5 Reasons to Adopt a Business Blog to Market Your Small Business

In some cases, the business blog has been sacrificed in favor of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The business blog offers a lot of advantages, especially for the small and medium-sized business. Here's 5 reasons your business should include a blog in its online marketing plan.

1) Blogs are maintained and updated easily and quickly. Unlike websites, which may require a webmaster and some time to be updated and maintained, blogs can be set up so posts and articles can be added easily and quickly.

2) Blogs can be flexible, fun and casual, allowing your business and your employees to show off their personalities. People like to do business with people, not corporations. Blogs should show off your business' human side. People also like to do business with people they feel like they know. By using your blog to introduce you and your employees to potential customers, you're making connections to customers.

3) Search engines love blogs. Because blogs are updated on a regular basis, search engines love them and index them more quickly than they index websites. Since customers may find your blog quicker than they find your website, link your blog to your website to drive customers there.

4) Blogs build credibility. Use your blog to show-off your expertise and knowledge and build credibility. Be sure to include information on your products and services that illustrates your expertise. Don't forget to include industry news so visitors can see you're knowledgeable not only about your own business but also about the industry as a whole. Also, include information about certifications, workshops and trainings your employees have completed to stay current in the industry. Again, this indicates your knowledge of the industry and builds your credibility with the client.

5) Blogs build trust. Customers need to trust you in order to buy from you. Blogs allow for interaction between business owner and customer. Comment sections allow customers to ask questions and give opinions. Business owners can take advantage of that feature and show off their customer service skills. They can respond to customer comments and questions. They can write a blog post and ask for customer feedback. The possibilities are endless. And, each possibility helps build trust with visitors.

A business blog can be an effective marketing tool that drives traffic to your website and customers to your door. Be sure to include it in your online marketing strategy.

Building Customer Loyalty: Using Telemarketing To Solve Problems

Customer service is also a fundamental part of your business' sales lead generation campaign .After all, there will be occasions, especially when calling current customers, that some problem or vexation will be brought up during the discussion. When that happens, it is important to deal with them quickly. Once such problems have been resolved, the next stage of promoting products or services can be had. But to effectively take care of that, one must have telemarketing campaign on handling customer complaints. This can have a huge impact on a business' in terms of generating sales leads and nurturing customer loyalty. You just need to know where to start.

First of all, remember that there will always be problems encountered with business. You might as well get ready for it. No matter how great your product is, there will be a situation where clients or customers will not be happy. You have to soothe these unsatisfied customers before anything else. Take responsibility for any shortcomings in your product or services. If this issue repeatedly comes up, you should be proactive and deal with it immediately. Also, if you know a problem or issue is coming up, inform your customers about it. This will show that you are on top of the situation.

Also, solving problems should not be seen as a bane of your existence. Rather, you should take it as an opportunity for you to learn. What if there really is a performance issue in your products or service, but you receive no feedback? Most likely, you will continue producing less than stellar products, further complicating your chances of success in the appointment setting campaign. When customers complain, take this as a sign that you need to make changes fast. You can say that you are lucky that you receive complaints, since these people actually made the effort to inform you that something is wrong. You now have the chance to do better.

Third, do not focus on the blame. This is counter-productive, to be honest. Instead of finally getting to the root of the problem, you end up wasting your time pinning the blame on anyone but you. Rather a wasteful effort, right? And your customers are not getting anywhere near solving their problems. What you should do is to have your lead generation team focus more on solving the issue at hand. Not only will this avoid the headaches blaming can cause; it will solve the issues being faced by customers faster.

And lastly, always remember that the sales representative handling the call must be the one to deal with the problem. First call resolution is one of the most important goals in sales. This can be seen much better if we use telemarketing as an example. As long as you provide your sales rep with the authority and the resources to deal with business concerns, it is a simple matter to solve the problem, and then proceed in generating qualified sale leads.

Choosing the Best Workwear Supplier for Your Promotional Needs

Let's first talk about what workwear apparels are and how they can help businesses stay longer.

Basically, promotional workwear is a type of safety workwear that is printed with a business name or logo. It aids in promoting and advertising a brand to gain a wider reach and increase possible target markets. Promotional clothing has been regarded as a very cost-efficient way for businesses to market their brand name and ensure that they stand out from the rest. Oftentimes, they use workwear shirts, jackets, pants, caps, and even footwear for the sole purpose of advertising their company to the public.

There are a wide array of options when it comes to choosing a promotional workwear for the staff, however, before you go ahead and pick one from the list, you must consider these few pointers to make sure that this type of promo clothing will successfully promote your company. Below are helpful guidelines that you have to think through in order to get the maximum marketing worth for these kinds of clothing:

Are they comfortable to wear?

If you are planning to purchase workwear for your employees in the hopes of getting more marketing and advertising leads, then you must check whether or not the clothes are comfortable for day to day use. Since these will be used every working day, make sure that your employees feel A-ok wearing them. Making your wearers comfortable means that you have to provide sufficient space for them to move around freely. Now if you have plus-sized workers, then by all means, give them the appropriate size. Additionally, you could base your promotional workwear depending on the climate changes.

Choose the perfect Workwear Supplier to get the job done.

Look for the one whom you can trust to work with. If you want to send out your promotional messages across as effectively as possible through your employees, then you have to work side by side with your workwear supplier that can satisfy what you want and how you want them done. Deciding on which supplier to go for can be a tedious task but taking time researching for the best one will definitely be worth all the hard work. Keep in mind that your promotional workwear will represent your business as soon as your employees start wearing them, so if the supplier made a lousy job printing your brand logo on the clothing, then this will highly affect your business image altogether.

Quality over Quantity

If your supplier really cares for your business, then he should know that quality is way more important than just purchasing bulk orders of mediocre products. Now as a business owner, you have to understand that although you can always buy cheaper workwear clothing for your employees, it's still best to invest a few more bucks just to get that high quality workwear. This is simply because high quality fabric materials last longer and are more hard-wearing, hence less hassle of replacing them regularly.

Interactive Business Directories: The Future of Business Promotion?

Business directories have been exceptionally popular over the past few years and have proven to be a very effective business promotion tool. Their relatively low cost combined with their ease of use and wide applicability makes them a worthwhile alternative that attracts a large number of businesspeople worldwide.

However, business directories have already flooded the web, as the technology for their development has become commonplace. Besides, in today's world that is highly interactive, the visitors have come to expect something more than merely classified pieces of text with the occasional presence of a small image. This is why some companies have decided to develop interactive ones as an answer to this growing need.

Interactive business directories employ rich graphics and often videos or flash to make the interface more user-friendly. They also have increased functionality, offering the visitor several options such as saving some of the material of the listing they are visiting on their computer, checking out multimedia associated with that listing, and in some cases exchange contact details with the business owner. In addition, this kind of business directories often suggests related categories / subcategories and other information that is useful to the visitor. All this makes the whole experience more engaging and encourages business networking, rendering this business promotion alternative a quite promising choice.

This kind of business directories naturally comes with an additional cost, which is usually for a 6-month or annual inclusion of a listing. However, considering that they provide a completely different level of internet promotion they are usually worth it. Naturally, how effective they are depends on the material used though, such as the quality of the images and professionally made videos that captivate the visitor's attention, using well-written text that conveys the company's message clearly, including interesting documents that the visitor can view and download, etc.

Interactive business directories can be seen as a type of shopping, where the products are pieces of information about companies at the best price: zero. This makes it a very enjoyable activity that can also be quite rewarding, since with today's internet technology this kind of business directories can deliver what the visitor is looking for fast, reliably and without requiring any specialized know-how. Particularly the interactive business directories that are built on HTML5 can be visited using a tablet computer or even a phone, making them accessible to a vast audience.

Taking all the above into consideration, it is not far-fetched to say that interactive business directories is the way forward, a means of business promotion that will be used for many years to come.

Gondola Displays and Dragons' Den

We are really excited about the new series of Dragons Den on the BBC, where the good, the bad and the hapless come to pitch to the dragons to invest in their innovative business ideas.

One excellent pitch from the last episode involved husband and wife team Collette and Geoff Bell showcasing their product "Shampoo heads"; a new branded range of hair care products specifically designed with children in mind.

Boots the chemist are a UK and ROI based pharmacy chain. The huge company has been so convinced by the products design, manufacturing and marketing strategy that it has decided to place the products into a gondola end display unit in every Boots store in the UK for a four week period for free!

Retail stores normally charge a premium to brands to display their products on the gondola ends as these are areas which experience high consumer traffic and therefore drive increased sales.

A gondola end display is either a temporary or permanent structure that is normally located on the end of the aisle in supermarkets and retail stores. These displays will usually feature an eye catching design, bright colours, big bold logos and even large floor stickers to draw the consumer's attention to the product on offer.

Gondola ends are typically used by brands to promote new products or products which have a limited time promotional price, for example.

The process of setting up a new gondola display works like this:

Brands (e.g Glaxo Smithkline) will employ the services of a field marketing agency to handle the installation of a gondola display. Field marketing agencies will then use promotional staff and/or field merchandisers to go into the retail store to construct, set up and stock the gondola end.

Retail stores change their promotional offers and new line promotions regularly so promotional staff can find this a regular source of promotional work.

The promotional staff personnel may also be required to return to store periodically to check the status of the gondola end display.

The promotional staff member will feed back a variety of information to the field marketing agency such as number of units sold, condition of the display, quantity of stock remaining etc.

Field marketing agencies will in turn feed back this information to the brand to enable them to make further decisions about how to manage the promotion, commit more stock and ultimately drive more sales.

We wish Shampooheads the very best for the future and hope that their securing of the Boots contract is their springboard to success!

Qualitative Research: Respondent Recruitment for Sensitive or Embarrassing Topics

Recruitment of qualitative research participants for most fast moving consumer goods or other markets is a relatively straightforward matter. As part of the screening process a range of open and closed questions are asked, to determine a match with the profile the researcher needs to consult with to address the client's research objectives and answer their questions.

Apart from screening out due to using the wrong combination of brands or other behaviours that are not what is required, the risk to the applicant is minimised. A well-designed initial screener will ask the right questions quickly, and a few minutes of a potential participant's life is a reasonable exchange for the possibility of being invited to a well-paid focus group or depth interview on that subject subsequently.

Great care must be taken however, when the subject matter of the research is something awkward or sensitive. Just asking the screening questions, for which in many projects the majority will screen out and get nothing anyway, could become potentially detrimental to the respondents. Consider in the UK the old fashioned approach to focus group recruitment using face-to-face intercept methods - no problem to stop people in the street with your clipboard to ask them about their preferred brand of detergent, but how could you move the conversation on to determine whether they were or were not in the market for incontinence products, or a weight loss magazine?

Even in database driven recruitment where initial contact is made by email, very careful wording must be employed when inviting members to apply for projects that are highly sensitive. Very often of course the decision about whom to long-list and invite to apply is driven by simple demographic factors, proximity to the venue for one, but also other known factors such as age. "What on earth was it, about my profiling information, that made you think I might be interested in a project about (debt counselling / illegal downloading / erectile dysfunction)?!" is a not unreasonable response when a standard wording is engaged on an invitation however.

Far better to take great care when crafting an invite, explaining that the qualifying factors for the current project are highly sensitive and we really have no idea whom amongst our list may qualify as we don't hold this kind of information, but we really hope you won't mind taking a look in case you are a fit. Often it might be appropriate to reassure about the Market Research Society Code of Conduct in the UK (or other bodies in other markets) and how this protects their confidentiality and privacy within the research, and any other factors that might raise the comfort levels - such as the use of a female moderator so it's all ladies together, in a group about "women's problems".

The standard screening techniques of obscuring the 'right' answer amongst a range of dummy ones might also be inappropriate here. Respondents are not stupid, and if the one sensitive or awkward response is embedded in an anodyne list it will stick out like a sore thumb anyway, and very few people are likely to attempt to feign embarrassing diseases or circumstances in order to try to qualify for a focus group. Better in many cases to ask directly about the key criteria, then qualify on the screening interview with respectful and relevant probing, that will establish the qualification directly and appropriately.

Whilst for most research projects we would tend to avoid public social media postings that can be viewed by anyone in favour of individual invites to pre-screened people, there is definitely a valuable role here when it comes to sensitive topics. Bulletin boards or forums of communities of interest might be an appropriate place for a shout-out that people can choose to respond to or not, without feeling singled out. Providing an easy no-pressure response mechanism and clear call to action can help here.

The problem of screen-outs is also one that must be handled very delicately when the subject matter itself is delicate. You can tell people they are using the wrong mobile phone network to qualify for a research project - but you can't tell them they have the wrong kind of cancer. Again great sensitivity and an individual response is what is required.

When people essentially make themselves vulnerable in screening by revealing private and potentially embarrassing information, then they need extra reassurance about how that information will or will not be used in future... will be it held on a database, or can you tell them it will be deleted or disassociated with their profile? The MRS and every responsible code of conduct for our industry requires that respondents do not suffer any detriment due to their involvement in market research, and whilst we can never mitigate any disappointment at failing to be selected for a particular study, it is not reasonable that anyone is left wishing they hadn't applied in the first place.

Lead Generation Challenge: Changing Buying Habits Of Prospects

As we go along our sales lead generation campaign, we will encounter stumbling blocks that will affect our business performance. Among these challenges is the ever-changing buying behavior of business prospects. Not knowing the latest trends or habits of people we want to get in touch with can affect our capabilities in generating sales leads. These days, getting B2B leads is no longer about offering the best product or service. Quality is no longer the gold standard in capturing a portion of the market; it is much more than that. For you to catch a prospect's attention, you also have to offer everything else in between. How you do it will determine whether you clinch a deal or not.

In the past, if we want to be assured of getting quality B2B leads, we focus a lot of attention in improving what we offer. Often times, we would spend a lot of our energy, money, and research in improving our product line. It did get us a lot of sales leads - in the past. But that is not the case at present. As a marketing professor in college once said, "The product is not everything; we must constantly delight and surprise our customers". All the little details that go along with our offer can make or break our sales operation. This focus on presentation and appearance could perhaps best explain why the late Steve Jobs was able to make Apple, Inc. the business powerhouse it is today. From the curves of his electronic gadgets to the packaging, Jobs made sure that it is appealing to the eyes of the buying public.

Aside from appearances, the level of customer service provided by your company also plays a key role. It matters not if you have the most advanced product or service, if you cannot provide a level of customer service so desired by prospects at present. In other words, you have to be constantly in touch with your market, ready to answer every concern raised about your offer. You will have to employ a variety of communication tools in order to monitor what is going in. Emails, forums, social media and even telemarketing all play a key role in providing your customers and prospects a level of assurance that you will be there for them even after purchase.

It will also pay to be proactive in anticipating customer concerns. In case you are certain that an issue or problem will be affecting a large number of people, it is best that you take the first step and contact them. You can do it through social media channels, an email blast, or a little old-fashioned telemarketing. It is necessary to assure your customers that you are on top of the situation and are taking steps to address the problems. You may have a reputation of product quality, but customers do not really put a lot of value to it anymore. What matters to them is whether they can get in touch with you quickly or not.

This is the challenge for today's lead generation and appointment setting work. Can you handle it?

What Banks Can Teach Product Managers About Targeted Marketing

I've got a quick question for you: where do you keep your money? I'm not talking about pocket change, I'm talking about the big stuff - like your last paycheck? If you are like most people, you have a checking account and that's where you keep your money. It turns out that about 25% of the U.S. population is either unbanked or underbanked - they don't have a checking account. Clearly this is a segment of the population that banks want use the product development definition to go after. It's how they're doing it that might be interesting for the rest of us...

Who Are The Unbanked?

You have a bank account, I have a bank account, so just exactly who are these "unbanked" folks? Recent estimates suggest that some 70% of the world's population has either limited or no access to financial services. You know all of those ads that you see on TV for check cashing stores that also offer money orders - they are the ones who are serving the unbanked.

Bank product managers have a big task here. The unbanked have a big cultural issue with banks: they don't trust them. It may be because of how banks have behaved in the country that they come from or it may be because of how they've been treated by banks in the past. If bank product managers can find a way to solve this problem, then they'll have something else to add to their product manager resume.

As product managers start to try to find ways to reach out to the unbanked, they are learning more and more about them. It turns out that the majority of the unbanked own cell phones and somewhat surprisingly nearly 50% are just as likely to own a smartphone as a banked customer.

This is an important piece of information for product managers to have. One reason is because it turns out that the unbanked are less likely to own a computer. This means that the cell phone is the primary channel that product managers can use to get in contact with the unbanked.

Meet The Competition -The Phone Company

There are a lot of potential bank customers who are currently unbanked. This, of course, means that other firms are not standing by idly waiting for bank product managers to get their act together and start to serve them.

Mobile phone operators have realized that they already have a relationship with this customer segment and they are moving aggressively to try to capitalize on it. Mobile based financial services can be targeted to this segment.

These services can be developed and offered in partnership with banks, but they don't have to be. Bank product managers have got to be ready to go head-to-head with the mobile phone companies if they want to be able to serve this segment of the population.

How Can Banks Target Their Marketing Efforts?

Bank product managers need to make sure that they understand their customers. This includes realizing that the unbanked are frequent users of prepaid cards. Based on this understanding, bank product managers should realize that the unbanked may be ideal consumers of mobile banking products that can be tied to a prepaid account.

Once the bank product managers realize this, there are a number of products that they could roll out. These include mobile remote deposit capture and mobile peer-to-peer money transfer services are also services that would be appreciated by the unbanked.

Bank product managers have an uphill battle when it comes to finding ways to serve the unbanked. Currently, the unbanked have a "cash only" mentality that product managers will need to find a way to change.

In order to be successful, bank product managers will have to find ways to get the unbanked to take a look at the whole picture in order to get them to understand what they are really spending on check cashing services and payday lenders. Once they do that, using bank products may be something that they'd like to look into!

What Does All Of This Mean For You?

Just because there is a significant segment of customers who don't currently use your type of product, does not mean that you can't convince them to use it. This type of activity is really a part of the product manager job description. However, it's going to take some work on your part.

As banking product managers have found out, in order to reach customers who are not currently using a product like yours, you need to understand the segment. If you can find things that unify the segment, like cell phone usage, then you will have uncovered a possible path to reaching these customers with your message.

Clearly your product has to solve a problem for the group of customers who are not currently using it. Once you've identified what this is, you'll next have to find a way to leverage it in order to connect with them. Nobody ever said that this was going to be easy to do, but the results are well worth it!