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Guerilla Marketing

Guerrilla Marketing is a form of marketing that is beneficial for smaller companies. It allows them to compete with the bigger companies without having to spend money.  It allows companies that don't have a lot of money to use their time, energy, and creativity to gain clients/customers instead of using their money.  However, there are three commonly misunderstood ideas about guerilla marketing. 1 - "Guerrilla marketing is all about tactics."  Actually, it is about having a good strategy and being smart with that strategy.  Tactics are the specific actions that one takes in order to achieve their goal/strategy.  You need to know what you want to achieve and then design tactics that will allow you to achieve that. 2 - "Guerilla marketing is about destroying my competition." Actually, it is about focusing on your customer.  Do not obsess over your competition. Be mindful of them and what they are doing, but keep your main focus on your customer. 3 - "Gu

Public Relations

Public relations is about building relationships with key people, managing a reputation, increasing sales, and gaining customers. Market is a component of PR that enhances your reputation, which leads to customers and increased sales. Credibility in a brand is partially dependent on the public relations of an organization. The key to credibility is the creation of new ideas and adapting to them.  Press releases and business stories are a way for customer and shoppers to connect with a business.  These methods of communication have a major influence on how people view the company. A History of Public Relations: True corporate PR began in the 18th century. The first PR department was established in 1889.  The first time PR was applied was in 1897 in order to manage communication between an organization and the public with regards to the railway.  The first public relations agency was founded in 1900. Ivy Lee, who created the first official press released to help the Pennsylvania Rail

E-Marketing

Today, there is less and less need for newspaper ads. Nowadays, people mainly place their ads on google. It is not like a traditional ad that is placed on a main bulletin board area. Rather, an ad is generated when a search is performed using specific phrasing linked to a specific ad.  Currently, I am looking to purchase a porch swing. When I type "porch swing Birmingham Alabama" into the search engine, four ads are generated from paid advertisers. These advertisers assign relevant words and phrases, called key words, to the service they provide. This way, when someone searches one of those words or phrases, their ad appears.  Below that are non-paid, organic results are for other websites where porch swings may be found. Advertisers can also determine what type of devices their ads appear on. When someone clicks on an ad, the advertiser is charged for the click. Another way to advertise for a business is through Facebook or Instagram. Advertisers can "sponsor", o

Competitive Advantage

Tony Alessandra is a traveling keynote speaker. One such topic he discusses is competitive advantage. He explains that your company needs to be able to offer customers something that no one else can. Something that separates you from the competition. Otherwise, why would anyone have a reason to buy from you over your competition? When you are and your competition are the same, people buy based on price. He says that you need a state of competitive advantage which is a 30 second explanation of why your company is different.  He says that a statement of competitive advantage has four things: your name, your company, a statement regarding  a typical problem experienced in your target market, and a n intriguing statement about how you can help solve that problem.  He says that having this statement really does set you apart and makes you sound like an expert right from the beginning. 

The Importance of Location When Starting a Business

We've all heard it said before: "location, location, location".  We routinely look at location when making many decisions in life, such as buying a house or choosing a school.  When deciding where to plant roots for your new business it is just as important.  Location is an extremely big factor in a company's success. While deciding what state, town, or street to build a store front, there are mny factors to look at. Your utilities will be different depending on where you set up shop.  You need to look at things like: "Are there communities nearby that have the clientele I want to attract? What is the labor market like in said area? Is this close to an interstate so that I can get stuff shipped in or out easily? Where can I put my signage to bee seen buy the most people. " Depending on what sort of company you have, you may need to look at proximity to the railroads too.  However, if you have an internet based company or maybe a business where you offer a se

Cost Based Pricing

Cost based pricing is determined by first figuring out how much it costs to make a product. Then, from there, a company can determine how much profit they want to see from each unit sold. A common cost based prices item is a cell phone or other new technology. Typically, there are a fair amount of people who are willing to pay high dollar to have the latest iPhone. Profit margins can quickly rise for products such as this. However, you have to do the adequate research to make sure that the price at which you sell your product is a price at which people will by the product. There are ways to reduce your cost which in turn can reduce the price you charge. We have seen this with Wal-Mart. They are always working to offer the lowest prices. Cost based pricing is an easy technique and is a good starting point used to set the floor price when determining your end price.