Marketing accountability should be a priority, but in reality there is a lot of talk on the matter, and less action. Given access to large corporate budgets, marketing staff have promised returns on investment and increased market share. However, the evolution of the dot.com era has contributed to the fact that marketing staff can no longer get away with promising big results without quantifiably measuring them.
Category: Marketing
Business marketing advice, tips and guides to help you boost your promotions
The future of networking
Increasingly, businesses have been looking to ‘word of mouth’ marketing to find clients with the growth of networking groups providing opportunities for companies to spread the word and get referrals.
Times move on and with the growth of online social networking opening people’s eyes to the power of the internet, companies are looking to see how the increasing number of ‘social’ business networks can be used for marketing and sales purposes.
Nine out of 10 web users watch video
Almost nine out of 10 UK web users watched video online in December, according to comScore, whose data revealed the dominance of YouTube.
In the UK, 28.7 million web users, or 87% of the online population, watched video in December, accessing 3.1m videos.
Social networking: why not embrace innovation?
177 years ago this month, the south-east of England was aflame as farm workers rioted. Under the leadership of the mysterious ‘Captain Swing’, they launched an orgy of burning and destruction across the countryside.
Is video content the future for business websites?
If you, like me, are the kind of person who hides away when the video cameras come out, you might well ask, why on earth would you want video content on your company website?
The reason why I’m recommending that you think differently today is because I believe that 1. video content is the future for business websites and that 2. business websites with video content attract more customers and drive higher sales.
Business networking online
A new business networking organisation has just launched specialising in creating local online communities. Word Of Mouse, created by one of the former founders of the BRE Network is hoping to capitalise on the current boom in online social networking with sites like Facebook, Ecademy and Linked In.
Sustainability is a matter of business
The environment is changing. The IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 4th assessment report was released in February warning that climate change poses the single biggest threat to businesses and societies.
The effects of global climate change and the exhaustion of natural resources are becoming increasingly evident, with consequences for human well-being. In the world of marketing these global changes are shifting consumers’ expectations of brands and companies. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the power held in their purchase choices. Businesses have a new obligation not just to make money but also to ‘do good’ and embed a sense of global citizenship, social responsibility and environmental responsibility in their brand.
Packing the Punches: How to make your website a big hitter
Having a company website is the norm for any serious business these days, no matter what its size is, but it makes very little sense to spend good money on a website unless you can make it easy for people to find, use, and come away with a clear vision and understanding of what you’re about and the desire to return.
The best websites offer visitors something different but equally useful or entertaining each time they visit, compelling them to come back for more. Without exception, these are websites that are in constant evolution; they are the sites that are tended to daily and regularly updated with new information.
Taking action
Many small business owners will be used to copping flak for addictions to their ‘crackberry’.
The tell tale symtoms are all too common. Exasperated partners railing at post midnight emailing or blackberrys heading for a watery demise in the swimming pool during that longed for summer break.However, the vexed issue of the merits of Blackberrys is truely small fry compared to the grief that could be caused to business owners by the latest internet phenomenon. The explosion in popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, You Tube, Bebo and My Space presents a new potentially very big problem for owner managers to grapple with.
Making up is hard to do
Are you ready for some bad news? Well, it’s inevitable – your business will never be able to keep all of the people it deals with happy all of the time. Darker forces are at work and they will lure customers away from your business to your competitors.
Issues around your customer service may arise and will leave your customers unhappy, whether these are down to computer or human errors. It’s naive to think everything will run smoothly all the time, even when you have the best intentions and provide the best staff training. Let’s face it, everyone, including you, can have an off day.
