Trading By Tall Scoring Strategier For Alle Markedet

markedsføring og annonsering tips hvordan du skriver en strategisk markedsplan eller forretningsstrategi, markedsføring og annonsering tips, internett og nettside markedsføring tips Dette er en enkel guide til markedsføring, strategisk forretningsplanlegging, reklame og markedsføring og salg ledende generasjon, for små britiske bedrifter spesielt . Med tips og teknikker for reklame og PR, for ikke-markedsføringsansvarlige, og for markedsføring og reklame fagfolk, dette er markedsføring og reklame gjort enkelt. Også noen enkle tips om nettside design, internett annonsering og markedsføring. Mens mye av denne markedsføringsteori siden ble skrevet for en stund siden, gjelder prinsippene bare det samme, hvis mange av disse grunnleggende pekerne er gode påminnelser om noen av de enkle tingene som er lette å overse i disse moderne distraherende tider. I tilfelle der det refereres til Storbritannia, vil det vanligvis være tilsvarende metoder og prosesser og leverandører som gjelder i andre land. NB Stavemåte: Brukes hovedsakelig av søkeårsaker, engelsk-engelsk og engelsk-engelsk stavemåte for organisasjonsorganisasjon på denne siden. Bortsett fra dette, er de foretrukne engelsk-engelske stavemåten vanligvis brukt. Endre stavemåten for din egen situasjon hvis du bruker disse materialene i undervisnings - og treningsnotater. Et grunnleggende aspekt ved moderne markedsføring Først, heres noe som raskt blir de mest grunnleggende aspektene ved markedsføring for å få det rette, spesielt hvis du vil bygge en virkelig bærekraftig høykvalitetsorganisasjon (av hvilken som helst størrelse) i moderne tidsalder: Sikre etikk og Filosofien til organisasjonen din er god og god. Dette kan virke litt tangentielt for markedsføring og forretninger, og heller vanskelig å måle, likevel. Prisen er ikke lenger kongen, om den noen gang var. Verdi ikke lenger regler, om noen gang det gjorde det. Kvalitet på service og produkt er ikke avgjørende. I dag er det virkelig etisk og filosofisk kvalitet - fra bunn til topp - i alle henseender - på tvers av alle dimensjoner i organisasjonen. Moderne forbrukere, forretningskjøpere, ansatte og leverandører er i dag mer interessert enn noen gang i bedriftens integritet. som er definert av organisasjonens etikk og filosofi. God lydetikk og filosofi gjør det mulig for og oppfordrer folk til å ta riktige og gode beslutninger, og å gjøre rette og gode ting. Dens om menneskehet og moral omsorg og medfølelse er god og rettferdig. Fortjeneste er greit, men ikke grådighetskompensasjon er bra, men ikke handel er åpenbart viktig, men utnyttelse er ikke. Psykologisk kontraktsteori er nyttig for å forstå og utvikle en balansert filosofi, spesielt når det gjelder å møte de komplekse behovene til ansatte, kunder og organisasjonen. Nudge-teori er en kraftig forandringsstyringsmetode som ble oppstått i 2000-årene. Det er ekstremt nyttig i forståelse, og i en grad som styrer, hvordan folk tenker og tar beslutninger. Mennesker identifiserer og tilpasser seg naturligvis med etiske filosofiske verdier. Den beste staben, leverandørene og kundene tynger naturlig mot organisasjoner med sterke etiske egenskaper. Å sette en god klar etisk filosofi på plass, og kommunisere det vidt og langt, lar folk vite at organisasjonen din alltid forsøker å gjøre det rette. Den er kraftig fordi den appellerer til folkes dypeste følelser. Bedriftsintegritet, basert på rett og god etisk filosofi, overgår alt annet. Og så er sterk etikk og god filosofi grunnlaget for alle gode organisasjoner og bedrifter er nå bygget. Folk kan ikke spørre eller snakke om dette mye: terminologien er jo ikke en fasjonabel markedsføringstale, og det korrelerer heller ikke klart til økonomisk resultat, men vær sikker på at alle blir mer oppmerksomme på dypere ansvar for bedrifter og bedrifter i forhold til menneskeheten , og moral, den naturlige verden, de svake og de fattige, og fremtidens planeten. Vitne motsetningen som vokser mot visse multinasjonale. Folk skinner ikke mot vellykkede selskaper - de sporer mot selskaper som gir fortjeneste foran mennesker vekst foran samfunnet og samfunnsteknologi og produksjon før den naturlige verdensmarkedsdominansen foran medfølelse for menneskeheten. Ingen av dette er riktig og bra, og disse organisasjonene er på låne tid. Folk foretrekker i økende grad å kjøpe fra, håndtere og jobbe for etisk. rettferdige organisasjoner. Og om en organisasjon er etisk og rettferdig, blir det stadig mer gjennomsiktig for alle å se. Bortsett fra - når du får din filosofi riktig, forankrer alt annet naturlig til det. Strategier, prosesser, holdninger, relasjoner, handelsordninger, alle slags vanskelige beslutninger - selv styremedlemmer lønninger og aksjeopsjoner tør vi foreslå. Og det trenger ikke å være komplisert. Det ultimate bedriftens referansepunkt er: Er det riktig og bra. Hvordan stabler dette (ide, initiativ, beslutning osv.) Opp mot vår etiske filosofi. Organisasjoner er komplekse ting, og de blir mer og mer kompliserte hver dag. En god etisk filosofi gir alle et naturlig, pålitelig referansepunkt, for den minste detalj opp til den største strategiske beslutningen. Så når du begynner å skrive markedsplanen din, være det for en ny oppstart, et stort selskap eller en liten avdeling innenfor en, sørg for at du legger en riktig og god etisk filosofi på plass før du gjør noe annet, og se på alt vokser derfra. markedsføringsindekser direkte markedsføring, reklame og loven - særlig den britiske databeskyttelsesloven og preferansetjenester for telemarketing, faks, post osv. reklame tips og triks av handelen - hemmeligheter med effektiv trykt reklame og maksimere reklame respons. PR - få mest mulig ut av PR - bruk pressemeldinger for gratis reklame og publisitet. nyhetsbrev - for ansatte og kunder. Nettsted og Internett markedsføring tips - Enkle tips for internett nettsteder og online markedsføring. undersøkelser og spørreskjemaer - prosess for å designe og organisere medarbeiderundersøkelser og kundeundersøkelser Se også (på andre sider): forretningsplanlegging - inkluderer gratis strategiske planleggingsmaler, eksempler og eksempler salg og salg - metoder, prosesser, teori, teknikker - hjelp til å utvikle salg forslag og salgsstrategier markedsføring mot reklame - forskjeller og definisjoner Markedsføring og annonsering er ofte forvirret. Denne forvirringen er sammensatt fordi begge sider fortsetter å utvikle seg. Nedenfor er definisjoner av markedsføring, etterfulgt av definisjoner reklame, og forskjellene mellom markedsføring og reklame. For det første er det viktig å merke seg at: Markedsdefinisjonens stadig mer omfattende natur gjenspeiler de økende dimensjonene som organisasjoner engasjerer med sine markeder. Det er virkelig fascinerende og svært viktig å se hvordan definisjonene av markedsføring har forandret seg over tid. Markedsføring var tradisjonelt ganske enkelt å selge produkter (som om det var et tradisjonelt gammelt bøndemarked). Begrepet kommer fra denne betydningen. Denne betydningen utviklet seg slik at markedsføring ble en utvidelse av salg - et middel for å identifisere, designe og kommunisere eller målrette tilbud til kunder. I dag vet vi imidlertid at kundene tar beslutninger om å kjøpe mange produkttjenester ved å henvise til langt flere og bredere faktorer enn bare produktservicefunksjoner, kvalitet, tilgjengelighet og pris. I dag er betydningen av markedsføring ekstremt sofistikert. En god moderne definisjon av markedsføring må erkjenne at vi kjøper ting på langt mer komplekse måter enn vi gjorde for 50 år siden, selv for ti år siden. Internett og sosiale medier er viktige faktorer i dette. Fremfor alt er markedsføring en refleksjon av markedet, og hvordan markedet kjøper og oppfører seg, noe som spesielt medfører folk og samfunn - mye bredere hensyn enn rent produkt og pris. Etter hvert som markedet utvikler seg i sofistikering, gjør det også hvordan vi forstår hvilken markedsføring faktisk er og hva det betyr å drive markedsføring godt. Her er tre eksempler på hvordan omfanget og definisjonen av markedsføring kommer langt lenger enn noensinne: Organisatorisk grunnlov - mange kunder vil ikke kjøpe fra en leverandør hvis eierskap anses å være uetisk, grådig eller for profittrettet, mens mange kunder positivt oppsøke leverandører som anses å ha mer etiske overbevisninger og etos, som for eksempel mødre og kooperativer, eller sosiale foretak. Disse problemene er derfor nå uunngåelig del av markedsføring, og hvor markedsføring ikke vurderer eller påvirker disse forholdene, er markedsaktiviteten potensielt mindre klar og effektiv. Organisasjonsmessig sanselighet - (Sannhet betyr ærlighet, oppriktighet - det er fra det latinske ordproblemet, som betyr bra) - dette inkluderer saker som miljø og samfunnsansvar, og Fairtrade, etc. Se 4P Formål-Probity-modellen. Hvor markedsføring ikke involverer, adresserer og påvirker disse grunnleggende organisasjonsverdiene, er markedsføring i en grad (avhengig av servicemarkedet) deaktivert. Den psykologiske kontrakten - forholdet mellom organisasjon og personale har direkte innvirkning på markedets image og kundeservice. Markedsføring har i flere tiår utvidet sin rekkevidde til staben (tradisjonelt, for eksempel intern markedsføring via nyhetsbrev og personalemøter, osv.), Men i dag er denne interne fasetten enormt viktigere. Organisatorisk integritet og tilhørende feil er nå mye mer gjennomsiktig. Employer Employee Relations er nå sett helt åpenbart for å påvirke kvalitet og etikk for oppførsel og service (for eksempel skandaler med News International privatlivskriminalitet, mislighold i forsikringsbransjen og bankinvesteringsrisiko). Som sådan er det vanskelig å utelukke hensyn som den psykologiske kontrakten fra markedsansvaret. Definisjoner av markedsføring Her er noen definisjoner av markedsføring, eldste først, som begynner med 1922 OED (Oxford English Dictionary). Den stadig bredere arten av disse markedsdefinisjonene gjenspeiler de økende dimensjonene som organisasjoner engasjerer seg med sine markeder, og dermed hvordan betydningen av markedsføring har vokst. Handlingen med å selge, dvs. å bringe eller sende til markedet. og også produsere verb som betyr å bli solgt i markedet. (1922 OED - Oxford English Dictionary, paraphrased) Handlingen eller virksomheten til å markedsføre og markedsføre produkter og tjenester, inkludert markedsundersøkelser og reklame. (1998-2005 revidert, moderne Oxford English Dictionary) Markedsføring er ledelsesprosessen som er ansvarlig for å identifisere, forutse og tilfredsstille kundenes krav lønnsomt. Markedsføring omfatter og omfatter alle organisatoriske aktiviteter som involverer eller påvirker forholdet mellom en leverandørproviderorganisasjon og dets publikum og interessenter. (Businessballs, A Chapman, 2012) Definisjon av reklame og reklame Vi ser nå tydeligere at annonsering er ganske forskjellig fra og faktisk innenfor markedsføring: Aktiviteten eller yrket for å produsere reklame for kommersielle produkter eller tjenester. (2005 Oxford English Dictionary) Annonsen er definert som: En varsel eller kunngjøring i et offentligt medium som markedsfører et produkt, en tjeneste eller en begivenhet eller publiserer en ledig stilling. (2005 Oxford English Dictionary) Kommunisere via print eller elektronisk eller annen media til en customeraudiencemarket om en produktserviceorganisasjon for å forbedre ønsket om eller visning av produktserviceorganisasjonen. (Businessballs, A Chapman, 2012) (Utvider nyttig som :). Reklame søker på målbare, kostnadseffektive, kontrollerbare måter å generere henvendelser eller salg og for å øke bevisstheten om en leverandørproviderorganisering ved å presentere motiverende kommunikasjon til et passende publikum. (Businessballs, A Chapman, 2012) i sammendraget Markedsføring og annonsering er annerledes. Markedsføring er et ekstremt bredt område som inkluderer reklame. ikke omvendt. Markedsføring inkluderer også PR, online tilstedeværelsesaktivitet, kundeservice, salgssalg admin (metoder og strukturstrategi), branding, utstillinger, sponsing, ny produktutvikling, merchandising, spørreundersøkelser og markedsundersøkelser, politisk lobbyvirksomhet, og til og med strekker seg til etos, kultur, opplæring og organisatoriske konstitusjonelle problemer, siden alt dette påvirker bild og handelsstil av en organisasjon eller leverandør av produkter. Reklame er langt mer spesifikk enn reklame markedsføring er en funksjon av markedsføring. og omfatter i utgangspunktet kommunikasjonsmetoder med publikum designet for å produsere salgsforespørsler, og for å øke bevissthet om produktbrandorganisasjon. Reklame refererer til trykte og elektroniske medier som presenteres på markedet eller publikum, inkludert emballasje, salgssted, brosjyrer og salgslitteratur. Reklame utvides i økende grad til reklame i tradisjonelle og elektroniske medier, som kombinerer levering av objektiv, nyttig informasjon og mer subjektiv reklamemelding. Reklame (når den er riktig utført) er den statistisk drevne og målbare implementeringen av markedsføringsstrategi, via nøye utvalgte kommunikasjonsmetoder, rettet mot forhåndsbestemte publikum. Reklame er en av flere instrumenter som markedsfører. Vi kan også betrakte reklame som et middel til taktisk implementering av strategiske mål for markedsføring. markedsføring og forretningsplanlegging - og grunnleggende organisatorisk filosofi, formål, verdier og etikk, et moderne planleggingsramme for en bedrift eller organisasjon. Først er det nyttig å besøke, kontrollere eller definere grunnlaget for bedriften din eller organisasjonen. Hva er dine grunnleggende mål og verdier Hva er ditt ultimate formål Er din underliggende filosofi kongruent (konsekvent) med dine planlagte forretningsaktiviteter, operasjoner og mål (Se ledelsessiden for å forklare hvordan underbygging av formål og filosofi er så viktig for lederskap, så vel som for strategi og markedsføring.) Nedenfor er en enkel mal for å sjekke at du har grunnlaget og byggeklossene på plass. Hvis ikke, så bestem det (så langt du kan, fordi det generelt er konsernsjefene kaller) hva de burde være, fordi alle gode markedsføringsplaner må ha solid fundament først. Når det gjelder de grunnleggende filosofiske aspektene, se avsnittene om etiske organisasjoner og samfunnsansvar og den psykologiske kontrakten. Disse konseptene er dypere enn verktøy og prosesser og oppdragsgivere. Å ha en god filosofi og etisk posisjon, bestemmer og beskytter din organisasjon og deres integritet. Når det gjelder å definere mer detaljerte aspekter av oppdrag og strategi, er det selvfølgelig grad av kylling og egg her: Hvordan kan du kjenne din oppdrag til du validerer den med dine potensielle kunder Hvordan kan du opprette mål og mål uten å konsultere og involvere dine ansatte Disse senere stadiene må åpenbart settes inn og raffineres når du er i stand til å gjøre det uten å gjette eller antar, da planleggingen utvikler seg, bruk rammen som en fast påminnelse for å være sikker på at du fyller ut boksene når du er i stand til - ikke la disse problemene flyte ubestemt eller gå tilbake til X-Theory autokratiet (som de vanligvis gjør der et vakuum finnes). Hvis du er i tvil, alltid feil på siden av det som er bra og riktig og riktig, noe som er en annen god grunn til å ha en god etisk posisjon: Den gir alltid et pålitelig referansepunkt. I mangel av alt annet - verktøy, prosesser, klarhet i ansvaret (hvem gjør det) osv. - å ha en god og godt forstått filosofi og etisk posisjon vil alltid hjelpe folk til å ta gode beslutninger. Bygg fra bunnen oppover. Konsulter og involver mennesker som er berørt og involvert der det er relevant. Du vil se mange forskjellige versjoner og tolkninger av dette rammeverket. Prinsippene er like, selv om ordene kan endres. En bedrift eller en organisasjon er bygget på verdier og filosofi. I stadig moderne alder er kunder og ansatte ikke forberedt på å opprettholde engasjement for organisasjoner hvis filosofi og verdier er feiljustert med sine egne personlige idealer. For ti år siden hadde organisasjonsplanlegging svært lite hensyn til verdier og filosofi. Kunder var fornøyd med kvalitet til riktig pris. Personalet var fornøyd med anstendig lønns - og arbeidsforhold. I dag er tingene annerledes. Organisasjoner av alle slags må nå imøtekomme en mer opplyst arbeidsstyrke og markedsplass. Når du vurderer disse planleggingsstadiene, starter du fra bunnen oppover. Dette vil bidra til å styrke det punktet som planleggingen handler om å bygge fra fundamentene oppover, og at jo sterkere grunnlaget, desto sterkere blir organisasjonen. hierarki av markedsførings - og forretningsplanleggingsstadier Start på grunnlaget (punkt 1 nedenfor) og arbeid oppover. 8. Våre ytelsesindikatorer Hvordan oversetter våre mål og mål til de vesentlige målbare aspektene av ytelse og aktivitet Er disse forventningene, standarder, Key Performance Indicators (KPIer), Service Level Agreements (SLA), etc. avtalt med mottakere og ansvarlige for levering 7. Våre mål og mål Hvordan inngår våre strategier Hvordan overgår disse ansvarene og aktivitetene våre funksjoner og avdelinger og lag? Hvem gjør hva, hvor, når, hvordan, for hvilken kostnad og med hvilken nødvendig effekt og resultat. Hva er de tidsplaner og tiltak for alle handlingene i våre strategier og hvem eier disse ansvarene. 6. Våre strategier Hvordan skal vi nå våre mål Hva må skje for å oppnå de tingene vi planlegger Hva er effektene på oss og hvorfra Som planlegger et sjakkspill, hvilke planer planlegger vi å lage, hvorfor og med hvilke effekter Hvordan skal vi måle og overvåke og kommunisere vår ytelse Hva er cr iteria for å måle vår ytelse og gjennomføring av våre strategier 5. Vårt mål (eller flere mål i store eller divisionaliserte bedrifter) Hva er vårt hovedmål Når planlegger vi å oppnå det Hvordan skal vi måle at vi har oppnådd det På hvilket tidspunkt vil vi har lyktes i det vi har satt opp Målsetninger kan selvfølgelig skifte seg, og nye er nødvendigvis utviklet etter hvert som gamle er oppnådd - men når som helst må vi vite hva vårt organisasjons hovedmål er når vi tar sikte på å oppnå det, og hvordan dens prestasjon vil bli målt. Og igjen må alt dette bli avtalt med vårt folk - inkludert våre kunder hvis vi er veldig gode. 4. Vår misjon (eller oppdrag hvis det er separate virksomheter i det hele) Hvordan beskriver vi hva vi tar sikte på å gjøre og være og oppnå Hva er spesielt med hva vi er og gjør i forhold til andre organisasjoner eller forretningsenheter Forstå våre folk og enig med dette Er våre kunder enige om at det er hva de vil 3. Vår visjon - avhengig av verdier og filosofi. Hvor går vi? Hvilken forskjell vil vi gjøre Hvordan vil vi bli husket? På hvilke måter vil vi forandre tingene til det bedre? Er denne visjonen relevant og godt og ønsket av kundene og personalet og interessentene. Er det realistisk og oppnåelig? Har vi involvert medarbeidere og kunder i å definere visjonen vår Det er skrevet ned og publisert og forstått Visjonen er planleggingsstadiet når organisasjonen oppgir forholdet til dets markedsplass, kunder eller brukere. Visjonen kan også inkludere referanser til ansatte, leverandører, interessenter og alle andre som er berørt av organisasjonen. 2. Våre verdier - aktivert av og avhengig av filosofi og lederskap. Etikk, integritet, omsorg og medfølelse, kvalitet, oppførselskrav - uansett verdier er de oppgitt og forstått og avtalt av personalet. Gjør verdiene resonans med kundene og eierne eller interessentene. Er de rett og gode, og ting vi føler deg stolt over å være tilknyttet Se delen om etiske organisasjoner for å få hjelp med dette grunnleggende planleggingsområdet. 1. Vår filosofi - fundamentalt definert av ledelsen. Når ting går galt i en organisasjon, peker folk ofte på årsaker, problemer eller feil nærmere leveringsstedet - eller typisk i operativ ledelse. Generelt kan imidlertid store operasjonelle eller strategiske feil alltid spores tilbake til en tvilsom filosofi, eller et filosofisk formål som ikke passer for organisasjonens aktiviteter. Hvordan forholder organisasjonen seg til verden Dette er dypere enn verdier. Hva er organisasjonens formål Hvis det er utelukkende å tjene penger for aksjonærene, eller å gjøre noen millioner for ledelsen, når virksomheten er flytende, kanskje ha litt omtanke. Kunder og ansatte er ikke opptatt. De vil ikke være komfortable å kjøpe inn i en organisasjon hvis dypeste grunnlag er grådighet og profitt. Fortjener fint i en grad, men hvor passer det i den bredere ordningen med ting Er det viktigere enn å ta vare på våre mennesker og våre kunder og verden vi lever i Har organisasjonen en uttalt filosofi som kan inspirere folk på en dypere nivå Dare vi streber etter å bygge organisasjoner av virkelig stor verdi og verdi for verden Jo sterkere vår filosofi, jo lettere er det å bygge og drive en god organisasjon. Se avsnittet om etiske organisasjoner og den psykologiske kontrakten for å få hjelp med dette grunnleggende planleggingsområdet. Hvis du er en gründer eller leder, eller noen som bidrar til planleggingsprosessen, tenk på hva du vil etterlate deg hva du vil bli husket for. Dette bidrar til å fokusere på filosofiske problemstillinger, før man tar del i prosesser og profitt. Uansett filosofien din, sørg for at den er konsistent med og passende for dine organisatoriske aktiviteter og mål. Din filosofiske grunnlag må passe med det som er bygget på dem, og vice versa. Når du har fornøyd deg selv med at det grunnleggende organisasjonsramme er på plass - og at du har gått så langt du kan for å skape et sterkt fundament, så kan du begynne markedsføringsplanleggingen. markedsføringsplanlegging Utfør markedsundersøkelsen din, inkludert konkurrentaktivitet. Markedsinformasjon bør inneholde alt du trenger å vite for å formulere strategi og ta forretningsbeslutninger. Informasjon er tilgjengelig i form av statistiske økonomiske og demografiske data fra biblioteker, forskningsfirmaer og fagforeninger (Instituttets styre er utmerket hvis du er medlem). Dette kalles sekundær forskning og vil kreve litt tolkning eller manipulering til eget formål. I tillegg kan du utføre din egen forskning gjennom tilbakemeldinger fra kunder, undersøkelser, spørreskjemaer og fokusgrupper (å skaffe indikatorer til bredere synspunkter gjennom diskusjon blant noen få representanter i en kontrollert situasjon). Dette kalles primær forskning, og er skreddersydd til dine presise behov. Det krever mindre manipulasjon, men alle typer forskning trenger nøye analyse. Vær forsiktig når du ekstrapolerer eller projiserer. Hvis startpunktet er unøyaktig, vil den resulterende analysen ikke være pålitelig. Hovedelementene du vanligvis trenger å forstå og kvantifisere er: kundeprofil og bland produktblanding demografiske problemer og trender fremtidige regulatoriske og juridiske effekter priser og verdier og kundeoppfattelser på disse områdene konkurrentaktiviteter konkurrentens sterke og svake sider Kundeserviceoppfattelser, prioriteringer og behov Primærforskning anbefales for lokale og nisjetjenester. Hold motivene enkle og rekkevidden smal. Formuler spørsmål som gir klare ja eller nei indikatorer (dvs. unngå tre og fem alternativer i flere valg), forstå alltid hvordan du analyserer og måler dataene som produseres. Prøv å konvertere data til numerisk format og manipulere på et regneark. Bruk fokusgrupper for mer detaljert arbeid. Vær forsiktig med å bruke markedsundersøkelser, da dette kan bli ekstremt dyrt. Hvis du gjør det viktigste du må gjøre er å få den korte til høyre. Etablere bedriftens mål. Forretningsstrategi er delvis diktert av det som gir god forretningsfølelse, og delvis av de subjektive, personlige ønsker fra eierne. Det er ikke noe poeng i å utvikle og implementere en fantastisk forretningsvekstplan hvis eierne ønsker at virksomheten skal opprettholde sin nåværende skala. Angi dine forretningsmål - kort, mellomlang og lang sikt. Oppgi forretningsmålene dine - oppmerksom på handelsmiljøet (eksterne faktorer) og bedriftens mål (interne faktorer). Hva skal bedriften gjøre over det neste (kort), to-til-tre (mellom) og fire til fem (lange) år Disse målene må kvantifiseres og prioriteres når det er mulig. Du kan projisere dine mål eller visjon for din virksomhet videre inn i fremtiden selvfølgelig, som er mulig for typer virksomheter som er rimelige modne, stabile og forutsigbare. For slike virksomheter kan enkelte mennesker betrakte fire til fem år som middels sikt snarere enn langsiktig. Men livet og arbeidet og næringslivet og verden som helhet endrer seg langt raskere og uforutsigbart enn tidligere, slik at det i noen sektorer (spesielt de som er sterkt avhengig av eller påvirket av moderne teknologi), er ganske vanskelig å forestille seg pålitelig hva bedriften din vil må være like mye over fire eller fem år. I moderne alder er det heller ikke enkelt og ofte ikke fornuftig å etablere meget spesifikke og detaljerte mål som går langt over fire til fem år framover, spesielt hvis bedriften din er i en sektor som er utsatt for ytre påvirkninger. Definer din misjonserklæring. Alle de beste bedriftene har en oppgaveoppgave, eller i det minste en klar og repeterbar beskrivelse av bedriftens formål, fra standpunktet til produkttjenestene dine i markedet. En oppgaveoppgave kunngjør tydelig og kortfattet for dine ansatte, aksjonærer og kunder hva du er i virksomhet å gjøre. Oppdragserklæringen din kan bygge på en generell servicecharter som er relevant for din bransje, men det må også si hva som er spesiell eller annerledes om virksomheten din. Å ha som mål å være den beste eller ledende leverandørleverandøren, etc. i ditt valgte sektorneterteori er en god tilnærming til å definere en misjonserklæring. Vurder hva du kan være best å gjøre for ditt uttalt målmarked eller publikum. Handlingen med å produsere og kunngjøre oppdraget er en utmerket prosess for å fokusere på forretningsprioriteter, og særlig vekt på kundeservice. Hvis bedriften din er moderne og god, vil du også kunne referere til organisatorisk filosofi og sett med organisasjonsverdier, som begge er veldig nyttige i å gi grunnleggende referanse - eller forankringspunkter, for å klargjøre aspekter av hva organisasjonen eller forretningsenheten har som mål å gjøre, hva formålet er, og hvordan organisasjonen oppfører seg og utfører seg selv. Definer produkttilbudet ditt. Du må definere klart hva du gir til kundene dine når det gjelder individuelle produkter, eller mer hensiktsmessig, tjenester. Du bør ha en for hvert hovedområde av forretningsvirksomhet eller sektor du tjener. Under normale forhold øker konkurransefortrinnene jo mer du kan tilby ting som dine konkurrenter ikke kan. Utvikle tjenestetilbudet ditt for å understreke dine sterke sider, som normalt skal forholde seg til dine forretningsmessige mål, som igjen påvirkes av bedriftens mål og markedsundersøkelser. Den vanskelige biten oversetter visningen av disse tjenestene til et tilbud som betyr noe for kunden din. Definisjonen av ditt tilbudstilbud må være fornuftig for kunden din på vilkår som er fordelaktige og fordelaktige for kunden, ikke det som er teknisk bra eller vitenskapelig forsvarlig. Tenk på hva din tjeneste, og måten du leverer på, betyr for kunden din. I salgsfaget er dette perspektivet referert til som oversetterfunksjoner til fordeler. Den enkleste måten å oversette en funksjon til en fordel er å legge til spørringen som betyr at. . For eksempel, hvis en sterk funksjon i en bedrift er at den har 24-timers åpning. Denne funksjonen ville oversette til noe som: Var åpen 24 timer (funksjon), noe som betyr at du kan få det du trenger når du trenger det - dag eller natt. Det er klart at dette gir en betydelig fordel for konkurrenter som bare åpner 9 - 5. Ditt servicetilbud bør være en innkapsling av det du gjør best, som du vil gjøre mer for å oppfylle dine forretningsmessige mål, uttalt som det vil gjøre kundene dine tenk ja, det betyr noe for meg, og livet mitt vil bli bedre hvis jeg har det. Skriv forretningsplan - inkludere kostnader, ressurser og salgsmål. Din forretningsplan, som omhandler alle aspekter av ressurs og ledelse av virksomheten, vil inkludere mange beslutninger og faktorer som følger med fra markedsføringen. Det vil angi salgs - og lønnsomhetsmål etter aktivitet. Det kan også være referanser til bilde og omdømme, og til PR. Alle disse problemene krever litt investering og innsats hvis de skal resultere i ønsket effekt, spesielt alle som er knyttet til økende antall kunder og omsetningsvekst. Du vil normalt beskrive og gi økonomisk begrunnelse for mulighetene for å oppnå disse tingene, sammen med forbedring av kundetilfredshet, i en markedsføringsplan. Kvantifisere det du trenger fra markedet. Før du går til detaljene for hvordan du skal oppnå markedsføringen, må du kvantifisere klart hva de er. Hvor mange nye kunder har det? Tap av kundeduksjoner Salgsverdier fra hver sektor Profittmarginer per tjeneste, produkt, sektor Økning i totale salgsinntekter Markedsandel påkrevd Forbedring av kundetilfredshet Redusering av kundeklager Svarstid Kommunikasjonstider Skriv markedsplanen din. Din markedsplan er faktisk en uttalelse, støttet av relevante økonomiske data, av hvordan du skal utvikle virksomheten din. Hva du skal selge til hvem, når og hvordan du skal selge den, og hvor mye du vil selge den til. I de fleste typer virksomheter er det også viktig at du inkluderer målbare mål om kundeservice og tilfredshet. Markedsplanen vil ha kostnader som vedrører et markedsføringsbudsjett i forretningsplanen. Markedsplanen vil også ha inntekts - og brutto marginprofitabilitetsmål som relaterer seg til omsetning og lønnsomhet i forretningsplanen. Markedsplanen vil også detaljere spesifikt de aktivitetene, leverandørene og de ansatte som er kritiske for å oppnå markedsføringsmålene. Å være i stand til å referere til aspekter av organisatorisk filosofi og verdier er svært nyttig i å formulere detaljene i en markedsføringsplan. Markedsføring er mer enn å selge og annonsere Markedsføring gir midler som organisasjonen eller virksomheten prosjekterer seg selv til publikum, og også hvordan den oppfører seg og samhandler i sitt marked. It is essential therefore that the organisations philosophy and values are referenced and reinforced by every aspect of marketing. In practical terms here are some of the areas and implications: There are staffing and training implications especially in selling and marketing, because people are such a crucial aspect. Your people are unlikely to have all the skills they need to help you implement a marketing plan. You may not have all the people that you need so you have to consider justifying and obtaining extra. Customer service is acutely sensitive to staffing and training. Are all your people aware of what your aims are Do they know what their responsibilities are How will you measure their performance Many of these issues feed back into the business plan under human resources and training, where budgets need to be available to support the investment in these areas. People are the most important part of your organisation, and the success of your marketing activity will stand or fall dependent on how committed and capable your people are in performing their responsibilities. Invest in your peoples development, and ensure that they understand and agree with where the organisation is aiming to go. If they do not, then you might want to reconsider where you are going. Create a Customer Service Charter. You should formulate a detailed Customer Service Charter, or customer service. extending both your mission statement and your service offer, so as to inform staff and customers what your standards are. When you have very few staff (like one or two) it is possible to communicate these ideas without necessarily writing them all down, but more than this really requires some sort of written record of these standards. In any event it is good to be able to show these statements of intent and quality to your customers. These standards can cover quite detailed aspects of your service, such as how many times the telephone will be permitted to ring until the caller is gets an answer. Other issues might include for example: How you deal with complaints. How you handle suggestions and requests from customers. What your waitingdelivery leadtimes are. How many days between receipt and response for written correspondence. These expectations should where relevant also be developed into specifically agreed standards of performance for certain customers or customer groups - often called Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Increasingly, customers are interested to know more about the organisations values and philosophy as they relate to customers, together with more obvious detailed standards of customer service. Establish a complaints procedure and timescales for each stage. This charter sets customer expectations, so be sure you can meet them. Customers become disappointed particularly when their expectations are not met, and when so many standards can be set at arbitrary levels, think of each one as a promise that you should keep. Do not set standards that you do not believe you can achieve. Remember an important rule about customer service: Its not so much the failure to meet standards that causes major dissatisfaction among customers: everyone can make a mistake. The most upset is due to not being told in advance of a problem, not receiving any apology, not getting any explanation why, and not hearing whats going to be done to put things right. Establish systems to measure customer service and staff performance. These standards need to be absolutely measurable. You must keep measuring your performance against them, and preferably publishing the results, internally and externally. Customer complaints handling is a key element. Measuring customer complaints is crucial because they are a service providers barometer of quality and performance. You need to have a scheme which encourages, not discourages, customers to complain. Some surveys have found that nine out of ten people do not complain to the provider when they feel dissatisfied. But every one of them will tell at least a couple of their friends or relations. It is imperative that you capture these complaints in order to: Fix the problem, andor explain what you can do to address it and minimise its implications, if it cannot be fixed. Put customers at ease and give explanations and reassurance to the person complaining. Listen and understand what lies behind the complaint, so that you can fix the situation, not just the serviceproduct fault. Reduce the chances of the customer complaining to someone else (friends, higher up in your organization, an industry watchdog, etc). Monitor exactly how many dissatisfied customers you have and what the causes are. This is vitally important if youre regularly failing to deliver your mission statement or service offer Take appropriate corrective action to prevent a recurrence. This goes beyond fixing the problem. It means identifying the cause(s) and fixing these causal factors so that the problem cannot arise again. Failing to fix a complaint allows a bigger problem to develop however failing to address the causes of a failurecomplaint, thereby allowing the cause to remain and produce repeat failings, is unforgivable, and may in certain serious cases be criminally negligent. Most organisations now have complaints escalation procedures, whereby very dissatisfied customers can be handled by more senior staff. This principle needs extending as far as possible, especially to ensure that strategic intelligent complaints and constructive feedback (all immensely useful) are handled by someone in the organisation who has suitable strategic appreciation and authority to recognise and act appropriately. Many organisations waste their most useful complaints and feedback by burying or hiding the complaint at the initial customer service outer wall. Complaints and feedback are gold-dust. Encourage and use complaints wisely. Fix them fix the causes, and interpret the causes to learn how to make even bigger deeper improvements. There are implications for ICT, premises, and reporting systems. Issues of Information and Communications Technology also relate to your business plan. Are your computers and communications systems capable of handling the information and analysis you need What type of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is most appropriate for your needs Can customers find what they need to know from your website(s) Can staff find what they need to know from your computerised systems Do your systems provide the data necessary to make business decisions Are your systems connected where they need to be, for example finance, salesserviceorder-processing and stockstorage staffing and training, appraisals and job-grades Small companies should try to keep ICT systems minimal because complex ICT and reporting is expensive and time-consuming, but bigger companies need very well designed ICT systems, otherwise information and vital business data become chaotic and unmanageable. Premises can be equally significant considerations, which increase with the scale of the business. Is there sufficient space, now, and to allow for growth and seasonal or other peaks of activity Is your space and layout designed so that it can be used well Is the reception area appropriate Are the staff facilities helpful towards maintaining a happy and comfortable working environment Are there sufficient meeting rooms Is the decor and the layout suitable for staff and customers If car-parking is difficult what can you do to minimise negative impacts Who needs to be based in an office and who is best based at home If your business involves a flow of products or parts, etc. such as a shop or factory, can the physical flow of products operate smoothly, or can you make some big improvements with a simple redesign of flow and layout The way space is used is crucial to efficiency. Efficiency equates to cost and quality. You should design and plan efficiency into the way you use your space. Reporting systems are crucial for management and business decision-making. It is said that if you cant measure it you cant manage it, and where finance and business performance is concerned thats certainly true. If theres an aspect of your service or performance that is important can you measure it How do you report on it and interpret the results Who needs to know Who needs to capture the data When you get a new customer (for an ongoing transaction) do you ask how they heard of you and why they chose to give you a try Communications and ongoing customer feedback are essential. Having an open dialogue with your customers is vital. Theres a double benefit to your business in ensuring this happens: You can anticipate problems and stay aware of how youre performing, rather than discovering days or weeks afterwards. Your customers feel better about the service you provide as a result of the communications, or simply because the channel is open, even if they dont use it. Its basic human nature to want to be listened to, and to be kept informed. In this way people feel that they matter, and that they are cared about. If your company fails to build this openness into communications standards, then customers feel isolated and uninvolved, and prone to leave and go somewhere else, where they feel more valued. Involving customers (and staff) is easy. It just takes a little thought and care. For example devise a simple feedback form. It can double as a promotional tool as well if its made available on a wider scale. The form can carry details of your mission statement, service offer and your customer service charter. Business is completely and utterly dependent on customers. No business would exist without customers. So design and plan everything you do with the customer in mind, especially those processes, premises, systems and staff with whom customers directly engage. branding, advertising and promotion Here are some guidelines on branding . and for planning and managing advertising and promotion activities, especially for small businesses. (The principles transfer to very large businesses too, in fact many very large organisations forget or ignore these basic rules, as you will see from the featured case-study example). Branding refers to naming a business or product or service. A brand will typically also have a logo or design, or several, associated with it. Businessballs is a brand. It has a name and a logo design. So is Cadbury (a company brand, although now a division of a bigger one), and so is Milky Way (a Cadbury product brand). Each of these have associated logo designs several actually for different situations. So is Google a brand (so big a brand and a part of life its become a verb, to google). On its main webpage, Google cleverly, and for fun, changes its logo design quite often, according to special events in the calandar. So is Manchester United a brand (upon which a vast merchandise business has been built). The power of the Manchester United brand is so great that it transcends its sport and particularly the notion of a local football team. And so increasingly, your local school, hospital, and council are all brands. Brands are everywhere. If your name is John Smith and you start a landscape gardening business called John Smith Landscape Gardening, then John Smith Landscape Gardening is a brand too. Branding is potentially a complex subject because it extends to intellectual property and copyright, trademarks, etc. for which, if you are embarking on any significant business activity, you should seek qualified legal advice. When doing so contain your ambitions and considerations (and your legal fee exposure) so that they are appropriate for your situation. There is much though that you can decide for yourself, and certainly a lot you can do to protect and grow your brand so that it becomes a real asset to you, rather than just a name. General guidance about business and product names, your rights to use them, and ways of protecting them, are provided (for the UK) via the UK Intellectual Property Office website. Many of these principles apply internationally, although you should check your local laws for regions beyond the UK and especially beyond Europe. Aside from the legal technicalities certain basic points should be considered concerning branding: Brand names must be meaningful and memorable in a positive relevant sense. Ideally your customers should associate your brand(s) with your business, your quality, and perhaps some other aspects of your trading philosophy and style. Choose your brand names carefully. Product and business brand names carry meanings. Meanings can be different among different types of people. If possible test possible brand names with target customers to see what the market thinks, rather than relying only on your gut instinct on your friends opinions. If your business is serious, and certainly if it is international - you must seek advice about the international meaning of branding words and the rights and protections implications of those words. As a general rule, but not a consistent point of law, you are usually much safer (in avoiding risk of breaching someone elses rights to a brand name) if you use a generic (properly descriptive) word or phrase to brand your business or product, than if you use a made-up name, or any word which does not properly describe your business or product. For example - if you open a pet shop in Newtown and you call it (give it the brand name of) Newtown Pet Shop then probably this will not breach any existing protected rights belonging to someone else in the pet business. If instead you want to call (brand) your pet shop Petz or Furry Friends then there is a strong likelihood that someone else might already have protected such a brand name, which could give problems for you in the future, especially if your business becomes big and successful, or you wish to sell it one day, or if the rights-owner happens to be particularly aggressive in protecting their own rights. Websites - which by their nature are accessible globally - lead to additional complications in protecting your brand, or in avoiding breaching somebody elses brand rights. A country domain suffix, such as a. co. uk, is generally more appropriate for a small local business, than a suffix, but arguments can easily made for securing the equivalent domain name as well as a local country suffix website name, if only for protective reasons. If a particular com domain name is available then this generally and logically indicates that nobody else has a great interest in that particular brand name (unless there are issues of similar spellings). If in doubt you must research trade mark registers in the territories concerned (which can commonly be done online), andor seek suitable reliable qualified help. It takes many years to build trust and reputation in branded names (of businesses, services, and products) so making frequent changes to business names and brand names is not a good idea, and in some cases even making a single change can produce surprisingly powerful problems. See the case-study example of ineffective branding and organization name changing below. If you must change a brand name, and there are times when this is necessary, you should plan (unless there are strong reasons for ceasing the previous brand) a transition which customers and the wider market-place understand. An obvious solution is to phase the change by merging the old and new brand names. The UK Nationwide Building Society is a good example of this when it joined with the Anglia Building Society. For several years the new company was then branded the Nationwide Anglia, only dropping the Anglia when the market fully recognised the change. Commonly executives and agency folk managing a new brand name project tend to overlook the sensitivities of customers who know and trust the old brand, and this is especially risky to customer loyalty and business continuity wherever a brand with a strong reputation is replaced. Beware of creative agencies giving you advice thats more in their interests than yours and your customers. Brands and advertising are primarily communications with customers, they are not works of art or the personal statement of a designer. The creative aspect of a brand (particularly design or logo) must be of good quality, but the creative element is not an end in itself. Often the best solution is the simplest one, because customers understand it. Always ask yourself - Will people understand this (brand or brand imagecommunication) Will it be meaningful to my target audience, and does it truly fit with what Im trying to do in my business branding and name-change - case-study example - how not to do it For very many years the UK government department responsible for business was called the DTI - Department for Trade and Industry. The DTI was formed in 1970. It was a merger of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology. The name DTI was effectively a brand. It was a government department, but in all other respects it was a massive branded organization, offering various services to businesses, and to regions and countries also. The DTI had a logo, a website. It had staff, a massive target audience (of billions globally), customers (effectively, tens of millions), a huge marketing and advertising spend, including national TV campaigns, posters, informations brochures, and every other aspect of branding which normally operates in the corporate world. The organization name the DTI, was an obvious and recognised abbreviation of Trade and Industry, and this described very clearly what the department was responsible for. Not surprisingly, the DTI name developed extremely strong brand recognition and reputation, accumulated over 27 years, surviving at least two short-lived attempted name changes during that period (each reverting to DTI due to user critical reaction) - until the name (brand) was finally killed off in 2007. For more than a generation, millions and millions of people recognised the DTI name and knew it was the British governments department for business. Many people also knew the website - if not exact the exact website address, they knew it was dti. (something or other). Simply, tens of millions of people in the UK, and also around the world recognised the DTI as Britains government department for business. For people in business, this is a very substantial advantage for any organization to have. In a corporations, this sort of brand equity is added into balance sheets, and can be valued at many poundmillions. Then in 2007 the government finally forced through a name change, and the DTI was replaced, with, wait for it. The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform - BERR. Twenty-seven years of brand equity and reputation gone, just like that. BERR became instantly the most forgettable, least logical, and most stupid departmental brand in the entire history of government department naming and branding cock-ups. No-one knew what it stood for, no-one could remember what it was called, and no-one could understand what it was supposed to be doing even when it was explained. Even the term business enterprise was a nonsense in itself. What is business if its not enterprise What is enterprise if its not business And what is regulatory reform in the context of business and enterprise Hardly central to international trade. It was a bit like renaming Manchester United Football Club the Trafford Borough Playing Fields, Caterers and Toilets. Not surprisingly BERR didnt last long, and duly in 2009 the government changed the name again to BIS - (the department for) Business, Innovation and Skills. Lets see how long this name lasts. Ill give it a year or two at most. Its only taxpayers money, so the enormous costs and wastage caused by this recklessness and poorly executed strategy are not scrutinised like they would be in a big company. You can perhaps begin to imagine the costs, losses and other fallout caused by changing such a well-established organizational name and presence, twice in two years. The case-study does however provide a wonderful example of re-namingre-branding gone wrong on a very grand scale. available mix of advertising methods Advertising is a complex and an ever-changing aspect of business. New ideas and media uses are being devised all the time, and as the advertising industry switches emphasis from media to media, and as new technologies and lifestyle trends develop, so new advertising and promotional methods need assessing and comparing with traditional available methods as to which is more or less cost-effective for your given purposes. For example through the 1980s and 1990s there was a huge trend towards direct mail (junk mail), which seems to show no signs of abating - many very large consumer brands switched significant advertising spending into direct mail, often away from TV. TV on the other hand is increasingly attractive to small local businesses. Loyalty schemes - a fundamental aspect of retail advertising and marketing - demonstrated significant success rates through the 1990s through to present times. Loyalty schemes entail building detailed customer databases, which enable the rewarding of, and very specific productoffer targeting to, customers within the database. Customer loyalty is traditionally rewarded with vouchers for the retailers own products, plus special internal and external offers, all of which carry a much higher perceived value for the customer than the actual cost to the loyalty scheme operator. Internet advertising in certain territories and for certain sectors is now more popular (industry spend) than TV advertising, although since these media are now gradually merging it will become increasingly difficult to make absolute differentiations between the two media. Internet advertising revenues eclipsed those of radio advertising several years ago. Crucially, internet advertising is extremely accessible and usable for very small businesses whereas conventional TV advertising is generally not at all. There are many different forms of (what can be defined as) internet advertising (which are fast growingnewly emerging), notably: your own website(s) - a virtual brochure and sales process on the web for your customers extending your own website functionality to enable direct communication via email or newsletter, podcast, etc. to customers and potential clients who have opted in to receive such contactmaterials from you adverts on other websites (notably Googles Adwords scheme, although there are hundreds of other big providersagencies) - which may be anything from tiny text links and contextual links in related materials, to big video banners or audio ads - all of which can be targeted with great precision, (assuming you know your targeting criteria..) links and entries of your companys details on internet directories and listings websites (for example Yell, and specialist industry newslistings websites) the promotion and sale and fulfilment of your productsservices via websites such as Amazon and Ebay the promotion and sale of your products services via specialised voucher or discounting websites, such as Groupon the review and comments and discussion about your products and services, product launches on websites such as Amazon, Ebay the development of communityuser groups via social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook, extending to productservice news, updates, and any other information you want to share with your audience through social networking channels the development of professional, business-to-business communities and user groups, and use of these channels via professional and industry-specific social networking websites such as Linkedin, and potentially more importantly via highly focused industry-specific website communities for your own market sector blogs that you can write about your specialismsectorindustryproductsservicesetc - on the major blogging websites, andor on industryconsumerlifestyle-specific websites articles (editorials or a dvertorials) and other online materials that you can post or have published on other websites videos and clips that you can upload to websites such as Youtube and Vimeo (which may be educational, instructional, demonstrational, entertaining, or serve some other purpose) and plenty more methodsconcepts which are emerging all the time on the web. Internet advertising is potentially very effective because: It generally enables a lot of testing and fine-tuning (of targeting of message, keywords, and audience). Its also very scaleable and adaptable - you can start small and increase the activityspendbudgets, and change it in many ways, as you learn what works best. Origination and set-up time and costs are generally much less than for conventional design and print advertising methods. Also, lots of internet advertising costs only your time. If you can create interesting helpful materials, or simply a few interesting words on a very consistent enduring basis, then you can build a useful relevant following of potentialexisting clients, and in doing so, a reputation and awareness for your business and brand too. Advertising methods change with lifestyle and technology developments - learn whats available to you - learn what your competitors are doing, which is particularly easy on the web. Read about advertising methods and developments and trends. Historically (1980s-90s) advertising agencies were commonly multi-services agencies, and split their operations to handle the creative, production and media-buying processes. Nowadays however, multi-services agencies are far less common. The range of advertising methods is so vast that advertising agencies are now more commonly specialised in one or a small number of advertising services (types of advertising). Whether you work with an advertising agency or not, learn about the methods that are available to you, and keep up with developments so you can make informed decisions about where to put your advertising emphasis, and what mix of methods to use. choose methods according to cost, targeting and response Most advertising campaigns can be analysed at the planning (before) and measurement (after) stages in terms of cost per thousand . and if you are seeking a direct response, it should be monitored according to cost per response and also cost per conversion. Conventional design and print advertising must more carefully take account of cost of origination (design), production (printing if relevant) and media (such as local radio, display advert, list procurement and postal fulfillment). Generally - conventional designprint and online - you will pay a higher cost per thousand for better targeted methods, but in return you should expect a higher response rate, so the cost per response can be lower than cheaper methods. Choose advertising and publicity methods that suit your targeting. If you are a small local provider of dog-grooming services there is no point in advertising nationally or internationally via the internet. Conversely if you manufacture highly specialised precision-engineered surgical instruments then you should arguably be targeting buyers and users on a global basis, via the internet and probably international journals and events too. Organisations which offer advertising services are usually (one way or another) able to provide a lot of information about their readershipaudience, or to ensure that quite accurate customer targeting applies. You can look at other advertisers that repeatedly using various media to gauge how effectively its working for them, which will provide some clues as to how well it might work for you. If you are considering an advertising method that involves a reasonably serious investment for you, try to avoid guessing whether it will work or not, and instead research how well it actually works. You might even ask some of the existing advertisers if its working for them and to what degree. Or run a small test or pilot, before you commit to a bigger campaign. Building evidence of advertising effectiveness - crucially tracking and recording your media, methods, messages, costs, and results (responses and conversions and order values) - is a vital part of decision-making and managing your advertising and marketing mix. Why guess if you can base decisions on experience and previous statistics and data Any large scale activity must first be tested and the response measured for quantity and profile. Sophisticated advertisers only commit to major advertising programmes after accumulating response data from pilots and previous campaigns. They avoid guesswork, and so should you. design, production and the role of external agencies These principles apply to all types of design and advertising agencies, including designprint, corporate identity, PR, website design, etc. Your advertising material helps to form your image, so make sure you are happy with the design, however modest the style and usage. Use typefaces and logos in a consistent way, and if you can afford the help of a good designer early this will set the tone and rules for usage later, which will save time and money in the long term. When establishing a new business many people fail to establish a good quality design and image around their namebrand. If you are targeting a discerning audience, especially with a premium productservice, it is not a good idea to do so with DIY branding, (unless you are a designer). If you already have (perhaps you buy a business) a perfectly satisfactory business name brandingdesign (corporate identity) dont change for the sake of it. Change it only if there is a real need to do so. Brand familiarity and loyalty take years to build. Dont throw away perfectly good branding just because some well-intentioned overly enthusiastic agency person persuades you that a change is necessary. When making any change consider your real purpose and implications. Consider and be warned by examples in recent times of large-scale corporate identity cock-ups, such as BT (trumpeting figure), the Post Office (calling itself Consignia), and British Airways (multi-national aircraft tail-fin designs) - all of these cost tens of millions of pounds, yet they all failed disastrously and resulted in expensive rebranding or reversion to the original identities. The role of design and advertising agencies is also concerned with planning and implementing advertising or promotional campaigns on a clients behalf. This advertising process starts with a brief comprising: the purpose of the advertising, how much you will pay, and what you expect to produce in return, including how you will measure whether it is successful or not. A written brief is critically important if you are using an outside agency. Advertising is notoriously subjective creative agencies are often difficult to manage so misunderstandings can easily creep in if your control is not tight enough. See also the tips for working with product designers because many of the principles are transferable to working with advertising agencies. Here are some general rules for working with advertising and design agencies: Try to appoint people who come recommended and who have experience in your sector. Agree and confirm written briefs for all work. Maintain a balance between what you want to say and how the agency wants to say it. Some agencies and advertising people are highly skilled and can be trusted 100. Others need managing carefully, especially in the early stages of a relationship. Dont allow the message to be over-complicated. Simplicity works. Usually less is more. Agencies charge like wounded bulls for correcting copy (text) once theyve started the project, and particularly when the design is nearing completion, so ensure you check and correct all the words and details you provide to a designer or advertising agency when the project begins. Business people very commonly overlook this and assume that fine points of detail (which only you know, and which the agency cant guess) can be clarified or corrected or inserted later in the design stage. Well, such corrections can of course be made later, but at a big cost and nuisance. A designer is a highly skilled person. It is a waste of hisher expensive time correcting errors which the client (thats you) couldshould have sorted out before handing the project over. If late amendments from the client involve undoing and restructuring things (be it a website, or a brochure-pack, etc) then projectcampaign deadlines and budgets can be seriously disrupted. If you are a small business try to use an agency with the services you need under one roof (apart from printing which is traditionally separate). Some agencies can tend to mark-up (ad profit to) bought-in services quite heavily, eg. graphic design, photography. Youll also find it easier to establish accountability if your agency is responsible for the whole job, rather than just a part of it. Where applicable, until you are satisfied with the agencys print prices its a good idea to ask for an alternative print quotation, and check what mark-up the agency adds on. In the case of list procurement (for mailings and telemarketing campaigns, etc), display advertising, or leaflet distribution through inserts or Door-to-door delivery, check whether the agency is adding a mark-up (its likely), and if so that you are happy with this mark-up. Ask the same question in the case of any other procured services or products, eg. promotional merchandise, exhibition space, etc. advertise to build awareness and to generate response Within the advertising purpose you should define whether you seek to create brand awareness or to generate a direct response . Effective marketing generally demands that you do both, but on a limited budget you may be restricted to concentrating on one or the other, so think carefully about what will help most. Different media and methods are better suited to one or the other. Direct Mail and internet advertising are very good at generating a direct response, as are magazine and newspaper adverts, and inserts. Posters, TV, radio and press editorial are all much better at creating brand awareness and building credibility. If you do not have enough customers, or in any other way need to increase your sales and profit, especially if you are running a small business and have tight finances, then you must concentrate very hard on advertising that will generate a direct response (sales andor sales enquiries). There is no point trying to build brand awareness at times of great financial pressure. If you are under great financial pressure, you need sales. You will increase sales by putting your efforts into direct response advertising. (This all assumes that you have profitable productsservices to sell, and that you do not have a problem being paid for servicesproducts already supplied). use language that your customers understand A good advertising or design agency should automatically take care of these following issues, but if you are among the many businesses which do not use an agency, then you will be doing this for yourself. In all of your advertising material take care to see things and hear things form your customers viewpoint. As a knowledgeable supplier there is always a tendency to write copy and present information from a technical and productservice standpoint. Remember that your customers are usually people without such good technical or detailed understanding of your products and services. You must therefore help them understand things in terms that really mean something to the reader - as it relates to their needs and priorities and challenges. Focus on what your propositions do for them, not what your propositions are in technical detail. You should use clear simple language. Do not think that complicated language will help build an image of professionalism and intelligence - this generally puts people off. Your expertise should be demonstrated by your ability to show that you can interpret and translate (sometimes highly complex) products and services into meaningful needs and outcomes and improvements for your customers. Truly effective advertising and marketing conveys complex issues to the audience in a manner that is interesting, relevant, meaningful, and easy to digest very quickly. Thomas Jefferson suggested that The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do and this is a good maxim for writing good advertising material. If you or the copy-writer at your advertising agency cannot achieve this in your advertising and marketing communications then find someone who can, or you will be wasting a lot of your advertising effort and investment. There is little point in spending a lot of money on a very well targeted and cost-effective campaign (online, or direct mail, etc) if what you communicate does not motivate your audience to read and take action. translate your productservice offer into meaningful customer benefits Having decided through the processes described above to focus your message on a few key strengths of your business (your service offer or proposition) you must now express these as benefits to your customers. A benefit is a technical selling term. A benefit is the good effect that your customer obtains from your productservice . Crucially the customer should know this, not just you, the seller. The nature of benefits in sales and marketing is that the customer sees or feels or understands the beneficial effect. This is what customers buy. Customers do not actually buy products or services customers buy the important things that products or services will do for them. So give your customers information about the benefits of your products and services - explain what your proposition means to your customers. How will it make their lives better, or their business more profitable, more streamlined, more ethical and sustainable, more socially responsible How will your proposition improve the quality of their service to their own customers How it will make their employees lives easier, better, less stressful - whatever you believe to be the strongest most relevant and meaningful customer outcomes. Obviously, if your target customer is a business, then there are opportunities for your services to benefit their own staff and customers. These are usually very important benefits to business customers. See the sales training section for lots more help and tips for translating your offering, proposition, products and services into meaningful customer benefits. advertising must be costed and linked to measurable response Because advertising is such a complex science the only real way to be sure that something will work before you try it is to refer to previous indicators, and if youve no previous statistics or reliable data then run pilot or trial first. Start measuring the effectiveness of your advertising from the very beginning. Keep detailed records of what you did, when, to whom, for how much, and what resulted. The results of certain types of advertising can be quite difficult to measure, particularly where no direct response is sought, (where follow-up sample surveys might be the only way to gauge effects), but measure everything in whatever way you can. Starting a business and a completely new advertising campaign inevitably involves a bit of calculated guesswork, however, if you start measuring and recording results from the beginning then youll make your task much easier next time around. Modern online advertising methods usually enable very accurate measurement of advertising effectiveness. Key statistics and ratios to be measured include: cost per thousand (potential customers reached, with your advert) cost per response cost per enquiry or lead (basically a prospective customer expressing interest) percentage responses (enquiries from a given number of contactscustomers reached) conversion numbers and percentages and costs (conversion of a clickthru to an enquirylead, or conversion of an enquirylead into a sale) A very basic and often overlooked method of measuring and recording advertising effectiveness and results is to ensure that every enquiry is greeted at some stage with the question, How did you hear about us or How did you find us Even very large professional organisations commonly fail to instill this basic principle within their customer service processes, and yet it is very important. You should measure advertising from the standpoint of every particular advertising activity, method, or campaign, and also from the simple standpoint of every sale you make, which of course come from a variety of advertising sources. These days there is every opportunity to properly record and measure enquiries and advertising responses: Computer-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management ) systems nowadays offer relatively easy and cost-effective ways of managing customer and enquiries information. Make sure you use one. Then you wont need to guess as to what forms of advertising work best for you. Remember also that advertising forms a part of your business plan, which is aimed at being profitable. This is especially important when your advertising is aiming to produce direct responses and sales (rather than building awareness and reputation, etc). If your advertising seeks to generate customers and sales, but does not produce a gross profit in excess of its cost, then you must stop it or change it, otherwise you are obviously wasting money. types of advertising media and marketing methods Prior to considering methods of advertising and marketing it is important to ensure that you understand and adhere to local country laws relating to data protection and customer rights concerning privacy and opt-out of various marketing methods. This especially relates to maintaining and using lists and peoples personal details, for telemarketing, direct mail, texting, fax-marketing (very rarely used nowadays), and email. Generally private consumers enjoy more protection than business-to-business customers. See the notes about laws relating to direct marketing and advertising. Small local businesses who target their local community often overlook some very simple easy and cost effective ways of advertising. These low-cost methods are not generally so suitable for big corporations with big budgets, but the ideas can be very effective (and very inexpensive) for small businesses and self-employed people targeting the local area with small advertising budgets. Here is a quick list of local very low cost advertising ideas, which with a little imagination and selective effort can be developed into a very effective local advertising campaign, which can produce a continuous pipeline of new business: Posters in windows and on notice boards, and in staff rooms of local businesses. A promotional stall at a local car-boot market or county show. A stall or leafleting presence at a local relevant gathering or event. Using leaflets or business cards in dispensers where local people sit and wait or queue or gather, for example: doctors, dentists, vets, church rooms, tourist information office, outpatients departments, library, nurseries, mini-cab offices, forces and services sites (e. g. police, ambulance, etc), launderettes, post offices, newsagents, hairdressers, takeaways, cafes and bars, hotels, pubs and restaurants, golf clubs clinics, leisure centres, etc. Reciprocal referral arrangements with other good local suppliers, especially those who serve your target audience with different products and services (which enables you to be more helpful to your own customers when they ask you to recommend other services). Regularly giving news and interesting pictures about your work to your local newspaper (see PR below), or perhaps even writing a regular column relating to your specialism in the local free newspaper or parish magazine. Offering existing customers an incentive (gift of some sort, or money off your next supply) for introducing a friend as a new customer for you. Door-to-door leaflet distribution through the postal service or other suitable service. (This is a particular effective method if your neighbours (US neighbors) are potential customers, and especially relevant for small start-up businesses targeting local consumers.) Speaking at local networking business events. Speaking or facilitating at the local school or college - for example with business education and preparing youngsters for the world of work (which gives you publicity and builds your reputation). Local trade directories - typically monthly publications distributed to the local community. Targeting special offers at local big employers, through their PR andor HRsocial activities. While most of these methods are for small companies and local campaigns, a few can certainly be adapted and used effectively by big organizations with surprisingly good and cost-effective results. Here are more advertising methods, generally for larger corporations, campaigns and target markets, in more detail: the internet, websites, email, cd-roms, dvds, social networking, etc Online and electronic media are fast becoming the most flexible and dynamic advertising methods of all. Many people now use the internet instead of - not merely in addition to - directories, newspapers and the telephone, etc. The internet is therefore a crucial and potentially very effective vehicle for advertising and marketing. Part of the online revolution, the popularity and reach of social networking mediawebsites such as Facebook and Twitter also offer very inexpensive (but potentially very time-consuming, so beware) ways to promote your business and offerings, together with establishing brand, reputation, credibility, audience and following, etc. Electronic and online advertising media - notably establishing your own website(s) and online servicesproduct availability - can be expensive and challenging to originate and implement initially, but costs tend to be low thereafter, and can be extremely cost-effective if sensibly researched and implemented. Online video (for example using Youtube and Vimeo, etc) offers hugely diverse and exciting opportunities to represent your business and offerings, via many different strategies, from educational and instructional, to presentational and any kind of dramatic staging or context that you might imagine (and can afford to produce). Email is an extremely inexpensive method of communicating short or quite large messages to potential customers although needs careful design, organization and implementation, because the email medium is very widely abused and involves risks and implications that can be counter-productive if poorly managed. The same applies to texting, via mobilecellular telephone systems. As the internet extends progressively to mobile phones (smartphones and tablets, etc) the opportunity and necessity to make use of online and web-related marketing methods becomes increasingly important and useful. The internet and email provide unprecedented opportunity for radically new methods of promotion and advertising, such as viral marketing, and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) of educational or informative articles, newsgroups, forums, affiliation and partnering arrangements, email newsletters and campaigns, blogs and blogging, social networking, and many other new ideas which appear more quickly than most of us can absorb, interpret and implement. Modern and emerging digital and web-related advertising marketing methods offer audience reach, precision of targeting, level of fine-tuning and control, measurement and analysis, and cost-effectiveness that conventional advertising media simply cannot match. Online media technologies now offer highly sophisticated flexibility for the production and accessibility of sales and marketing materials - brochures, product specifications, etc. For some while it has been possible to produce sales literature and brochures in user-friendly (commonly interactive) digital format. Progressively ever more feature-richness can be incorporated into user experience when accessing marketing information. Early sophistication of website design enabled user interaction this has now made way for virtual experiences. Such design was initially (around the turn of the 20th century) very expensive, but given that the cost of online technology and design tends always to reduce quite steadily and quickly, by the end of the first decade of the 21st century even very modest websites could realistically feature the sort of design and user experience that was the stuff of science-fiction fantasy a generation ago. In response to the online revolution, conventional printed sales and marketing materials of all types (from newspapers and magazines, to brochures and business cards) are becoming largely obsolete, as customers look to the internet (via phones, pcs, laptops, PDAs and in the future TV too) for quick, up-to-the-minute information about products, services and suppliers of all sorts. Customer reviews - online - of products and services and providers and sellers, etc. are now a crucial aspect of the marketing, selling, buying, and customer service process. Social networking websites (Facebook and Twitter from around 2010 notably) have now become immensely significant in the publicity and marketing of products and services and corporations, and also in the management of customer relationships, reputation, image, and especially positive and negative reviewsopinions. And as more agencies, technology companies and digital media organisations develop their offerings and technologies, so the costs and time of design, origination, production and implementation will reduce to levels that will shift the big majority of marketing communications away from traditional (printed and other non-digital) media into modern electronic and online media, digital information, and online engagement between customers and suppliers of all sorts. Internet advertising has advanced fantastically beyond the early days of simple trade listings, internet directories, and pay-per-click advertising offered by the major search engines. Such sophisticated methods are now easily available, very viable, and extremely relevant for very small local businesses, and are all examples of this fundamental shift in marketing. Take time to learn about and understand which of the new digital methods will work for you and how. You will be experiencing already many of these methods as a customer on the web. Think about how it works while you are a customer, and ask yourself how you might make use of these incredible methods instead for yourself as a supplier. Most, if not all of the information you need is freely available on the internet - take time to look for it and learn - and ensure that your business explores and implements the many very cost-effective advertising methods available to you via internet media and the modern digital revolution. press and public relations (PR) The press release is the most under-rated form of advertising. Why Because its free, and moreover press editorial is perceived by the audience to be true, whereas advertising of all almost all other types is seen as oh no another advert and therefore implies uncertainty or scepticism. Getting your editorial printed for free is easier than you may think, and guidelines for using PR follow in more detail below. TV and radio news publicity works in much the same way, although more difficult to secure and control. Surveys and questionnaires provide perhaps the best opportunity for achieving valuable and effective publicity. See the guidelines about surveys and questionnaires below. Creating an informative seminar and inviting your target audience is an excellent way to educate the market and promote your company and proposition. This method works especially well in the business-to-business market, and where educating customers is appropriate, for instance if marketing a new technology or service to architects and specifiers. It is possible to have certain types of seminars accredited for CPD (Continuous Professional Development) by professional institutes, which provides an extra incentive for prospective customers to attend. telemarketing Using telemarketing staff or a telemarketing agency is a proven method of marketing. If well-managed, telemarketing can be an extremely good and cost-effective method for generating sales enquiries, selling products and services and making appointments for sales staff. It is important to identify a good telemarketing agency, and to that ensure your aims, outline script, and communications process for enquiry generation follow-up, are all clearly established and understood, by the agency and your own staff. A good CRM computer system to manage lists, data, follow-up and outcomes, is normally essential for telemarketing is to be successful on any reasonable scale, and good telemarketing agencies will already be using such systems which hopefully will interface with your own systems. Considerable care needs to be taken when defining and agreeing the telemarketing brief with the telemarketing staff, department or agency. Good experienced telemarketing staff and managers understand what works and what doesnt for given markets, types of propositions and products and services. Listen to their advice. Generally telemarketing scripts are not a good idea for high quality propositions, nor for professional business-to-business campaigns. A good telemarketing agency will work best by developing their own approach to meet the broad requirements of a project brief and an outline of what you want to achieve, and how you want to achieve it. Rigid scripts have the effect of limiting the natural style and capabilities of telemarketing staff, moreover customers generally find scripts, which quickly become robotic and characterless, very impersonal and insulting. Refer to the legal implications (Data Protection Act and Preference Services) in the direct mail section. Consumers and businesses are protected by certain rights relating to direct marketing techniques such as telemarketing, and you must ensure that your activities adhere to these rules. direct mail Some of the principles and rules referenced here also apply to other types of direct marketing, including door-to-door distribution and telemarketing methods. Direct mail is the process of sending your material (by itself or in a shared mailing with other items) direct to the address of the potential customer by post. The elements which make up the direct mail process are basically: a mailing list of names and addresses (from your own data-base or names sourced elsewhere) the item(s) to be mailed, and envelopes or packaging, if applicable resource or facility to stuff and address or label the envelopespackaging (assuming you are putting the item in an envelope or packaging, which of course is not always the case) and postal charges, which depend (in the UK) now on the size and shape as well as the weight of the item being mailed. The last two stages are often called fulfilment. Direct Mail is generally used to generate a direct response from the recipient and will commonly incorporate a reply or response section within the mailed item. Aside from the strength of your proposition, response rates vary according primarily to the quality of the list, notably: the reliability of the list data (new clean lists obviously perform better than old out-of-date lists) and how well targeted the list is in terms of your offer (how relevant it is to the recipient). Direct mail is not a precise science. See the direct mail story for example. There are many things that can go wrong, and even more things that are unknown and unimagined by the campaign manager. Like the rest of advertising, whether a direct mail campaign works well or poorly its often very difficult to discover what elements need to be changed and how: the proposition, the mailing list, the reliability of the fulfilment, the day and time of delivery, the response mechanism, something else For large ongoing campaigns it is appropriate and cost-effective to conduct follow-up surveys of respondents and non-responders, but for smaller initiatives its rarely cost-effective to attempt detailed analysis other than to look for obvious indications of success or failure. A direct mail campaign which produces more than a 2 response is normally considered very successful. Lower than 1 response is more usual. You then need to take into account the conversion rate (the conversion of responses into sales), assuming the campaign is designed to produce responses or enquiries and not sales directly. Aside from the quality of the responses, which is determined by the campaign, conversion rates also vary according to factors outside of and after the direct mail activities themselves, such as response handling, IT systems, sales follow-up, etc. It is therefore important to judge a direct mail campaign first on percentage and quality of response, and then separately to assess the overall results of the campaign including conversion statistics and sales values. Inexperienced marketeers (and many experienced ones too) tend to over-estimate forecasted response rates for direct mail, so a planning tip is to be pessimistic (prudent, as accountants say), especially when calculating advertising viability and return on investment. When you first state your estimated response rate as part of the financial justification for the direct mail campaign, next reduce it by a factor of 10 (i. e. re-assess the campaign viability using on one-tenth of your initial response forecast). If the figures still show a positive return on investment then your campaign might well be successful. If not, then its sensible to re-think the whole thing. Your own database of existing and past customers will typically produce a significantly higher response than that of a list sourced elsewhere. List prices vary enormously, from a few pounds up to several hundreds of pounds per 1,000 names and addresses, depending on volume, how specific the list is, and how selective your profiling criteria are. You can also choose whether to have the list on labels, or on a disk in a common spreadsheet or database format, the latter being most common now, and easy to import, if appropriate, into a CRM (customer relationship management) system. Mailing list prices also vary according to the terms of use, notably the number of times the list can be used (list rental), or whether unlimited use is permitted, or whether the list is being actually bought outright. These days for small businesses its very easy and cost-effective to do your own or outsource a mailmerge direct mail, campaign, using a word-processing program in conjunction with the list of names and addresses on a spreadsheet program. Large scale direct mail campaigns are normally best managed via a CRM (customer relationship management) system. Contact the Direct Marketing Association or country equivalent for more information about providers of lists and mailing services, etc. display advertising The taking of advertising space in the editorial sections of magazines or newspapers, as opposed to the classified sections, which are a less expensive, and generally lower performing method. All significant publications will be pleased to provide you with their Media Pack, which gives full details of all the types of display advertising available, for how much, together with lots of information about their readership profile and circulation. If you are trying to generate a direct response from display advertising you may need to feature a coupon of some kind. Otherwise display advertising is concerned with image-building and creating awareness. As with other advertising methods, the use of Free-phone telephone numbers and Free-post addresses all increase response rates. directories - local directories, Yellow Pages, Thomsons, etc These sorts of directories remain useful for local domestic, consumer and household products and services suppliers, but their usefulness is fast declining, and in many sectors traditional printed directories are hardly used by customers. Older people tend to use printed directories more than youngsters. Consider this in terms of your own products, services and target audience. If you are targeting young people you should question whether printed advertising directories are worthwhile at all. The shift to mobilephone media and communications, away from traditional media, and also away from desktop computers, has been increasingly dramatic through the early 2000s, and especially from the 2010s. That said, for certain businesses in certain territories, traditional printed directories still have a value and can still produce enquiries and orders. Generally a business telephone landline normally gives free Yellow Pages and Thomsons entries under a single classification in each local book. Display adverts or more entries are (generally) charged at varying rates according to the circulation numbers of the book(s) concerned. About a hundred Yellow Pages directories books cover the UK. Usually these sorts of directories are published annually, on rotation at different dates around the country. Directories can be effective for generating enquiries for consumer businesses, but are not appropriate for all types of business-to-business sectors. Ask yourself - where would my potential customers look for suppliers of my products and services Consider and seek out local smaller directories and trades booklets also. The increasing ease of publishing means that production of good quality small-scale local directories is now very easy for publishers and most towns now have at least one local directory or booklet listing local suppliers which is distributed to all households in the area. Some of these can be very cost-effective in generating new customers. directories - internet Internet directories and specialist search engines are a potentially very effective way to advertise and market your services, because so many customers now use these listings to find suppliers. Many listings are free. Some work well, others dont. Many listings are not free. Again some work well and others dont. Ask other similar suppliers what works for them. Test the listings yourself to see how well they work and how commonly they feature in the main search engine listings, especially Google. To discover what website listings and directories you should appear on, search for your own products and services using Google. Include the town or area or other geographical descriptions in your search phrases - in as many different ways as you think your customers would. You should aim to be featured on the internet directories and listings websites which appear at the top of the Google results for the search terms that your customers will be using. brochures, leaflets and printed material Printed marketing materials of most sorts are declining in significance as people increasingly seek and access information about products and services online. A generation ago there was no digital or online alternative to a printed brochure. Now there are several alternatives, and in many situations potential clients prefer the new formats to the old, which can render the traditional printed version unnecessary or actually wasteful. Please consider this trend towards digitalonline when reading this section, and assess accordingly the extent to which traditional printed materials are essential or advantageous for your various products and services, etc. Some of the principles about readability and presentation apply equally to digitalonline materials as to printed versions. Other factors are irrelevant to digitalonline media. Brochures and leaflets can be used for a variety of purposes, and can be distributed in different ways. A good printer can provide examples and costings, and the easiest way to learn what works and what doesnt is to look at other peoples material. The aim of a brochure is foremost to generate new business through providing information in a way that appeals to the reader. The acronym AIDA (attention interest desire action) should be the basis of its design. Some brochures and leaflets are pleasing pieces of art, but they dont achieve anything for the business, so avoid falling into this trap. If you work with a designer be sure to control any fanciful tendencies and keep the message and style to the point. Too much spent on a brochure can give the impression that your business is extravagant. When producing leaflets and brochures think about the way that they are to be distributed. If it needs an envelope try to avoid using a non-standard envelope size, which will add cost unnecessarily. If the material is required as an insert is it acceptable to the publication Is it to be available from a rack Do you want people to retain the material If so perhaps a business card or plastic credit-card-type attachment would help There are thousands of different types of paper. Letterheads are usually printed on to 90-100gsm (grams per square metre) cartridge, laid or bond. A 100gsm paper is adequate for single sided mono or colour printing. 130gsm is better for double - sided. 200gsm is minimum weight for a post card format. 250-300gsm is used for business cards. Heavier boards are usually measured in microns rather than gsm because density affects weight more at these gauges. Coated matt and gloss art papers are used for higher quality effects, but add to cost. Various lamination processes add more quality and more cost. The print process is actually a number of separate stages: design reprographics (now a computerised process which produces camera-ready-artwork and the film from which the printing plates are made) plate-making or electronic equivalent (for low quantities, digital print processes now enable high quality printing direct from a computer) printing finishing (stapling, folding, etc if relevant) Generally it is not possible to undo a stage and return to the previous one without re-originating at least the previous stage, so take care when signing off each stage. If your instructions to an agency or printer are not correct you will end up paying for the time they spend re-originating and amending, so think things through before you start the process. Re-prints are generally cheaper than the first run because the reprographic work and plates do not need to be produced again. When you ask for a print quote ask at the same time for a price per thousand run-on - youll be surprised how low this cost is in proportion to the main quote. This is due to the origination and set-up charges being already absorbed by the main run. Full colour printing uses the colours black, red, yellow and blue, and requires a plate to be made for each colour. Mono printing is black on white and requires just one black plate. Each colour can be tinted (ie applied less than 100 solid) to varying degrees across the print area, so with good design even black and white printing can give a high quality effect. Conversely, a poor design can make full colour printing look cheap and nasty. If you want something classier than black and white, two colour printing can produce amazing results, without the cost of going to full colour. As a rule, printing costs reduce dramatically with volume. Digital printing methods are appropriate for low volumes, and fast becoming viable for higher volumes. There are various printing processes, which are appropriate for different purposes and particularly volumes. Ensure that the process is appropriate for your application. As a rule colour is more expensive than mono (black and white), although digital printing is not so sensitive to colourprice differences. loose and bound inserts Inserts, in the form of leaflets, brochures, or other material, are provided by the advertiser to the publication, to be sent out with the magazine or newspaper. You have to produce the materials to be used as inserts which incurs printing costs, and then pay the publication a charge for insertion. There is a big effect from economies of scale. Charges vary according to weight of insert, how many inserts per publication, volume, the narrowness of the circulation profile, and how the publication is itself distributed. Response rates from inserts are almost always lower than direct mail, but inserts are a very flexible and cheap method of distributing an advert to a target audience. Bound-in inserts cost extra, require longer lead-times, and are favoured by some advertisers because they dont fall out and consequently are seen by more of the total readership, which can be two or three times greater than the circulation. door to door leaflets and advertising distribution Large quantity leaflet drops to consumer households and business addresses, without the need for envelopes or normal postal charges, can usually be arranged through the postal services (the Post Office in the UK), so that your leaflet is delivered at the same time as the normal post, or at other times of the day if required. Demographic targeting, based on postcodes and population census data, is possible to a degree, and the cost is often inclusive in the distribution charges. Other specialised household distributors provide similar services, sometimes incorporated within local newspaper deliveries. Details can be obtained from various door-to-door distribution services providers, and the UK Direct Marketing Association. If you are starting a business serving your local area, door-to-door leaflets (or other advertising materials, especially those designed to generate a direct response) remain one of the most productive and cost-effective ways to reach customers and to generate new sales. Some people start a new business and sit waiting in their office or manufacturing unit for customers to appear, as if by magic. They will not appear. If you ever find yourself sitting waiting in your office for customers to appear, or busying yourself doing some more planning or brainstorming, or messing around with your computer settings, stop what you are doing, and instead go out and deliver some advertising leaflets into peoples letterboxes. This will help to make customers appear. As a very rough rule: if you have a good, simple, relatively low-cost quick-decision sales proposition and you have designed a leaflet which conveys the proposition effectively, then (very roughly) every 100 leaflets you deliver (to your appropriate target market) should produce a new customer. So, imagine - every couple of hours you sit doing nothing . or something unimportant, in your office, you could instead deliver a hundred leaflets . and produce a new customer . posters sites (hoardings, taxi-cabs, buses, roadside fields) For advertising considered as public information a variety of poster sites are free to the advertiser, so it makes sense to use these freely, supported by some record system so you keep them up-to-date and utilised. Other sites vary according to nature and cost, from large roadside hoardings to buses, taxis and sports grounds. Anywhere that people pass or gather in large numbers is a potential poster site, and as with printed media, audience profile information is usually available. New sites are being discovered and exploited all the time, such as supermarket trolleys and floors, table napkins, public conveniences, and the media extends now into continuous video at post offices and filling stations forecourts, etc. local radio, TV, cinema and the internet Other forms of targeted media advertising, and now TV and radio are increasingly used by smaller local businesses, although tight geographical targeting is obviously difficult. Cost of production can be a significant factor. Producing your own information and managing e-commerce on the internet is now viable for even very small businesses. For consumer businesses, the on-line shopping boom began several years ago: If you are supplying consumer products that can be shipped easily through the post or a carrier and you are not yet selling via the internet I would urge you to catch up with your competitors and start doing so, because many of your competitors will already be doing it. E-commerce is now firmly established in the business-to-business sectors too, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for B2B suppliers (manufacturers and wholesalers notably) to compete and survive in the modern market place without a fully developed and cohesive e-commerce capability. all business-to-business organisations should now have a web presence If you are large organisation then you will likely already have had this in place for several years. If you are a small business you might imagine that having a presence on the internet is not important. Det er. Sophisticated website design, technology, functionality, and integration with other organizational processes are nowadays very normal aspects of a modern web presence. The website user experience in business-to-business sectors used to be quite passive, but it is very active and dynamic now. Happily websiteonline design and technology have become less expensive and more easily available since the early development of web commerce, but the scale of possibilities that can be enabled via a website and related online systems is absolutely vast, so good project management discipline is crucial for ensuring smooth and effective development of such capabilities. Attracting users to a website remains a major and constantly evolving challenge too. There is little point in having a wonderfully engineered and brilliantly integrated website if no one is attracted to visit and use it. See the tips for creating effective websites. particularly addressing the issue of site popularity and Google ranking, etc. guide books, hand-books and newsletters Publishing your own information material is potentially very effective, and costs can be reduced by incorporating relevant supporting advertising from other organisations wishing to be associated with your services and to target your audience. Guidelines for Newsletters follow later. (Remember now that electronic media is able to extend the use and potential of newsletters far beyond traditional printed media.) Alternatively you can advertise in a relevant guide book produced by another organisation. However, be careful to ascertain accurate details of circulation and profile if considering small or unproven publications. open days and exhibitions The advantage of personal contact is that you actually get to talk to your potential customers, which dramatically increases the chances of getting your message across. But there is a limit to how many people you can target and access using these methods. Costs of preparation and organisation can be big, and are rarely transparent at the outset so beware. Events of this nature do nevertheless offer good possibilities for follow-up PR activity, which can contribute greatly to building a customer-friendly image. word of mouth Personal referral is unsurpassed as an advertising tool. It costs nothing, other than the cost of delighting customers, and is the most powerful advertising of all. Encouraging word of mouth referral is therefore a good reason for sustaining excellent customer service and relations. If your customers are thrilled by the service you give theyll tell their friends. The internet has increased the volume and visibility of positive customer referrals, reviews, recommendations, and also negative feedback, so that customer referrals and feedback are now highly significant in marketing. You can encourage word of mouth referrals through the use of discount vouchers and coupons, loyalty and friends and family schemes, introduce a friend incentives, and any other mechanism that encourages people to spread the word on your behalf. Social networking websites enable customer reviews and feedback on a truly vast scale. The importance therefore of delighting customers with your quality of productservice and customer care, has never been greater. Customers frequently buy online now only after checking previous customer feedback and reviews about products and suppliers. Positive feedback is generally only sustained by offering high quality, in all aspects of your service, including complaints handling. networking and clubs Using business networking methods to develop contacts and introductions is an especially cost-effective marketing method for consumer services and products, and more particularly for business-to-business services. A variety of networking opportunities exist in all sectors and regions, including trades associations, chambers of commerce and trade, networking websites, societies, clubs, breakfasts, lunches, events, and anywhere that potential customers and influencers gather, and the systems within which they communicate and socialise. Use your imagination. Always be prepared to speak to others enthusiastically about your business - the world is full of potential customers. An increasing number of networking communities and services are now to be found on the internet too. Explore these opportunities, keeping in mind the particular target audiences most relevant to your aims. direct marketing, advertising, and the law In the UK there are strict laws protecting consumers, and to a different extent businesses, from aspects of direct marketing and other forms of advertising. Other countries generally have their own equivalent laws. Consumers and to some degree businesses can opt out of being subjected to various sorts of direct marketing activities. In the UK this system of opting out is managed via the processes and organisation of Preference Services. When you use direct marketing - whatever the method - ensure you are acting within the law, and have consulted the relevant Preference Service rules (or local country equivalent). Separately, the Data Protection Act in the UK contains implications for storing list data and using certain lists, notably for private consumers, and for the marketing of particular services (for example financial services), and there are similar laws dealing with this aspect in different countries, so check the law as applicable for your own situation before buying and using lists. More details (for the UK) about Data Protection rules are at the Information Commissioners Office. You should adhere to your local laws or guidelines concerning unsolicited direct marketing. In the UK these are explained by the Information Commissioners Office in terms of direct marketing by phone, electronic or postal methods. If you are not in the UK seek equivalent advice. And aside from this, advertising is subject to scrutiny and action by the Advertising Standards Authority (UK), and of course all advertising and marketing is ultimately accountable to the various laws which seek to protect people and organisations from illicit or fraudulent trading. For more information about good and acceptable practices in advertising (and by implication marketing too) refer to the UK Advertising Standards Authority. and the the European European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), which represents European national self-regulatory and representative organisations for the advertising industry in Europe. Whether you are marketing to private consumers or to businesses and other large organizations be fair and reasonable. Certain practices may technically be within the law, but are not ethical or generally acceptable, so dont use them. Think about what sorts of direct advertising (especially telephoning, texting, emailing) annoys you as a customer or consumer. If something annoys you, then it will annoy other people, and you would be wise not to use such methods. It is bad business to gain a new customer at the cost of inconveniencing or alienating other people. A particular example of bad business and bad marketing is making cold telephone calls and pretending that the call is about a survey, or an opportunity rather than being honest immediately about the purpose of your call. Avoid this cheap little trick. It will lose you more customers than it will win. Also avoid the highly discourteous practice of leaving messages on somebodys answerphone or voicemail, asking for a call back, by only stating your name and number. Sales organizations who use this tactic are unethical and fundamentally fearful that what they are trying to sell is not good. There is no law against marketing using the above two tactics, but they are cheap and nasty, annoying and timewasting and inconvenient potential customers will respond negatively. So dont use such methods. There are plenty of positive effective perfectly ethical ways to engage potential customers in sales discussions. There is no need to resort to anything else. advertising tricks of the trade - guidelines to cost-effective advertising Here are a the most important techniques for effective advertising. 1. Use the AIDA structuresequence AIDA is a simple effective structure for any sort of advertising or selling communicationdesign. Follow it always. AIDA stands for the very strict and reliable sequence of steps that your customers (and all of us too) experience when buying something, especially for the first time. Every item of advertising - especially any designed to produce a sales enquiry - must be designed according to the AIDA sequence to be properly effective . Attention - first attract attention (I want to readlisten towatchexplore this..) Interest - next build interest (Yes, that means something to me..) Desire - (This couldwill help me and I want itto know more..) Action - (I will take the next step - phoneemailreplybuy..) The Attention part is the banner or headline that makes an impressive benefit promise. Interest builds information in an interesting way, usually meaning that this must relate closely to the way that the reader thinks about the issues concerned. You must then create Desire for the audience this must relateconvey your productservice benefit(s) to the reader so that heshe wants them. Finally you must prompt an Action . which may be to call a telephone number or to complete and send of a reply coupon. Advertising that does not prompt action is a wasted opportunity. 2. Your main message must be the most prominent The biggest part of the advert must be your main benefit statement. This is the main attention-grabber, and must entice the reader to read on. Do not be tempted to devote 50 of the advert space to some fancy artwork or a quote from Shakespeare, or some other stylized gimmick. 3. Offer a single impressive benefit, quickly and simply Research generally proves that where responses are required, the best adverts are those which offer an impressive, relevant benefit to the reader. This promise should ideally contain the business brand name, take no longer to read than is normal for the media (direct mail is about 4 - 8 seconds, or about fifteen words) and be clearly the most striking part of the advert. This point cannot be stressed enough you must keep it quick, simple and to the point. And the trend is for ever quicker points: David Lewis, an eminent consumer psychologist, says, Copy is getting shorter, and a major factor behind this is that people these days suffer from acute shortages of both time and attention. Younger generations are extremely visually literate. They have been brought up on computer games, so they couldnt deal with a lot of polished copy, even if they wanted to. Think about the vocabulary and language you use know your target audience: a simple test is to avoid any words or grammar that would not be found in the newspaper that the target group would read. 4. Your message must be quick and easy to absorb Use a clear layout, clear fonts and clear language. Do not distract the reader from the text by overlaying images or using fancy fonts. Use simple language, avoid complicated words, and keep enough space around the text to attract attention to it. Use simple traditional typestyles: serif fonts are quicker to read than sans serif. (Fort normal reading distances) use ten, eleven or twelve point-size for the main text smaller or larger are actually more difficult to read and therefore less likely to be read. Look at newspapers and library books, which are almost always serif fonts of ten to twelve point size. Obviously for longer-distance adverts such as posters, use font sizes which can be clearly seen, given the distance from which the audience sees the material. Avoid cluttering the advert with fancy images, colours and backgrounds. Make it easy to read. For the same reason avoid italics, shadows, light colours reversed out of dark, weird and wonderful colours. None of these improve readability, they all reduce it. Use simple black (or dark coloured) text on a white (or light coloured) background for maximum readability. 5. Involve the reader - use the 2nd person: you - your - yours Refer to the reader as you and use the second person (you, your and yours etc) in the description of what your business does for the customer to get them visualising their own personal involvement. Describe the service as it affects them in a way that they will easily relate to it. 6. (where possible) Incorporate something new - or. NEW. Advertising which features the word new prominently tends to be more effective. Generally an offering which is new is more appealing than a offering which does not mention new (which is by implication old, same again, or known). Simply, customers respond better and are more easily attracted initially to a concept that is new or original. If theyve heard or seen it all before it will be no surprise that they take no notice at all. So you have to consider this when you are developing your propositions and offerings, because its not good to call something new if it is not actually new in some way. Somehow you should find and be able to offer newness or originality in your productservices offerings. This relates fundamentally to your business offering(s). The more and better you can be seen as new and original, then the more enquiries and business you will attract. People must believe theres something new or different in your offering from the start. There are many ways to be new and original, for example, (some more exciting than others): Best pricediscountcheapest - not especially new or original, but better than nothing (for example budget airlines thrive on this special selling point its not generally a good basis for building a high integrity sustainable business, and tends to pressurise quality, staff and customer relationships, but can be effective in emergencies). Best value - value can be developed and expressed in many ways, crucially from the customers standpoint, and is a big opportunity to innovate new and original offering - focusing genuinely on best value is generally an excellent way to build high quality sustainable business offerings. Product or service designtypeversionqualityinnovation - can be extremely effective, especially where the supplier has flair andor can access good design to develop and maintain productservice advantage versus competitors (this is often easier than it seems - just ask customers what particularly they want and cannot get from current providers, and seek to develop these featuressolutions) Servicecustomer careback-upsupport quality - often overlooked by sellers and marketers, and a major opportunity to create and emphasise newness and originality. Availabilityspeedlocationdeliveryconvenience - very effective if you are targeting a market which responds to these factors. Adaptabilityuniversalitytranslatabilityinternationality - potential to find newnessoriginality for offerings which have a wideinternational audience. Durabilityrobustnesslong-lastingwarrantyguarantee - can be very effective in establishing competitive superiority, obviously where productservice can withstand such an offering (or where for whatever reasons customers will rarely claim for or actually experience long-term productservice failings - some products can even very easily withstand lifetime guarantees, in which case why limit warranties to 12 months or two years. ) Process of buying - often overlooked, the ease by which customers can buy and pay for productsservices can be a huge opportunity for newness and originality (for example, converting payments into a monthly rental or fixed payment plan). Free stuff - always highly appealing - free add-ons, free starter-packs, free trials, free bonusloyalty rewards, free gifts, etc. Packages - packaging or bundling products and services is a big opportunity to create newness and originality - and can make very good business sense for customers and suppliers. Styleimage - there is vast potential to devise newness and originality in style for certain markets - especially consumer productsservices related to lifestylepersonal interest - this depends strongly on the quality of design and customer experience. Exclusivitypersonal serviceloyalty rewarding - can be a highly desirable original feature in many sorts of productsservices. There are many more possibilities, so develop propositionsofferings that are new and original or special or unique, and emphasise this in your advertising. Ask yourself, why should people be interested if your proposition is no different to your competition You must emphasise what makes your service special. Put as much emphasis as you can behind your USPs (unique selling points), and either imply or state directly that you are the only company to offer these things. Aim to be the best at what you do or offer, in whatever way(s) you can differentiate your offering(s) from your competitors, meaningfully and usefully for your target market . 7. Your proposition or offer must be credible and believable The UK Advertising Standards Authority (or your country equivalent) would prevent you from making overly extravagant claims anyway, but you should still attempt to make your offer seem perfectly credible. This is usually best accomplished by explaining why and how you are able to do the things you are offering, in support of your claims you can also increase credibility by showing references or testimonial quotes from satisfied customers. For example, if you claim particularly good customer service, this can be reinforced with an outline of your policy on seeking customer feed-back and carrying out satisfaction surveys. 8. People open envelopes from the back.. This is not just about opening envelopes. Its about optimising every detail that you can in your advertising methods, so that you make it as easy as possible for people to receive your messages. Concerning envelopes, this is a small point of detail for postal advertising campaigns, but every little technique helps, especially if you are working with big numbers. This is important for double-sided single sheetcard inserts in envelopes. Remember this if you send anything in an envelope, or instruct a mailing house, because reading the second half of a mailed advert muddles the AIDA sequence, and wastes time before the reader sees the main benefit statement. Similar points of detail apply to other methods, for example: Advertising emails which contain attachments tend not to work as well as emails which contain the advert within the email itself. Its about speed and ease. People are put off by the slightest obstacles, even extra split-seconds. People are also put off by risk and uncertainty. The subject line and sender name are crucial in optimising email advertising. Think about the emails you open and read happily, and which you immediately discard, or open and become irritated. Be clear, relevant and helpful. Avoid gimmicks and tricks which will annoy people or waste time. Door-to-door leaflets generally achieve better response rates if they are delivered at different times and after the main postal delivery. Window posters sited close to doorways work better than posters further away. Line of sight is important. Think about the flow of people traffic. Changing (otherwise long-standing) advert designs improves responses. If you run repeating adverts, or display the same style posters for periods or more than a week or two, change the colourscolors. Otherwise people become accustomed and blind to the same image. Changing colour is one easy way to keep adverts fresh and as attention-grabbing as possible. People respond to new stimulus more than the familiar. 9. Use lower case type - word-shapes are lost when capitals are used People read by recognising word-shapes not individual letters, do dont use upper case (capital letters) for text, and other than fopr very short words not for headlines either, as capitalupper-case letters take longer to read and so reduces impact, overall readability, and audience absorption rates. 10. Your advert headline should be three-quarters up the page or advert space Position your headline statement where it can be seen quickest. Do not put headlines at the very top of the space. The eye is naturally drawn to between two-thirds and three-quarters up the page or space, which is where the main benefit statement needs to be. 11. Analyse what you can - but much will remain puzzling Advertising is often referred to as a Black Art because it is mysterious, and is rarely a precise science. Advertising sometimes works better than you imagine it will (although rarely..), and conversely plenty of advertising fails to work as well as you expect it will. The Direct Mail Campaign Story is a amusing example of the unpredictable nature of advertising ideas and methods. Analyse and measure advertising as well as you can, but no not expect to be able to analyse reliably every aspect of your advertising. Some of it will be very difficult to interpret, and many sales you achieve will be from mixed and uncertain sources. This is easy to appreciate when you consider that many customers must see a suppliers advertising several times before they feel trusting and confident enough to contact the supplier and to agree to buy. Customers generally try to avoid risk, and resist change. Many customers dislike making buying decisions, particularly if the supplier is new. This is called inertia. Inertia is difficult to overcome when you are a supplier chasing new customers, but it is a helpful aid in retaining existing customers, up to a point. The role of inertia, and the need for familiarity, are two major factors which make advertising uncertain. Often we can identify the direct advertising prompt (a particular advert, leaflet, mailshot, etc) which causes a customer to buy, but before this there could be several different contacts or hits, by which a customer sees and begins to build awareness and desire for a particular supplier or product. Consequently its helpful to think of advertising as a continuous organizationalcompany attitude, rather than a single campaign. You business, whatever it is, and whatever specific advertising you carry out, is actually continually advertising - by your quality of products and service, your communications, and any or all of these other factors: your signage (on premises, etc) your vehicles (their signage, and the conduct of your drivers) your staff (and how they talk about you, their employer) your suppliers (and how they talk about you, their customer) your customers especially - how they talk about you your publicity in local and wider news media your actions and reputation for social and community and environmental responsibility and any other ways that your businessservicesproducts are seen Direct response advertising attempts to generate enquiries and sales immediately. Aside from this, various advertising, including direct response adverts, insteadalso builds awareness, image, familiarity and trust in brands and suppliers. Word of mouth referrals and reviews especially have this two-pronged effect. A famous advertising quote is that: Half of our advertising is effective, and half is not, but we have no idea which half is which. (Variations of this quote have been attributed to William H Lever, English industrialist and founder of Lever Brothers, 1851-1925 and also to US businessman John Wanamaker, 1838-1922 and no doubt others as well.) The quote is a reminder that advertising is very difficult to manage reliably, and that importantly you will achieve the greatest success by managing your quality in every respect, as well as your advertising. There is little point in having a brilliant advertising effort which generates lots of new sales, but then losing your customers and damaging your reputation by failing to meet promises or satisfy customers needs in other ways. We might see this as pouring new business into a bucket which has a big hole in the bottom, so that customers leave as fast as they join. Above all, appreciate that everything you do in business has an advertising effect - far beyond isolated advertising methods and campaigns. So ensure that everything you do is of great quality and integrity. Then the need to measure specific advertising activities, indeed the need to advertise at all, will become far less. PR - public relations and using press-releases for free advertising and publicity PR stands for Public Relations. (A press release is one aspect of public relations activities. The press releasePR initials are merely coincidental. PR means public relations.) Public Relations, or PR, generally refers to the management of your business reputation, usually via media such as newspapers, trade journals, the internet - and radio and TV if you are a big company, or if you somehow become involved in a big issue of public interest. PR is typically defined as having two main aspects: 1. The proactive management of publicity about your business to the public andor your trade via different media, and 2. The reactive management of public awareness and opinions about your business in response to issues of public interest in which your business is one way or another involved. Each of these two aspects is explained separately below. NB Before the internet, the reactive aspect of PR (item 2 above) was of little concern to small businesses, whereas the reactive aspect of PR has always been an extremely significant consideration for large businesses. However the growth of internet social networking websites (sometimes called web 2.0 - i. e. websites which allow user interaction and postings, etc) has now caused even small businesses to be much more mindful of reactively managing public awareness, in addition to the earlier need to proactively manage PR. 1. Proactive management of publicity Many small businesses fail to realize and exploit the amazing opportunities offered by PR - specifically generating publicity about your business through relevant consumer and trade media. Here is some useful terminology: Copy - the copy is a technical term for the contentwritingarticle that you send or release to media (its also a term in advertising, where it refers to the textwords in advertising materials, hence the job title copywriter, being a person who is expert in writing for advertising - the term is very different to the term copyright, which refers to the ownership and protection of intellectual property). ReleasePress release - a submission or circulation of publicity material - in full usually press release or media release - typically an article or news story, often with a picture, diagram, table, etc. written in a style suitable for the publicationsaudiences targeted. Press releases should be official communications (obviously from the business concerned), with media enquiry contact details for further information (generally the PR agency for big company press releases, or the companybusiness itself if managing its own PR activity). Editorial - factual stories or articles in pressmedia - as distinct from advertising. When press releases from businesses appear in text-based media they are regarded as editorial content, in the same form as other editorial items which journalists have researchedreported themselves. All newspapers, trade journals, consumer magazines, and newsmagazine-type websites need press releases from external companies with story to tell, to help fill their pages. Local papers particularly need news submitted by the local community or they have to pay more for journalists to go out and find news. Look through your local papers and magazines to spot the PR material submitted by commercial organisations. This will encourage you as to how easy it is to provide news stories for the local press. Local TV and radio are also amenable to PR, but theyre a bit more selective. Nevertheless consider local TV and radio as targets for your own PR activity for any business story of significance, local interest, or novelty value. Research and keep an up-to-date list of relevant (industry and local) editorial contact names and numbers, journalists, departments, email addresses, etc. PR news must be submitted to the news department (editorial department if its a magazine) of the publication concerned. Increasingly online publications enable online submissions, and the range of media outlets vast now compared to a few years ago. This wide choice means you should target your activities carefully - look for publications, printed and online, radio, etc. which offer the best access to your target audience, with maximum audience numbers and territorialindustry-sector coverage. Email is nowadays the preferred format for submissions of newseditorial stories, but given the unreliability of emails, and the generally difficult nature of dealing with media even under ideal circumstances, it is good to follow-up or give prior warning of emailed editorial releases by phone or text. Persistence is important. Expect a success rate of much less than 100. In time relationships will develop for you, and journalists and other media contacts will respond more positively, especially if you are consistent and helpful in your communications, and supply good quality material relevant to their audiences. For big companies, dealing with very high profile media (such as national radio, TV, big websites, newspapers and big-circulation magazines and journals) to achieve publicity and exposure for your press releases and other editorial stories is a matter of cultivating relationships with journalists and editors. This is why most big organizations tend to use PR agencies to handle their media relationships, where PR specialists have many years experience and lots of contacts. If you are a small business and become involved in a very big news story then you are strongly advised to enlist professional help from a reputable PR agency. Press and media professionals can be utterly ruthless. Inexperienced people trying to manage a crisis or other big news story are very vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by journalists and editors. Ordinarily however, if you are a small company with a small budget, and keen to target local andor specialised media, then you should be able to handle your own PR activity using your own resources. Be aware that the journalists will usually alteredit your copy or release, so dont agonize over the precise wording, but do enough to make it interesting and newsworthy. Generally journalists are very happy to deal direct with organisations rather than their PR agencies, so dont be shy. Remember that press-release publicity is free. All it costs is your time, or what you pay a PR agency to do it for you. This can make it extremely good value compared with conventional advertising. Take every opportunity to use PR creatively and frequently. Its worth managing your PR through some kind of routine or standard process, to maintain a regular and consistent activity, and which can be delegated to a staff member when and if desired. For a little thought you can easily achieve the equivalent of thousands of pounds worth of display advertising per year, for no advertising cost. Press-release publicity carries more credibility than paid-for advertising. People are largely unaware that much of what they read in the local and national newspapers is in fact carefully planned PR. They are therefore more receptive towards it and moreover believe it almost without question. Photographs improve editorial take-up by 100s. This means that press releases which have an accompanying interesting and relevant photograph are far more likely to be selected and featured by the journalist and editor of the media concerned. A good photograph in support of a press release will dramatically improve your chances of publication. Either provide your own, or if your story is an event that you will be involved with or plan to stage you can ask the press publication to send their own photographer. Do it now - old news is no news. If youve got something newsworthy dont wait or the opportunity will be lost. Even simple things like staff promotions, qualifications attained, hobby achievements, staff joining, babies, all make acceptable PR stories, and always be on the lookout for the quirky and unusual. Ask for editorial coverage before paying for display advertising. If you plan to pay for display advertising or inserts in any type of publication always ask before giving the order if you can have some editorial coverage as a condition of placing the advertising business. Many publications will agree at this stage, and youll have some free editorial to support the advert. Some publications combine the two and sell advertorial feature space, which purports to be news but is really a large paid-for advert. Surveys provide excellent material for editorial, and are used by many companies for publicity purposes. Any business can organize an interesting survey. See the guidelines about surveys and questionnaires below. Youll learn something about your market and create a significant opportunity for free publicity. Read newspapers and magazines and you will soon see examples - even in the national broadsheets. Always try to persuade the publicationjournalist to include your business contact detailswebsite address in editorial resulting from your PR activity. Sometimes this is possible, sometimes not whatever, include these details in your release and ask the journalisteditor if they can appear. Many small publicationsmedia are very happy to include these details in the editorial, and the value can be very significant. Usually a good story with a photo will occupy far more space - for free - than you would be happy to pay instead for equivalent advertising space. 2. Reactive management of public awareness Brief your staff and have a policy for dealing with sudden news stories which emerge on the internetin the media involving your business, especially crisis situations. If you are in a situation which is likely to attract press attention, then you must ensure that your staff are aware of your positions and policies. Ideally appoint someone with strong marketing and communications experience and skills to be in charge of press contact, and channel press enquiries through this person, so that other less able staff are not placed in awkward positions or forced to comment. If you wonder why so many people are quoted in the news media as saying, No comment, its usually because theyve been taught to do so, and are following a policy. Any staff member who talks to the media about a serious issue (involving your businessorganization) without proper training and briefing is liable to make matters worse, whether the original story is good or bad. If pressmedia attention is potentially threatening to your organizations reputation and image, particularly if you operate in areas which have a major public interest or are controversial for any reason, it is sensible for senior staff to undergo training in how to deal with the media, especially in crisis situations. Many PR companies provide such training. All lower-levels of staff in large organizations (i. e. below senior or executive management) should be instructed not to talk to media representativesjournalists, and to refer enquiries and requests for interviews, etc. to an established properly authorised person or department in the organization. NB This does not affect or undermine the rights of employees who might have good reason to act as whistleblowers in raising or publicizing matters of corporate wrongdoing. Organizations have a duty to manage publicity so that it is fair, ethical and truthful. Suppressing the truth in many situations amounts to a criminal act, and great care must be exercised by organizational leaders in handling the transparency of any matter which could have serious legal implications. Products, services, activities of organizations which can attract potentially seriousthreateningdifficult media attention certainly include: Health and safety The environment Local community Equality, disability, racialgender discrimination, etc Injustice Stress and illness among employees Poor quality and poor customer service Fat Cat syndrome (directorsexecutives enjoying great rewards and advantage) Animals Children Quirky news stories - products that dont work properly, poor service, corporate stupidity There are others. Media is driven by what interests very big audiences. Read your local newspapers to see the sort of issues that create big headlines locally, and read national papers and news websites to see the sort of issues which can reflect very negatively on organizations. There are many. With the development of social networking technologies, media attention nowadays tends to swarm in very big numbers and massive sudden waves of media interest that are difficult to predict, and certainly even more difficult to counter if a story goes viral (which describes the mass swarming and spreading effect of social networking media. newsletters - guidelines for producing effective newsletters for staff or customers Producing your own newsletters for your customers, trade contacts, local community, etc. is an excellent way of giving information, building reputation, credibility, trust, and an image of friendliness, canvassing opinions (and being seen to do so), and advertising your own services. Your chosen audience for a newsletter will depend on your type of business and target markets. Logically your audience will be existing and potential customers, and others youd like to keep informed and with whom youd like to develop good relations. Newsletter formats are extremely flexibl e and varied - anything from a multi-page magazine, to a single email. Newsletters may be printed or electronic or both, and opted in or not (opted-in means that recipients have signed-up or agreed to receive the newsletter, which is usually necessary for private consumers, and is advisable in many situations anyway). While many of the guidelines here refer to printed newsletters, the same principles apply to electronic media such as emails and pdfs. The circulationdistribution of newsletters almost always requires a list of some sort, therefore producing and circulating a newsletter generally entails building a database of recipients (existing and potential customers and their details), which is useful for many other purposes. When you design and write your newsletters remember that while the purpose is essentially to advertise your business in a positive light, people will want to receive and read them if the style and content is interesting and entertaining . Follow the basic rules of AIDA, concentrating on the first two issues of Attention and Interest . Computer technology now makes it very easy to create a very effective newsletter, even if you start with a very basic news-sheet or bulletin. If possible, especially when you are committed to the concept and wish to increase scale, it is helpful to engage a professional designer for the general layout, graphics and banner artwork. Larger companies generally use a PR agency to produce their newsletters, where bigger scale and greater sophistication is warranted. Invite contributions from your readers a section for readers messages - letters or letterbox or mailbox - is a good way to fill space and make the readers feel more involved. This could include feedbackcomments about format and content of the newsletter itself, which will help to convince you how and whether to continue publishing future issues. Commit to a frequency and size that you can sustain. If you can only manage one every three months so be it. Dont promise a monthly and then fail to get the next editions out on time, which would defeat the object of building your image. If necessary start with a single page, and allow it to increase in size if you see positive reasons for doing so. Start by piloting just a few copies, perhaps just a few hundred, and increase the distribution as you refine it. Adopt a format and styling that is fit-for-purpose. Basic rules of advertising production apply. Keep it simple, easy to read, and avoid anything off-the-wall or extravagant. Use a format that is cost-effective and amenable to your method of distribution. Include photographs and details of your staff. Pictures of customers and other people will help bring it to life. Publishing pictures of staff is also motivational for the staff, provided the presentation and context are positive of course. Include optimistic and happy stories. Keep the content and tone very positive. You must not distort facts of course but you do have some licence to present issues in a way that will reflect as favourably as possible on your business and your people. Make one person responsible or appoint an agency. Often the most difficult challenge in producing a newsletter is sustaining it. It is extremely difficult to collect good ideas and news for content, and if there is not a clear point of responsibility with schedules and deadlines the whole exercise will end up being rushed, perhaps late or incomplete, with the result that it has a poor effect on staff and readers alike. A marketing or PR agency will take on the job for you at a price, but even with expensive production support, getting the raw material is still the most difficult part of the process, and needs firm planning and monitoring. Maintain a consistent design and feel. Consistency of appearance is essential to build recognition, awareness and positive association with your business. Maintain consistent corporate identity, logos, and typestyles, and try to develop a consistent structure of content too. Familiarity is a big aspect of the appeal and success of regular publications (think about newspapers). Familiarity builds loyalty and a feeling of trust in the reader, and this reflects on the business which produces a newsletter. If the newsletter style keeps changing, then the business producing the newsletter will seem uncertain and changing too. Relate the news to your customers and their community. Keep in mind all the time who your audience is, and select content which is relevant and presented in a way that your readers will want to read it. It may be possible for you to recover some of the cost of the newsletter by selling some advertising space, but be careful about the type of suppliers you include so as to avoid detracting from the image you are presenting. If you create and distribute newsletters in electronic format then you have excellent opportunity to archive the materials on your website, freely available to all, and so build up a library of useful information for visitors and searchers far outside of your own database or circulation list. website design and internet marketing tips Websites and the internet can seem extremely complex, and on certain levels they are, but the fundamentals are simple. Have faith in common-sense principles and your own experience when developing websites, or briefing a designer to do so. Here are some basic rules for good internet and website marketing, and particularly for creating effective websites: Keep it simple. People want information quickly, clearly, with no nonsense. Remember your own frustrations when using unnecessarily complex websites. Make your own website easy to use and to convey your important messages. Aim for simplicity and ease of use in all functionality. The internet and the website medium are ideally suited to specialised providers, suppliers, companies, etc. so try to specialise and be the best in what you offer within that specialisation on the web. Give as much as you can free online from your website. Especially materials that can be printed or downloaded, or information that can be read from the web page. Technical and factual information, how-to guides, historical background, and lots of other objective reference information relating to your productsservices are all obvious valuable free things you can offer from your website, although oddly many organisations completely overlook this opportunity. Businesses tend only to sell on their websites. But people use the web mainly for gathering information. If you provide useful information about your specialisms, your website will appeal to more people, and develop bigger traffic, than if you use your website merely to promote and sell your products and services. A website is on a screen, but actually it should be designed rather like a shop. Think about it in the same way. Ease of access to what people want. Products organised in clear categories. Supporting information should be available. Avoid clutter. Make browsing easy. Have a clear and clean layout. The experience should be warm, personal and welcoming. Remove obstacles like registrations and password requirements as far as possible. These are barriers to visitors. Shops dont have barriers and registration requirements do they. Fancy graphics and visual effects please many designers, but not customers. Over-complicated design puts people off, and gets in the way of reading and absorbing the information that people are seeking. Lots of text is good. If its relevant useful content, search engines like lots of text too, but it must be relevant . Keep information up-to-date. Many search engines take account of page update frequency, so update your website frequently. Offer what people are interested in. Not what you want to push. The web, and search engine rankings, are driven very much by users. If you offer what people want, then your website will grow in popularity. Good websites will be found by most search engines. Provided a link exists somewhere on the web to your website, then search engines will find it. The big three USEurope search engines are Google, Bing (ex MSN) and Yahoo. Google remains by some considerable margin the most popular search engine. Googles listings are based on Googles very clever ranking algorithms, basic details of which freely available at Googles own website. Before you consider engaging a website ranking specialist look at Googles own free advice. There is much you can do yourself, because so much of what makes a website successful concerns the content on it, and this remains the biggest driver of traffic - more so than technical SEO (search engine optimisation) tactics and secrets. Other websites linking to yours will certainly improve your search engine rankings, but building a site that other sites will want to link to is far more beneficial than directing all that effort instead into a reciprocal link campaign. Reciprocal linking is much over-rated as a website optimisation tactic. Relevant high quality links (from reputable popular websites) are significantly more helpful. Having hundreds of irrelevant links on tiny unpopular websites counts for very little. Search engines downgrade or de-list websites that use dishonest optimization methods or cheating, so dont resort to such methods. Cheating typically entails distorting content, or establishing inbound links using spam or other nuisance techniques. Measure and analyse your traffic. Most website hosting solutions and providers now include traffic statistics packages. Google Analytics has become the industry standard tool for website tracking and analysis. Read blogs and newsletters about website optimisation to learn about the tools you can use to design and measure your websites performance in relation to the web as a whole - especially what people are searching for, how users find websites, and what you can do to optimise your own website. Again Googles own information and tools are extremely useful, and often overlooked. If you engage a website designer or agency follow the principles for working with any creative agency. Develop your specification first (i. e. especially processes and structures, spelling and grammar checked, structure and process implications) - before you engage a designer, and then issue a very clear design brief. Dont waste a designers time finalising and correcting fundamental content and material issues once the design stage has commenced. Designers are not mind-readers - you must develop clear ideas of what you want your website to be and do. The designers job is to interpret this specification into technical code and computer functionality. Your responsibility is what the website must be and do. The designers responsibility is how it becomes this. surveys and questionnaires - for staff or customers If you employ andor supply people it is important to know they think about your organisationbusiness, and what they need from you. Dont guess or assume, or worse, tell them. Ask them. A survey is the common method to discover staff and customer attitudes, needs, desires, problems, complaints, suggestions, etc. Many of the problems that arise for businesses and employers would not do so if the leaders had asked staff and customers for their views, feedback, and suggestions, etc. Surveys of customers are a very important aspect of marketing. They are very relevant to developing products and services, and the business or organization as whole. Surveys are also a very significant aspect of public relations. A survey of customers andor potential customers (staff too potentially) also provides an excellent opportunity to achieve some valuable positive publicity afterwards. News media and trade journals are always very keen to publish survey data (obviously where privacy, discretion, sensitivities of respondents are not threatened). Media publications and websites are particularly interested in survey results which inform their readers understanding of issues such as consumer trends, business and industry-specific trends, lifestyle, the economy, and anything else readers find entertaining and informative. Where a business carries out a survey and some of its findings are published, the businessorganization is reflected in a very credible and authoritative light. Usually a survey is based on a questionnaire. Market research companies can design and organize staff and customer surveys. So too can good telemarketing agencies. You might prefer to organize a survey internally due to control or costs reasons, in which case its helpful to follow a sensible process. Even if you use an agency, its helpful to understand the process. Below is a quick guide for the process of creating and organizing a staff or customer survey, or some market research, based on a questionnaire. All situations are different, so seek other ideas from colleagues and external people, and adapt your own plans accordingly. Obviously (but often overlooked) to develop an effective questionnaire you must first define exactly what you wish to discover . Start by establishing the information you seek to learn, and then build your questions, and select the respondents (which implies your format and method too) accordingly. Brainstorming is a useful start. You should also consult with all interested parties in listing your survey criteria. Its a lot of effort to design and manage a survey, so its silly to miss something important because the early planning stage was rushed. Here are the main steps to designing a survey of staff, customers or your market, using a questionnaire: steps to designing staffcustomer surveys Decide and agree the purpose of the survey. Define the facts that you wish to reveal. Keep it as simple as you can. There is a temptation to expand surveys into additional sectors and subjects, but this normally dilutes the usefulness of the response and the resulting analysis. It helps to concentrate on the key issues for your essential target group. In this respect, surveying is rather like marketing and selling. If you spread your efforts too wide and thin your results will be wide and thin too. Decide your target respondents or audience or market sector or staff audience. Ensure that your target respondent group is relevant to your survey subject, and satisfy yourself that you can identify and reach the target group via whatever communications and survey method you choose. Decide the level of privacy and anonymity which is appropriate for your survey. Many surveys work better if conducted anonymously. On the other hand, a survey of business customers generally works far better if respondents are known and given the opportunity to express specific views from their own particular standpoint. Decide the minimum response (number of completed questionnaires) that you need for a useful sample. For business customer surveys a minimum of 100 responses is an acceptable number provided respondents represent a suitable cross-section of the relevant target audience or customer base. Consumer surveys tend to require several hundred respondents for very useful results. When you know the above it is easier to decide your survey method(s). Focus groups generally achieve the highest and most reliable feedback, but are time-consuming to organise, and by their nature are limited in scale. The method is however very useful to augment larger survey activity. Phone or face-to-face interviews produce quite high response rates compared with postal or online surveys. Generally electronic surveys do not produce high response levels. Organize your survey to allow for the anticipated response rate. For example anticipate a low response rate (between 2 and 10) if the survey method is passive, such as postal or email or web-based. More proactive methods like telemarketing give a higher response rate (assuming the contact list is reliable you can work on about 20-50 response from the contact list - and be guided by the telemarketing agency if you use one). For general consumer market research surveys via street or door-to-door interviews again consider that most people decline to take part, and therefore you should build a low response expectation into your planning of numbers and time. The highest response rates are from focus groups (basically a focus group is an arranged meeting of a small group of people, for interviews and discussions, usually combined with a questionnaire) which by their nature enable 100 response. Interestingly a much ignored opportunity for very high responding surveys is complaints and grievances from your target group. Tenk på det. complaints and grievances are an extremely useful source of valuable feedback and views, which ideally should be incorporated into any survey project. Its a waste not to. Decide the survey method(s) - email, internet, telephone, written document, focus group discussions, street surveys, door-to-door, or combination of these - whatever will fit your situation and target group best. Consider the reply mechanism if one is required. For example include postage-paid addressed envelopes. Or for internal staff attitude surveys consider tasking someone to encourage and collect replies. Whatever, make it easy for people to respond. Consider incentivising or offering prizes to survey respondents, or even a payment - especially to focus group members. Its very frustrating to put the time and effort into designing and running a survey only to find that you get a response thats too low to be useful. People are very busy and mostly are not prepared to give time in responding to questionnaires, even if its in their interests to do so. For passive survey methods (for example postal or internal mail) expect response rates to be less than 10. Sometimes they can be less than 1. Business customer surveys work well if postal questionnaires are supported by telephone introduction to explain the survey purpose, then followed-up (chased) by telephone too if necessary. Design the actual questionnaire: List the individual questionsissues. At the earliest possible stage it helps to build the survey onto a spreadsheet - this enables data and structure and scoring, etc. to be organized much easier than in a text editor. Try to create a natural flow or sequence in the questions. Use closed questions (yesno) where useful, and offer multiple-choice answers, and avoid giving a bias to the questions influenced by your own assumptions, or the CEOs personal views. Then create questions - seek expert help with writing the questions - its important to get this right. Questions that seem clear to you might be confusing to people far removed from the project. Its crucial to frame the questions objectively and clearly so that they can be quickly and clearly understood by the reader. Clear questions also maximise response rates. Confusion and lack of relevance in questionnaires are big reasons for people not responding. Effective questionnaires must be easily and quickly understood, so test your questions on someone who knows nothing about the situation, even some young teenagers (arguably the most difficult audience of all), to check that your intended meaning is properly and quickly understood. Devise a scoring method and design this into the questionnaire format. Analysis of results is very difficult and time-consuming if you fail to consider this properly. Ideally you must be able to convert answers into numerical data to make analysis quick and reliable, especially if your survey is large. If in doubt seek help from a spreadsheet expert. Finance departments in organizations usually contain such people, who are often delighted to help with survey projects because they are interesting and connected with the customers andor staff side of the organization. Spreadsheets enable all sorts of clever analysis if you know how to do it, and it helps greatly for good analytical functionality and structure to be built into the design of the spreadsheet from the beginning. Write a suitably appealing supporting explanation of the surveys purpose. Also take care with the questionnaire instructions, and also give some details about the follow-up process. People are more likely to respond if they can see and understand a meaningful purpose and follow-up for the survey. Achieving a good response to a survey is always challenging, so the better your supporting explanation then the better your response rate will be. A survey also helps towards positive staffcustomer relations - it shows you are interested in their views, so make the most of the opportunity to communicate and explain. Consider and decide about publishing the survey analysis (or a summary), and how best to convey results and follow-up actions to the respondents and other interested parties. This is especially important with surveys of employees. For certain types of market research or attitudinal surveys consider also the PR (Public Relations - publicity) value and opportunities arising from your survey. Subject to rules of privacy and agreement with your respondents, a survey commonly makes excellent press editorial and publicity. Test the survey and method(s) with a small sample of people, preferably representative of the actual target group. Check that the scoring and analysis can be done. This is especially important if the survey is large, expensive, andor crucial to the organizations strategy and decision-making. The need for testing is one very good reason for planning surveys sufficiently in advance of the deadline for getting the results. If you test the survey, obviously refine the questions and structure and survey methods appropriately. Run the survey. Monitor its operation. Dont wait until the end to discover a problem that you could have fixed at the start. If you use an agency check their progress soon after they start, and again at suitable intervals, depending on the size of the exercise. Again dont wait until the end to discover there was a problem that should have been fixed at the start. Chase up the replies using telephone follow-up where necessary. This is another reason for monitoring progress: commonly response levels fail to be as high as planned, in which case the earlier you are able to add some extra impetus the better. Analyse the results and implement follow-up actions as appropriate, which if appropriate must involve giving agreed feedback of results and outcomes to respondents. If you are struggling with the analysis because the format was badly designed, its still not too late to call in some help from a spreadsheet expert, rather than struggling on and making a mess. If the data is there in one form or another, a good spreadsheet person can often achieve a minor miracle and save the project, or simply save you several days work. Write up the report fairly and objectively, and circulate it as agreed, especially if it throws up a few nasty surprises, which are actually the most valuable survey results of all. Ensure all specific complaints and matters arising from individual customers are followed up reliably and satisfactorily. Review the survey project overall and incorporate lessons and improvements next time. Tip - a good way to understand how to structure questionnaires and write survey questions is to see how other organizations do it. Look at the various survey materials which you receive yourself - through your letter-box, in new products that you buy, at airports and stations, in magazines - they are everywhere once you look for them. See also the notes on designing and managing an employee motivation survey. Essentially this focuses on understanding staff motivational attitudes, but the guidelines also include useful techniques and rules for surveys and questionnaires in general. The training needs analysis methods are also useful for understanding and designing surveys, and the TNA spreadsheet tools can easily be adapted into more general questionnaires for other purposes. Another example of a questionnaire is the Multiple Intelligences Test materials - which provide further examples of how to design survey questionnaires. The personal strengths indicator is another (very basic) example of a simple survey format, which is fine if the survey is small and does not require a lot of statistical analysis. While analysis and structure are vital in big surveys, ultimately whats most important is simply taking the trouble to ask for peoples views about important issues, rather than guessing or assuming, or telling people what you think they should be. Well designed and implemented surveys always produce a positive effect for the organization. People - whether employees or customers - think better of the organization for being asked and consulted, especially if they see youve listened and done your best to react positively to the feedback youve been given. running traininginformation events - a proven new businessenquiry generation method Designing and running a free (or very low token cost) training or information event is a proven and very effective way to generate new business and customers. The method can be used by anyone who needs new business and customers - by large corporations and even self-employed providers. Designing and running free traininginformationexperience events is an excellent way to generate new business at any time, and the process works especially well in tough economic conditions, when customers want to save money, and are looking for new ideas themselves. This method, with a little adaptation, is effective for all industries and all target markets: traininginformation event method 1. Design a training course or workshop or other educationalinformative event. Fill the event with useful facts, information, tips, techniques, statistics, methodology, advice, demonstrations, examples, and maybe a guest speakerexpert or two. See more content ideas below. The event you design must relate to your product or service, and appeal to your target decision-makerscustomers. The event can be anything between two hours and a couple of days long. Generally the event will need to be bigger and more content-rich according to the size of customers and seniority of decision-makers you are targeting, although there can be exceptions. The most important issue is that the event will appeal to your target audience. Adapt this concept to be more of an experience or showcase, or sampler, if you are targeting consumers with a consumerlifestyle offering. 2. Decide a suitable method of advertising your event. You could buy a list of target customers to use for direct marketing, or use an indirect method, for example display adverts or inserts, or web advertising. In the UK you do not need to register your own company or yourself under the Data Protection Act for using a customer list, unless, broadly, you rent or sell the list, or are offering financial services. More details (for the UK) about Data Protection rules are at the Information Commissioners Office. You should also adhere to your local laws or guidelines concerning unsolicited direct marketing. In the UK these are explained by the Information Commissioners Office in terms of marketing by phone, electronic or postal methods. If you are not in the UK seek equivalent advice. Generally a good approach is to buy a list from a reputable list supplier, or to use an indirect advertising method which will reach your target audience, and which is not subject to preference rules. By way of clarification, a phone call or email is direct marketing, whereas an advert or insert in a newspaper or magazine, or a card in the local newsagents window, are all indirect marketing. 3. Create an advertising mailer or other communications method for reaching your target audience. Look at the advertising tricks of the trade to help you do this. Sell the event, not your product or service . Your advertising must be very clear and concise. Make it easy for people to see immediately what you are offering, what the main benefits of the courseevent are (ideally a single strong benefit), and easy for people to respond and register to attend. The event should be free, or offered at a low price so as to reduce no-shows (people who say theyll come and then dont). My own preference is to offer the event free and minimize the no-shows by some other method. The event must be very easy to get to, ideally by public transport, and offer easy car-parking for your target audience. The event date and timings must be as easy as possible for your target audience to take time off work to attend. For example do not stage an event for finance directors at month-end or fiscal year-end. Take account of other seasonal factors which would make the timing of an event and its core benefit more attractive to customers. 4. Set up your method and system for handling responses and recording registrations of people wishing to attend. These respondents are effectively enquirers or prospects for your product or service - think about it - you will have their attention at your event for the duration of your event. Ensure therefore that your registration system enables you to gather the necessary contact details enabling you to follow-up after the event. And ensure you look after them very well before, during and after the event, because this will reflect directly on your quality as a supplier or provider. 5. Run the event. Do focus on giving: information, help, knowledge - whatever people need. Do not focus on selling. People will be attending to learn and take away knowledge, ideas, etc. If you sell hard or too much to them you will be breaking the psychological contract, and undermining your own integrity. At the end of the event seek feedback (use a suitable feedback form and evaluation method ) about the quality of the event and what could have been included additionally or improved. During the event - typically in the coffee breaks and lunch breaks (if applicable) - you will be able to discuss and get to know what subsequent business development opportunities might exist among your attendees. They will approach you with questions and potential workcontracts if you seem to know your area well and you extend a professional and reliable image. It is appropriate at the event to seek peoples permission to follow-up. If you fail to seek permission and then follow-up anyway this will upset some people. Follow up the event with phone calls or appointments as appropriate. 7. Evaluate and refine. Analyse the outcomes. Refine your methods and plan your next event. content ideas for a traininginformation event Traininginformation events can be used in the marketing of any sort of business. Here are some simple ideas for content to include in a traininginformation event used for business generation: tips tricks of the trade methods demonstrations health and safety aspects technology updates legallawlegislation briefings guest expert speakers how to sessions sampler experiences showcase of suppliersproductsservices activities and games (must be relevant and enjoyable - not all areas are amenable to this) workshop sessions hands-on making and doing and trying, etc The extent to which you sell your own productsservices at a traininginformative event depends on the situation. The more you try to sell at an traininginformation event, then the more you will detract from and undermine the event, and your reputation as an objective fair helpful provider, so be careful in ways that you might choose to sell at such events. As a general rule, the bigger and more complexexpensive the productservice then the less you should try to sell it at the event. Your aim in this situation is to build your own credibility and to generate interest for follow-up discussions. If you are targeting consumerretail customers then you can include a stronger selling element in the event, in which case position it suitably in your event advertising material. In this situation the event is arguably closer to a party concept, as used and proven to work effectively by large businesses like Tupperware and Ann Summers, etc. Choice of venue is important. You need somewhere flexible for numbers because lots of people fail to attend events that they consider to be free and of relatively low priority. Some venues are prepared to offer special deals for first events, on the basis that if it works theyll have the chance of further bookings. Be creative and adventurous in finding potential venues. Often an unusual venue can be a significant part of the attraction to the event. Negotiate with your potential venues to achieve the best deal. Partnering with like-minded customers or suppliers can be useful in running events, and also in finding suitable venues. There are many common features between a traininginformation marketing event and a group selection recruitment event. If you are in the middle of the supply chain perhaps there is opportunity to partner with a large up-stream supplier to stage the event at their showroom or factory. Use your imagination. Imagine and maybe ask your potential customers what sort of event they would find helpful. Running an event is a wonderful way to involve staff. Involvement motivates everyone who takes part, and lightens your own load. If you are self-employed and want to design and run an event, and dont want to do it alone, then partner with an associate or a supplier. A successful traininginformation event which generates new customers and business tends to be promoted and designed so that it: appeals strongly to your target customers, because it offers very desirable and helpful informationexperienceopportunitiestraining to attendees, and which links naturally to the products and services you seek to sell afterwards . If you are really successful in designing and promoting and running effective events you can find that the event itself can become a chargeable product for your business, or in some cases actually becomes the main part of your business. In the modern age, successful selling increasingly requires the supplier to give (knowledge, information, experiences, etc) before selling anything. This type of traininginformation event method fits very neatly with the modern way of working cooperatively and collaboratively. nudge theory - why people think and decide the way they do, and ways to influence this business networking - methods and tips the psychological contract - helpful philosophical and ethical foundations cold calling - how to transform a complete pain in the backside into thrilling and joyful success sostacreg - PR Smiths business marketing planning system business planning - which includes free strategic planning templates, samples and examples sales and selling - which contains lots of help for developing selling propositions and sales strategies ethics in business - karma actually works. be good, and your business will be good too love and spirituality in business - genuine empathy and compassion are extremely powerful forces authorshipreferencingThomas Bulkowski8217s successful investment activities allowed him to retire at age 36. He is an internationally known author and trader with 30 years of stock market experience and widely regarded as a leading expert on chart patterns. Han kan nås på Støtte denne siden Ved å klikke på linkene (nedenfor) tar du deg til Amazon. Hvis du kjøper noe, betaler de for henvisningen. Bulkowskis Books Book Corrections Below, if you click on a book picture, it will take you to Amazon for browsing and buying. Anything purchased at Amazon through this website (by clicking on a book link) helps support this site. Which Book Should I Buy I am often asked what is the difference between my books, and which one should I buy first Heres the answer. Fokus: Viser hvordan lagrene vanligvis oppfører seg etter at et diagrammønster vises. My book, Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns is to human anatomy as Chart Patterns: After the Buy is to human behavior. Chart Patterns: After the Buy shows how a stock acts after a chart pattern appears, so we can use that knowledge before buying to boost the odds of trading success. It covers chart patterns, but from a different perspective than all of my other books. Read an excerpt on double bottoms from the book (pdf: 1.58 mb). This book is meant as a reference. Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts Focus: Candlesticks and their performance. Denne boken er den endelige boken som dekker 103 lysestake mønstre. This is one of the few candlestick books that tests each candle pattern and reports on that performance in a clear and concise manner. Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns. Fokus: Internals of chart patterns. This is a definitive (and popular) reference book on chart patterns, reviewing 53 chart and 10 event patterns packed with performance information, identification guidelines, failure rates, breakout statistics, size and height stats, volume stats, trading tactics, and more. Det toppet på 5 i Australia på Amazon. Fundamental Analysis and Position Trading: Evolution of a Trader Focus: Value investing. En primer om verdiinvestering (PE og PSR-forhold, bokført verdi, kontantstrøm, utbytte og så videre) og legge til markedet timing til en buy-and-hold-strategi ved hjelp av posisjonshandel. I test each of the fundamentals to see how they perform. The book tells what to look for when selecting stocks to double your money and to find 10-baggers (stocks that rise by 10 times the investment). Getting Started in Chart Patterns Focus: Chart pattern information and trading the stock market for beginners. This book is a popular, low cost choice for both the novice and expert trader wishing to tune-up the basics. Written as a narrative (not a reference book), it discusses chart patterns and includes details on many of my trades, so you can get a feel for how I use chart and event patterns. This book is more advanced than the Visual Guide to Chart Patterns described below. Swing and Day Trading: Evolusjon av en Trader. Focus: Swing and day trading. Boken forklarer hvordan du bruker diagrammønstre til å svinge og dagshandelen, inkludert store reverseringstider for daghandlere, pluss åpningsbrønnen og åpningsgapoppsettene. This book zeros in on the shorter time scales. It also includes a chapter on horror stories, which is an interesting read all by itself. I interview traders and discuss their botched trades. Trading Basics: Evolution of a Trader . Focus: Information youll need when trading or investing in the stock market. This book covers subjects like how much money youll need for tradinginvesting, position sizing, scaling in and out of positions, leverage, dollar cost averaging, portfolio composition, how long to hold a stock, with entire chapters dedicated to stop placement, and support amp resistance. It has a chapter on 45 tips every trader should know. This book tests each idea to see how well it performs and provides an in-depth look at what you need to invest and trade stocks. Trading Classic Chart Patterns. Focus: a scoring system for chart patterns. The book introduces a scoring system to help you select the most popular chart patterns that lead to big gains. Visual Guide to Chart Patterns Focus: A beginners guide to chart patterns This book is an entry level guide to chart patterns, taking you from how to recognize them, what are minor highs and lows, constructing trendlines (Part I), and into the many varieties of chart patterns (part II), ending with buy setups (part III) and sell signals (part IV). This narrative book has lots of color charts and also includes quizzes, which are difficult but fun to take. One Testimonial Heres a testimonial thats worth reading not for what he says about my books (which is nice) but about his success trading the markets. Dear Mr. Bulkowski, Im a 22-year old college student and an options trader. For the last year and four months, before June, I virtually traded options at real time, turning one hundred thousand into five million. Then, at the beginning of the summer, I opened my first real money account, and have made a little less than 1,200 on my account, never having more than 30 of my entire account invested at one time, never having more than 15 in one stock (now no more than 10, eventually Ill get it down to having no more than 5). I got started in charts with Getting Started in Chart Patterns . I followed that book with Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns . and followed that with Trading Classic Chart Patterns . with the recommendations listed on Dan Zangers site. I loved those books so much that I bought Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts . since Im a fan of charts. I was amazed at how much I had already figured out. You put names to what I was just observing and statistics that made me even more profitable. I keep both your encyclopedias next to my computer while I go over my stocks ever night, and I see a break out. My parents are mad at you because now they cant claim me on their taxes this year. Just kidding, I bought my dad the boat he always wanted because they matched my account which gave me a few extra dollars to play with. I hope your trading is doing well and your doing well. Thank You So Much. Your Books Are Awesome. Chart Patterns: After the Buy I looked at thousands of chart patterns to discover how they behaved after placing a trade. Then I used that knowledge to help predict which chart patterns would outperform. The book covers the most popular chart patterns but also other seldom-discussed patterns, too. View a chapter excerpt on double bottoms (pdf: 1.58 mb) by clicking the link, courtesy of John Wiley amp Sons. Chart Patterns: After the Buy Table of Contents Heres what Amazon has to say. Chart Patterns: After the Buy goes beyond simple chart pattern identification to show what comes next. Author and stock trader Thomas Bulkowski is one of the industrys most respected authorities in technical analysis for this book, he examined over 43,000 chart patterns to discover what happens after you buy the stock. His findings are detailed here, to help you select better buy signals, avoid disaster, and make more money. Bulkowski analyzed thousands of trades to identify common paths a stock takes after the breakout from a chart pattern. By combining those paths, he discovered the typical routes a stock takes, which he calls configurations. Match your chart to one of those configurations and you will know, before you buy . how your trade will likely perform. Now you can avoid potentially disastrous trades to focus on the big winners. Each chapter illustrates the behavior of a specific pattern. Identification guidelines help even beginners recognize common patterns, and expert analysis sheds light on the period of the stocks behavior that actually affects your investment. Youll discover ideal buy and sell setups, how to set price targets, and more, with almost 370 charts and illustrations to guide you each step of the way. Coverage includes the most common and popular patterns, but also the lesser-known ones like bad earnings surprises, price mirrors, price mountains, and straight-line runs. Whether youre new to chart patterns or an experienced professional, this book provides the insight you need to select better trades. Identify chart patterns Select better buy signals Predict future behavior Learn the best stop locations Knowing the pattern is one thing, but knowing how often a stop will trigger and how often you can expect a stock to reach its target price is another matter entirely-and it impacts your trade performance immensely. Chart Patterns: After the Buy is the essential reference guide to using chart patterns effectively throughout the entire life of the trade. Getting Started in Chart Patterns, Second Edition Chart pattern analysis is not only one of the most important investing tools, but also one of the most popular. Filled with expert insights and practical advice from one of the best in the business, Getting Started in Chart Patterns, Second Edition helps new and seasoned traders alike profit by tracking and identifying specific chart patterns. Substantially revised and expanded, this new edition of the popular guide now includes additional charts for ETFs and mutual funds. It introduces more than 40 key chart formations, as well as trading tactics that can be used in conjunction with them. It supplies actual trades (with dollar amounts), along with author Thomas Bulkowskis frank discussion of how trading behavior can affect the bottom line. Interwoven throughout the technical presentations are fascinating anecdotes drawn from the authors quarter-century as a professional trader that vividly demonstrate how one of the best in the business leverages the power of chart patterns. Getting Started in Chart Patterns, Second Edition Table of Contents Preface to First and Second Editions Acknowledgments Testimonial I started out in late 2003 with 123,000 in our multiple IRA accounts. My results, focusing exclusively on the Precious Mining Junior Exploration Companies, really took off AFTER I read your Getting Started in Chart Patterns book. By March 2006, our IRA accounts had exceeded 1,000,000. Your explanations of Support amp Resistance Fibonacci retracements and High, Tight Flag formations really paid off -- email from Rich K. of California Endorsements (from the book cover): When it comes to chart reading, Thomas Bulkowski can be categorized as a sui generis (constituting a class alone). Combining objective analysis with a fictional element has resulted in a highly entertaining read, one that any trader will benefit from. Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan, Editor of Technical Analysis of Stocks amp Commodities magazine. Nobody explains the nuts and bolts of how - exactly - to use chart patterns to make real money in trading like Tom Bulkowski. I always do better in my own trading after reading a Bulkowski book. This is the practical, down-to-earth guidance you have been looking for in books on technical analysis. Bulkowski doesnt give you platitudes - he gives you live examples. Even better, he admits that patterns dont always deliver what we expect and he quantifies both success and failure rates for the top moneymaking patterns. Nobody writes about chart work better than Bulkowski. - Barbara Rockefeller, independent trader and advisor (rts-forex), author of Technical Analysis for Dummies. In Getting Started in Chart Patterns, Bulkowski offer easy-to-apply advice for looking at charts and making them work more effectively for you in your trading. It is his passion it probably also will become yours after reading this book. A must for budding technicians - Gail Osten, Executive Editor of Stocks, Futures amp Options (SFO) magazine. Trading Basics: Evolution of a Trader The three books in the Evolution of a Trader series were written for people unfamiliar with the inner workings of the stock market, but will curl the toes of professionals, too. Research is used to prove the ideas discussed, but is presented in an easy to understand and light-hearted manner. You will find the books to be as entertaining as they are informative and packed with moneymaking tips and ideas. Use the ideas presented here to hone your trading style and improve your success. Whether you are a novice who has never purchased a stock but wants to, or a professional money manager who trades daily, these books are a necessary addition to any market enthusiasts bookshelf. Trading Basics The first book in the Evolution of a Trader series begins with the basics, creating a solid foundation of terms and techniques. Although you may understand market basics, you will learn from this book. How do I know Take this quiz. If you have to guess at the answers, then you need to buy this book. If you get some of them wrong, then imagine what you are missing. Answers are at the end of the quiz. From Chapter 2, Money Management 1. True or false: Trading a constant position size can have disastrous results. 2. True or false: A market order to cancel a buy can be denied if it is within two minutes of the Nasdaqs open. 3. True or false: Dollar cost averaging underperforms. From Chapter 3: Do Stops Work 1. True or false: Fibonacci retracements offer no advantage over any other number as a turning point. 2. True or false: A chandelier stop hangs off the high price. 3. True or false: Stops cut profit more than they limit risk. From Chapter 4: Support and Resistance 1. True or false: Peaks with below average volume show more resistance. 2. True or false: Support gets stronger over time. 3. True or false: The middle of a tall candle is no more likely to show support or resistance than any other part. From Chapter 5: 45 Tips Every Trader Should Know 1. True or false: Fibonacci extensions are no more accurate than any other tool for determining where price might reverse. 2a. True or false: Only bullish divergence (in the RSI indicator) works and only in a bull market. 2b. True or false: Bullish divergence (in the RSI indicator) fails to beat the market more often than it works. 3. True or false: Price drops faster than it rises. From Chapter 6: Finding and Fixing What Is Wrong 1. True or false: The industry trend is more important than the market trend. 2. True or false: Holding a trade too long is worse than selling too early. 3. True or false: Sell in May and go away. The answer to every statement is true. Trading Basics Table of Contents Chapter 1: How to Retire at 36 Chapter 2: Money Management Trading: How Much Money, Honey Order Types: Read The Fine Print Position Sizing: My Story Position Sizing by Market Condition: Bull or Bear How Many Stocks to Hold A Better Way Portfolio Composition Hold Time: How Long is Long Enough Hold Time: My Trades The Money Management Matrix Should You Scale Into Positions Averaging Down: Throwing Away Money or Smart Choice Scaling Out of Positions: A Profitable Mistake Dollar-Cost-Averaging: Good or Bad Using Leverage: An Expensive Lesson Leverage Guidelines Checklist Chapter 3: Do Stops Work What Is Hold Time Loss Mental Stop: For Professionals Only Minor High or Low Stop: A Good Choice Squaring Off Round Numbers Chart Pattern Stop: Too Costly Stopped by a Moving Average The Truth about Trendlines Fundamental Analysis and Position Trading: Evolution of a Trader The three books in the Evolution of a Trader series were written for people unfamiliar with t he inner workings of the stock market, but will curl the toes of professionals, too. Research is used to prove the ideas discussed, but is presented in an easy to understand and light-hearted manner. You will find the books to be as entertaining as they are informative and packed with moneymaking tips and ideas. Use the ideas presented here to hone your trading style and improve your success. Whether you are a novice who has never purchased a stock but wants to, or a professional money manager who trades daily, these books are a necessary addition to any market enthusiasts bookshelf. Fundamental Analysis This book explains and describes the test results of various fundamental factors such as book value, price-to-earnings ratio, and so on, to see how important they are to stock selection and performance. The Fundamental Analysis Summary chapter provides tables of fundamental factors based on hold times of one, three, and five years that shows which factor is most important to use for those anticipated hold times. The tables provide a handy reference for buy-and-hold investors or for other trading styles that wish to own a core portfolio of stocks based on fundamental analysis. Chapters such as How to Double Your Money, Finding 10-Baggers, and Trading 10-Baggers put the fundamentals to work. The chapter titled Selling Buy-and-Hold helps solve the problem of when to sell long-term holdings. Position Trading The second part of the book explores position trading. It introduces market timing to help remove the risk of buying and holding a stock for years. Have you heard the phrase, Trade with the trend How often does a stock follow the market higher or lower The section titled, What is Market Influence on Stocks provides the answer. This part of the book looks at how chart patterns can help with position trading. It discloses the 10 most important factors that make chart patterns work and then blends them into a scoring system. That system can help you become a more profitable position trader when using chart patterns. Six actual trades are discussed to show how position trading works and when it does not. Consider them as roadmaps that warn when the road is bumpy and when the market police are patrolling. Fundamental Analysis and Position Trading Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction to Buy and Hold What Is Buy and Hold Swing and Day Trading: Evolution of a Trader The three books in the Evolution of a Trader series were written for people unfamiliar with the inner workings of the stock market, but will curl the toes of professionals, too. Research is used to prove the ideas discussed, but is presented in an easy to understand and light-hearted manner. You will find the books to be as entertaining as they are informative and packed with moneymaking tips and ideas. Use the ideas presented here to hone your trading style and improve your success. Whether you are a novice who has never purchased a stock but wants to, or a professional money manager who trades daily, these books are a necessary addition to any market enthusiasts bookshelf. Swing Trading The last book of the three covers Swing and Day Trading: Evolution of a Trader . The first part of the book highlights swing trading techniques, explains how to use chart patterns to swing trade, swing selling, event patterns (common stock offerings, trading Dutch auction tender offers, earnings releases, rating changes, and so on) and other trading setups. It tears apart a new tool called the chart pattern indicator. The indicator is not a timing tool, but a sentiment indicator that is great at calling major market turns. Day Trading Day trading reviews the basics including home office setup, cost of day trading, day trading chart patterns, and the opening range breakout. It discusses research into the major reversal times each day and what time of the day is most likely to set the days high and low-valuable information to a day trader. An entire chapter discusses the opening gap setup and why fading the gap is the best way to trade it. Another chapter discusses the opening range breakout setup and questions whether it works. Ten horror stories from actual traders complete the series. They have been included to give you lasting nightmares. Swing and Day Trading Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction to Swing Trading Visual Guide to Chart Patterns Visual Guide to Chart Patterns is a concise and accessible visual guide to identifying, understanding, and using chart patterns to predict the direction and extent of price moves. Packed with visual learning enhancements and exercises, this innovative book helps savvy investors and professionals alike master the essential skills of chart pattern recognition. Follow along as chart pattern expert Thomas Bulkowski teaches you to recognize important peaks and valleys that form patterns-footprints of the smart money. Nearly 200 color charts assist in providing a step-by-step approach to finding those footprints, interpreting them, and following them. Popular patterns such as head-and-shoulders, double tops and bottoms, triangles, gaps, flags, and pennants are just a few of the many patterns explored throughout the book. For the sophisticated trader or investor, the book also provides statistical research to support the claims of pattern behavior, trading signals, and setups, in an easy to understand way. Discusses chart pattern identification guidelines, psychology, variations, failures, and buy and sell signals Covers the most popular and common chart patterns as well as lesser-known ones like throwbacks, pullbacks, and busted patterns Incorporates quizzes, step-by-step exercises, enhanced graphics and video tutorials (e-book only) to immerse the reader in the world of chart patterns Designed for use by investors and traders, from beginners to experts looking for a practical, easy-to-use guide, comprehensive reference, Bloomberg Visual Guide to Chart Patterns provides a sophisticated introduction to the world of chart patterns. The following is a detailed table of contents that lists major topics covered in the book. This was taken from my manuscript and not from the published text. Some of the content may be different in the published version. Visual Guide to Chart Patterns Table of Contents Part 1: The Basics Chapter 1: Pattern Recognition Made Easy Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts Before I get to the slick marketing message, let me give you a few examples of how I use the information in my Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts book. Imagine that price has been trending upward for 5 bars and you see a bearish engulfing candle pattern. Looking up the candle in the book, you read that it acts as a bearish reversal 79 of the time (page 308), and that 74 of the time (page 312) price reaches its price target (the height of the candle projected downward). If you then see price begin to falter, like it is thinking of reversing, you can exit the trade ahead of everyone else. Before I make a trade, I look at the probability of the candle acting as a reversal or continuation, and how far price can be expected to move once I am in the trade (based on the candle height). That information is in my book, and it is well worth the cost of it. Let me give you another example. For Apple stock (AAPL) on November 13, 2007, I found an above the stomach candle. The book says (page 89) that the candle acts as a bullish reversal 66 of the time. The upward target is 183.39 with a 61 probability of reaching 191.33 (page 93). A downward target is 139.84 with a 53 probability of reaching 130.28. The current close is 169.96. After a bumpy start, the stock moved up in a straight-line run to 187.70 on November 30, 2007 before pausing for a few days. That is the kind of information you can get from my book, and that is how I put it to good use. It gives me an edge over other traders that do not have such information. In short, it helps me make money. Here is the slick marketing message: Candlestick patterns are footprints of the smart money and deciphering those footprints properly can bring traders and investors riches. Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts takes an in-depth look at 103 candlesticks, from identification guidelines, to statistical analysis of their behavior, to detailed trading tactics. Never before has a book combined a comprehensive list of candlesticks with a statistical review of their performance. until now. This easy to read and use reference book follows the same format as the best-selling Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns. In each chapter of Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts youll find: Behavior and Rank shows how each candle is theoretically supposed to work and how it actually does, with rankings against other candlesticks plus the psychology behind the pattern. Identification Guidelines describe what to look for. Statistics include the following tables: general statistics, height statistics, volume stats, reversal rates, and performance indicators. Trading Tactics discuss strategies to increase profits and minimize risk Sample Trade walks you through a hypothetical or actual trade using real data. For Best Performance is a quick reference table of selection tips to boost performance Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts also includes chapters covering important findings, a statistics summary, glossarymethodology, and a visual index to make candlestick identification easy. Endorsements (from the book cover): Great research, great organization, and a wealth of information. Not only does Tom identify the best formations, he shows the practical way to trade each one. And, he puts the best results right in front, rather than playing hide-and-seek with the reader. You dont need to be a chartist to get value from this book. I highly recommend it. -- Perry Kaufman, author of New Trading Systems and Methods, Fourth Edition Man cannot live on bread alone, and according to Tom Bulkowskis research, one cannot trade by candlesticks alone. Toms intensive statistical work seeks out the truth in the frequency and reliability of trading with candlestick charts. His exhaustive and thorough research will give the reader an eye opener to help guide them in their trading decisions. This is a must-read edition of a high-caliber piece of trading literature for every trader who uses candlecharts. -- John Person, author of Candlestick and Pivot Point Trading Triggers and President of Nationalfutures. When I wrote the Third Edition of Candlestick Charting Explained . I believed I had thoroughly covered every aspect of this respectable analysis technique. Tom has written a solid reference that can easily be used in coordination with other books in this exciting field. The Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts is a reference that every technical analyst will want to own. -- Gregory L. Morris, Senior Portfolio Manager, PMFM, Inc, and author of Candlestick charting explained, third edition and The Complete Guide to Market Breadth Indicators. Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Second Edition In this revised and expanded second edition of the bestselling Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns . Thomas Bulkowski updates the classic with new performance statistics for both bull and bear markets and 23 new patterns, including a second section devoted to ten event patterns. Bulkowski forteller deg hvordan du handler de viktige hendelsene - som kvartalsvise inntjeningsmeldinger, detaljhandel, lageroppgraderinger og nedgraderinger - som former dagens handel og bruker statistikk for å sikkerhetskopiere sin tilnærming. Denne omfattende nye utgaven er en må-ha referanse hvis du er en teknisk investor eller handelsmann. From the Inside Flap The Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns . recognized as the premier reference on chart pattern analysis, extends its lead with this Second Edition. This definitive text includes new bull and bear market statistics, performance sorted by volume shape and trend, more than a dozen additional chart patterns, and a new section covering ten event patterns. Significant events-such as earnings announcements, stock upgrades and downgrades-shape todays trading, and Bulkowski gives readers the best information on what happens after those events occur. He also shows you how to trade them and uses reliable statistics to back it all up. In each chapter of Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns . Second Edition youll learn the following about each pattern: Results Snapshot - A statistical summary of pattern behavior, including its performance rank, break even failure rate, average rise or decline-all separated by breakout direction and market type (bull or bear) Tour - A broad introduction to the pattern Identification Guidelines - Characteristics to look for Focus on Failures - What failed patterns look like, why they failed, and how to avoid them Statistics - The numbers and what they tell you, separated into bullbear markets and breakout direction, including average rise or decline, failure rates, volume shapes, performance by size, and busted pattern performance Trading Tactics - Strategies to increase profits and minimize risk Sample Trade - Puts it all together, showing the chart pattern in action, with hypothetical or actual trades using real data For Best Performance - A table of selection tips to boost performance Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns . Second Edition also includes summary tables ranking chart - and event-pattern performance for easy reference a glossary a chapter on methodology explaining what each statistical table entry means and how it was calculated and a visual index to make chart pattern identification a snap. The result is todays most comprehensive and valuable technical analysis reference-one that will save you critical time in identifying chart patterns and increase your likelihood of buying near the price bottom and selling near the top. This book was named one of the years top investment books in 2003 by Stock Traders Almanac 2003 (page 98). The Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns has been cited in Candlesticks, Fibonacci, and Chart Pattern Trading Tools by Robert Fischer and Jens Fischer ( pages 88-89, 107), Technical Analysis for Dummies by Barbara Rockefeller ( pages 154 - 165), Advanced Options Pricing Models, by Jeffrey Katz and Donna McCormick (page 382) and many other titles (Amazon has the full list). The Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns is available in Orthodox Chinese and German, Russian, French and Simplified Chinese translations are pending. Amazon has a 8220search inside the book8221 where you can look at the table of contents, view an excerpt, and do a search. Endorsements (from the book cover): The most complete reference to chart patterns available. Det går hvor ingen har gått før. Bulkowski gir harde data om hvor gode og dårlige mønstrene er. En må-les for alle som noensinne har sett på et diagram og lurte på hva som skjedde. -- Larry Williams, trader and author of Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading. Chart patterns are the basics behind most trading methods, and this book is a great achievement in a highly useful format. Bulkowski has taken an intelligent and thoughtful approach to producing a practical guide to understanding and trading chart formations. -- Perry Kaufman, author of New Trading Systems and Methods, Fourth Edition and A Short Course in Technical Trading. Praise for the first edition Not since Edwards and Magee has someone put together so comprehensive an assemblage of market behavior expressed graphically. No chartist should be without this book. -- John Sweeney, Interim Editor Technical Analysis of Stocks amp Commodities. Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns . is a valuable contribution to the existing literature on charting and should be considered an indispensable reference by any serious chart trader. -- Edward D. Dobson, President, Traders Press, Inc. Meticulously researched, complete, and insightful, the Encyclopedia has earned a permanent place on my trading desk as a highly valued resource. -- Thomas A. Bierovic, Manager, Strategy Testing amp Development, Omega Research, Inc. Trading Classic Chart Patterns Trading Classic Chart Patterns is a combination narrative and reference book (mostly reference). This book was named 8220The best investment book of the year8221 by Stock Traders Almanac 2003 (see page 94 of that book). Trading Classic Chart Patterns has been cited in Candlesticks, Fibonacci, and Chart Pattern Trading Tools by Robert Fischer and Jens Fischer (Wiley 2003, pages 88-89). Translations into Simplified Chinese and German are pending. In his follow-up to the well-received Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, Thomas Bulkowski gives traders a practical game plan to capitalize on established chart patterns. Skrevet for nybegynner investor, men med teknikker for profesjonelle, inkluderer Trading Classic Chart Patterns brukervennlige ytelsestabeller, levende casestudier og et scoring system som gjør trading chart mønstre enkle. Denne omfattende veiledningen gir dyktige investorer enkle løsninger på lønnsomt trading chart mønstre. Trading Classic Chart Patterns fungerer også som en praktisk referanseveiledning for favoritt diagrammønstre, inkludert utvidet topper, hode og skuldre, rektangler, trekanter og dobbelt og trippelbunn. Fyllt med mange teknikker, strategier og innsikt passer Trading Classic Chart Patterns perfekt til ethvert mønstermarkeds arsenal. From the Inside Flap From the author of the Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns comes his latest work, Trading Classic Chart Patterns, a groundbreaking primer on how to trade the most popular stock patterns. Written for the novice investor but containing techniques for the seasoned professional, this comprehensive guide includes easy-to-use performance tables supported by statistical research. By using a simple scoring system, youll learn how to predict the performance of a chart pattern almost by looking at it. If youre new to chart patterns, technical analysis, or to stock market investing itself, the Getting Started section provides new ideas on trendlines, support and resistance, placing stops, and avoiding common investment mistakes. As your trading knowledge and experience increase, the Trading Classic Chart Patterns section will serve as a handy reference guide for your favorite chart patterns, including broadening tops, head-and-shoulders, rectangles, triangles, and triple tops and bottoms. Youll quickly learn about the Adam-and-Eve combinations of double tops and bottoms, and how to select the best performers while avoiding the losers. How to use the price trend leading to a chart pattern as a gauge of future performance Why breakout gaps often improve performance-but by less than you think How tall formations perform substantially better than short ones What a partial decline is and how to buy in early for a larger profit Whether high breakout volume really improves performance How to identify horizontal consolidation regions that may stop prices dead in their tracks A new tool, called the horizon failure rate, to assess performance over time The scoring system makes trading chart patterns simple. Use the performance tables to score your stock pattern, then add up the scores. If they total above zero, the stock is an investment candidate if they are below zero, youll know to avoid that particular stock. Its that easy Trading Classic Chart Patterns is a traders reference thats destined to become a classic. This book is an invaluable resource that provides the obvious answer-Yes-for every investor who has wondered if trading chart patterns can be profitable. Endorsements (from the book cover): No one -- not even the pioneers of technical analysis like Dow, Schabacker, Edwards, and Magee -- has ever published such an in-depth and objective research on chart patterns as Thomas Bulkowski has in his Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns and his new book, Trading Classic Chart Patterns. Bulkowski sees farther, not only because he stands on the shoulders of those giants, but also because he has the creativity necessary to develop new methods of quantifying the performance of chart patterns and the tenacity required to carry out the laborious research. Highly recommended -- Thomas A. Bierovic, author Playing for Keeps in Stocks amp Futures: Three Top Trading Strategies That Consistently Beat the Markets Book Corrections The publisher corrects the books as new printings occur (in theory). If you find a mistake, then contact me, Tom Bulkowski. Chart Patterns: After the Buy The following figures have incorrect figure references. For example, Figure 1.18 refers to figures in chapter 2 when it should refer to chapter 1. Heres a list of the figures that need correction: 1.18, 2.18, 3.20, 4.23, 5.18, 6.15, 8.14, 9.20, 10.15, 15.21, 17.10, 18.10, 22.24, 23.26, 24.21 Encyclopedia of Candlestick Charts Page 11: Change chart patterns to candlesticks in the first paragraph, second sentence: The percentage of chart patterns with breakouts within a third of the designated. should read, The percentage of candlesticks with breakouts within a third of the designated. Fix the last two paragraphs by swapping the phrases, overhead resistance with underlying support. Find: Gaps in an uptrend (rising window): Price finds overhead resistance and replace with: Gaps in an uptrend (rising window): Price finds underlying support In the last paragraph, find, Gaps in a downtrend (falling window): Price finds underlying support and replace with, Gaps in a downtrend (falling window): Price finds overhead resistance Page 182, two lines below Behavior and Rank heading: Change 60 of th time to Change 60 of the time Page 407: change the Figure 46.2 caption from bearish to bullish harami cross. Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns, 2nd Edition Page 28: Short-term bearish reversal should be Short-term bullish continuation Page 29: Short-term bearish continuation should be Short-term bearish reversal Page 111: Table 6.8 under Trade the trend lines. In the first sentence, change broad to tall so it should read If the formation is especially tall. Page 111: Find Trade the trend lines stops. highlighted near the bottom of the page. Change wide, to tall, so it should read If the formation is especially tall. Page 138: Second line at the top. Change 30 and 60 to 30 degrees and 60 degrees. It should read, The slope of the price trend line should rise from about 30 degrees at the start to 60 degrees or higher. Page 143, under Width. Replace the word tall with wide as in Narrow patterns perform better than wide ones in a bull market. Page 196. Change Surprising Findings to Throwbacks hurt performance and so do breakout day gaps. Page 197. Change Surprising Findings to Pullbacks hurt performance and so do breakout day gaps. Page 235. Third paragraph from the top, find only 15 times in this study and change it to 18 times. Change 383 in the following sentence to 371. Page 248, Table 15.1, Breakout volume. Change Heavy to Light as in Light breakout volume is best. Page 248, bottom of page, Breakout volume. Change the sentence to read, Look for light breakout volume but do not discard an EADB just because the breakout occurs on above-average volume. Two changes were made to the sentence, the words heavy to light and below to above. Page 253, in Average formation length, change a month to 2 months. Page 268, in Formation end to breakout. Change Measured from the left bottom to Measured from the right bottom Page 347, Text for the example says the winloss ratio is 4.75 to 1 but its actually less because of the entry price (the bottom of the flag). That lowers the profit potential and raises the risk, so the ratio is narrower. If you forget about the ratio, the method of calculating a price target (the measure rule) is correct. Page 369, under Percentage closed. Change as do downward breakouts in a bear market to bull market. Page 376 to 388, even numbered pages, the header should read Head-and-Shoulders Bottoms not Heads. Page 379, line 4 down from the top. Change by signal sooner to buy signal sooner. Page 406 to 436, even numbered pages, the header should read Head-and-Shoulders not Heads. Page 515 under Reversal or continuation in the Statistics section. Change pattern on exit to pattern or exit. Page 532, third line down from the top. Change about a week shorter to about a week longer. Page 627, Table 41.1, Width. Change trend to tend as in Scallops tend to be wider. Page 668. Change 5 to 10 in the line, With a breakout price of 21.11 and a target of 19, is a 5 decline. Page 693. Swap Wide and narrow in the paragraph that begins Width. Wide patterns perform better than narrow ones. Page 731. Change higher to lower in surprising findings table as in Heavy breakout volume helps push prices LOWER. Page 756: swap 164 and 197 in Table 49.2. It should read: 197 R and 164 C Page 761, Table 49.8, measure rule. Change highest high to breakout price as in . add the difference to the breakout price or for downward breakouts. Page 902: Table 59.5 is wrong. Here is the corrected table. Page 950, page bottom: Short-term bearish continuation should be Short-term bearish reversal Page 970. Break-even failure rate rank for Rectangle Bottoms, down breakout. Rank should be 14, not 15. And change Rectangles to Rectangle. Overall Rank changes from 12 to 11 and the others move up by 1 through Island Reversals, down breakout (which has an overall rank of not 21 but 20). Page 972, about a third of the way down. Change Cup with Handdle to Cup with Handle. Getting Started in Chart Patterns Page 23, second bullet item down from the top. Should read Expect a larger price rise not decline. Page 218, Broadening Formation, Right-Angled and Ascending picture in the lower left. Ignore the arrow. Page 219, Table 9.3. Change -50 to 50. Page 219, Paragraph immediately below Table 9.3. Change downward breakouts, to upward breakouts, Trading Classic Chart Patterns Page 63, Table 3.3. Change Percentage above Breakout Price to Percentage above or below Breakout Price Page 164, Table 8.15. Third column, Adam amp Adam should be Eve amp Adam Written by and copyright copy 2005-2017 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. Alle rettigheter reservert. Ansvarsfraskrivelse: Du alene er ansvarlig for dine investeringsbeslutninger. Se PrivacyDisclaimer for mer informasjon. Books: The original laptop. Pearson January trading update January 18, 2017, 07:00. 07:00 We expect to deliver operating profit in line with guidance for 2016, despite a further unprecedented decline in Q4 2016 in our North American higher education courseware business. Our 2016 restructuring program has been delivered in full and the financial benefits are a little higher than planned. We are today announcing actions to accelerate our digital transition in higher education, to manage the print decline, and to reshape our portfolio. Our guidance for 2017 reflects continued challenges and uncertainty in the North American higher education courseware market and we no longer expect to reach our prior operating profit goal for 2018. The Board intends to recommend a final dividend of 34p for an overall 2016 dividend of 52p in line with our guidance, but as a result of the factors above we intend to rebase our dividend from 2017 onwards. 2016 results . we expect to report adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share of approximately 630m and 57p, respectively, with revenues down approximately 8 in underlying terms primarily due to weakness in North American higher education courseware. We have continued to manage discretionary cost tightly and are accruing around 55m less than originally planned for our 2016 staff incentive programme, enabling us to report within the guidance range we had previously set. Other than North American higher education courseware, our businesses have in aggregate performed in line with expectations. Online Program Management, virtual schools and professional certification all continued to grow. As expected US school courseware was impacted by a smaller market and lower participation rate, but benefited from share gains in Open Territories. North American student assessment profits rose slightly despite significant declines in revenue as we offset the impact of contract losses with cost reductions and the benefits of a higher weighting to digital services. In Core, our UK qualifications business is seeing a stabilisation in exam registrations as expected, and our Growth markets have returned to profitability. The North American higher education courseware market was much weaker than expected. Our net revenues fell 30 during the final quarter resulting in an unprecedented 18 decline for the full year. We estimate 2 of this decline was driven by lower enrolment, particularly in Community College and amongst older students 3-4 by an accelerated impact from rental in the secondary market and approximately 12 due to an inventory correction in the channel reflecting the cumulative impact of these factors in prior years. 2017 actions . Whereas we had previously anticipated a broadly stable North American higher education courseware market in 2017, we now assume that many of these downward pressures will continue. We are the market leader in US Higher Education and will use that leadership to accelerate our shift to digital and maximise the value of our stand-alone text offerings with the following actions: We are accelerating work to simplify our product technology platform and enhancing our courseware service capabilities with 50m of additional investment, which will remove barriers to faster product innovation, accelerate our product roadmap by two years and drive faster adoption of institution-wide Digital Direct Access for Pearson courseware. We are increasing our participation in the courseware rental market, by: a. reducing eBook rental prices by up to 50 across 2,000 titles making digital rental the best option for price-conscious students. b. launching our own print rental program, piloting with an initial group of 50 titles made available through Pearsons approved rental partners, ensuring Pearson is paid more often for the usage of our courseware. If successful we will scale this program rapidly. Reshaping our portfolio . we are additionally announcing the following actions to reshape our portfolio and capital structure: With the integration of Penguin Random House complete, and with greater industry-wide stability on digital terms, we intend to issue an exit notice regarding our 47 stake in Penguin Random House to our JV partner Bertelsmann in the contractual window, with a view to selling our stake or recapitalising the business and extracting a dividend. We will use proceeds from this action to maintain a strong balance sheet invest in our business and return excess capital to shareholders whilst retaining an investment grade credit rating. We will propose a final dividend of 34p for an overall 2016 dividend of 52p in line with 2015 and our guidance. For 2017 we intend to rebase our dividend to reflect portfolio changes, increased investment, and our 2017 earnings guidance. We will continue to reduce our exposure to large scale direct delivery services and focus on more scalable online, virtual, and blended services, across our portfolio. Outlook . The challenges we have faced during 2016 mean we begin 2017 with a base level of underlying profitability that is around 180m lower than we had expected in early 2016. Our preliminary guidance range is for operating profit in 2017 of 570m to 630m, driving adjusted earnings per share of 48.5p to 55.5p. This is based on our existing portfolio, a 2017 net interest charge of 74m, a tax rate of 20 and exchange rates on 31 December 2016. This guidance is based on assumptions incorporating further declines in enrolment and other pressures in the North American higher education courseware market in 2017. The top of the range implies that this is offset as the impact of the 2016 inventory correction at key channel partners partially unwinds resulting in net revenue growth in our North American higher education courseware business of approximately 1. The bottom of our guidance range assumes that inventory levels continue to fall resulting in a 7 net revenue decline. The rest of business is expected to perform broadly in line with trends seen in 2016. We are withdrawing our operating profit goal for 2018 reflecting portfolio changes and challenging and uncertain markets. Conference call . We will hold a conference call for analysts at 8.30am on Wednesday, 18 January to present our headline plans. We will provide further detail on our strategy and our key financial assumptions at our preliminary results presentation in February. Full Year results . Pearson will report its preliminary results on 24 February 2017. Pearsons chief executive John Fallon said: The education sector is going through an unprecedented period of change and volatility. We have already taken significant steps on restructuring, reducing our cost base by 375m last year. However our higher education business declined further and faster than expected in 2016. So we are taking more radical action to accelerate our shift to digital models, and to keep reshaping our business. Pearsons chairman Sidney Taurel said: We are facing difficult trading conditions in our largest business as we transition to digital, but as a Board, we are confident that the plan announced today will allow the company to navigate these conditions and build on its leading position in higher education. Details for 08:30am Analyst and Investor conference call Direct DDI (s) for Participant Connection : UK Toll Number: 44 (0) 2031394830 UK Toll-Free Number: 44 (0) 8082370030 Participant Pin Code : 22731571 Details for 10:15am Media conference call Direct DDI (s) for Participant information : UK Toll Number: 44 (0) 2031394830 UK Toll-Free Number: 44 (0) 8082370030 Participant PIN code : 42719821 Our strategy Pearson is the worlds learning company, with world-class capabilities in educational courseware and assessment, based on a strong portfolio of products and services, powered by learning technology. We believe that our strategy of combining these core capabilities with related services that enable our partners to scale online, reaching more people and ensuring better learning outcomes, will provide Pearson with a larger market opportunity, a sharper focus on the fastest-growing education markets and stronger financial returns. To focus on this opportunity we have made significant portfolio and management changes, completed a significant restructuring which will exceed its objective of 350m of cost savings in 2017, embarked on a broad-based simplification programme and continued to invest around 700m per year in our portfolio of products and services. This statement contains inside information. For more information T 44 (0)20 7010 2310 Investors: Tom Waldron Press: Brendan OGrady Forward looking statements Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this statement include forward-looking statements. In particular, all statements that express forecasts, expectations and projections with respect to future matters, including trends in results of operations, margins, growth rates, overall market trends, the impact of interest or exchange rates, the availability of financing, anticipated cost savings and synergies and the execution of Pearsons strategy, are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in future. They are based on numerous assumptions regarding Pearsons present and future business strategies and the environment in which it will operate in the future. There are a number of factors which could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including a number of factors outside Pearsons control. These include international, national and local conditions, as well as competition. They also include other risks detailed from time to time in Pearsons publicly-filed documents and you are advised to read, in particular, the risk factors set out in Pearsons latest annual report and accounts, which can be found on its website (pearsoninvestors). Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Pearson gives no undertaking to update forward-looking statements to reflect any changes in its expectations with regard thereto or any changes to events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.