Become a Marketing Guru

Why is Marketing important?  According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, The Importance of Marketing for the Success of a Business, Marketing is the heart of business success.  Marketing is essential to business growth. An understanding of Marketing and relationship building is crucial for delivering a company’s values and mission, defining and “speaking” to the target audience, and establishing a strong customer base.

Marketing vs. Advertising

Advertising is only a small part of marketing.  Marketing encompasses: defining the product, the manner and strategy of sales, conducting market research, manufacture and distribution logistics, public relations, customer support and, yes, advertising.  Marketing is about building a relationship between an organization and its consumer.

Company Reputation

The success or failure of all business rests on the foundation known as Reputation.  Marketing helps companies communicate with their targeted audiences.  It is a way to convey the values and mission of the company.  It sets an expectation that will be delivered to the consumer and when the expectation is met or exceeded—reputation and business grows.

Find what Works

Sounds simple enough, but it requires forethought and strategy.  According to Udemy, The Importance of Marketing: 10 Reasons You Can’t Afford Not to Market Your Business, there are many ways to market and while testing the marketing waters, you will not only build a social asset for your business, but you will discover what really works for your business, as well as,  where to invest your time and money.

Ready to become a Marketing Guru? Give our Marketing Principles course a try!

Recently added to our course library, Marketing Principles explores the ways in which marketing has developed over time. If you want to learn the various facets of marketing and how marketers accomplish their goals, this is the course for you. Discover how to locate the target market, do customer research, identify the components of the product, and promote that product. Gain the necessary tools to market your products and your brand more effectively.

To see the entire course outline click here.

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Watch a free lesson: http://youtu.be/cM6Upqi43tE

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When it’s Time for a Change

With 2015 fast approaching most individuals naturally begin to reflect on what has come to pass and start thinking about changes they want to implement in their lives for the coming year.  Change is inevitable whether we want it or not.  The same is true in business.  Technology changes so quickly it is obsolete before it hits the store shelves.  Customers wants and needs change at the drop of a hat.  The economy booms and busts with fluctuating fanfare.

To challenge the status quo businesses need to know when it is time for a change and embrace it.  Why? To stay competitive, explore new opportunities for growth and to meet the needs of their customers and teams.  Whether you resist change or roll with it will determine how many bumps and bruises your company will endure.

According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, “Why is Change Important in an Organization?” organizations who ask “Why?” often discover the answer in new ideas and innovations that can in the long run impact the productivity of employees and the company’s bottom line.

So how do you know when it’s time for a change?

1. Your business has hit a plateau. Your team has given all they can and used every facet of their skillset.  Much like the New Year’s diet and exercise resolution, it hits us hard.  We are struggling against a current and find the shore no closer.  It’s time for a change.  Maybe you need to add to your team—some new blood to invigorate—or perhaps you need to develop the team you have with training.
2. Your competitors have shaken things up. Competition is never a bad thing, but it may be time for a change.  When the going gets tough the tough focus on what they do best and evaluate the situation.  What are your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats?  The SWOT analysis can lead to important changes that can keep you competitive.
3. Your financial projections are amiss. When your financial picture looks askew, it’s time for a change.  Ask yourself these questions: Are your original projections accurate? What forces, both external and internal, are affecting these projections? When you have the answers to these questions you can work to fix what is possible to fix and make plans to work around the unfixable.
4. Employee morale has plummeted.  It’s time for a change.  Have you ever conducted an exit interview?  Have you ever polled your staff for feedback?  These are good ways to test the waters and see where the spoke in the wheel has become unhitched.  Sometimes employees leave and never tell you the real reason why.  Don’t wait until the wheel is broken and the support is gone.
5. Loyal customers have jumped ship.  Now, consumers can be fickle and it may not be a thing but when your biggest fans walk away—it’s time for a change.  Number one, ask your customer for feedback.  Research reviews on your business.  Ask your sales team for their insights.  Re-examine your product(s).  We can’t all be WD-40, some of us will need to change.

The best way to embrace change is to educate—yourself and your team.  Knowledge is power.  Knowledgecity.com has some courses for you to consider in the New Year: Managing Change, Building a Successful Team, Marketing Principles, Strategic Brand Management, Managing Assets, Managerial Budgeting, HR Management, Consumer Behavior, and Operating a Business are just a few of the courses that can help your business manage change with ease.

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The Importance of Brand Management

How your customer perceives you is very important.  A brand is not just your company logo but everything your company is and does.  From the logo to the website to how your team members react and respond to your customers; a brand is all encompassing and it is critical to be prepared.  In the age of social media, what are customers sharing about your brand?

  

What does a brand do?  According to Functional Marketing, “Branding is defining what you want people to think, feel, experience and believe about your company.”  It gives your company or product recognition.  It sets you apart from your competition.

Depending on how you manage your brand, this can be a good thing or a bad thing.  It can turn employees into a team and lead your company in a positive direction.  A brand gives your business value.

Managing your brand requires some foresight.
Establishing a brand, planning and marketing the brand, measuring performance, and growing and sustaining your brand’s reputation are crucial to success.  Where do you get started?

KnowledgeCity’s Strategic Brand Management course provides an extensive and comprehensive overview of the branding process.  What is a brand? Why is it important? What research do I need to do? How do I build a strategy to get my brand recognition?  These are all questions that are answered in this course.

If you want to get your company noticed and make a good impression in the process, Strategic Brand Management is the course for you.  Entrepreneurs can learn the ins and outs of branding, marketing, and managing brand awareness.  

Instructor Lindsey Baker, a Professor at the Art Institute of California, San Diego whose courses include: Branding, Corporate Communication and Strategic Brand Management, will navigate you through this course and teach you how to put these theories into practice.

Branding is an ongoing process. It requires planning.  KnowledgeCity’s Strategic Brand Management course is designed to give you the tools you need to be successful in your branding campaign.

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The Social Media Beast

Social media is taking over—from opinion blogs to social networking websites, even viable news sources are now utilizing these tools to communicate information instantly to millions upon millions of people. Where else can you reach such a large audience so easily? And, with most social media and networking sites, for free!

Businesses can now tweet about their products, company events, and organizations that the company is involved in, such as conferences and charities, to send information instantly to their consumer market. Customers can connect to businesses in a new way through websites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and blog sites like Blogspot, LiveJournal, and WordPress. Through becoming an organization's "friend" on Facebook, customers can have a direct link to that company, establishing communication. Businesses can also utilize these sites to not only increase interest in their company, but also to gauge customer satisfaction with their product and gain valuable feedback.

The problem with social media is the very thing that makes it so appealing: its ability to reach so many people and draw interest. Social media can become a hungry monster, a wild beast; fueled by the public's opinions and interests, it can turn on a company just as easily as it can hoist a business up. The ability to post information that can be read instantaneously by millions of people, and subsequently influence other's opinions, makes it a potentially powerful marketing machine, or the Public Relations Department's worst nightmare. Remember, not everyone does the research to find out whether information on the Internet is true, which means that even if information is negative and false, people might still believe it. Jumping into social media is like grabbing a bull by the horns (although if you're careful and aware of the possible pitfalls, your company has the potential to profit exponentially from using these tools).

For those of you who have used social media tools to market yourselves or a business, we want to hear from you! How do you use social media to communicate with your consumer base? Do you find this to be a successful method of accurately representing and promoting your business? Have you had any negative experiences using social media as a promotional technique?

Check out our courses on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to get started utilizing social media!

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