Saturday, March 17, 2007

Bluetooth Technology And The Future Of Advertising

By Richard Jamison

Nearly all new cellular phones and mobile devices come equipped with Bluetooth technology. It is the common wireless communication platform, shared by all new mobile devices. Data transmission via Bluetooth is relatively fast and does not charge the sender or recipient, making it an attractive method for the delivery of promotional content by retailers.

As consumers make the transition to newer and more functional mobile devices, they become more visible to Bluetooth-based advertising devices, and thus more accessible to marketers. With this newfound accessibility, marketers are now faced with the challenge of engaging consumers without alarming them or creating a sense of intrusion.

The most notable change that advertisers must make is that they now must barter with their clientele, exchanging content for their attention. Although this may seem to be a compromise for advertisers, it is actually giving them the opportunity to distinguish themselves from competitors by offering their customers something in exchange for their exclusive attention. Content that many consumers are currently buying, such as ringtones or wallpapers, can now be freely offered by retailers to entice potential customers. Content that is provided by retailers via Bluetooth can also be repeatable, meaning that it can be something that consumers may choose to observe multiple times. The repeatability that mobile devices allow for is very powerful, because repetition of content is brand reinforcement.

Bluetooth marketing is a revolutionary approach, because it is personal, substantive, cost-efficient, and effective. It is personal because the mobile device is the central hub for personal communication by phone, email, text message, etc. It is substantive because it offers content that is valuable to consumers. It is cost-efficient because data transfer and content are free; and the Bluetooth advertising devices are reprogrammable. And finally, it is effective because the content can be repeatable. Bluetooth technology is the key in molding the future of advertising to fit an elusive, tech-savvy generation that no longer notices subtle forms of advertising.


Friday, March 16, 2007

Car Magnets is medium of promotion that can hit your target audience



Advertising and promotion has become an essential part to survive in the business world. It is quite obvious that marketing will enable people to know about all the information on products and services that they have to tell. There are a lot many mediums that are available in the market that can be used for this purpose. Some of them are newspapers, banners, posters, car magnets, pamphlets and many others. Out of the list of all these forms of promotion, car magnets are being considered as one of the best forms. It is because car magnets can be put on any vehicle and wherever the vehicle goes, people will surely get to see and read your message.

If you have particular concern about your country or some sports team or likewise things, then you can exhibit it with the help of car magnets. Personal attachments can be shared with the public and that too with the aid of car magnets. Well, if you have devotion for your country, then why not show it. Apart from patriotism, you can also use football or bat shaped car magnet to show your special consideration for that particular field of sports. An advantage of using car magnets is that they can be placed on the metallic part of your car and won"t even damage its surface. What more can you can ask for?

These days, every business is based on proper promotion and marketing. It is this reason that more and more business professionals are bending towards such promotional mediums that help them in taking their message to the targeted audience. And car magnets are quite helpful in this regard. It is because the more people watch the message on car magnets; the more publicity will take place. This is what every business organization aims at. They can also be used for fund raising issues, so that charity causes can also be promoted.

Normally, car magnets stand for your opinions, ideas and fondness for something that is associated with you. Ever since few years, usage of car magnets have increased to a vast extent, as they are very helpful in creating alertness among masses and enables them to take initiative in making valuable contributions towards that cause. After all, there are abundant amount of people that have special concern for charities. Along with so many advantages of car magnets, they can also be used to notify people about newest discounts on that have come up on some products. Such things can be done by companies to draw the attention of various customers.

As you select the car magnets to your own choice, they look spectacular on your car. In fact, they also add to the appearance of your car. If you are not able to get car magnets that represent your thoughts or ideas of presenting things, then you can get them custom made. The benefit of custom made car magnets is that you can give a way to your imagination and make them look even more attractive and appealing. You will also be deciding over what is to be written as a message on those car magnets. In other words, you will be completely responsible for whatever will be read and seen by the viewers.



The Secret of Determining if Your Advertising is Profitable

By Peter Geisheker Platinum Quality Author

As a marketing consultant and owner of a marketing firm, a big mistake I see businesses make is they do not take into consideration the value of repeat sales when they review if their advertising is profitable.

When determining if your advertising is profitable, you need to look at advertising as a long-term investment, just like buying stocks, real estate, or mutual funds. When evaluating your advertising you need to take into consideration repeat sales from each new customer your advertising produces. Nearly all businesses earn the majority of their sales and profits on repeat sales, NOT first time sales. Understanding this concept is one of the secrets to building a successful business.

For example, let’s say you run a small quarter page ad in your local shopper coupon magazine. This small ad costs you $300. From that single ad you attract three new customers who each buy $50 worth of your merchandise. From that information you would think that you had a loss of $100 on that ad because you paid $300 for it but you only generated $150 in sales. But let’s look at the long-term effect of those three new customers.

Let’s say that each of those three new customers purchases an additional $250 of merchandise from you over the next 11-months. When you take that into consideration, your $300 ad has now generated $900 in sales. And, what if each of those three customers purchases an additional $300 of merchandise from you the following year? Now, your original $300 ad has generated $1,800 in sales over a 24-month period. To put that into perspective, if you bought $300 worth of mutual funds and in 2-years your $300 investment was worth $1,800, you would be jumping for joy! That is why you need to view the profitability of your advertising on a long-term scale, not on a short-term 1-2 month scale. Advertising is an investment to generate long-term customers and repeat sales. Your focus as a business owner must always be on generating faithful long-term customers, NOT one-time sales.

Let’s broaden the picture even more. Let’s say one of your three new customers loved your merchandise so much that she told two of her friends about you, and her two friends each becomes a long-term customer of your business. And, what if those two friends each buys a few hundred dollars worth of merchandise from you over the next couple of years? Do you now see the tremendous long-term value of that $300 ad you placed?

Now that you have a better understanding of advertising as an investment, it is vitally important that you track the source of every new customer (i.e., did they find you in the yellow pages, direct mail, radio, Internet, etc.). Whenever you talk to a new customer you must ask the customer, “How did you hear about us?” Then, you need to track the source of that customer in a spreadsheet or a CRM system and track how many sales that customer makes over time. This is the only way you can truly determine if an advertising strategy is working. Yes, this takes time but it is worth it. And, a good CRM software application can make this tracking very easy.

In summary, before you throw in the towel on your advertising strategies because they are not immediately generating a profit, you must first understand that value of a new customer over time. Stop looking at advertising as a short term expense and start viewing advertising as what it really is, a long-term investment to the success of your business.

Peter Geisheker is the CEO of The Geisheker Group Marketing Firm. Peter develops and implements strategic marketing programs for small and medium-size businesses. For a free marketing plan ebook, please visit http://www.geisheker.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Geisheker

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