connection between online customer experience and customer loyalty.

While most areas are being cut, and online efforts are not immune, retailers see the online experience as an investment which can increase sales through better conversion rates and decrease costly customer service calls.

In general, retailers understand that a good user experience will enhance loyalty. Companies are just starting to really explore how to merge channel behavior with loyalty programs. Major retailers are considering giving good customers a coupon for the e-commerce Web site after an in-store purchase is made as a way to stimulate multi-channel behavior. 


For now, most retailers are focused on ensuring that customers can find what they are looking for without encountering problems. A smooth shopping experience that keeps them coming back and encourages them to recommend the site to others is the goal. These efforts run the gamut from site optimization to bells and whistles such as product recommendations, video product descriptions, live chat and customer reviews. 


There's a high degree of correlation between good customer experiences and consumers' willingness to make subsequent purchases from a company, according to the recent Forrester Research report The State of Customer Experience, 2009. 
One of the key areas for improving online customer experience is relooking at product landing pages; Often, consumers come to a 
product page through a search engine, so the product page becomes a default landing page. This requires many firms to rethink content and layout of pages.And as companies put more content and functionality on their Web sites, it has become harder for customers to find what they are looking for.


Retailers are looking into what are the barriers to buying online and trying to address these. Whether it's a new customer or an existing one, the goal is to make it easy for people to shop, transact and keep coming back to the site. The issue is similar to what retailers face with their offline stores. If a shopper has to wait online or can't find what they're looking for in a bricks-and-mortar store, they're not going to come back or recommend the store to someone else.

Live chat is also being used to improve the customer experience online. In a recent survey by live chat software company BoldChat. Sixty-two percent said they are more likely to buy again from the site because of the live chat interaction.

Getting it write

You may still be thinking, "That's okay - I know how to write!" But do you? You may know how to put sentences together and you may understand the basic rules of grammar - but that's not the same as writing effective copy.

If you write marketing materials without a thorough understanding of good copy, you could be doing your business a disservice. This is because you might not be using the best ways of getting your points across.

If you want your business to succeed (and who doesn't?), it's vital that whatever is written about your business shows you in the most favourable light possible. So choose your words carefully!

Copwriting tip 1
Write short words, short sentences and short paragraphs! This will make your marketing words more readable. Writing short sentences, in particular, will make your copy flow.

Copywriting tip 2
According to the old adage, 'The more you tell, the more you sell'.  So, the more you write - the more you will sell. Hence the requirement for 'long body copy' (i.e. more words). Remember that it's only the people who are actually in the market to buy - who will avidly read every single word you write.

Writing for your audience

You might enjoy esoteric word choice or complicated sentence structure, but you don't want to lose your readers or send them reaching for a dictionary. Likewise, consider their perspective—what they value and what will interest them.

Differences between Social Channels

Social sharing sites. From written reviews to rich media, users share information of all forms on social sharing sites. This includes videos, photos, and more. And all of this user-generated content can be made instantly available to millions of users and site visitors. Think YouTube, Vimeo, and Flickr. These are three popular examples of social sharing sites.

Social networking sites. If you've ever heard of a little site called Facebook, you are familiar with a social networking site. Basically, these sites build communities of users that share a common interest -- hobbies, high school, ex-girlfriends, you name it. They serve as a means for people to meet new people and stay connected with friends and families (and even enemies). They also allow businesses to connect with other businesses or individuals. Communication is a huge part of social networking sites and includes tools such as email, instant messaging, and real-time posts on an individual's profile. Today's other popular social networking sites include LinkedIn and MySpace.

Social news sites. Just as the name says, the main purpose of a social news site is to exchange newsworthy information. Digg, Technorati, and Reddit are good examples. On these sites, users submit photos, videos, news articles, blog posts, and more for others to view. Often, other users can vote on which pieces of newsworthy information they like the most. The submissions with the most votes will usually appear on the social news site's front page, increasing the chances that others will see it.

Social bookmarking sites. One example of a social bookmarking site is Delicious. Users of Delicious can store, organize, search, and manage their favorite web pages online. They can also make their bookmarks public, or choose to share them with just a few specific individuals or groups. Other examples include Diggo, Blinklist, and Simpy.

Social review sites. These are sites that give consumers a platform to be heard. Users can submit reviews on specific products and companies, including advice, testimonials, and personal recommendations. Examples of popular social review sites include Epinions, Viewpoints, Yelp, Omgili, and Buzzillions.

Be focused

Vagueness is often our first impulse when we're getting things down.But it's specificity that gives our descriptions power.In your first draft, use as many clichés as you need to, just get the story down. In your revision, however, treat every single cliché as an opportunity for brilliance. Ask yourself how you can describe this in an entirely new way.

Part of being specific in description is also being original, avoiding the usual path. But there may be times when you use a mix of vague and specific details to highlight certain qualities in your characters.To work on this: Ask yourself the most naïve questions possible to access the sensory cues that conjure the situation for a reader (and that in life we absorb subconsciously): What sounds evoke the scene for you? What smells? What images? What physical responses would you have to this situation? And if questions don't work for you, find some other way to visualize the scene. If you can't picture it, how will you enable your reader to do so?

In fiction, description should not only paint a picture for the reader, but also contribute to the plot and reveal something about character. Choose your details carefully. There's a fine line between lush description and the kind that chokes the reader.If you fear you're in danger of crossing that line, consider which elements of your description serve the primary elements of your plot and which are gratuitous.

Direct marketing - a measure to tracking

Direct marketing is a sub-discipline and type of marketing. There are two main definitional characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing. The first is that it attempts to send its messages directly to consumers, without the use of intervening media. This involves commercial communication (direct mail, e-mail, telemarketing) with consumers or businesses, usually unsolicited. The second characteristic is that it is focused on driving a specific "call-to-action." This aspect of direct marketing involves an emphasis on trackable, measurable positive (but not negative) responses from consumers (known simply as "response" in the industry) regardless of medium.

If the advertisement asks the prospect to take a specific action, for instance call a free phone number or visit a website, then the effort is considered to be direct response advertising.

Sales Diagnosis

Most sales reps think that they're uncovering customer needs by merely asking about them.  Unfortunately, most of the time, the customer is either too close to the problem, or lacks the knowledge required to figure out what's wrong.  As a result, the wrong needs are surfaced, resulting in a solution that won't work.

The analogy between a B2B sales rep interviewing a customer and a physician interviewing a patient.  Here are three conversations:

VERSION 1:
Patient: My stomach hurts.
Doctor: No problem. I have a special introductory offer…

VERSION 2:
Patient: My stomach hurts.
Doctor: What do you think is causing the pain?
Patient: I ate too much last night; I need a strong antacid..
Doctor: No problem. Here's a prescription…

VERSION 3:
Patient: My stomach hurts.
Doctor: In what way and at what times?
Patient: After I eat pizza, I get this burning sensation.
Doctor: Have you noticed an itchy mouth when this occurs?
Patient: Well, now that you mention it, yes.
Doctor: It sounds like you may have an allergy.
What kind of pizza have you been eating?
Patient: Actually, it's been pepperoni the last few times.
Doctor: We'll run a few tests, and if it's from the pepperoni,
a change in diet will take care of your stomach problem.

Most sales reps tend to have conversations with their customers that are either like version 1 or version 2.   Version 1 is the old "pitch whatever you've got" routine.  Version 2 is what usually passes for "consultative" selling — it assumes that the customer knows the problem and simply needs a solution to that problem.

Version 3 corresponds to the way the B2B sales world really works.  Most of the time, the stuff that you're selling is outside of the understanding of the customer and probably addresses problems that the customer doesn't really understand.

Therefore, it's your job to correctly diagnose those needs and, only then, figure out what's good for what ails them.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is a form of marketing most commonly done via leaflets, brochures, letters, catalogs, or print or digital ads mailed, emailed, or distributed directly to current and potential consumers.

The direct marketing process should also include database management, telecommunications, and digital media access.

Marketers should take full advantage of the technological advancements made to enhance direct marketing outreach.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a free service which enables its registered members to send and read other members' updates or short text-based messages known as 'tweets', of up to 140 characters in length. Members can share URL's of web pages as well.

A member can post messages which will be displayed on his profile page, but to receive messages from other members or friends, a member has to follow or subscribe to their Twitter accounts. This way, members can follow and start receiving messages from each other. Members can send and receive 'tweets' through mobile phones as well.

Twitter.com, which received about 1.2 lakh unique visitors in India as per comScore data released in February 2009, is still nascent in the country and not many brands are using it.

Some of the brands which have started experimenting with Twitter are Zapak.com, Naukri.com, Business Line, The Times of India, Mint and DNA, but these are still striving to get traction on it.

Brands using Twitter to converse with and inform consumers is not an India specific phenomenon. Some of the brands which are using Twitter effectively in the US include Dell, JetBlue Airways, Pizza Hut, Samsung Mobile, Ford Motors and Kodak.

Why do we need Online Reputation Management

Online Reputation Management, ORM, is the practice of managing an individual or business reputation within online media. Online media, including search engines, are managed to make positive information visible to the public and downplay any information which could negatively affect the individual or business. Reputations are earned. Years of hard work and building trust can be destroyed online, often anonymously.

The net has given us a huge opening to broadcast any kind of information that we intend to share. Well, the same net enables our competitors, angry customers, upset employees to also announce their negative viewpoint towards us. Just the way we have freedom to mention what we like they too can exercise the same freedom and can mention what they like ...rather don't like. The advent of social media, communities, and networking sites, has been useful to many companies. They have positively affected the majority of businesses by allowing them to directly communicate with consumers about products and services they offer. However social media has also opened doors to malicious behavior of the minority, which has proven to be damaging to individual and corporate reputations. Individuals and the small business to the fortune 500 companies have been harmed by malicious online postings. Part of this pain is self inflicted and some is the handiwork of unhappy customers, disgruntled former employees or chronic complainers.

Due to the number of people who use search engines as a research tool, online reputation management is becoming a big industry. Ruthless competitors and angry clients now have open access to blogs and web sites. They can define a person or company's online identity. Their words have far reaching effects- whether they are true or not.

This is why ORM is necessary. Because it is difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate traces of thoughtless actions or malicious attacks on the web, online reputation firms disseminate positive information on their clients. The goal in online reputation management is to bring public attention to positive blogs, articles and other online media written on behalf of the company. The positive online publicity takes the higher search engine result rankings, thus minimizing the damage of any attack.

So happy writing!

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Blogger - freelance writer

Examiner.com - JACKSONVILLE , FL

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Examiner.com - LEXINGTON , KY

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Examiner.com - CINCINNATI , OH

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Examiner.com - KANSAS CITY , MO

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Examiner.com - MEMPHIS , TN

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Examiner.com - AUSTIN , TX

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Examiner.com - FORT WORTH , TX

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Examiner.com - SAN ANTONIO , TX

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Examiner.com - OAKLAND , CA

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Freelance writer

Demand Studios

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View job - 4 days ago PostJobFree.com

freelance writer

Beyond.com

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Online managing editor

Lynn Hazan & Associates - CHICAGO , IL

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Freelance writer / blogger *part time/ft* get paid to write $7000-$3500/wk *apply now*

Freelance Writing Co - PITTSBURGH , PA

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Freelance writer / blogger *part time/ft* get paid to write $7000-$3500/wk *apply now*

Freelance Writing Co - MINNEAPOLIS , MN

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Freelance writer / blogger *part time/ft* get paid to write $7000-$3500/wk *apply now*

Freelance Writing Co , MO

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Freelance writer / blogger *part time/ft* get paid to write $7000-$3500/wk *apply now*

Freelance Writing Co - ATLANTA , GA

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Freelance writer / blogger *part time/ft* get paid to write $7000-$3500/wk *apply now*

Freelance Writing Co - STAMFORD , CT

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Freelance writer / blogger *part time/ft* get paid to write $7000-$3500/wk *apply now*

Freelance Writing Co - ALEXANDRIA , VA

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Freelance writer / blogger *part time/ft* get paid to write $7000-$3500/wk *apply now*

Freelance Writing Co - BIRMINGHAM , AL