Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on December 1, 2011 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz Secrets | 
Today, The BizCentral USA Team saw an amazing seminar by Patrick Schwerdtfeger on Social Media and the Future of Marketing at the National Entrepreneur Center in Orlando, Florida.
We have decided to radically change our marketiung procedures at BizCentralUSA, CharityNetUSA and CHurchNetUSA as a result. You should check Patrick’s lates book out as well as engage with the National Entrepreneur Center in Orlando, Florida.
Did you know that Orlando is one of the top 10 places to start a small business? The National EC has a lot to do with that. We will be updating you on our new found alliance with Patrick and the NEC in the weeks to come. Until then, enjoy this article that Patrick wrote. The future of marketing is here and keep in touch with us to let you know more about it. Enjoy the read and keep up with us on twitter and facebook. Thanks
“Ever since the 19th century, the prevailing trend in marketing has been an increasing focus on the consumer. Today, the value-first moniker allows potential buyers to actually sample the product before buying, an evolution from the liberal return policies of the 90s.
We’ve all been in Costco and enjoyed little morsels of food before buying anything. And on the internet, this is even more common. Website users are given more free information and resources than ever before, all in the name of building trust and demonstrating expertise, increasing the ODDS of a future sale.
Going forward, the consumer focus will evolve even more. Successful marketers will be those who actually HELP potential buyers become successful themselves. Marketing messages will all target the achievement of the buyers own objectives. Giving your buyers a platform to stand on will be the next wave of marketing methodology.
Of course, the many forums on the internet were among the first iterations of this approach, giving all of us a way to promote ourselves and demonstrate our own expertise. And all the user-driven platforms like MarketWatch and others are another manifestation. Social Bookmarking is yet one more.
These platforms all present the ultimate objectivity because the content is being contributed and validated by the audience, not the host. The applications are fairly novice so far but the integration and aggregation of regular life activities will soon incorporate all areas of our lives.
Decisions we make will be recorded, aggregated and made available to others considering similar decisions. And wherever possible, the results of these decisions will be aggregated as well, giving future decision-makers additional insight when planning their own activities.
There will be three effects of this. First, we will become increasingly aware of the “average person” around us. We will have direct visual access to a true cross-section of the population … and it will remind us all how uneducated most people are. Sad but true. Most people know little or nothing about the major events shaping our time in history.
Secondly, it will widen the division between the “leaders” and the “followers”. The majority of the population will seek approval and validation by following the crowd. And, of course, we will know EXACTLY what the crowd is doing. But there will be a smaller subset of the population that will purposefully go in the other direction and that will feed creativity and innovation.
Third, the acceptance and critical mass stages of a successful new product will accelerate even more as new success stories will be apparent to a wider audience in real time. This will widen the gap between product providers and product consumers and allow the providers of successful products to achieve incredible success quicker. In other words, business owners will have more leverage than ever and the division between the rich and the poor will magnify further.
Tactical Execution provides implementation solutions for businesses that are ready to take action. There is a ton of great information available on the website and I hope you take advantage of those resources.
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on August 11, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News,Small Biz Webinars |
A Free Small Business Webinar on Starting your Business off on the Right Foot with Email Marketing! 
The Pew Internet and American Life Project, says e-mail remains the number-one online activity of Americans and can deliver a higher return on investment than methods such as direct mail and advertising. So as a small business, it’s important to capitalize on this trend! By adopting the right strategies and practices now, you can maximize the inbox to capitalize on acquiring new customers and retaining current ones.
We invite you to spend some valuable time with BizCentral USA and learn step-by-step effective strategies for implementing successful email marketing campaigns.
Topics of Interest:
• Email Marketing Fundamentals
• Design and Layout Best Practices
• What you Don’t see That can Make or Break your Campaign
• Building your Email Lists
• Complying with Regulations & Getting your Emails Delivered
Join us August 17th, 2010 from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm (EST) and Learn how to maximize the inbox and start reaching thousands with one click!
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on July 15, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News |
Marketing is defined as the process by which companies determine what products or services may be of interest to customers and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.
Marketing incorporates or impacts heavily upon all of the following activities:
- Business Development
- Product Development
- Market Development
- Market Research
- Competitor Analysis
- Pricing Strategy
- Public Relations
- Customer Service
- Promotions
- Brand Development
- Company/Corporate Identity
Marketing Mix: the four P’s of marketing…
Product is what you are selling. Not just the physical product or the actual service, but all the customer benefits and values that the product represents. It is usually not important to have the best possible product. Cutting edge and feature-packed products cost more. The key is to have the most valuable product in its price range. The term “product” refers to tangible, physical products as well as services. Here are some examples of the product decisions to be made:
- Brand name
- Functionality
- Styling
- Quality
- Safety
- Packaging
- Repairs and Support
- Warranty
- Accessories and services
Price is the amount that the customer must pay. This is the acid test of whether the features you added to the product were really valuable, or whether you might have been better to cut a few low-value features out. Some examples of pricing decisions to be made include:
- Pricing strategy (skim, penetration, etc.)
- Suggested retail price
- Volume discounts and wholesale pricing
- Cash and early payment discounts
- Seasonal pricing
- Bundling
- Price flexibility
- Price discrimination
Place (distribution) is your physical location. Place is still important for online businesses because of shipping costs and for online customers that look for local and regional suppliers. Distribution is about getting the products to the customer. Some examples of distribution decisions include:
- Distribution channels
- Market coverage (inclusive, selective, or exclusive distribution)
- Specific channel members
- Inventory management
- Warehousing
- Distribution centers
- Order processing
- Transportation
- Reverse logistics
Promotion is not only advertising and promotions, but also sponsorships, public relations, special offers, viral marketing, and so much more. In the context of the marketing mix, promotion represents the various aspects of marketing communication. That is, the communication of information about the product with the goal of generating a positive customer response. Marketing communication decisions include:
- Promotional strategy (push, pull, etc.)
- Advertising
- Personal selling & sales force
- Sales promotions
- Public relations & publicity
- Marketing communications budget
Hopefully this article provided you with a better understanding of what marketing is, the marketing mix and how you can utilize all of the aspects of marketing to help you grow your small business.
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on July 13, 2010 under Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News,Small Biz Webinars |
A FREE Small Business Webinar to Help Establish Your Action Plan for Growth!A marketing plan is a road map detailing the route you’ll take to get your business noticed by potential clients, media and future partners. By following a properly crafted plan, you’ll know what to do and why you are doing it, while avoiding some of the mistakes that can cost you money and future growth. The plan will strategically offer options to keep you motivated, organized, prepared and headed in the right direction to reach your identified goals.
We invite you to spend some invaluable time with BizCentral USA and learn how to create a strategic plan of action to market your small business!
Topics of Interest:
• Researching and Setting the Groundwork
• Developing the Plan
• Strategies and Implementation Methods
Join us for a free small business webinar on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm and learn how to commit to a plan of action that will take your business to the next level in strategic marketing!
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on July 7, 2010 under Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News,Small Biz Webinars |
A free small business webinar on how to set the foundation for your small business brand identity!
What exactly does “branding” mean? How does it affect a small business like yours? What do people think of when they hear your company’s name? Learn the answers to these questions and more!
Brands were originally developed as labels of ownership. Today, it is what they mean to people that matters much more. Powerful brands can drive success in competitive markets, increase product awareness, and indeed become the company’s most valuable assets.
We invite you to spend some valuable time with BizCentral USA, and learn how to effectively reach your audience by strategically branding your small business!
Topics of Interest:
• What is Branding & Why is it Important to Your Small Business
• 3 Simple Branding Concepts
• Branding Guidelines
• Implementing Your Brand Strategy
Join us on Tuesday July 13, 2010 from 3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. for a free small business webinar!
Posted by Jennifer Nelson on June 24, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News |
On average 57 million adult Americans read blogs, which is good news for small businesses trying to generate awareness about their products and services. If you’re writing blogs to generate additional sales, you’re not alone. Approximately 53% of professional bloggers are interested in attracting new clients from blogging.
Persons trying to generate income from their blog write 37,240,000 blogs each year or 28% of all blogs. Of these 54% are Part-Timers, 32% are Self-Employed Persons, and 14% are Corporate Writers. Evaluating positive and negative cashflows, the mean profits for blogs with reported revenues is $57,369.20. That’s a lot of money for an activity most blog writers spend about 10 hours a week doing.
Technorati has indexed more than 133,000,000 blogs since 2002 and around 77% of Internet users read blogs according to Universal McCann. According to recent data 57% of blog readers are male, 48%, were under 30, and 82% were longtime Internet users or had more than six years’ experience online. Blog writers appear to mirror these trends, as two-thirds are male between the ages of 18 and 44. Over 75% have college degrees and 40% have graduate degrees.
Blogs are decidedly content driven but a growing emphasis is being placed on having more multimedia friendly blogs. Over 82% of respondents say that they post photos to their blog, making images the most popular form of multimedia. Of those who use media other than text, 73% say that that they create the photos, video, or audio they post themselves about half of the time. Only 13% of all respondents say that they never post any images/videos/audio to their blogs, preferring to just use text. With just-text blogs becoming the minority in today’s blogosphere, it’s important to use appropriate multimedia to make your corporate blog exciting.
Bloggers participate in an average of five activities to drive traffic to their blogs. Which is most successful? Well the jury is still out but Twitter is definitely in the top five. Blogs with greater than 100 page views a day received on average 83% of their page views from Twitter referrals. This referral percentage was constant as the audience size of the blog increased. In other words, the faster the growth of a blog, the more important Twitter became in promoting it.
It is important to keep up with your blogs statistics to see how people are finding your blog and how often they are reading it. There are many free blog statistic softwares available to blog writers but the five most commonly used are:
1. Google Analytics
2. StatCounter
3. SiteMeter
4. AWStats
5. MyBlogLog
Blogging is not just about numbers, traffic, or hits to your website. It is a great tool for small business marketing. Be careful to avoid the trap of writing for search engines rather than human beings. Blogs that read too much like an advertisement will be less successful than blogs that give your readers information they need to know to make informed purchasing decisions. Build your credibility first and traffic later. Traffic is a direct reflection of writing good content and smart advertising of your blog. Contact BizCentral USA today about setting up a blog for your website so you can take advantage of these exciting statistics.
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on December 8, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing |
To often companies of all sizes fall into a slump during the holiday season. Words echo the halls such as: “Prepare for a slow-down” or “Retail gets all the holiday business”. While these statements are not completely untrue, there is something you can do about it: Use marketing to capitalize on the holiday season and prepare for a booming new year!
There are many ways to use holiday marketing to grow your client list, build reputation and boost sales in a creative way during this season. With mediums such as social networking, blogging and email marketing you can find the perfect channel to deliver your message to exactly who is interested in it – and spread a little holiday cheer along the way!
Not sure how to get started? That is why we have prepared a Holiday Marketing Recipe Book just for you! This free whitepaper will guide you step-by step through a few different holiday marketing recipes. Choose to utilize one or them all; it is up to you!
Have your own Holiday Marketing Recipes? Share them with us!
From our office to yours:
Happy Holidays from the team at BizCentral USA! Click Here to Download
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on November 16, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing |
No longer is branding only important for the Nike’s and Starbuck’s in the game. Strong branding is necessary for startups, small businesses, large businesses and everything in between! As a small business owner you should
know how important an impressionable brand identity is to the success of your small business. Small businesses have become an integral part of the U.S., representing over 99.7 percent of all employer firms (SBA Office of Advocacy). So, shouldn’t your brand identity represent those large numbers? The answer is yes, most definitely!
To start, your brand is the overall image and perception of your product or service in the eyes of your customers, in comparison to other products or services in your market. Therefore, it is essential to research your target market and the buyer’s persona when developing your brand identity and its usage. What are their likes, dislikes, age, feelings, beliefs, interests and how will they benefit from your brand? Does your branding clearly define your intended message and is it appropriate for your audience?
Next, how will you utilize your brand? You must be consistent with the use of your logo, tagline, and materials and what you say about your small business. You will only be able to establish a strong brand identity by designing impressionable elements (both verbal and visual) and then repeating those elements through all outlets (i.e. Website, stationary, marketing materials, advertising, PR etc.).
Finally, remember “honesty is the best policy”. Current and potential clients will see right through false promises and advertisements your small business commits to. You want to be sure you can commit to all promises and beliefs that your brand promotes. Your current and potential clients will respect your honesty, and look to your company as a brand they can stand by and trust.
Your branding is what will separate you from the sea of competition that you are entering (the 99.7 percent of employer firms in the U.S.). So it makes sense that a quality brand requires much thought, research and integrity. In the end, your branding should strive to meet 5 goals.
5 Goals of a successful brand:
- Relays a clear and precise message directed at a defined buyer persona (this could be more than one buyer persons)
- Establishes a unique presence among your target market
- Identifies your company as the “only” source for your customer’s needs or the solution to their problem
- Leaves a lasting impression in the minds of your buyers
- Gives a message of loyalty and credibility about business
In conclusion, branding is not about competing with your competition for the flashiest logo design or website. Branding is however, about engraving your company’s tagline, web site, logo, beliefs, and credibility into the minds of current and potential buyers. In addition, branding is setting the stage so that they see you as the only solution to their problem-you can’t compete if there is no competition.
What does branding mean to your small business? How do you utilize the elements of your brand? Are you consistent, honest, clear and memorable with your branding efforts?
Posted by Jennifer Nelson on October 7, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing |
The Pew Internet and American Life Project, says e-mail remains the number-one online activity of Americans. So as a small business, it’s important to capitalize on this trend. E-mail marketing can still deliver a higher return on investment (ROI) than methods such as direct mail and newspaper and radio advertising. Not only do people access thier e-mails on computers, now a growing number of people are able to receive e-mail on their cell phones and PDAs. E-mails have many advantages, but here are the three most popular:
Cheap E-mails are free or extremely cheap to send and receive. Unlike sending out mass correspondence through the post office, e-mails don’t cost much money. The only cost to you is the time you spend constructing them and if you choose to use an email client to assist you with design creation and list management .
Fast E-mails can be sent out instantaneously to thousands of recipients. The recipients can be previous customers or interested parties who submitted their email through your website.
Measurable Software can track e-mails opened, clicked on, and purchases made. Many of these e-mail tracking softwares are inexpensive and easy to install or already come with an e-mail client. They can help you see which e-mails are translating into sales and which e-mails aren’t performing.
Often times users flag irrelevant e-mails as spam, so it’s important to make e-mails relevant and segmented to grab your reader’s attention. A 2006 report by MarketingSherpa found that e-mail marketers using segmentation saw click-through rates that are 72% higher than e-mail marketers who aren’t segmenting their opt-in lists. Some of the most popular ways to segment your company emails include:
- Purchased items
- Location
- Brands
- Age
Your segmenting options are limitless! Experiment with different categories and see which ones offer your business the greatest success. Don’t forget to stay on top of your “subscribe” and “unsubscribe” requests. Not being thourough can cause you trouble with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Anti-Spam Laws. Always review your subscribe and unsubscribe requests right before you send out an e-mail blast or use a e-mail client to have them automatically managed for you. Following these simple rules is a great cheap way to have e-mails add to your bottom line without breaking your wallet.
Tags: e-mail, e-mail marketing, e-mail newsletters, email, email creation, email marketing, email newsletters, email promotion, Internet Marketing, marketing, opt-in lists, Small Biz Marketing
Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on August 10, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing |
On average, 63% of businesses use social networking to build
relationships and awareness of their brand.
Customer Relationship Development and Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is at an all-time low, possibly as a result of reduced business focus on actual relationships, and an increased focus on “customer relationship management” systems. Online social networks allow a prospective customer or prospective member to easily create a real connection with individuals in a given organization. This allows for the customer to put a face with an interaction, rather than just a computer screen. This in turn creates a real human perception of the company that is welcoming to business relationships.
Extremely Low-Cost Marketing Tool
Small business owners should engage in social networking because it is an easy and inexpensive way to connect to your consumers, and potentially form business partnerships. Additionally, it provide an opportunity to network with people who have similiar interests, problems which you can solve and business goals you can help them achieve.
Easily Share knowledge with Consumers
By combining social networking with other technologies (such as RSS, Blogs, Bookmarking etc.) your company will make it easy for current and future consumers to “subscribe” to updates from your organization. This is a way to share your company’s important information (Promotions, Articles, News etc.) without any additional effort.
Differentiate your service with “brand you”
Social networking provides another outlet for building your brand; Evenmore, it helps you promote “brand you” and not just the services that you offer. You will have a variety of interactions with potential consumers, future partners and other people of interest. Express your company as one that has real people working for it, people that love their company and believe in the products or services it offers. This genuineness will come through in the conversations that you engage in. This is your company’s brand; it is what make your company special.
