Free Business Brochure Design

SMART EVERYTHING WILL WIN

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:23:38 +0000

This article caugh my attention as it really is what we beleive, that we are becoming more reliant on technology to run our lives yet many businesses dont yet get it!!!!!

Nearly all small-business IT companies purchase smartphones for employees

In March 2012, marketing agency Cargo and Inc. Magazine found the majority (52%) of US small-business owners felt companies did not market to them effectively. Along similar lines, 45% said companies made little effort to understand their business and 43% said B2B marketers did not understand their individual needs as small-business owners.

Part of the problem may be that the small-business audience is widely diverse. It comprises business and service owners in industries across consulting, retail, food service, agriculture, technology and more. And even at the industry level, small-business owners’ needs are highly individualized and easily reprioritised as owners juggle their marketing, operations, sales and financial responsibilities.

“When you look at the core needs and challenges that [small] business owners are facing, they’re time-starved, and they’re not the type of people sitting in a building behind a computer all day,” said American Express OPEN’s Scott Roen, vice president of digital marketing and innovation, in an April 2012 interview with eMarketer. “They’re out front, working with their customers and employees, so they’re inherently mobile in nature.”Small-business owners’ proclivity for mobile devices such as laptops and smartphones could prove valuable for B2B marketers looking to connect with this audience. Inc. Magazine and Cargo found the vast majority (91%) of US small-business owners placed importance on wireless communications and smartphones for their business—a likely indicator of their vital daily use. Tablets were also important to 64% of respondents. The importance of these devices for US small-business owners coincides with SMBs’ adoption of smartphones and tablets. In April 2012, Spiceworks, an online SMB IT solution provider and professional community, found that 96% of SMB IT professionals worldwide said their company purchased smartphones for their employees. Sixty-six percent said the same of tablets.

Marketers looking to reach small-business owners on these mobile devices might consider starting with first adapting their mobile web presence for Apple OS-based devices: The vast majority of tablets purchased for employees were iPads (79%), followed by Android devices (39%). In addition, 64% said they bought the iPhone/iOS for employees, followed in popularity by Android smartphones (56%) and BlackBerrys (41%).

The importance of TOUCH POINTS

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:35:09 +0000

We all have to admit that there is very little we do that does not touch the internet with a digital referencing device. Whether it’s a smart phone, smart television, web tablet, lap top , note book or Desktop, we are spoilt for choice of the method to which we connect to the world wide web. So touching digital information is not difficult and in fact I suggest will get easier and more abundant. The challenge is how we control the touch points as businesses to ensure that we capture the imagination and desires of the audience we wish to sell our products and services too.

The growth in social media gives everyone with one of the many tools mentioned above a method to connect, a platform from which to enter this digital world. While there are methods of branding the hardware to directing attention to our own products and services, what we really must strive to achieve is the ability to be at the touch point, the point at which they enter the internet world and to be there before anyone else. In fact to get it right we need to be there the minute our digital adventurers’ reach the platform. Jjust like taxis or buses, they will get in or on anyone as long as it takes them where they want to go, this means as marketers and brand champions we need to figure out how to be right in the face of our clients when they search or seek the products and services that we produce or deliver.

For our clients however, there are so many choices, and before choosing is actually completed the depth at which information can be drilled into is vast. This ability to search and the knowledge embedded to investigate by the consumer, provides opportunities. We all have asked our friends and fans to recommend or review something or for a link to a review. I find myself as I write this article, sending a link to a car review site for a friend who is thinking of buying a new car. I sent them to somewhere that I value and have used before, this is touch points at work! Through Facebook connected and touched, I send my friend on to a new touch point for them to get what they want, and they will soon send this touch point to someone else. In short we need to create the ultimate touch point for your product or service and understand how our clients and consumer’s think and work when on line.

So to achieve this and with referral to my last article HOW I personally believe that to gain touch points the easiest way is to get people talking.

It is difficult to compete with large budgets and offices full of marketing teams, but if the new tools wrapped up in social media can be unraveled then this new age marketing could compete. By combining several marketing tools and not treating them in isolation a digitised integrated marketing platform can be forged.

Emails linked to Facebook, linked to purchase now pages, where products and services are bought directly and linked to PayPal. May be more attractive than a ecommerce solution to the growing masses searching relentlessly for the best deal amoung the millions in cyberspace. Using touch points and referrals’ will become more attractive to those who spend time in Facebook and social media land.

By being comfortable in social media marketing and embracing paper based marketing concepts and converting them to digital touch points, I believe that for limited expense we all can have a strong armoury of Touch Points. The touch points are in my opinion the only metric that needs monitored taking the interaction to a personal level with a brand or service means that you stand out from the masses and create what the consumer masses are demanding more of, speed, quality, information and “give me right now” products and services. Consumers are demanding more information from reliable sources and who more reliable than friends and family.

As mentioned the HOW is the question that we at Brochures2Business are trying to answer. Our range of digital tools is growing and the latest the interactive forms gives us an ability to provide our clients with a touch point in real time 10 seconds after the submit button is pressed, you have all the details on your dashboard. We think this can be used in so many ways to be first in the queue.

Facebook Changing The “HOW”

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:03:15 +0000

For most of the population Facebook is a means of getting or staying connected with new and old friends and acquaintances. This in most cases means that they are watching, following or becoming friends and fans of people around them.

However for businesses, Facebook is a growing platform for which the challenge is to convert the behaviour of the masses not only embracing the connection with people through Facebook but the connection with brands.

Brands and products need to be converted to an entity that is accepted as; and likened to personal relationships. These can be old friends or new friends, loved one’s or just acquaintances.

The growing number of strategies to execute this conversion for most, revolves around advertisements and SEO with a “link to us now” sat as an after though on the bottom of the page or Advert. Many have yet to make the journey that reveals that more people are engagning with facebook and other social media streams in a day than are watching television or reading newspapers to get the latest news tips or information.

Our life is driven by several key platforms and these are the areas that need to be understood and embraced to really get personal with products and brands.

Facebook, google and twitter are just some or the growing number of platforms that most people in the western world and beyond are touching or interacting with every day. Mobile and Smart phones are now growing as information providers, in place of newsprint and television. I would argue that most television and newspapaer adverts are now seen as nuisance factors breaking up the televison we want to watch and getting in the way of our goal to get the information we want.

The HOW is the challenge, the WHAT is becoming clearer we are moving more to a digital age everything we embrace and need can be found on line. Speed is the key, speed of information and speed of execution. “I want it now” is how we live, the challenge is simple how do we get the masses to want our “IT’ . My opinion is that we need to put it under their noses! place it where they gather most and have it in abundance. Place it in front of them in ways that engage, interact and fit with todays communication trends.

As mentioned the HOW is the question that we at Brochures2Business are tryng to answer.

Our next thought will be on “TOUCH POINTS – pressure points in the marketing toolbox“. Hope to post it next week!