Marketing Small Business Expert Articles
3 Small Business Marketing Tips |
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3 Small Business Marketing Tips There are some things that small business owners can do to market themselves very effectively, while working with a very conservative budget. These days, a big budget is not required for big results. Here are three powerful tips for small business marketing success: Play To Your Size Remember who you are and who your competition is. Just because the bigger, badder company down the street is blowing all their money on a television campaign, doesn't mean that you have to produce a 30-second spot of your own. What you do is important. But just as important is HOW you do it. You can use your size to your advantage when it comes to how you treat your customers. Being smaller means being more agile and better able to respond to shifts in market trends. Brainstorm a list of ways you can use your current size to your advantage over your bigger competitors. You Get What You Pay For Online advertising is becoming a required element of any successful business's online marketing campaign. Pay-per-click advertising on the search engines is one of the most cost-effective means of leveraging this new advertising medium. Because your ads are only displayed when people search for keywords that you specify, you are automatically getting a more highly targeted prospect using PPC advertising. And since you only pay for those people who actually click your ad, you don't have any extraneous marketing expenses. By simply testing and tweaking your ads, the keywords they are displayed on and the marketing copy on the page you send visitors to, you quickly gain control over your advertising campaign. An additional benefit is that since you are essentially paying for this type of advertising as you go, you can set daily or monthly spending limits or literally stop a campaign in its tracks if it is not performing well enough. Try Something Different In addition to looking at your competitors to see what they are doing to attract new clients, try also looking outside of your own industry for insight and inspiration on new ways to reach the hearts and minds of your target audience. Quite often, business owners get stuck looking at what their specific industry is doing and simply jump on board to try and follow suit. This not only has the undesirable effect of looking like you are playing "follow the leader", it very seldom leads to innovation. Every time you are personally in a buying space or are aware that you are being marketed to, pay attention to how you are being communicated to. What is the message that is being delivered? Is the delivery somehow unique or unusual? What stands out about the interaction? Using what you learn from other industries you will be able to lead your own marketplace with fresh, innovative marketing ideas that will have your competition scrambling to catch up with you. Paul Keetch is co-founder and Chief Excitement Officer of Make Anything Work a company dedicated to helping small businesses grow successfully. Get practical, easy-to-apply marketing training with our Marketing "Bookinar" at http://www.MakeMyMarketingWork.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Keetch |
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Marketing With Computer Animation - 10 Quick Case Studies |
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Marketing With Computer Animation - 10 Quick Case Studies If 3D animation is new territory for your company, take a few minutes to scan these 10 brief marketing case studies. They validate the use of this medium through sheer variety. If a group of companies this diverse has had major success using computer animation to market their products, then your company can score with this medium too. Case Study #1: Alcatel, a multinational technology firm, won a massive $650 million dollar contract with the London Underground Subway Lines to re - signal their subway tracks. A series of 3D animations demonstrated how Alcatel's systems would operate, showing each piece of gear operating at the right moment in a well - coordinated sequence of action. Executives from the London Underground quickly understood the essence of the technology, and awarded them the contract. Case Study #2: 3M demonstrated their new Aldara skin cream to thousands of physicians across North America, with a CD-ROM featuring several 3D animations. They showed how this compound actually empowered the bodys immune system to target and destroy skin cancer lesions. Doctors and patients who might be skeptical or fearful were reassured. Animation can literally be a life - saver. Case Study #3: Insta-Clean used 3D animation to zoom in to the micro - pore structure of a sponge made of a new, high tech material. Even photography through a microscope could not effectively demonstrate the significance of this structure, and why it was different from an ordinary sponge. Animation made it possible to show customers the key competitive strength of this deceptively simple - looking product. Case Study #4: MediFlow used 3D animation to reveal the features inside their innovative water - filled medical pillows and took the lead in North American sales in that product category. After two years the company was so successful they used their cash position to acquire a competitor. Once again, computer animation was able to help customers see exactly why a companys product was better. Case Study #5: Chalmers Truck Suspensions solved a difficult marketing problem with 3D animation, overcoming resistance to change in the conservative trucking industry. Their premier suspension system was innovative and unconventional. They produced a sales video with 3D animations that showed how all the moving parts of their system worked together, and became one of the most popular of all suspensions with truckers and fleets across North America. Case Study #6: Jaguar used animation to showcase the inner workings of their V-12 engine, in a prominent television ad. The chrome hood ornament morphed into a floating engine, with all its cogs, gears and moving parts. The "fantasy" appeal of the ad made it impossible to ignore. All the car companies use animation to tell their technology stories. Jaguar was just a little more stylish at it. Good recall generated from a concept that only computer animation could accomplish. Case Study #7: Pickering Nuclear Reactor, just outside Toronto, Canada used animation to take visitors on a tour of the plant, and to explain how nuclear reactors work. Showing a range of viewpoints, from 2000 feet above the entire complex, down to an extreme zoom into the subatomic level, the animation's camera moves were impossible with conventional real - world camera gear. Case Study #8: Ashton - Potter, a printing systems manufacturer and printer of premium quality stamps, currencies and security - protected documents used 3D animation to propose an innovative solution to the U.S. Postal Service's request for a proposal. It had developed an integrated system for printing, numbering, perforating, slitting and packaging, all in one continuous sequence, a new type of peel - off stamp. Animation demonstrated the whole sequence in a cohesive flow, actually "flying" through the entire press. It proved to be a crucial component in the boardroom presentation that landed them a 112 million dollar contract. Case Study #9: Sarafinchin Geo - Engineering used animation to help save a piece of the southern shore of Barbados! They presented, using computer animation sequences, a simulation of what would happen if the government of Barbados chose to ignore the dangerous erosion underneath scenic shoreline cliffs. Restaurants, hotels and tourist's lives were at risk. The companys animated presentation led to their expertly engineered solution being adopted by the government. Case Study #10: The H2O vacuum was successfully marketed in infomercials across North America using computer animation to demonstrate how dirt, hair and even airborne bacteria are filtered and neutralized by this innovative appliance. 3D animation can make even dirt appear fascinating! That's the 10 - minute success tour. If these companies can succeed with this medium, you can too! (c) Copyright - Mike Efford. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Mike Efford turns the magic of computer animation into marketing power for his clients. Since 1994 his 3D animation studio, Mike Efford Motion Design, has delivered high quality technical animation and motion graphics to clients across North America. He has worked with a long list of major corporations such as Royal Bank, General Motors, 3M, Thane Marketing, Cognos, Manulife Insurance, and over 50 innovative small businesses, broadcasters and design professionals. Visit http://www.mike-efford-motion-design.com and discover how YOUR company can use this dynamic marketing medium to your strategic advantage. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Efford |
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