Today I found an article from the LA Times that helps approve my Blog Title: "Marketing Makes Me Smile."
Some smart folks at Harvard have studied over 5,000 relationships and how their level of happiness on social media sites affected the rest of their networks. Apparently, happiness is contagious as they found that knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself!
Interesting article. Click on the link below for all the happy details, and keep smiling out there. :)
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/05/science/sci-happy5
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
How To Do Social Media Right In 2009
Check out this SlideShare Presentation - a very deep and detailed look at the future of social media. I like their case studies with Zappos and Ford - two companies using social media the right way to build their brand and keep their customers happy.
How To Do Social Media Right In 2009
View more presentations from Marta Strickland.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bullseye: Finding YOUR Target Market
Lately I've heard lots of people talk about how confusing it is to find their target market and so I thought I'd share some thoughts.
First, everyone must understand that this is not an option, but a requirement in doing business. Those who think that everyone on the planet could use their services are way off course. They say "If you're targeting everyone, you're targeting NO ONE." And it's true. Now, perhaps your service or product could be used by everyone. You still need to just focus on one core group, and life will be much easier and far less overwhelming. For small businesses in particular, this needs to be strongly looked into.
Major brands even have their own definition of their ideal customer, but also have the marketing budgets to promote on much larger, national levels by purchasing TV commercials, magazine ads in People, or appearing on Oprah as a sponsor which allows them to reach as many people at once as possible.
These details you need to know about your target market/customer are comprised of two things: demographic information and psychographic information or personality or lifestyle information. (Demographics included any hard facts such as the first three below.)
Here's a list of questions to ask yourself in looking for your target market:
- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- Are they married, single, divorced, widowed, third-marriage?
- What is their profession and annual income?
- Where do they go on vacation? How often do they travel?
- What is their favorite TV show? Magazine subscription?
- Would they spend time online or choose to read a novel for liesure?
- Would you find them on a Friday night at Chuck E. Cheese, Red Lobster or Morton's Steakhouse?
The more specific you can narrow down your target, the easier it will be to find them and then proceed with the rest of your marketing strategy. But if you don't know where to look, you'll end up wasting WAY too much of your precious time. Do spend the time to really delve into who these fantastic customers of yours look like. This research is pivotal in your success and will travel through all aspects of your marketing plan. It will determine how you talk to them, where you place advertising, how much they will be willing to pay for your services and more.
If you need any help with this, please contact me. I LOVE figuring out target markets!
First, everyone must understand that this is not an option, but a requirement in doing business. Those who think that everyone on the planet could use their services are way off course. They say "If you're targeting everyone, you're targeting NO ONE." And it's true. Now, perhaps your service or product could be used by everyone. You still need to just focus on one core group, and life will be much easier and far less overwhelming. For small businesses in particular, this needs to be strongly looked into.
Major brands even have their own definition of their ideal customer, but also have the marketing budgets to promote on much larger, national levels by purchasing TV commercials, magazine ads in People, or appearing on Oprah as a sponsor which allows them to reach as many people at once as possible.
These details you need to know about your target market/customer are comprised of two things: demographic information and psychographic information or personality or lifestyle information. (Demographics included any hard facts such as the first three below.)
Here's a list of questions to ask yourself in looking for your target market:
- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- Are they married, single, divorced, widowed, third-marriage?
- What is their profession and annual income?
- Where do they go on vacation? How often do they travel?
- What is their favorite TV show? Magazine subscription?
- Would they spend time online or choose to read a novel for liesure?
- Would you find them on a Friday night at Chuck E. Cheese, Red Lobster or Morton's Steakhouse?
The more specific you can narrow down your target, the easier it will be to find them and then proceed with the rest of your marketing strategy. But if you don't know where to look, you'll end up wasting WAY too much of your precious time. Do spend the time to really delve into who these fantastic customers of yours look like. This research is pivotal in your success and will travel through all aspects of your marketing plan. It will determine how you talk to them, where you place advertising, how much they will be willing to pay for your services and more.
If you need any help with this, please contact me. I LOVE figuring out target markets!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Twitter is Taking Over!
Tweet. Twitter.
These aren't just two really cool words. But they're also powerful tools to use as marketing strategy for your business.
Twitter is the latest and greatest social networking website. Less complex and perhaps more effective than a MySpace or Facebook. It's the short, condensed version of these similar sites and still allows you to upload your picture, create a mini-profile and bring some of your personality to it.
To "tweet" is a verb - the action you take to write what you're doing in under 140 characters - about 2 short sentences. This can be done from your computer or your cellphone. (Several companies have created software that allows you to update all of your social networking sites at the same time so you don't have to log into each one. I use Hellotxt. So convenient.) It's then broadcast out to your network
.
So why should you "tweet"? Answer: To take advantage of an extremely viral social platform where people have the choice to "follow" what you're doing. This is also the modern day version of building your database. In other words, it's an opportunity for you to build more relationships, bring value and take the chance to get the word out there about who you are and what services or products you can offer. And it's fun!
Join Twitter, then please opt to "follow me" if you like and I look forward to returning the favor by following you back and learning more about you!
Tweet-tweet for now...
These aren't just two really cool words. But they're also powerful tools to use as marketing strategy for your business.
Twitter is the latest and greatest social networking website. Less complex and perhaps more effective than a MySpace or Facebook. It's the short, condensed version of these similar sites and still allows you to upload your picture, create a mini-profile and bring some of your personality to it.
To "tweet" is a verb - the action you take to write what you're doing in under 140 characters - about 2 short sentences. This can be done from your computer or your cellphone. (Several companies have created software that allows you to update all of your social networking sites at the same time so you don't have to log into each one. I use Hellotxt. So convenient.) It's then broadcast out to your network
.So why should you "tweet"? Answer: To take advantage of an extremely viral social platform where people have the choice to "follow" what you're doing. This is also the modern day version of building your database. In other words, it's an opportunity for you to build more relationships, bring value and take the chance to get the word out there about who you are and what services or products you can offer. And it's fun!
Join Twitter, then please opt to "follow me" if you like and I look forward to returning the favor by following you back and learning more about you!
Tweet-tweet for now...
Sunday, March 8, 2009
It's Just the Beginning
Today changed my life so much so that it inspired me to set up a blog. I'll tell you why in a minute.
I know about blogs. I understand about blogs. I read blogs. I help others with their blogs. I critique blogs. Heck, I even set up my own 7-yr-old son his own blog some time ago and he has way more posts than I do at this point!
So why not? What's been holding me back?
Well, it's simple. I've been too scared to share. To share my thoughts, my feelings, my ideas, my concerns...for fear of (gasp!) what someone else might think. Enough of that.
Today it was made abundantly clear that I possess valuable information about Marketing and I constantly share it with others, so why not put it out there for more to hear? I love to write and for those who know me, they all know that my calling has been to become an exceptional Marketing specialist.
A blog is a very powerful way to connect with others who are interested in hearing the above list of thoughts, ideas, etc. This blog will have a mixture of personal and business info, and I hope that you will find little gold nuggets along the way to help you in some way, shape or form. I look forward to hearing about YOU now!
God Bless!
I know about blogs. I understand about blogs. I read blogs. I help others with their blogs. I critique blogs. Heck, I even set up my own 7-yr-old son his own blog some time ago and he has way more posts than I do at this point!
So why not? What's been holding me back?
Well, it's simple. I've been too scared to share. To share my thoughts, my feelings, my ideas, my concerns...for fear of (gasp!) what someone else might think. Enough of that.
Today it was made abundantly clear that I possess valuable information about Marketing and I constantly share it with others, so why not put it out there for more to hear? I love to write and for those who know me, they all know that my calling has been to become an exceptional Marketing specialist.
A blog is a very powerful way to connect with others who are interested in hearing the above list of thoughts, ideas, etc. This blog will have a mixture of personal and business info, and I hope that you will find little gold nuggets along the way to help you in some way, shape or form. I look forward to hearing about YOU now!
God Bless!
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