Why is marketing important?

“Isn’t marketing basically selling stuff?”

“Marketing is easy, it’s all about persuading.”

“Why would you bother studying marketing? It’s common sense.”

Have you ever heard these questions and statements thrown around? These are common misconceptions among those who do not understand what goes into marketing and the underlying factors that impact the process. Marketing is essential to any business. It is therefore a competency that everyone in any industry needs. Here are just some of the reasons you can’t take marketing for granted:

Understanding the Target Audience

It’s like taking candy from a baby! This phrase suggests that all babies have candies on them because they absolutely love candies. This is simply misleading as not all babies like candy and not all candies are appropriate for babies! What we’re trying to get at here is you have to understand your target audience and offer them the right product at the right time. Arguably the most important step in marketing is research. So let’s use the candy for the remainder of this post as the product we’re trying to sell—liquor chocolate candy bar. This target market is for a very specific target audience where they have to (1) like chocolate candy bars, (2) like liquor and (3) like liquor in a chocolate candy bar.

Increases Brand Awareness

So your choices for a little treat of chocolate candy bar comes down to two options: A box of a random branded Irish Cream chocolate candy bar or a box of Baileys Irish Cream Truffles. We’re guessing nine times out of ten that you would opt for the latter simply because of your recognition and awareness of the brand. That’s where marketing comes in: Before and during the launch, promotion and advertising is needed to spread the word about the otherwise unheard-of brand of liquor chocolate candy bar. The brand needs hype and heat to gain any traction in the market.

Identifying the Marketplace

So you think you have such a unique product that will make you look so badass in your company and the particular candy bar is one week away from a nationwide launch. Your mum suddenly sends you a message with a snapshot of the exact same product that you were about to unveil in a local deli. You launch the product anyway; it’s a major disaster and you were made redundant. You could minimise this risk by conducting market research. Market research give you an idea of what product you ought to bring into the market. With market research, determining the gap in the market is easy. It will then be up to you to fill that gap.

Boosts Sales

At the end of the day, sales is an important metric of whether or not the product launch was successful. Conducting the right research, determining the target audience and advertising on relevant marketing channels usually results in increased sales.

The person that said that marketing is basically selling stuff has a point but there is so much more that goes into selling products or services. The instances mentioned above barely scratch the surface of what marketing truly is. But hopefully, they give a glimpse into why marketing is a skill all professionals across all industries should have.

Stanley Ritz Kurniawan

Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Agency Perspective: 10 Tips to drive value and improve relationships

Image credit:  fossilmarketing.com

The value that marketers bring to businesses and brands is irreplaceable. The marketing team is responsible for creative ideas and helping to build brands. Without them, most businesses and brands find themselves in the middle of nowhere. 
Although it’s the marketers work to build brands or businesses, they need to add more value to themselves and the work they deliver so that they become entirely indispensable to the clients they serve. 

Here are ten authentic tips through which marketers can drive true value:
1. Visit Clients: and this just not means that you only visit them once. But make a habit of doing so every once in a while. Focus on dedicated content campaigns and revisit your clients to address everything that you think that needs to be addressed. This will give your client a greater sense of involvement.
2. Communicate: this is highly essential if you want to get an insight on the inner workings of your client. Try to keep up to date on everything that goes on. Build relationships through communication and you’ll get in all priority conversations that need your attention.

3. Understand Stakeholders: the best value you can give to your client is by understanding them. When your client feels fully understood by you, they feel free to discuss ideas and opportunities with you as compared to other agencies.

4. Ask For How You Can Improve: asking your clients how they think you can improve and add more value allows them to understand your commitment and involvement with their projects. Make sure you know your strengths and weaknesses to have a worthwhile conversation with your clients.

5. Show That You Are Goal Oriented and Work with Goal Oriented People to add to their Plan: when your client knows that you care as much about success and performance as they do, they will trust you more for their projects.

6. Share: and this could involve sharing just about anything you consider to be of value to your client. It could be resources, technologies, good books or anything that might be of interest for them.

7. Always Get Your Team On Board: and do this pronto. Present yourself as a monster with two heads, ready to take on everything. Show your client various perspectives on one matter, brainstorm to bring the best idea forward and show them you’re putting your best efforts. 

8. Give Your Client a Future: your client is really after a future. They are after the confidence that you will make their brands as fresher as possible because they themselves cannot. Show them the bigger idea and then make it happen for them.

9. Give Your Best Ideas: don’t wait for your client to take the lead. If you have a brilliant idea, don’t hesitate to share. Chances are it could be what they’re after.

10. Treat Your Client like You Would Treat Someone You Care for: try and go beyond the traditional. Show your client you’re concerned and you care about them. Connect with them on a personalised level to drive more value and hit home.

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Proximity Marketing – Getting closer to your customers

Image credit:  honeyaccess.com

Modern day technology has revolutionised marketing in ways that no one ever imagined. Who knew that marketers could interact with consumers on their mobile devices directly? Cellular technology was a big hit in the business sector as it became very handy for companies to send marketing messages to their potential customers. Marketing is a tool that plays a significant role in promoting a product or service for a brand. However, with competition rising companies need to reach consumers with the intent to purchase before their competitor does. The growing use of mobile phones while shopping has led to businesses to adopt ‘Proximity marketing’ which is also known as ‘hyper local marketing’. It is a unique approach to communicate with customers that are found in close proximity of a business. The foundation of this interaction lies upon Bluetooth and WIFI technology that enables the company to connect digitally by sending marketing messages to customers.

The message is sent to those who are most likely to visit the store at their present location. The mobile user is sent a short message that engages them to spur into action. It is pivotal for the company to consider adding an opt-in component to their campaign. The content in those messages should be to the point and appealing, as unwanted solicitations never encourage buyers to pay attention. If a company plans on going ahead with this approach, it needs to skim the content that is to be sent. The message should give a preview of the benefit that comes along with the purchase of the product. It should be clear enough for the customer to understand, and it should be able to influence their buying decision. 

source image: visualistan.com

Your company needs to persuade its customers to install their mobile app because once the customer has his/her Bluetooth enabled on their mobile phones, all it takes is a beacon signal to send them a notification of the message. The beacon signal only works if they have the app installed in their smart phones. Informing the target customers about the app can help them realise its significance. Customers do not want to receive spam messages all day, and an app helps them out of this situation. This channel of communication needs you to have the right software that can easily run the location based campaign without any delays.

The main objective behind proximity marketing is to drive in as much traffic as possible to the business and generate a good amount of sales that day. If your retail store already has a high turnover rate, then proximity marketing can help you retain customers and gain valuable insight to their buying behavior. Proximity marketing can turn out to be a great source of adding value to your products. Businesses can make product recommendations and inform about current discounts or offers. This way you can target the right customers and their needs. It also provides you with access to consumer analysis which can give you survey statistics and other metrics to improve your sales strategy. 

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Provide the best content experience

Image credit:  blog.boombox.com

There are many businesses that underestimate the value of optimised content.  The key to getting an influx of traffic, is providing your customers with high quality content. Well-structured content can differentiate you from your competitors and help communicate with your customers. If you really want to capture the attention of customers and keep them coming to your website, then customizing the message you want to convey is essential. The content needs to be balanced so that users aren’t overwhelmed and confused with too much information. Positive reactions only surface when you connect with your customer emotionally and mentally. This makes them realise that they are an asset for the business. 

Here is a list of features that your content needs, to give customers the best content experience ever:

Useful and Informative

You need to provide as much as information about your business as possible. The content should give details about what you offer, what benefits are attached to your offerings, where you are located, what your USP is and your contact information etc. 

High Quality

The content should be unique and well presented in a good format. It should be refined and delivered in the tone depending on the type of communication you want with your customer. If your content is mediocre and not up to the mark, customers will sense that there wasn’t much effort put in it. You need to bear in mind that your content should be created to give customers a good user experience, and not just to rank well in search engines. 

Credible

You need customers to trust your brand and be something that is verified. The content needs to have reliable information about your business. Sloppy content that seems false can be highly damaging to your brand image.

Appealing

If a customer doesn’t get what they want from your content, then why would they read it? The content has to be intriguing in ways that draws their attention.  

When you market your product through your content, you gain the power to generate niche levels of willingness for purchase, but on a mass scale.  Lead generation is stimulated by content. When you personalise content to the user’s interests and behaviour, your content creates a powerful connection and converts more leads into sales qualified leads (SQLs) and marketing qualified leads (MQLs). You can introduce various methods of getting insight on what the customer wants to see in your content. Make sure your content is linked to one or more social media platforms which are very necessary for the right amount of exposure. All you have to do for a better content experience is to keep it simple and familiar. Always try to improve and bring something new to the table, because customers want something fresh and upgraded. 

All of these tips will lead your search traffic down an open path to increase the opportunity for conversion.

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

The psychology of colours in marketing

 Image Credit: smallbiztrends.com

Do you know that colors are ubiquitous and a very vital source of information for all? Do you know that people usually make up their minds in about 90 seconds of first seeing people or products and almost 80% of the decision is based on their assessment of colors associated with what they’re looking at? Prudent use of colors can significantly affect moods and feelings and therefore people’s attitude towards a range of products as well. And that is one of the biggest reason that you will see marketers making use colors in thousands of innovative ways.

Let’s discuss a controversial and yet interesting aspects of marketing… the psychology of color. Although it is widely believed and researched that elements like individual preferences, personal experiences, backgrounds, cultural differences, upbringings, contexts etc. often create ambiguity about the effect specific colors have on individuals. Marketers understand that colours play a very significant role in forming attitudes and influencing moods and feelings (which happen to be unstable by nature).

The majority of the marketing sector believes that human responses to colors are somewhat stable over a geographical location and therefore marketing managers use these interpretations to market and promote their brands and products well. Colour can actually define the way a consumer might act therefore when designing marketing strategies, packaging a product, creating new fashion trends and designing a website, colours are kept according to their enticing value.

Nobody can ignore the importance of colours, especially marketers. As a marketer, it is important to know that marketing and colour go hand in hand. The use of the right colour in designing marketing strategies, designing ads, promotions, business stationery or products is highly important because it can either send a positive or negative message. The colour has the power to create and deliver good or bad subconscious messages which can then affect the perception the consumers have about a business or product. It is therefore essential that marketers value colours and design marketing strategies keeping in mind the psychology of colours.

It is a well-known fact that most consumers buy products or services based on emotions, and then justify whatever they have purchased with logic. Marketers, brand managers and advertisers should devise their strategies in such a way that it creates a certain mood, emotion in order to persuade customers into the purchase. Whatever image that you need your business to reflect can be imparted through the use of bright colours.

It is important that marketers remember the fact that colours that are used in marketing campaigns are responsible for grabbing the attention of prospective buyers initially. There is no concept of a wrong or a right colour. Whatever colour you think is the most appropriate for your message, based on the universal denoting of colours, should be chosen for the specific marketing campaign. If you choose the right color, chances are high your turnover will be more than or as much as you were expecting

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Coding: The language of the future

Education and technology have become an integral part of today’s society. The need to teach our children more computational ways of thinking has been further reflected in the government’s incentive to drive more STEM (science, technology, engineering, math’s) related subjects, and more recently the development of a digital technologies curriculum that addresses the situation.

Within this digital age, there is a strong emphasis on the importance and dependency society has placed on digital technology to communicate with one another. This amongst other factors has driven the demand for more technological activities targeted at children. One activity in particular is teaching kids how to code, an activity where imagination is the only limit.

So, what exactly is coding? To put it simply, Coding, or more traditionally known as programming, is the way we communicate with computers and machines. In an attempt to become part of a more innovate and creative Australia, coding is now being perceived “as fundamental as reading and writing”. If we don’t start up-skilling the next generation of workers skills such as programming, we face a huge skills drought as digital disruption transforms the way our economy operates, the way we think and the way we live.

Being the first of its kind in Australia, Sydney Programming School has taken this trend and turned it into a thriving business called Code4Fun (www.code4fun.com.au) . Forming part of a relatively new market, Sydney Programming School was established in April last year and provides programming courses to children and teenagers, before and after school throughout Sydney.

Many of the children going through primary school today will end up applying for careers that don’t exist yet. In a recent report, Australia predicts that within the next five years we will need 100,000 ICT workers. The way we are going, the need for such skills outweighs the abilities for employees to perform them.  In a rapidly changing employment market where digital disruption is changing the way we operate, coding skills are crucial in ensuring they don’t get left behind the digital age. 

Lauren Musat

Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

How marketers are using neuroscience to control what we buy

 Image credit: blog.fractalanalytics.com

It is a common practice for consumers to spend on luxury goods. However, know that there is a trick behind you spending so much on these products. 

Blame the marketers who are now becoming very clever in controlling what you buy. According to previous studies, people will buy products that are called expensive and ignore the quality of the product just because of the price tag. This is commonly referred to as the marketing placebo effect - meaning the perceived value of something will affect the actual experience of it.

According to studies, marketers are now using neuroscience to change and control the way you buy. This is done by changing your grey matter and fooling you into buying things that will create a higher reward in your brain. The perceived effect of the reward is usually lower than the actual feelings you get when you buy the product.

Who Is Susceptible to the Placebo Effect?

According to studies, people who have a higher grey matter respond to the placebo effect. The research found that the people who are responsive to the perceived rewards, are more likely to be influenced by this marketing strategy.

Moreover, it is also perceived that people who have a higher grey matter will be susceptible to the placebo effect. Therefore, a wine that is more expensive is likely to generate an opinion in the buyer’s mind that expensive must be good.

Last but not the least, people who are not that quickly influenced by price tags, are not going to be affected by the placebo effect. Therefore, they will buy according to the taste of the wine and not the price tag.

Changing the Grey Matter

Marketers identify and segment the user population using a range of demographics including race, geography and age. However, researchers now are also wanting to identify differences in consumers’ brain anatomy in order to categorise individuals. 

The whole idea is to alter your grey matter and then control what you buy. You don’t even know how much you spend on products without realising how much you are being tricked into buying a product.

However, all is not lost because our grey matter tends to change with age. Therefore, if marketers are looking to target you over a lifetime, they actually have to have a good understanding of how the brain responds to different things that they are trying to sell you. And this is something that is actually not possible right now.

The whole idea of using neuroscience to control the way you look at things and the way you buy things has changed. However, it is also believed that if you are buying luxury goods, the placebo effect will have a greater effect on you than when you are buying non-luxury items. Therefore, if you are shopping at Ikea or drinking a boxed wine, chances are you are most likely safe.

Be careful what you are buying because neuroscience is changing the way you think and who knows, your decision of buying a product could be being controlled by the marketers!

Alejandro Catalan

Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Relationship between Facebook Ads and Companies

Image credit: blog.socioboard.org

Starting off as a just a plain social networking site, Facebook has become something bigger and better. Today, Facebook is used for a range of things including advertisement.  A large number of companies are using Facebook as a platform of advertisement and companies are getting a lot of audience directly from the social networking site. Facebook, thus, has become a platform that companies are getting increasingly hooked to, to increase their online presence and get a loyal customer base.

According to a study by Locowise, 43.28 percent of the 5000 Facebook likes were received due to Facebook advertising. Moreover, it was revealed that the higher the companies tried to advertise on social networks, the higher the audience they got.

The analysis, therefore, revealed that companies are increasingly dependent on social networking websites such as Facebook to increase their customer and fan base.
Moreover, the same study also revealed that 43.28 percent of the companies are actually paying for advertising. This means half of the companies that are using social networks to promote their products pay for network ads. In addition, it is not just about paying for these ads that have become a popular trend but the fact that companies are now dependent on it. 

Looking at the average results of investing in Facebook ads, it was revealed that mid range of the posts was 10.71 percent of the audience. The study also reports that the return companies get when they advertise on social media is said to be higher than any other platform.

Why Pay?
It is important to note that there is always an option for companies to not pay for ads on social media but paying is always better. Paying results in a higher lead generation and increases the companies’ overall reach as opposed to when they do not pay for brand promotion.
The results of this study and general conclusion derived from the statistics reveal the following things:
• Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for companies: While previously, social networking sites were just being used for sharing posts and getting in touch with friends and family, they are now being used to promote products and companies are actually willing to spend as much as they possibly can to increase their outreach.
• One of the prime sources of advertisement: Social media has also become a prime source of advertisement. While previously, billboards and other tools were used for advertisement, companies now use social media to advertise and they advertise their products well on these websites.
• High dependence on social media: Lastly, the final finding and conclusion of this study is that social media is not just a social networking platform but a lot more. Moreover, it is also revealed that companies are not just paying to advertise their products on social media but they are actually dependent on them.

Social media, can therefore, do wonders for a company and these days companies are highly reliant on social media as a platform of advertisement.

What is your experience as marketer, what do you think? 

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

How Social Media networks are impacting on Teenagers feelings and brains

Image credit: www.huffingtonpost.com

Social media has had an incredibly rise in popularity over the years. Today, there are very few people who don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account.

Social media does not only have an effect on how you perceive yourself but it actually has an effect on your brain. In this post, I will be looking at the effect of social media on the brains of teenagers when they write and publish content on these networks and what happens when they get a good reception.

A lot of people share content on social media these days. Whether it is something related to entertainment or sports, everybody wants to share something on their newsfeed. Everybody has a different reason for sharing content but the prime purpose is to connect with others.  However, sharing content has a trickle down effect. It is not just about sharing content on social media and being done with it. In fact, studies reveal that sharing content on social media has an automatic effect on the person’s brain.

Direct Impact On One's Ego
When we share content on social media, we get a lot of comments, likes and other words. People start asking questions in their comments and therefore, this has a direct impact on one’s ego. Moreover, people are more likely to share content on social media that they can relate to so sharing content and the type of content is clear indication and hint into your actual personality.

Improved Feelings

Moreover, whenever someone publishes something, he or she wants others to appreciate it. Therefore, when we publish things on social media and get comments on our shares, we are more likely to experience feelings of happiness, excitement and thrill.

The effect of sharing content on social media has been captured in a study by University of California. They analyzed what happens to the brain of teenagers when they publish the content in social networks and especially, when they see the reception they get. It doesn’t seem that surprising but the positive response that they get tends to have a positive effect on their brain.

Direct Impact On How We Feel

When a person gets more rewards, the study revealed that the nucleus accumbens, the part of the brain that is associated with the rewards, tends to get ecstatic with pleasure and in fact has the same effect that it does when we eat a chocolate or anything that makes us happy. Publishing on social media, therefore, has a direct impact on how we feel.

The study also revealed that teenagers are more likely to react in a different way when it comes to getting likes. The reaction differs in every case but the reaction is always said to be positive.

Thus, from this study, we can easily derive that social networks are not just a place where one can come, share and go back to life. No, social media actually has bigger and greater effects on one’s thinking, life and emotions. Social media sharing, therefore, is said to bring a positive change in people and also tends to improve one’s self esteem.

Alejandro Catalan

Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Marketing & Predictive Analytics

Image credit: http://isbinsight.isb.edu

What is Predictive Analytics?
Predictive Analytics is one of the branches of data mining which can be used to make predictions about future events which are relatively unknown. Predictive Analytics uses a combination of techniques drawn from statistics, data mining, machine learning, modelling and artificial intelligence in order to make more accurate records of current data for a more precise prediction of future trends.

The combination of techniques used in predictive analytics also brings together information technology, management and the modelling business process to aid in predictions. All existing patterns in transactional and historical data can be utilised to identify potential opportunities or risks in the future.

Predictive Analytics and CustomersUsing the advanced systematic process of predictive analytics, any business can easily predict the next move of their customer and act on it, without having to lift a finger. Businesses don't have to worry about pouring out all their resources into semi-effective marketing campaigns which do not satisfy or generate a positive Return on Investment (ROI). The digital age has given us the power to take “customer targeting” to a whole new level. This will direct any relevant content to the projections which are open to the purchase of your products and services, automatically.

When you leverage any such data, it empowers your business and allows you to track “digital body language”, which is one of the key components for a successful digital marketing campaign to take place. You are able to use entities such as hashtags, downloads, open rates, web visits, clicks and consumer purchase behaviour in order to predict the hottest lead in your arsenal and how to build upon it.

According to Forbes International, predictive marketers are almost 3 times more likely to report a positive revenue growth with a higher rate, when compared to the industry average. Predictive marketers are also 2.1 times more likely to have a commanding leadership position in all the products and services markets that they serve.

Many people are also aware of the importance that data collection has in bringing in more leads for a sale. However, this process can be quite a headache if you do not possess the right tools for the task. The good news is, you will not need any scientific marketer and you will not need to spend days on measuring the complex algorithms to campaign your product effectively. Marketing automation platforms are able to manage everything from the tens of hundreds to tens of thousands of unseen prospective customers who are visiting your website each day, in the most efficient manner possible. They are also able to analyse the necessary online landscape required to predict, locate and target the entire sale worthy leads.

With automated targeting, it is definitely possible to take your marketing to the next level by predicting accurate results in order to target and generate a much higher conversion rate and return on investment.

Enjoy!

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

5 Key lessons from deploying a Marketing Automation

Image credit: http://troleads.com

When marketing automation is successfully applied, it can bring a number of fruitful results to an organisation. The first question is: what do you actually understand about marketing automation strategies? Marketing automation involves forming a set of goals for your business that will lead to a higher generation of sales and revenue, while minimizing lost sales opportunities.

A successful marketing automation technique utilizes multiple measures. If companies manage to learn the true essence of these lessons, it will prove to be a great step towards forming future successful ventures for any organisation.

These five lessons should be noted if you want continued success for your company:

1. Get Strategic Alignment:
An important thing to learn from such a strategy is that customers want easy and maximum accessibility. There must not be waiting time for any service to be available to customers who require it. It is about keeping loyal customers returning to your product or service by catering to their individual needs.

An important thing is to forget about relying on a single method of reaching the customer, such as the web. Utilizing maximum means to reach the customer is more likely to bring beneficial results to the reputation of the company.

2. Build a Single Customer View:
Firstly, this requires you to have efficient management of large amounts of data. Building a single customer view requires a huge platform where the concerns and needs of each and every customer are met. For all sorts of inbound and outbound conversations with the customer, it is necessary to incorporate the capability of interacting with all the customers. If this was not a part of your company before then now you definitely realize the importance of having it.

3. Assemble the Right Team:
It is very important to form a team that is bold enough to go with innovation but also pragmatic enough to consider all the pros and cons of a particular strategy before applying it. Coming up with the right set of individuals that will make up this team is the most important step as it requires young blood as well as experienced minds.

4. Keep the Project Management Team Together:
It is very important to stick with the same team from beginning till end. Important steps must be taken to resolve conflicts, if any arise. Switching people will slow down the process and will delay the application of the plan.

5. Go for Omni-channel, not Just Digital Experience:
Use digital means to derive more outbound strategies to reach a wider audience. Living in the modern era means most of your marketing will be done through digital media, but solely relying on such platforms is a huge mistake. Rather, digital media should serve as a stepping stone towards achieving stronger marketing strategies through other promotional mediums.

If these lessons are kept in mind then the future strategies will turn out to more favourable for any organisation; giving way to more growth and development opportunities.

Enjoy!

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Is the Consumer Always Right?

Image credit: http://www.bmgtoday.com


A successful business is one with happy customers. The key element to earn customer loyalty is to consider the customer’s problems as your responsibility. Only then you can enjoy a wide network of happy customers, which brings business growth and success.

“The customer is always right” is a well-known saying in the business market, yet not many people know why the customer is always right. Your customer is seeking good value for money – they’re not trying to cheat you. Your customers are actually your well-wishers, because their success is dependent on your success, so you should go beyond their expectations to take care of their needs. This is how your business may flourish.

Read on to find out why you should take care of your customers and how customers can impact your business.

Happy customers will encourage other people to be your customer. They will share their experiences and will spread positive vibes about your business. Contrastingly, if you don’t treat them well, then they will spread ideas about your poor performance or unethical behaviour to your current and potential customers.

It’s easier to keep up with the existing customer than to attract a new one. Many business owners invest money to attract new customers, without thinking through how much they can earn by doing business with existing customers. Your old customers know you well and will be ready to promote your business, so why spend money to attract new ones?

If you have dissatisfied customers, don’t expect them come to you to tell you what’s wrong. The majority of such customers won’t bother to do so, they just switch to another businesses. So, this is a loss for you.

It is the quality of service that differentiates your business from your competitors. So, it is the services offered by your sales and service persons that can give you a bounce in the business market as most of the clients prefer to return to the business where they receive the best services.

Now, let’s look for the ways you can maintain a network of loyal customers.

Customer service policy should be in written formCreate a customer service policy in written form and make sure every employee acts on it. It will set your impression as a responsible owner in front of your customers.

Your employee should provide the best customer serviceMake sure your employees are aware of the fact how their service can directly impact on the company’s business and reward them when they fulfill their targets. Pleased employees lead to pleased customers too.

Obtain customer’s feedback oftenThe customers always want to be treated like special ones so obtain their feedback regarding your service quality often. This will create a good at your customer’s side.

Use phrases that your customers love to hearPhrases like “How can I help you”, “I will look into your matter”, “I will solve your problem”, “I will keep you updated”, “It will be delivered on time” etc. Such phrases directly meet customer’s expectations and they will love to be your part of the business.

Always make sure your customers know you care and that you work for them. Follow the saying “the customer is always right” and you will see a wide network of loyal customers investing in your business.

Enjoy!

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School



Marketing, Customer Centricity, and why it is so important



Image credit: http://netdna-cdn.com/

An emerging term in the arena of customer service is “customer centricity”. Although it refers to company-wide focus on the customer, every business, every company and every department should have the customers in mind before executing a project. Companies work according to the demand of customers to attract them and boost their business on national and international platforms. In simple terms, “customer centricity” means to satisfy the needs of customers and make strategies to draw the attention of more customers. Without understanding the need of the customers, it isn’t possible for businesses to flourish. It becomes mandatory for business owners and companies to design and deliver products or services that positively enable a customer.

Customer centricity is highly important for the economic growth of the company. Here are a few tips to achieve optimal results for customer centricity,

1. Start meeting your customers and deciphering what exactly they want you to produce. Develop a positive attitude towards their needs and discover the best possible solution that is valued by customers.
2.  Providing convenient facilities to the customers will ultimately lead the business with a customer centric approach. People look for convenience and go where they can easily get the service that fits their needs.
3. Two way communication on a regular basis makes it easier to learn the expectation of the customer. Make it easy for the customers to give feedback on the product you deliver. Figure out the reasons if you are losing your customers.
4. Solve the problems of your customer before they know about it. Create strategies that act as a remedial solution to sudden problems. Behave proactively rather than waiting for a reactive approach from the customer. In this way the customer will appreciate the efforts and might think of continuing the future projects with you. He may recommend the name of your firm to his other followers.
5. Provide guarantees to keep your customers working with your firm. It shows that your company cares for the customers. Give them quick ways of filing complaints and respond to them immediately to build their confidence in your business.
6. People are more likely to visit the most convenient place to their own location, but some people prefer quality over location. It is recommended to allocate your business near places that people already go. This will eventually grasp the attention of new customers as well.
7. Don’t be over-confident, but don’t underestimate your business. Set a balanced approach and delight your customers with your positive attitude and enthusiastic methods.
8. Professional and well-mannered staff give a positive impression to the customers. Motivate your staff to work efficiently and boost their morale on different situations. Happy staff will generate more customers.

These few tips will help to create a positive experience for your customers. It will affect the economy of your business and make it a customer centric business ultimately. Moreover, customer centricity revolves around the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of the customer with your company. Allow them to express their thoughts freely on social, electronic and print media.

Enjoy !

Have you ever through of incorporating Snapchat to your social media marketing mix? If not, well perhaps you should.

Snapchat has gone from being a simple photo and video-sharing app to a marketing tool that cannot be ignored. Since its start in 2011, the app has over 100 million daily active users and 400 million snaps per day. Believe it or not, Snapchat is one of the fastest growing social networks. The self-destructing concept is no longer for just smartphone savvy-teens but also provides marketers and brand managers with a way to produce daily stories and content that engage and excite their audiences.

What is trickier however is using snapchat to connect with a buyer persona. By now, most of you are aware that snapchat puts a limit on how long a video or photo is available for others to see. For example, a video or photo will disappear as soon as a few seconds go by, never to be seen again by the recipient. This means that us marketers need to make the most of every second they get on the app, which requires a certain amount of strategy.

Understanding Your Audience

Any marketer or business professional will tell you that you must understand your audience before marketing any product or service. Since its commencement, the Snapchat platform has always encouraged casual and informal communication through the use of videos and photos. Even though they aren’t typically documenting professional behaviour, they have connected millions of people around the world. That being said, it’s critical to observe the overall casualness of the app.

When you or your marketing team is creating a strategy for Snapchat, you need to settle on a tone of voice that will be used across the board. Ideally, the language you use should be easy-to-understand, and your posts should have a sense of fun. If you’re just starting out on Snapchat, take some time to do your homework. Browse through other accounts and follow other people to get a better idea of how they use the app.

You can also use Snapchat to provide special content to your audience that they might not receive on other digital platforms. Think of something unique to surprise your community of followers. At a Valentino show for Fashion Week in Paris, actors Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson took it a step further and re-interpreted their Zoolander roles for a runway walk-off.  They even had a “Blue Steel” geofilter at the fashion show. The use of Snapchat at Fashion Week made consumers feel included in an exclusive world, and by doing so, they felt like they were part of the event. Reprised

Embracing the Time Limit

While some may perceive the self-destructive nature of Snapchat to be a hurdle, marketers can do wonders with this aspect of the app. The number of second you choose to display your photo of video can be seen as an ideal opportunity to offer teasers and previews of an upcoming event, behind the scenes, product or service to your snapchat followers.

The app can also be used to create contests. For example your company can ask their followers to send you pictures of them using your product with the incentive of winning a reward. The trick to getting the most leverage out of Snapchat is ensuring that you are always looking for ways to engage with your customers. Doing so can keep people coming back for more, giving you additional opportunities to roll out your marketing strategy.

Get Going with Video

Videos are a key component of the Snapchat, although they also disappear once they have been viewed, marketers can use them to reach out to people who are interested in getting a sneak peek of their office culture, product production, and everything in between. Marketing teams can use video to provide more valuable content to their followers. Although they say a picture is worth a thousand words, you can actually verbalize the message you’re trying to convey to your audience through a video. More importantly, you don’t need to be a professional to make a splash. Remember: Snapchat is all about being casual and relatable.

Portraying Your Personality

Like with any type of social media, Snapchat gives you a chance to portray the true intentions and mission of your company, whether it involves providing a service or a valuable product. Ideally, the media that you share over the app should give people a better idea of your business and what you have to offer. You should always be working to inject personality into your photos and videos to help people connect to your brand on a personal level.

Lauren Musat
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Marketing & Innovation is key to support every business

Image credit: http://cdn.cio.com.au/

While I was searching the success stories of some of the big and giant corporations of our time, something baffled me to my very nerves. Most companies begin with the same set of skills, their human capital is similar and so are their financial resources. Yet so many businesses fail to provide what their competitors do. How would you feel if you and your friends today started a small scale business with the same set of opportunities, but one of you succeeded while the others failed?

What’s going wrong? What is it that the others are doing that you aren’t? What is the core competency that you lack? As a company, you have the mission, vision and goal, you also employ the same strategic concepts and provide the same products and services. In a homogenous business environment, it is very common practice for one company to bring the other down through disruptive innovation. The cause of the innovation is present somewhere in the thinking and perception of the entrepreneurs or the marketers. The strategic decisions made by the directors follow a mindset that often most of us require. Let us get deeper into what I mean by saying unique mindset.

When we talk about Apple, we talk about differentiation. Apple is a great firm which has the success rate of jaw dropping numbers and is a consistently premium brand for most people in the world. It has a success formula that many companies and businesses lack. They do not just sell their product - they sell their beliefs and values. According to researchers, the success of Apple lies in the fact that they do not sell the product or service, they sell their idea, their purpose.

What, how and why are three main important concepts for any innovative mind. Most businesses go from what to why. Apple, which is a centre of innovation and a hub for creativity, does the opposite. It moves from why to what. Most companies and business sell by saying “we sell this (what), by the support of our people (how), because we want to provide better opportunities (why).

When we talk about Apple the Steve Jobs’ innovative portal, they start off by saying, people do not buy what we sell, people buy why we sell. You see the difference? Apple says “to provide you with the best technological solutions (why) our company (how) sells you the latest and premium technology (what).  This is the value addition that most businesses and companies do not provide. This is the ideology and innovation that people from Apple have and this is the secret formula or ingredient of their success. People do not buy your product; they buy the purpose of your buying. This is the innovation that needs to be built up in our culture to nurture growth and opportunities.

Enjoy !

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School

Tips to Evaluate Marketing Campaigns

source: http://www.convasverity.com/img/banner_marketingsupport.jpg

Evaluation of the fact that our ads are being viewed by the people is important to us, because only then are we able to make sure that our products are being known, appreciated, or sold in the market. When a customer views the ad, the TRP, or total rating points of a specific brand are increased and the awareness about the brand and its products is established in the public. For evaluation of the success rate it is therefore needed to be seen what our target market is. Tapping the right target audience and then getting a response from them is basically the foundation of a good marketing plan. If you know what market segment you have tapped, then in accordance with that evaluation is conducted. Use the means that your target audience uses to express their views and you will have a better know-how of how your product and brand is doing in the market. Evaluation is also carried out to understand whether or not the positioning that you were aiming for with your product has been established or not.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns we will have to consider the following points:

Sales
Firstly, a significant increase in the volume of sales will indicate that people are getting enough awareness about our products and they are actually going out to purchase our products. The marketing objective of higher sales volume and greater revenue will be an indicator of the fact that our advertisements are executed successfully and viewed with much interest. People when buy something after watching a TVC, it indicates that they have a potential understanding and established positioning of our brand and marketing media.

Social Media
Social media, Facebook and other networking websites, allow us to see whether our TVCs or marketing campaigns are running and operating successfully or not. The fact that people get to post their views about anything on Facebook, for example, will help us to judge whether people are watching commercials or not - and if they are being watched, whether or not they like it. Social media is a direct evaluator of the effectiveness of our commercials.

One on One interaction
We can have our sales force actually go out and access the attitudes of people regarding our marketing campaigns. Our company personnel can go out and interview people in malls and shopping places about whether or not they have heard and watched their products on TV. This direct interaction with the customers will establish a strong, effective medium of evaluation of our ads.

Mystery Shoppers
It’s a widely used term in marketing. It refers to sending your own person in disguise to collect the data on how the customers perceive your brand and how the retailers are operating. It is undoubtedly a quite effective medium of evaluating the success rate of the marketing campaigns.
When different brands launch their products and do necessary marketing, they incorporate some of these methods to determine the success rate of their work.

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School