What else do you have to know?

• Keep your strategic information to yourself: You don’t need to (and should not) give everything away. Any specific information you uncover that gives you an advantage over your direct competitors – and would likewise help
  A Winning Marketing Plan To Attract Customers and Beat The Competition - Part 2
  Key Areas Your Marketing Plan Should EntailYour marketing plan should outline the following elements: Purpose and Mission Situation Analysis (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats) Unique Selling Proposition and Positioning Statement Strategy (place, product, price, promotion) Sales Forecast Implementation (roles, responsibilities, time lines) Performance Analysis (to evaluate the success of the marketing plan) Commit To An Action PlanYour plan of action should be concise and to the point. Exactly how and when will the information you have organized be initiated?Plot it out in specific detail, clearly indicating tools, techniques and strategies to be used to realize each objective. Delegate responsibilities for each task and outli
  Marketing research isn’t just a way to collect opinions, measure awareness or test positioning statements any more. Packaged correctly, your research itself can be your message. You can turn your results into media stories that attract favorable publicity and establish you or your business as an authority. Or you can craft compelling premiums – reports, guides or booklets – with must-have information that generates leads.

  Case in point: I worked with an agency that promised its client, a software provider in the mergers and acquisitions field, 500 qualified leads for its sales team. The entire campaign, from print ads and direct mail to e-mails and telemarketing was built around a booklet of insights on how to do better deals. The substance of the book came from one-on-one interviews with the client and its customers. The offer worked: we ultimately pulled at least 1,200 qualified leads, more than doubling the client’s expectations.

  Another case: One my other clients, a franchise marketing agency in New Jersey, initiated research to poll franchise executives regarding agencies and agency relationships. But the interviews proved deeper and richer than they had anticipated, yielding a wealth of insights on franchise marketing and franchisor-franchisee communications. The resulting report has become the foundation for a press campaign and a major component of the agency’s branding and lead-generation efforts, which are pulling in clients as I write.

  I talked to Rich Higginson, president of The Princeton Research Group, the firm that executed the research on behalf of the franchise marketing agency. We put our brains together and came up with a few pointers on who should leverage research and how they should go about it.

  Who can package research to their advantage?

  • Businesses with big “brain capital”: Think professional services and consulting firms. Or industries such as financial services, insurance or healthcare. Here, knowledge is money. Any insights you can provide on how customers think, feel, hope and fear has an immediate value your clients will appreciate.
  • Non-profit organizations: In any major fundraising campaign, the real money comes from a handful of big contributors. But before the big players pony up, they want evidence that the need is real, the goal desirable and the organization effective. A third-party report based on objective data can be the story you need to win over major contributors.
  • Political organizers: Gathering support for a referendum, such as a tax override, can be tough work. But you can soften the ground by distributing research that lets voters know what their neighbors are thinking. Likewise, incumbent parties can package data regarding constituent desires – what voters said they want from their government – with facts on how the government has responded to their concerns.

  What do you do with the research you’ve gathered?

  • Pepper your press releases: Reporters are often too busy to conduct deep investigations on their own. That’s why editors really appreciate press releases loaded with fresh, objective information that can form the core of new stories. Example: “In a survey of leading American textile manufacturers, 85% believe that competition from China will cripple the nation’s textile industry in the next five years.” Or: “Consumer surveys indicate that CD music sales still run strong in the 50+ crowd.”
  • Share it in your own bylined articles: Consultants and other service providers looking to establish “thought leadership” are always eager for ideas on which they can build bylined articles. One good research study can become fodder for a half-dozen substantive articles based on the data you’ve gathered. These may be placed in industry-relevant publications. Or you can bypass traditional media and distribute your articles online through a syndication site such as EzineArticles.com.
  • Put together a premium to attract leads: It’s one of the perennial problems of business-to-business marketing: how do you get the attention of the big decision-makers and top executives you must persuade to make the sale? Here’s your ace-in-the-hole: they’re hungry for information. They want to know what the market’s up to; what their competitors are doing; what their colleagues think; what their customers desire. Consider packaging your research into white papers, reports or guides you can use as offers in a lead-gen campaign: “Call today for our free guide, 8 Things You Must Do to Engage Hispanic Consumers.” These same reports make excellent downloads from your website (in exchange for basic contact information, of course).

  What else do you have to know?

  • Keep your strategic information to yourself: You don’t need to (and should not) give everything away. Any specific information you uncover that gives you an advantage over your direct competitors – and would likewise help y
    The Global Village: Culture Shock
    Today we hear much talk of the 'global village'. People are have more opportunities to travel and live abroad than ever before. However, when you leave a familiar environment and go for an extended stay somewhere quite different, you could experience a whole range of unexpected and unfamiliar feelings. Many of these emotions can be very strong, making you feel out of control and confused: just the sort of problem you could do without as you try to cope with a new job, a new way of life. This is the experience we call 'culture shock' and its course is well understood and documented. So, the first thing to remember is that culture shock is normal, that it has clearly defined stages and that, provided you understand what is happening to you, you should be able to cope with it.Why might we experience culture shock? The first point to make is that i
    ersey, initiated research to poll franchise executives regarding agencies and agency relationships. But the interviews proved deeper and richer than they had anticipated, yielding a wealth of insights on franchise marketing and franchisor-franchisee communications. The resulting report has become the foundation for a press campaign and a major component of the agency’s branding and lead-generation efforts, which are pulling in clients as I write.

    I talked to Rich Higginson, president of The Princeton Research Group, the firm that executed the research on behalf of the franchise marketing agency. We put our brains together and came up with a few pointers on who should leverage research and how they should go about it.

    Who can package research to their advantage?

    • Businesses with big “brain capital”: Think professional services and consulting firms. Or industries such as financial services, insurance or healthcare. Here, knowledge is money. Any insights you can provide on how customers think, feel, hope and fear has an immediate value your clients will appreciate.
    • Non-profit organizations: In any major fundraising campaign, the real money comes from a handful of big contributors. But before the big players pony up, they want evidence that the need is real, the goal desirable and the organization effective. A third-party report based on objective data can be the story you need to win over major contributors.
    • Political organizers: Gathering support for a referendum, such as a tax override, can be tough work. But you can soften the ground by distributing research that lets voters know what their neighbors are thinking. Likewise, incumbent parties can package data regarding constituent desires – what voters said they want from their government – with facts on how the government has responded to their concerns.

    What do you do with the research you’ve gathered?

    • Pepper your press releases: Reporters are often too busy to conduct deep investigations on their own. That’s why editors really appreciate press releases loaded with fresh, objective information that can form the core of new stories. Example: “In a survey of leading American textile manufacturers, 85% believe that competition from China will cripple the nation’s textile industry in the next five years.” Or: “Consumer surveys indicate that CD music sales still run strong in the 50+ crowd.”
    • Share it in your own bylined articles: Consultants and other service providers looking to establish “thought leadership” are always eager for ideas on which they can build bylined articles. One good research study can become fodder for a half-dozen substantive articles based on the data you’ve gathered. These may be placed in industry-relevant publications. Or you can bypass traditional media and distribute your articles online through a syndication site such as EzineArticles.com.
    • Put together a premium to attract leads: It’s one of the perennial problems of business-to-business marketing: how do you get the attention of the big decision-makers and top executives you must persuade to make the sale? Here’s your ace-in-the-hole: they’re hungry for information. They want to know what the market’s up to; what their competitors are doing; what their colleagues think; what their customers desire. Consider packaging your research into white papers, reports or guides you can use as offers in a lead-gen campaign: “Call today for our free guide, 8 Things You Must Do to Engage Hispanic Consumers.” These same reports make excellent downloads from your website (in exchange for basic contact information, of course).

    What else do you have to know?

    • Keep your strategic information to yourself: You don’t need to (and should not) give everything away. Any specific information you uncover that gives you an advantage over your direct competitors – and would likewise help
      Elements of a Successful Newsletter: 5 - Pictures
      While a picture may say a thousand words, the pictures you see in some printed newsletters -- unfortunately -- say a thousand words of gibberish.Why are so many pictures not up to scratch? First, it's difficult to get high-quality photography -- unless you've got a big budget or you know where to go.Second, it's hard to get pictures to look right in print if you're not an expert with image manipulation software such as Photoshop. You've probably seen printed images that are blurred our 'blocky' -- that's often because they are not created at the right resolution (300dpi) or they've been enlarged more than the image quality can bear.While you can get away with writing the words yourself, a sub-standard picture will shout out 'amateur'. (Of course, if you are going for a Paid Surveys Scam
      Do paid surveys really work? Can you earn a great income from your own home? Are they just a gigantic scam? The answer is yes and no to all three questions.Many paid surveys sites are a complete waste of time and money, in fact a whopping 85% of the sites that I have tried. It will take you months to recover the small outlay you made to sign up for the surveys list and you will never be able to earn enough from home with these sites to allow you to do anything serious with, like paying a deposit for your next holiday or even quitting your job and using surveys as your main source of income.It's a real shame that in the world we live in today is full of so many unscrupulous characters willing to con honest hard working individuals like you and I out of our hard earned money. However please note that I did say "many" of these sites, not all.<
      i>Pepper your press releases: Reporters are often too busy to conduct deep investigations on their own. That’s why editors really appreciate press releases loaded with fresh, objective information that can form the core of new stories. Example: “In a survey of leading American textile manufacturers, 85% believe that competition from China will cripple the nation’s textile industry in the next five years.” Or: “Consumer surveys indicate that CD music sales still run strong in the 50+ crowd.”
    • Share it in your own bylined articles: Consultants and other service providers looking to establish “thought leadership” are always eager for ideas on which they can build bylined articles. One good research study can become fodder for a half-dozen substantive articles based on the data you’ve gathered. These may be placed in industry-relevant publications. Or you can bypass traditional media and distribute your articles online through a syndication site such as EzineArticles.com.
    • Put together a premium to attract leads: It’s one of the perennial problems of business-to-business marketing: how do you get the attention of the big decision-makers and top executives you must persuade to make the sale? Here’s your ace-in-the-hole: they’re hungry for information. They want to know what the market’s up to; what their competitors are doing; what their colleagues think; what their customers desire. Consider packaging your research into white papers, reports or guides you can use as offers in a lead-gen campaign: “Call today for our free guide, 8 Things You Must Do to Engage Hispanic Consumers.” These same reports make excellent downloads from your website (in exchange for basic contact information, of course).

    What else do you have to know?

    • Keep your strategic information to yourself: You don’t need to (and should not) give everything away. Any specific information you uncover that gives you an advantage over your direct competitors – and would likewise help
      Examining Employee Motivation is Business
      Many companies understand that if their employees are happy, they are more likely to be productive and the company will be more likely to do better when it comes to keeping clients happy and meeting set goals. Business owners may realize that employee motivation tactics would work, but if they do not understand on a personal level how these simple actions can affect a worker, they may not be likely to continue this process or procedure on a regular basis. Instead, they may feel like they are wasting time or money and that the employees would be just as productive and happy if the particular employee motivation tactics were not in place. This can be especially true if a business owner tries out an unsuccessful tactic.There are some businesses in which a particular motivation tactic would be appreciated and applicable for providing motivation, bu
      a premium to attract leads: It’s one of the perennial problems of business-to-business marketing: how do you get the attention of the big decision-makers and top executives you must persuade to make the sale? Here’s your ace-in-the-hole: they’re hungry for information. They want to know what the market’s up to; what their competitors are doing; what their colleagues think; what their customers desire. Consider packaging your research into white papers, reports or guides you can use as offers in a lead-gen campaign: “Call today for our free guide, 8 Things You Must Do to Engage Hispanic Consumers.” These same reports make excellent downloads from your website (in exchange for basic contact information, of course).

    What else do you have to know?

    • Keep your strategic information to yourself: You don’t need to (and should not) give everything away. Any specific information you uncover that gives you an advantage over your direct competitors – and would likewise help your competitors if they should get their hands on it – you should keep to yourself.
    • It’s not that expensive: Some people balk at the cost of research. But think about it – what’s a few thousand dollars to survey a few hundred people? For the amount of money you’d spend on a modest media buy (and for a short period at that), you could gain raw material for articles, press releases, premium guides, Web content, direct mail, e-newsletters and more. In the greater marketing context, the right marketing research is a downright bargain.
    • The Web is changing everything: Back in the old days (meaning: just a few years ago) your opportunities to disseminate information were limited to your influence with the media. But the Web has evolved into an extraordinary messaging platform that often leaves the traditional media players behind. Think of what’s available now to help you distribute your information: blogs, e-newsletters, virtual networks and communities, press release syndication sites, article syndication sites, e-book downloads, Web-specific publishing sites. These and other online mediums can help you get the word out. And through the power of hyperlinks and search engine robots, your word can spread must faster in bits and bytes than it would in ink or broadcast signals.

    Make research part of your message Before you begin your next big PR or marketing campaign, think about conducting research first – not simply as a guide for your campaign, but as the very substance of your offers, your message, your brand. Because the best way to rise above the clutter is to give your prospects something better than more clutter – honest-to-goodness information and insight they can really use.