Are you using mobile technology to market your business?

If not, reconsider – because up to 44% of your competitors may well be.
Right now.

Adobe have released the findings from their Scene 7 2011 survey, entitled “Digital Marketing in the Next Decade”.  1,941 businesses around the world were asked to pinpoint the tactics they currently deploy – or plan to deploy – in a number of areas including web analyitics, digital advertising, mobile, and social media.

Web analytics, social media and online merchandising are currently the most widely used tactics, while the development of mobile applications is among the most widely planned for 2011 and beyond. This is the first time, since 2007 when the survey began, that mobile has topped the list of planned deployments and is most likely a commercial response to the massive growth in the use of smart phones over the past year and a half.

Of course, mobile isn’t just about straight-up, personalised advertising. Of the top six most-effective features for improving customer experience, four were found to be related to mobile. Social media marketing fanatics have been raving for years about the importance of integrating online marketing strategy with offline and in-store promotions. With mobile, this couldn’t be any easier.

If you haven’t already, you should consider some of these strategies:

• Providing downloadable, bar-coded coupons
• Allowing customers to check inventory stock through an app
• Inviting customers to get information by scanning an item’s barcode on their phone
• Product comparisons on mobile devices
• Or, the old fun-favorite: location-based social networking. IE. Foursquare!

International marketing tactics are adapting at a furious rate to meet their audiences on new technological platforms. Where will this ‘digital revolution’ take us next, I wonder?

And where will you take your business with mobile?

Devin Anderson is a Digital Marketing Consultant at our talented branding-expertise affiliate, The Brand Factory.

We are all prone to a good dose of procrastination or “what are my priorities again?!” struggles.

Some days (or weeks, months,… years) just don’t flow the way we want them to.

There are many, many different reasons why we tell ourselves that we will just do that particularly nasty-looking thing later:  The summer sunshine is too tempting, the winter cold too paralysing and plunging us into lethargy.  Or something needs to be done first, urgently. Now. Sorry, just can’t wait. Honest, the world will end if I don’t deal with that (more pleasant looking) thing right now. Uh-uh!

But let’s face it, most of these oh-so-urgent (read: preferred) things can wait a while.

What it really comes down to is this:
We all rather deal with the pretty prince(ss) than the ugly frog first.
That ugly amphibian can wait, thank you very much!

Well, it can’t.

More often than not, the things we like to do least are the ones that are the most important to tackle.
If not for what they are in themselves – the insurance for the car or business IS important, even if it is boring and mind-numbing to get through the forest of paperwork and jargon – then for the challenges they pose.

What is the real reason I keep postponing a particular task? Do I worry about spending money and my financial security, or perhaps about not understanding the insurance jargon and subsequently getting the wrong cover?

So, what to do?

I have used a few techniques to help me hone in on the nasty-looking items first, get them out of the way. I find that the smaller, less daunting tasks end up looking quite pretty afterwards – and are a lot easier and faster to deal with once the dread of  the ugly toad has vanished.

To kiss the ugly frogs good-bye efficiently check out Ask Rebecca How’s own Rebecca Well’s blog here.
Or perhaps you prefer to chuck a tomato at the little blighters? Try the Pomodoro Technique.

What works for you?

How do you set your priorities & overcome procrastination?

And now, I better sort that insurance out…
Until soon,
Daniela

As an entrepreneur, business owner or marketing manager, you all face the same issue: how to create engaging and on-target marketing messages, and truly connect with your audience. How to create leads and convert them into (preferably repeat) customers.

Here are five steps for creating an effective marketing message:

1. Identify your Target Market
2. Understand your Target Audience’s unique Problems, Needs and Wants
3. Offer a Solution to those Problems, and Fulfill Desires
4. Provide Testimonials (customer experiences) as a Proof of your Solutions
5. Differentiate Yourself from your Competitors

And remember: what your prospects and customers really want to know is “what’s in it for them” when they buy your product or engage your services. How you achieve that result for them that (i.e. what you do), is of secondary interest to them. So, your audience mainly wants to know you provide a specific benefit that’s important to them. For example, that what you sell provides security and safety – not so much the details of the insurances you offer or the technical specifications of a security system.

Read more on how to create a strong marketing message here.

Until next time,
Daniela

Are you a soloist, entrepreneur, micro- or small to medium business?  If so, sometimes, as the owner of such a business, it can feel like you are all alone, out there on a big big ocean and only a few islands in sight.  But you are not alone.  And dry, solid land is there for the taking – if you know how to look for it and stake your claim.

In their book The Risk Takers Renee and Don Martin identify ten common traits, challenges and ultimately opportunities for entrepreneurs:

1. Trust your Instinct
2. Challenge Convention
3. Persist
4. Find your Niche
5. Spot Trends and Act
6. Fill the Gaps your Competition’s Left
7. Just Start – there is no Perfect Time
8. Get Creative in Marketing
9. Competitor’s Weakness = Your Strength
10. Never stop Changing
11. I like to add another point here: Be Clear and Consistent about your Brand.
    Ensure you communicate clearly, regularly and in an engaging way with your target audience, i.e. your potential and existing clients.
    Be relevant, give them something for free, don’t just hard-sell. Be professional, yet personal. Put yourself in the client’s shoes and think how you would like to be communicated with and treated.
    There is much you can do yourself towards this aim. Everything else a good copywriter and communications expert can help you with.
    Help is at hand – for all budgets.

Read more on how to get motivated, find your niche and not lose the edge over your competition here.

Until next time,
Daniela

A friend of mine, who loved how he could relate to my recent post on Allizan Nazarian’s shitty day advice, asked me to re-post her humorous and wise insights into coping with “The Lull”.

So here it is…. Click here for the link to “The Lull” and enjoy.

Until soon,
Daniela

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Is there no accounting for taste?

Don’t judge too fast, that crazy idea you – or they – have might just work!

Marketing “guru” Seth Godin on how and why to separate “not for me” from “not for anyone”.
Read what he has to say here.

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”
Bertrand Russell

Inventions like the PC and the telephone were once thought outlandish, the notion that they would be Everyman’s daily tools instead of the domain of geeks or the privileged was dismissed as frivolous.

Don’t give up on your dreams.

“The faculty of creative imagination is one which the majority of people never use during an entire lifetime.”
Napoleon Hill

Do you trust hunches & your subconscious mind to help you?
When did you last take your creative side on a date: visited a museum, a flea market full of curiosities, or listened to music doing nothing else?

Feed your creativity – and you will reap the rewards.