http://marketingsource.com/articles/ Articles at marketingsource.com Articles Library en-us http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/how-to-apply-the-four-pa%80%99s-of-marketing.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/how-to-apply-the-four-pa%80%99s-of-marketing.html Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:20:16 -0500 marketers , but because they are excellent at their skill or provide a superior product.
Marketing Basics

For those of us that are not marketing majors, or even minors, we will briefly go over some marketing fundamentals. Much marketing know-how is common sense. It requires the seller to view the product or services from the perspective of the yet to be captured client.

Let’s bring down to the simplest form possible: supply and demand. You can have an exceptional supply of product, but if no one knows it exists there will be no demand. No demand equals no sales, and therefore business failure. To bridge the gap between supply and demand, there must be quality marketing.

This all sounds very basic and easy to grasp. The missing bit of information here is: what makes marketing quality? To adequately answer this question, we must visit the four P’s of marketing.
The Four P’s of Marketing

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion

When these four subjects are assessed and focused around the targeted customer, recognizable value is built and a positive response occurs.
Product

The product can be an actual physical product or a service. Every aspect of the product must be designed around the needs and desires of the customers. This means it must appeal to the eye, serve a distinct purpose, be safe and adequately supported after the sale.
Price

Pricing must be carefully studied. Depending upon the product, the marketer will need to consider whether seasonal pricing and promotions are adviseable. The pricing of the competition must be analyzed and a decision must be made as to whether undercutting is profitable, as well as what margins are acceptable.
Place

Another word for place is distribution. This is where you must decide the best method to deliver your product to the end user. Is it an electronic product that can be delivered via the internet? Will you give volume discounts? What are the best methods for order processing and transportation? All this must be considered.
Promotion

Once all of the other subjects have been decided and put in place it is time to spend some serious time on promotion. This is, again, where the supply without demand concept comes into play. So, what is the best method to promote your product?

You can choose from personal sales, television and radio advertising, direct mailing, and a number of other media. In reality, combining multiple methods is almost always your best bet. The one item that you will always want to include in your marketing campaign is at least one specialty promotional item . In whatever method you put your business before a potential client, back it up with a useful gift that will display your company’s contact information for years to come. Whether the item is promised upon a visit or mailed directly, this is one method of advertising that keeps on giving. Visit www.redfishmarketing.com.au to find the best specialty promotional items available.

]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/direct-mailing-with-a-twist-to-get-your-business-noticed.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/direct-mailing-with-a-twist-to-get-your-business-noticed.html Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:19:06 -0500
With most advertising methods, you have a brief window of opportunity to get your reader’s attention. Newspapers, magazine, billboards, and even websites, offer only a brief, shining moment of being before the eyes of your potential client. Then you only hope that your ad was visible long enough and adequately interested your would-be client to cause them to secure the pertinent information to contact you.
How to Break through to the Desensitized Audience

What will actually make your potential customer take the time to stop, read your sales pitch, and provide them the pertinent information with no effort on their part? The answer is simply direct mailing. What will prevent your soon to be client from discarding your direct mailing propaganda without even opening it? Include a small, yet somewhat bulky, gift as a token of appreciation for taking the time to read your pitch.

The vast majority of people that receive an envelope in the mail that obviously contains a small object, will not only open the package, but will also read the enclosed material. On the off chance that they simply disregard your sales material, they will most likely keep the small Corporate Gifts . This offers them the opportunity to refer to it later when they actually need your product or service.
What Type of Thank You Gift Should You Enclose?

There are many items that would make excellent thank you gifts and would easily enclose in a sales letter. When selecting your item, here are a few things to consider:

• Cost – Obviously, you will want to be certain that the product fits your budget.
• Size - The item must be bulky enough for the recipient to realize that the envelope contains an object, yet small enough to easily fit in the mailing envelope.
• Weight – If your item weighs too much, it may affect the mailing rates. Be sure to check out the mailing rates and qualifications when selecting your item.
• Usefulness – The more useful and desirable the Corporate Gifts is, the better chance that the recipient will keep the item and have it available when the need for your business arises.

Stop shooting blindly, hoping that you are fortunate enough to land a very small percentage of clients! Instead, carefully select your would-be clientele, set your sights and deliver an attention-grabbing effective marketing appeal that will penetrate the advertising fog that they ignore on a daily basis. Visit www.redfishmarketing.com.au to find some of the most awesome specialty items available. The professional staff will help you select the best specialty item for your business to deliver a long-lasting campaign that will secure new clients.
]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/cross-promotion-a%80-an-iron-clad-marketing-technique.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/cross-promotion-a%80-an-iron-clad-marketing-technique.html Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:18:07 -0500 promotional item First of all, what is cross promotion? Cross promotion is a marketing technique that teams two separate businesses together to reach an increased market. This could be a hair salon collaborating with a massage parlor, or a roofing contractor teaming up with a gutter company. The list of possible cross promotion teams is endless, as are the potential benefits.
Broaden Your Marketing Horizons

By teaming up with another company, you easily reach potential clients that would have otherwise not been a consideration. Let’s take the hair salon and the massage parlor as an example. We’ll say that each offers a 20 percent discount when both hair services and a massage are purchased simultaneously. When a regular salon client comes in for their appointment and finds out that they can now receive a discount on both services, they may very well decide that they want to capitalize on this bonus when they really were not in the market for a massage at all. Obviously, this will work both ways.
Reduce Your Marketing Expenses

Another benefit of cross promotion is that you can actually advertise more aggressively with less cost because the price will be shared with the other business. This means that you can include both business names and contact information in every form of advertising that you use to promote this special. This will allow you to have more advertising avenues and less out of pocket expense.
Build Credibility

By teaming up with another business, you actually establish or increase the credibility of your own business. You present yourself as an established member of the local business community. It’s like having the other business give you a stamp of approval, and that causes potential clients to trust you.
Hidden Benefits of Working with a Partner

By working with another responsible partner, you reduce your own workload. When each party does their part, there is less on each participant’s plate. If you have chosen a good partner, you will also have someone to bounce ideas off. This will inspire both of you to think outside the box. The reciprocal word of mouth from the partnering business is free advertising to boot.

Make sure that you plan your cross-promotion well enough in advance to allow yourselves enough time to adequately get the word out. The better your marketing campaign, the better your success will be. Another great tool is to give away a specialty promotional item to each customer. This is not a new idea, however if you can choose an item that will suit the needs of both companies and have it embossed with the logos and contact information of both companies you have just found a new way to save money and promote customer loyalty. If that just doesn’t seem feasible, each company will need to have their own items, but each should give out both gifts to their clients.

When it comes to creativity www.redfishmarketing.com.au has you covered. They know the specialty promotional business inside and out and can take care of your every need.

]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/conventional-advertising-versus-promotional-products.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/conventional-advertising-versus-promotional-products.html Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:40:22 -0600 Who is Your Target Market?

The first question that you must answer is “Who is your target market?” You must be as specific as possible when answering this question because every aspect of your campaign will hinge upon the answer. In order to decide who your target market is, let’s generate answers to a few questions:

• Will you be selling to businesses, individuals, or both?
• Would your product or service most likely interest males or females, or both?
• What age bracket will your typical customer fall into, and be specific?
• What financial bracket will your product appeal to?
• Will your product tailor to a particular industry, niche, or hobby group? For example, if you sell golf clubs you would not specifically target internet enthusiasts.

You want to appeal to the typical customer first, not those that are interested in your product but are a rare find in your client base. Answering these questions will give you a better understanding of what type of advertising will be most successful for your industry.
Types of Advertising Available

The types of potential advertising avenues are infinite. Those that think outside the box are generally those that are most successful. There are traditional methods and modern techniques. Each has its own value. Let’s look at some of the choices you have today.

• Newspaper and telephone book ads.
• Television and radio ads.
• Billboards and signage.
• Websites and email campaigns.
• Word of mouth.
• Specialty promotional items.

This is by no means an all inclusive list, but you get the idea. Successful businesses integrate multiple techniques and methods into their advertising campaign, and are limited by only their advertising budget.

A good business person doesn’t want to simply throw money out there and hope that it yields a decent return. This means that you must analyze which type of advertising will most likely reach your target market. That’s why it is so important to accurately assess who you are targeting and then determine which methods of advertising most appeal to that group.
Pros and Cons of Different Forms of Advertising

Each method has its good and bad points. The good is obviously that it reaches and attracts a specific target market. Tangible ads, like most specialty items, newspaper and phone book ads, also offer the ability to reference the contact information repeatedly. Word of mouth has always been regarded as the best advertising method because it carries credibility with it.

On the flip side, newspapers, television and radio, and billboards and signage generally only offer a brief fleeting window of opportunity for your ad to grab the reader’s attention before the information disappears. It also doesn’t provide a large amount of time to secure the contact information.
Benefits of Specialty Promotional Advertising

Whatever method that you choose, combining specialty promotional product give away items will cement the deal. If you choose an item that will appeal to your target market and will be useful repeatedly, this will create a subconscious emotional loyalty, provide access to your contact information for possibly years to come, and compliment every other form of advertising. The people at Red Fish Marketing have a wide variety of excellent specialty products that will appeal to virtually every target market. Find out more at www.redfishmarketing.com.au.
]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/are-promotional-products-worth-their-weight.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/are-promotional-products-worth-their-weight.html Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:39:46 -0600 Arguments against Specialty Promotional Products

What arguments could an educated business person make to disregard the potential benefits of specialty promotional products?

• Specialty products just get tossed in the trash.
• Promotional items only reach one person.
• It requires face to face contact to deliver a specialty item.
• These items don’t reach the multitudes like other forms of advertising do, such as television or internet advertising.
• The cost is prohibitive.
Answering the Arguments

While the arguments against specialty promotional items expose some valid points, some say they are minor obstacles that can easily be overcome. We’ll look at each point individually.
Specialty Products are Trash?

Admittedly there are products out there that do not meet the needs of the target market and therefore end up in the trash. However, this can easily be resolved with careful item selection. By choosing a product that is useful, unique, and appeals to those you consider your target market, the trash issue is eliminated.
Promotional Items Reach One Person

Although promotional gifts are generally given to one person, that doesn’t mean that there is only one person affected by the product. Depending upon the item you choose, that can be exposed to a multitude. A great example of this is items of clothing. In addition, it is personal to the one person it was given to and that creates a loyalty that other advertising mediums never will.
It Requires Face to Face Delivery

Again, depending upon the item selected, specialty items are often included in direct mailing campaigns to entice the recipient to read the enclosed material. Some items do require face to face delivery or more expensive shipping methods. For those items, I continue to point out the loyalty and relationship invoked through this.
Not Reaching the Multitudes

Promotional items do no generally reach the multitudes, but it connects those that it does reach on a level that advertising to multitudes can not.
The Cost is Prohibitive

The cost argument can easily be laid to rest by careful selection. Specialty items can range in price from a few cents to hundreds of dollars. It requires you to set a budget and remain within its boundaries. While lower budgets do require the marketer to be a little more choosey and be certain that the selected item not only fits within the budget and accomplishes the set goal, but that it also is a useful item to the targeted market.

Should this challenge seem too overwhelming, don’t hesitate to consult the specialists at www.redfishmarketing.com.au. With the variety of products and the range of prices that the people at Red Fish Marketing offer, you will have no problem finding the perfect specialty item to suit your needs. You will quickly find that specialty products alone or combined with other marketing strategies definitely help you achieve your marketing goals short and long term.

]]> http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/a-marketing-strategy-that-works.html http://marketingsource.com/articles/book-promotions/business/a-marketing-strategy-that-works.html Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:39:07 -0600
This means that marketers have to become more creative and strategic in their advertising campaigns. People are busier today than ever, and that means that it takes more than just a newspaper ad to penetrate the filter of their overactive minds. The average person has subconsciously built mental barrier walls and numerous barricades to protect themselves from falling prey to continuous ploys to extract their hard earned money in exchange for frivolous trinkets. Thus, a well planned strategy must be developed and implemented to increase the probability of client acquisition victory.

The Advertising War

As with a physical war, a country’s military regime consists of several branches. When an attack is launched against another country, it is a team effort involving branches that are active in air, land, and sea attacks. It is much more difficult to defend against simultaneous attacks from a variety of areas. A three, or more, cord strand is not easily broken. This is the same principle applied to the marketing strategy.

It is impossible to shield every advertising media simultaneously. That is why it is necessary to actually launch an advertising campaign rather than using a single method of marketing and hoping that it hits something. I call that pop-shot marketing. A campaign is a systematic course of aggressive activities for achieving a specific purpose or goal.

Benefits of Multiple Advertising Approaches

By developing a system that integrates specific targeted appeals to your new market, you will win many positive points that will draw your clients to you.

• When a would-be client sees your company’s name in multiple locations, through multiple mediums, they develop a familiarity and comfort associated with it.
• Most people must view multiple advertising appeals before they act upon them. This is especially true of non-essential items.
• If a client decides to act upon a “fast passing” form of media advertising, such as a television commercial or billboard, they often refer to reference advertising such as telephone books or internet listing to actually obtain the contact information.

By combining multiple forms of advertising into one simultaneous marketing campaign, you reap all of the positive benefits of each form exponentially. You will be able to capitalize on spontaneous sales, name brand recognition, and reference advertising. The connotation of a stable, long standing company will evolve and cast a very positive light upon your company.

Regardless of the forms of advertising media that you choose to combine into your own campaign, don’t overlook specialty advertising products. By adding a well-chosen, long lasting, specialty item that meets your target market where they are, you will create a good and lasting first impression as well as a reference for your contact information for years to come. The expertise and selection of specialty products available at www.redfishmarketing.com.au will put a beautiful finishing touch on your marketing campaign.
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