Category: Business and Organisations

Why do you need a website?

The first place that any of your potential customers or clients will look for you is on the Internet. So obviously your website needs to be a digital representation of everything that’s great about your small business. Not having a website isn’t a choice. So where do you begin? It is all down to you,…
Simple viral marketing

Viral marketing is an often discussed term, but how will it help you to market your small business? Viral marketing is the equivalent of online word-of-mouth. Viral marketing, aka Buzz marketing, uses all of the digital marketing media to disseminate a message which is passed along from person to person; it is viral because it…
Your own affiliate program

Why not consider your own affiliate programme? You would be the merchant (as Amazon was in the example) Benefits of affiliate marketing, as a merchant. everything is tracked and so each stage can be checked by the merchant and the affiliate; this means that both parties are accountable. You pay for performance. If there is…
Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a route to market for your small business. Put simply, you sell digitally through a partner. Affiliate marketing is a process where a small business attracts customers by rewarding some third parties, known as affiliates, for marketing their goods and services, and/or for driving traffic to their website. It feeds your digital…
AdWords – getting started

Signing up for Google AdWords is very straightforward. You simply start an account, and if you get stuck you can telephone a Google advisor to help you. You can tailor your advertising to suit specific customers, and you can change your advertising campaign throughout the year. You are able to measure the impact of your…
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)

The majority of online advertising today is conducted using a Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC). If you look at the top of a Google search, you will see a series of the adverts before the actual search engine results appear. Here’s an example of a search for ‘cheap+pianos.’ Google AdWords These are paid-for adverts using a product…
Measuring the success of your campaign

Most of us do not have the time to measure success. However, evaluating how successful your campaigns and promotions have been, is an important way to learn. Use this learning to make your campaign and promotions more effective and profitable in the future. Here are a few tips on ways to gather information on the…
Guerrilla marketing

Seller beware! Guerrilla marketing is innovative and seizes the moment. It is a controversial way of promoting your products and services. The idea is that in some way you ambush your customers or the media that they are exposed to, such as TV or radio. For a small business, your resources will be limited; an…
Advertising in cinemas and theatres

Cinemas and movie theatres Your local cinema or movie theatre may be the place where your local customers congregate. Similar rules apply, as with radio and newspapers above, so common sense says you need to target those movies which your customers want to see. If you have a restaurant you may decide to advertise early…
Radio Advertising

You may be lucky enough to have a local independent radio station which is listened to by your target customers. Obviously, the benefits of any broadcast radio are that the medium is largely limited to sound and therefore is often best suited to communicating pure fact, for example when you are launching a new product…
Marketing in the press

The press (national or local) – newspapers and magazines The national and local press are a more mature form of advertising, which is still very popular with entrepreneurs, start-ups and small companies. The benefit is that publishers will recognise the type of business that you have, and recommended packages of advertising that will deliver a…
Outdoor marketing

Outdoor – posters, billboards and transportation Outdoor advertising, which is also known as Out-Of-Home advertising (OOH), is all advertising that your customers are exposed to when outdoors! It is surprising how much advertising you can be exposed to whilst you are on the go. You will see advertising whilst walking, or using any form of…
Small business advertising plan

Your outline advertising plan in 7 steps. Who is the potential TARGET AUDIENCE of the advert? These are your potential customers. WHAT do I wish to communicate to this target audience? Tell them about your product or service, its benefits, attributes and features. Tell them about your brand! Why is this message so IMPORTANT to…
Advertising for entrepreneurs

Your advertising will direct a message to large numbers of potential customers with one single communication! A couple of simple things to remember here: firstly, advertising needs to be aimed at specific potential customers from whom you need to make a profit; which leads nicely on to secondly, advertising needs to be cost effective. It…
Promoting and advertising your start-up

There are many tools and techniques that will be useful to you when communicating with the outside world. Think about these tools as another type of mix, let us call it the promotions mix! Again, you will balance and blend these approaches to suit your business’ needs best. Ask yourself ‘why?’ are you trying to…
Tips and techniques for successful blogging

Tips and techniques for successful blogging Now that you’ve discovered the power of successful blogging for entrepreneurs, start-ups or small businesses, make the most of your writing time by considering some of the following tips. Design a publishing schedule, and stick to it. You do not have to write an entry every day. Find out…
Blogs for entrepreneurs

Writing a successful blog for your idea, start-up or small business If you are new to blogging, then the whole topic of writing a successful blog for your small business, idea or start-up, may seem a little daunting. This section will consider the pros and cons of a blog, and offer advice and tips on…
Get your business on Facebook

Why is Facebook ideal for your business? Worldwide, there are over 1.65 billion monthly active Facebook users which is a 15 percent increase year over year. So, you can see that Facebook is an ideal avenue for you to communicate your messages, and so your products or services. Age 25 to 34, with 29.7% of…
Marketing for Entrepreneurs, Start-Ups and Small Businesses, by Tim Friesner.

Marketing for Entrepreneurs, Start-Ups and Small Businesses, by Tim Friesner. People market ideas, products and services for all sorts of reasons; you might want to make the world better for everyone, you might desire recognition for yourself, you might not like working for other people, or you might have found yourself unemployed for a whole…
20 Networking Tips for Entrepreneurs

Networking for entrepreneurs and small businesspeople often involves meeting new contacts and developing existing relationships.
What is crowdfunding?

By definition, crowdfunding is one strategy for financing a business start up by raising money related commitments from an extensive number of individuals.
Value Proposition Canvas

Value Proposition Canvas Let’s investigate the Value Proposition Canvas: a business tool that can help you create, design and implement value propositions. It is a tool which is used by tutors, trainers and business start-ups to look at the ‘fit’ between customers and our products/services. It is used as a bolt-on to the Business Model…
Introduction to Services Marketing

A service is the action of doing something for someone or something. It is largely intangible (i.e. not material). A product is tangible (i.e. material) since you can touch it and own it. A service tends to be an experience that is consumed at the point where it is purchased, and cannot be owned since…
Services Marketing Mix

Services Marketing Mix As we discussed in the lesson on services, there are a series of fundamental characteristics such as intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability which are unique to a service. The traditional marketing mix which includes product, place, price and promotion could be stretched to compensate for these factors. However the services marketing mix…
Modes of Entry into International Markets (Place)

Here you will be consider modes of entry into international markets such as the Internet, Exporting, Licensing, International Agents, International Distributors, Strategic Alliances, Joint Ventures, Overseas Manufacture and International Sales Subsidiaries. Finally we consider the Stages of Internationalization.
What is International Marketing?

International marketing is simply the application of marketing principles to more than one country. However, there is a crossover between what is commonly expressed as international marketing and global marketing, which is a similar term.
International Marketing Communications (Promotion)

Marketing communications in international markets needs to be conducted with care. This lesson will consider some of the key issues that you need to take into account when promoting products or services in overseas markets. There will be influences upon your media choice, cultural issues to be considered, as well as the media choices themselves…
Products and International Marketing

International product decision-making often centres around the standardization versus adaptation debate. Essentially, do we market the same, standard product in an international market or segment, or do we localize it, and adapted it so that it pleases local tastes? Here are some of the advantages and disadvantage of standardization.
International Marketing Environment

One of the fundamental steps that need to be taken prior to beginning international marketing is the environmental analysis. Of course there are many tools on Marketing Teacher that would prove useful at this stage such as lessons on the marketing environment, PEST Analysis, SWOT Analysis, POWER SWOT and Five Forces Analysis. However, the very…
The International Market Entry Evaluation Process

This lesson gives an outline of the way in which an organization should select which foreign to enter. It’s a five stage process, and its purpose is to gauge which international market or markets offer the best opportunities for our products or services to succeed. The five steps are Country Identification, Preliminary Screening, In-Depth Screening,…
International Marketing and Price

This lesson considers the basics of pricing for international marketing. As with all of the international marketing lessons, every country and culture within it will influence price. So here we are going to look at some of the common influences upon pricing decision-making, the impact of grey markets, international approaches to pricing, and more mainstream…
International Marketing and Culture

Culture is the way that we do things around here. Here could be a country (national culture), a distinct selection of the community (sub-culture), or an organization (corporate culture). It is widely accepted that you are not born with a culture, and that it is learned.