Business Strategies, marketing planning and consulting

A marketing budget is a big expense to small business owners, and often one of the first to go when times get tight .  But, without marketing, sales suffer, and the cycle continues.  One way to keep your dreams alive even when times are tough is to consider the possibilities of joint venture marketing. 

The definition of joint venture is a calculated partnership between a number of business owners to share resources toward a common business goal.  In English, this means that small business owners have the opportunity to contribute toward a goal that everyone will benefit from.  Many joint ventures are as simple as cross promoting each other’s products, but the concept works equally well on a complicated collaboration such as a consolidated weekend event. 

Regardless of the complexity, joint ventures have benefits for everyone involved. First, is your chance to create more power from your marketing budget.  For example, while you may only be able to afford print advertising, by pooling resources you may be able to expand to radio or TV.  And every member of the joint venture has contacts and customers that can benefit the other members, expanding everyone’s sales force.

A newer business owner can quickly establish credibility by working with strategic joint venture partners.  You really are perceived to be like those you hang around, so choosing successful partners will give you credibility as well.   Not to mention that successful business owners are so for a reason, and by learning from them as you go you will avoid a lot of the mistakes others make along the way. 

You can dream as big as you want by taking advantage of joint venture marketing.  Nothing you want to do is out of your reach if you can find the right partners.  Small businesses are thriving through joint venture marketing, even during these tough economic times.  With the right commitment, your business can grow too. 

Get more small business success strategies and claim your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”  to learn about an online accounting program that makes it simple to track the success of your joint venture marketing.

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Within the last 100 years, marketing has completely changed..  Previously it was just about good customer service, then a more sophisticated brand design model, developed with companies taking a more strategic approach to brand naming, graphics and packaging design.  But as competition increased, a custom logo design was hardly enough and you needed a way of getting your brand in front of people.  The rapid changes in media technology during the 20th century enabled this to happen, and lead to even greater and more aggressive marketing with radio, TV and finally, Internet marketing being added to the lot.

However, because of this we now have a more competitive and crowded marketplace ever before.  Customers are bombarded with hundrends of marketing messages every day, and so have naturally adjusted their minds to filter out most of it.  If there is more advertising, less is noticed by the general public.  A new type of marketing is therefore needed in order to make an impression and grab the people’s attention.

The book written by a business journalist “I am with the brand” explains a different type of marketing, which the author refers to as ‘Murketing’.  The name murketing emphasises the reality that these techniques succeed by blurring the boundaries between marketing and real life, making the modern definition of marketing very murky.

In a new marketing, brands are doing away with obvious sales messages, and instead working to become an integral part of people’s lives that people enjoy, respect and feel engaged with.  The company who have mastered these techniques is the energy drink company red Bull, which has taken sports sponsorship to a new level by actually organising and funding a variety of unique sporting events, many of which are free to the public, such as the Red Bull Air Race series and red Bull Flugtag.  Also, the Innocent drinks summer fair in London is a great day out for the young, trendy city dwellers in their target market.  The beauty of murketing, is that rather than risk triggering people’s natural resistance to being sold something, you actually morph your brand into an experience that they actively want to invite into their lives and which enhances their lives with no obligation.

Naturally, there is a case that people will exploit you and try to get everything from you that you are able to give.  However that risk you’ll have to take and if it goes down well in the books of your target market then they will value and appreciate what you do to and eventually become loyal and enthusiastic customers who actually enjoy using products.

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Presenting the findings of a research study to the client is the apex of the entire research process. Working out how to present these findings in a way that the client can easily understand, is, therefore, a crucial part of any market researcher’s job. Using a Mind Map is one way to present these findings. A Mind Map is a means of organizing information spatially, rather than linearly, by “mapping out” the information using words, images, pictures, and phrases. Because the Mind Map uses spatial, visual and image components, it is believed to engage more areas of the brain, making the information easier to process via the brain’s natural functioning. Mind Maps can therefore be an advantage when presenting research findings to clients, because they offer a visually stimulating, easily understood, representation of the results.

An Example of Research Findings Organized Using a Mind Map

Imagine a scenario in which a researcher has just finished fielding a study for his client on her new product, the Big, Beefy, Juicy Burger. The client wants to know how well her product did in a taste and naming test. After reviewing the data, the researcher discovers that the product did well taste-wise among all age groups except those18-24 years old, and poorly in terms of the product name among females in general, 25-34 year olds, and those age 50 and older. In addition, male respondents and those age 34 and younger said they were more likely to buy the product if sold than females and those 35+. All of these findings contain information that the client would want to know. How can the researcher organize these findings using a Mind Map?

The researcher might first begin by listing the main research objective, to find out how well the Big, Beefy, Juicy Burger does on the dimensions of taste, name preference, and intent to buy, in the center of the Mind Map. He next could list each of the three dimensions stated in the research objective on “branches” that are attached to the central image. The dimension fields would have “child branches” labeled “Like” and “Dislike” stemming from them. Lastly, flowing from the “Like” and “Dislike” “child branches” would be the main groupings of the respondents surveyed, the age and gender groupings, depending on how well that dimension did with the group. For instance, if 60% or more of respondents in a group liked the product name, that group would be attached to the “Like” “child branch” of the name preference dimension.

The researcher should be as creative as possible when constructing the Mind Map to make it both visually stimulating and easy to understand. Simply put, the client should be able to understand the research findings just by looking at the map, without any explanation from the researcher. Attached is a Mind Map showing the stated research example and findings “mapped out” in the manner described.

Easier Delivery of Research Findings to Clients

In the attached example, a Mind Map showing the findings of the research study was constructed using a very simple process. However, as the attached Mind Map exhibits, the findings are clearly identifiable, and are shown in colorful, visual, take-away representations. The inherent clarity and intuitive nature of the Mind Map makes it easy for the researcher to present his or her findings, and give any subsequent recommendations based on these findings. By beginning with a clearly constructed diagram of the findings, the researcher has now made the final step of delivering them to the client a much simpler process.

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A successful business comes from exploring potential marketing actions that are cheap but will yield you maximum income.

Even if your marketing budget is super thin, here are some ideas that you can use to enrich your business. All it takes is time and some careful planning.

First and foremost, your natural charm, friendly demeanor and winning attitude are your greatest assets. These qualities go a long way toward getting your foot in the door. You want to come across as friendly and trustworthy.

If someone doesn’t feel comfortable around you, the odds of them training with you on a regular basis are very slim. The best way to meet potential clients is to actually get out and meet people.

Spend time in the gym chatting with members; hit the tennis courts or even the golf courses.

Of course talking only goes so far. You always want to have business cards on you to hand out to people you meet. A killer business card gives you the opportunity to show that you are professional. Printing out cards on your printer at home won’t cut it. Having topnotch business cards is a great investment.

Ever think about why many people (like Real Estate Agents) have their photo on their business card?

They know that if someone sees their face they’re more likely to keep the card. Get a nice picture of yourself and put it right there on your card.

A good way to separate yourself from all the other trainers is to promote what makes you a unique trainer.

What are your specialties?

Saying that you are a personal trainer can be vague in terms of what you really do. Are you an expert in pre/post natal exercise? Do you work exclusively with competitive athletes? Are you more interested in fitness beginners? Identifying your own market will help you understand the suitable fitness marketing methods you should use and separates you from the other trainers.

If it’s free, it catches people’s attention. Attracting more people into your business can be helped along by giving out free assessments or sessions to clients who can refer as many friends as they can. Personal assessments will help potential clients clearly see the need for a personal trainer like you. Here is where your personality shines through and you use your greatest assets to close the deal.

Since you now have some new clients, you can allocate more funds for marketing. There are a multitude of weekly community papers that offer very reasonable rates for business card size advertisements. It can help you to promote yourself to the widest market possible and at the same time, fill up the other time slots.

By using these simple and affordable tools you will be booked to capacity in no time. A little leg work now equals a steady flow of clients and financial independence in the future.

Ready to grow your Business?

Six-figure personal training jobs exist. You just need to know where to look and how to market yourself.

Proven fitness marketing strategies are key in having a thriving Personal Trainer Business.

Want more expert advice on growing your fitness business. Check out these personal training articles.

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Directories help locate websites within specific or definite categories. If you want to get accepted into a directory, then it is important to note that your site will first go through a number of editors who will assess the quality of your site before letting you in.

Directoris are a great way to improve your visibility and you shouldn’t underestimate the use of them. Consider also, that not all directories will give you the results you desire, and you should only choose the cream of the crop, examples being DMOZ and Yahoo. You will be able to see an increase in the amount of traffic to your site, along with boosts for search engine rankings and page rank as well if you do use them.

Other key things that you need to consider:

1. Include your site within the right section of the directory. You don’t want to make a mistake with this. Most directories will be able to give you the choice of putting yourself into subdirectories as well, so make sure you choose the right one. For instance, if you have a great site about cooking and recipes and such, then you should put it into the cooking section, not into health. Doing otherwise will result in visitors not being able to find your site in the area of interest they are searching for. You could also search through the directory in order to find the keyword you are targeting for your site. The results will give you the best categories that are suitable for your keyword. Choose the section or category which you think is the most relevant and which searchers looking for your site would look for.

2. Coin a title and description that will boost traffic not reduce it. Special care must be taken for the title.  Try to always insert your keyword into the title, and have the title start with the letter A if possible, or a letter as near as possible to the letter A. Present the most important points of your site in the description, keeping it as short and clear as possible. Of course, in spite of this, try to also include as many related keywords as possible.

3. Purchase keywords from one of the pay-per-click search engines or directories.

4. You will need to make your site optimized for the search engines.

5. Consider carefully the amount of text and images you use. Too many images may lower your exposure in the search engines.

6. Make good use of back links on the right directories and online listings. Find the backlink spots that your competition is using and steal those precious places.

7. Keep adding great content to your site. Both people and search engine spiders will come back more often if you do this. Ensure that you have great content that has your appropriate keywords.

8. Build yourself a blog. This will help you to gain favour in the site of search engines. People enjoy reading blogs too.

9. Market your website by printing its address on business cards, paper bags, packaging and so on. Spread the news out about a regular newsletter that you could publish for your business patrons.

10. Run advertisements on related web sites and mailing lists.

11. Make use of reciprocal link programs.

12. Adopt a good and appropriate system, like the one for Zero Cost Profits.

Never forget to keep track of the traffic coming in and out of your site regularly. Are visitors staying on your site long enough to meet your satisfaction? Find out what is effective and what is redundant. Use cookies efficiently. Understand technology and use it to the maximum. Make sure you are on the ball when it comes to the latest changes. You will also need to ensure that you have a strong and firm plan for the future.

As a closing statement, never forget these tips:learn to be different and give your potential buyers what they are looking for; gain customer and brand loyalty; don’t forget to be honest and care for your customers; let your prices be in relation to demand, and get it to them when they need it; always be learning and improving your website; carve out an exclusive niche and diversify in directions that are relevant to your business model. That’s all for the good internet marketing tips.

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