Tag: marketing

 
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Are You Missing Out Without Online Marketing?

Just about every business can benefit to some degree from online marketing. If you’re not online you could be missing out on a huge potential customer base. This article gives you some reasons to really consider why you should use internet marketing.

If you are not already marketing your business online, it is time to start. Although there are a few exceptions, just about every business can benefit from online marketing. There are just so many advantages to this type of marketing. First of all, it is extremely affordable to market your business online. Other advantages to marketing your business online include the ability to reach a large target audience, the ability to reach potential customers all over the world and the ability to customize the marketing for different sectors of the target audience.

The affordability of Internet marketing is one of many reasons why many business owners are turning to the Internet for advertising. Advertising online is incredibly affordable especially when you consider how many potential customers a business owner can reach with an online marketing campaign. Most methods of online advertising are quite affordable and some of them do not have any direct costs. For example, you may choose to market your business online by participating in industry forums and posting links to your website whenever it is appropriate to do so. In this case the cost of creating and maintaining the website is insignificant in comparison to the number of potential clients you could reach through online marketing. Additionally, the costs associated with posting links to your website are incidental. You could consider the cost of having access to the Internet as part of the cost but you most likely require Internet access for other reasons as well so it is completely worthwhile.

Reaching a large target audience is another very worthwhile reason for marketing your business online. You may have spent a great deal of time and energy doing market research and determine who your target audience is. You may have also spent a great deal of time trying to figure out the best way to reach this audience. This is a very sound marketing principle but as it applies to marketing on local television, radio and print media it only allows you to reach a limited audience. However, when you take your marketing to the Internet you automatically drastically increase your potential target audience because you now have the ability to reach members of your target audience around the world.

This ability to reach customers around the world is another major advantage to marketing your business online. Regardless of where you live and operate your business, you have the ability to reach those who have an interest in the products you sell or the services you provide no matter where they live. This makes it possible for you to do business with customers around the world.

Likewise the fact that the Internet is available 24 hours a day is also very beneficial to those who choose to market their products or services online. Shopping for products and services in person can be very difficult especially for individuals who work long hours or those who work unusual hours. These working conditions make it difficult for these individuals to do business and make purchases of products and services they need during regular business hours. However, business owners who have an online presence are much more convenient because unlike stores and calling centers, the website never closes. This convenience gives potential customers the ability to view products and services, compare these products and service to the ones offered by competitors and make a purchase at any hour of any day.

If you are a business owner who is reading this article and you do not already have a strong online presence, you need to immediately start learning more about the world of Internet marketing. This is so important because if your competitors are marketing online, you may find they are gaining a steady advantage and are becoming more appealing to potential customers. Before too many of your potential customers become loyal customers of the competition it is time to start figuring out how you can market your business online and keep up with the competition.

Please fill in the The Complete Speaking Business Assessment for free assessment

More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar

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10 New Tips For Successfully Promoting Your Book On Talk Radio

For nearly two decades, weíve been telling you about the value of talk radio as a means for promoting your book to the masses. As one of the countryís top providers of radio shows around the country, we schedule anywhere from 50 to 100 interviews week in and week out. As a result of our close working relationship with the media, we know what works and what doesnít. Because we want you to succeed with talk radio, here are ten new ìinsideî tips to help you become the kind of guest every host wants to have on his or her show:

1. Be real. Present yourself the way that you really are. Donít put up a false or manufactured front. If an audience perceives you to be fake, your message will fail. Be REAL. Be who you really are.

2. Be sensitive about political views. If you are discussing a controversial political issue, always try to acknowledge that the other side has some good points. Remember that radio audiences are diverse. By ìgiving and taking,î you will win credibility points with your entire audience.

3. Familiarize yourself with the current news climate. Stay up to date on current events and present yourself as the ìexpertî on your topic. Donít be caught unaware about a current or breaking news story that pertains to your book. Projecting yourself as knowledgeable will help to build your credibility with listeners.

4. Tie-in a local angle if at all possible. Whether you are talking to a radio show out of St. Louis, Detroit, or Sacramento, be sure to tie the local area in to what you are saying. For example, if your book is about the economy or real estate, talk about the unemployment rate or real estate values in that particular city. By localizing the message as much as possible, you draw your listening audience in even further, and more importantly, you keep them tuned in and interested in your message.

5. Do NOT use a cell phone. Always make sure to use a secure landline for all of your interviews. Cell phones are unreliable for on-the-air interviews and you stand the chance of getting cut off in the middle of your interview. Obviously, this is a major pet peeve of talk radio hosts as they now have to fill the time originally set aside for your interview. No host likes to have the timing and pace of his show screwed up. If your interview is cut short due to cell phone problems, donít expect them to put you back on the air or reschedule you.

6. Donít forget to hit on your key points. Sometimes you can get so wrapped up in the conversation you are having with the host or from call-ins by listeners that you lose sight of your main message. Try to always remember your main focus and donít get too off-topic.

7. Match your interview pace with that of the radio host. If the host is a ìfast-talker,î pick up the pace. If the hostís style is slow and easy, do your best to adapt. By adapting to the hostís rhythm, youíll develop a better camaraderie with him. The positive rapport between you and the host will keep regular listeners interested in your message.

8. Limit numbers and statistics during your interview. If you have a particular statistic that you think applies very strongly to your message, use it and hammer it home. But be carefulÖif you throw too many numbers at the audience, you will lose their interest and they will tune out.

9. If you are in the dark about an issue, donít fake it! If you arenít familiar with an issue the host brings up or donít know the answer to a question, donít be afraid to admit it. You will lose immediate credibility by pretending to know something when you really donít. On the other hand, your credibility goes through the roof when you are perceived by listeners as being honest.

10. Try to give your interviews an intimate feel. Remember that radio is a one-on-one medium. Talk to the host in a personal and conversational manner, and if there are callers, do the same with them. This will help keep the audience interested and theyíll be more likely to relate to you.

Remember—your intention for every interview is to enlighten the listening audience about your book and interest them in purchasing it.

Please fill in the The Complete Speaking Business Assessment for free assessment

More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar

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Ebooks Are Raking It In

Have you always wanted an unlimited income that you didn’t have to leave the comfort of your own home for? Have you ever thought about becoming a writer, and publishing books? Well, many people have become well-known authors, and have made quite a bit of money writing books, but it seems that even more are making a lot more money writing ebooks.

Ebooks can be a very valuable asset. Let me just list a few of the reasons why they have become so popular. First of all, paper books take what seems an eternity to get published, not to mention that it costs quite a bit of money in printing, and postage, and handling, and stuff. Ebooks do not have a publishing cost, plus ebooks are digital. They can be emailed to your client directly, or they can download the ebook from your website, giving them instant gratification, which everyone loves. They are also digitally stored, so you don’t have all kinds of books cluttering up your house.

Ebooks also stay there, on the internet, indefinately, if you will, making money for you, while you sit back, on the beach, contemplating what you will be writing your next ebook about. That’s right, you can just relax while your ebook sits on your website, making you money. Many people are just raking in the dough from ebooks today. But, you will need to use some tools (there are links on my website to access these tools) to make sure that there is enough traffic being directed to your site.

There are all sorts of ways to bring traffic to your site, like writing articles, (like the one written here), using autoresponders, and buying mailing lists. My mentors, whom I have links to on my website, offer many tools and tips for driving traffic to your site. One tip is to build the customers trust, by offering plenty of free stuff. Free PDF files are a hot item to offer for free, because people can pass them around freely, appealing to more of a mass market. And any computer with Adobe Reader, (which can be downloaded for free), can read these types of files.
PDF files are also considered valuable to search engines, thus making it easier for customers to find your site.

There are many other ways to get traffic to your site, and many other methods of making money online, but writing ebooks is one of the easiest, and most profitable ways. For more information, please go to my website, and check out my links. If you register with my site, I will send you some simply amazing reports, with tons of invaluable information, all for FREE! Go there now! Take the step, learn something new. Learn something proven to make money!

More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar

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I am the BRAND on online search engines

For the last 10+ years, many companies approached me and promise a better ranking for Google search and to get my link in the first page. This is the goal of many companies, which may be good.

Over the last two weeks, I was building my website and I deployed my experience on website development  and social media.

I was able to get my name in all links in the first 2 pages of google search and at least 8 out of 10 links in pages 3 – 12 of the search engine. I am now the brand who can appear 105 times out of 120 result  link.

I was able to be dominating the top 27search result out About 130,000 results, It basically demonstrate and I am listed in 134 out of the top 160 and I should conclude that I am the BRAND.

 

Similar results are achieved on Yahoo and BING, and the following images.  The following 17 images prove that my name dominates the top 16 pages search result and the following 2 images show the first pages of Ping and Yahoo search,

 

Can you do me a favour, search my name “Wael Badawy“ from your end on google.com, yahoo.com and bing.com and write in the comment if you find me that I am the Brand in your search

 

 

 

 

 

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Newbies Tips, Definitions, Download pages, and E-books

Here are two of the most common questions from Newbies. One is technical the other is Marketing related.

IS A….

COMPUTER: That thing thatís really clever but doesnít understand anything you tell it to do! It looks like a TV, but if you spend enough time in front of it, you will make money from it.
ISP: Internet Service Provider
SERVER: A computer that stores web page files and makes them available to the internet.
DNS: Domain Name Server, The address of the server, it looks like this ###.###.###.### or this, NS1.XXXXXXXX.COM (XXX = a word, and ### = a number)
DOMAIN:Is a unique set of characters used to identify a piece of cyberspace. These characters are called a ëDOMAIN NAMEí, NO TWO CAN BE THE SAME. They look like MMM.XXXXXX.com/net/web,etc..( MMM = www)
PARKED DOMAIN:A Domain name that has been registered but hasnít been HOSTED.
HOSTING: The service that provides a SERVER for a DOMAIN.

So we can see that a DOMAIN can be HOSTED on a SERVER and then files can be added to the ëDOMAINí and this will give you aÖ..

WEBSITE: All the files hosted on a server and are available on the internet using the unique ëDOMAIN NAMEí
WEBPAGE: Any ONE of the Files (pages) on a WEBSITE they each have an NAME that comes after the DOMAIN NAME. Like this; MMM.XXXX.com/NAME
URL: The address of any WEBPAGE
HTML: Is the base language from which web pages are made.
SOURCE CODE: Is HTML

Here are two of the most common questions from Newbies. One is technical the other is Marketing related.

How do I make my hyperlink open in a new window and why do I want that to happen?

HEREîS HOW in response to a question I received recently about creating a ëDownload pageí
It answers the above questions and gives some other valuable tips.

TIP #1
Hi, I clicked on your XXXXX link and found that it worked fine. However, it loaded the XXXXX page in the same window as yours, so I was taken away from your download page, very inconvenient for someone trying to download.

To fix it do this: Add ìtarget=_blankî into the code after the URL. Make sure you save your original page first and work on a copy, then when your copy is done upload it and test it, then save it as the original on your desk top, then upload the new original to your server. Done!

(In this example I use [ ] instead of V brackets, to make this publishable.)

Tip #2

Hereís a friendly way make prospects SAVE YOUR EBOOK full of your links on their computer.
If you don’t do this they might just look at the ebook in their browser and then close it. You will have lost them maybe for ever, but if you made them save it onto their hard drive; you will always get another chance, even if they remove themselves from your mailing list. The links are still in the E book on their computer, and who knows when they might open it again and go click!

HEREíS HOW: Just use this as a guide.

Step Two: “NAME OF THE EBOOK” ëRight Click Hereí and select ‘Save Target as’ or ‘Save Link as’ (Mozilla) option from the pop-up window to download the eBook. Then Save the eBook to a location on your hard drive where you can easily find it. Make a note of the location that you’ve saved it to so you can easily access it again in the future.

NOTE: Add the “target=_blank” code to the “right click here” link, so that if they just left click and load to their browser at least your download page (with a link back to home) is still on their desk top!

WHY HAVE LINKS OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW?

Adding “target=_blank” to all links on a home page will keep the home page on the prospects desk top for as long as possible this will increase the chances of a sign up!

WARNING!!! DONíT use the code to open a new window on links back to your home page this will just annoy people.
Below, is a complete template for a typical download page. I have used ëí to indicate the hyperlinks. You should use ìtarget=_blankî on all links except the one that takes them home.

TEMPLATE

Step One: You will need XXsoftwareXX to read the E-book. If you do not have it installed on your computer, Please ëCLICK HEREí to get the software.

Step Two: “NAME OF THE EBOOK” ëRight Click Hereí and select ‘Save Target as’ or ‘Save Link as’ (Mozilla) option from the pop-up window to download the eBook.

Step Three: Save the eBook to a location on your hard drive where you can find it easily. Make a note of the location where you saved it, so that you can easily access it again in the future.

More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar

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PDF to Success while Selling E-books

Learn why giving away PDF’s can boost your Ebook website sales.
Having a successful online E-book business means more than just selling E-books. It means giving the customer great value, great quality, and gaining their trust by giving away valuable information in free PDF files.

So, what is a PDF file? A PDF file is a computer file type that stands for portable document format. Essentially it gives people a free way to share articles and documents, so that everyone can read them on any type of computer. Youíll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read PDFís. Nowadays most people have this free reader already installed on their systems. PDFís also offer the advantage that they are indexed by search engines, as they look at PDFís as more valuable than web content. So, it is likely that the more PDFís you have, the easier it will be for customers to find your site.

By giving away free PDF files that contain valuable information, you automatically build trust into your products. Your prospective customers will very likely have to pay for the information in your PDFís elsewhere, so they feel that they are getting a deal. Furthermore, PDFís help to potentially mass market your website, because they are free to be passed around. PDFís can be emailed and distributed around the internet, so if there is valuable information in them, it is highly likely they will spread like wildfire, through emails, groups, chat rooms and web forums. This viral effect of PDF distribution has a huge potential to help drive tons of traffic to your website.

Lastly, try using the concept of delivering more than your product promises. After one has purchased your product, offer them an unexpected free PDF that includes information that has high value. This will build in greater customer satisfaction and people will likely spread the word.

Wishing you Success!

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Be Imaginative

Whatís the easiest way to kill a great ad campaign before it even begins? Take it too seriously. Advertising is not rocket science. You shouldnít need a degree in the physical sciences to create or understand an ad.

And you should never, ever, under any circumstances, kill an ad because it is not literal enough. On the contrary, if you find your ads are too literal, you should destroy them all and start fresh.

Are Volkswagens flawed pieces of junk? No, but an ad with the headline ìLemonî gets your attention, doesnít it? It makes you want to read the story, which goes on to explain how the particular car shown in the ad would never be driven because VW cares so much it weeds out the lemons so you never get a bad car. Think what an opportunity would have been missed if the folks at Volkswagen had taken that headline too literally.

Think about it from this angle. Why do people read an ad or watch a commercial? The majority do so because they find them entertaining and informative. If your ads are all information and no entertainment, youíve wasted your budget.

This is not to say that an ad should be created purely for entertainment purposes. Again, a great ad is both entertaining and informative. The entertainment value should be derived from a feature of your product or brand. In other words, what youíre selling should be the star of the show. Sounds simple enough, but it is often hard to strike the right balance. Thatís what makes advertising so fun.

How much information does your audience really need? What kind of story will they find entertaining? These are questions that should be asked and answered early on so that when you finally are presented with an ad or a campaign, you can judge the work according to these preordained guidelines.

A good campaign will reach your target audience and talk to them on a personal level. This has a valuable effect on your sales and reputation. A great advertising campaign will do more than that. It will create a buzz outside of your target audience.

Apple Computerís ì1984î commercial ran only once. But it is still one of the most talked about commercials because it was rebroadcast on every major news show and written about in every major newspaper for weeks and months. And none of this cost Apple anything more than a single TV buy.

Itís worth noting that Appleís Super Bowl commercial helped make the company a household name and created unbelievable demand for the new Macintosh computer-yet the ad never showed the product or explained any details about it.

BMWís Mini Cooper was one of the first cars to be introduced in the United States with no TV advertising. Blasphemy! Instead, they bolted the Minis to the roofs of SUVs and drove them around major cities. They created tongue-in-cheek billboards, interactive print ads and great guerrilla promotions. Most importantly, they created a waiting list of customers who couldnít wait to get a Mini.

Companies that think bigger become bigger. Itís a self-fulfilling cycle. If you just think like a local operation, you might miss the opportunity to expand regionally, nationally, or even internationally. Your advertising campaign should reflect the direction of your companyóeven if youíre not yet there.

Challenge yourself and your agency to think bigger

More info’s and free registrations (restricted to  pros), please join our live seminar

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The magic price to market your ebook.

Have you ever wondered why all those products on TV all cost $19.95? How about why used car dealers…excuse me, “preowned” car dealers offer $199 down $199 a month?

It’s an often used and very successful marketing concept. The idea is that certain numbers set off alarm bells in a buyers mind and by shaving a penny or two off the price we can avoid these alarm bells. A person will wrinkle his brow and wonder if that fancy kitchen gadget is worth $20, but he will be franticly dialing the phone credit card in hand for the low low price of $19.95. What a bargain.

Believe it or not sales figures seem to support this idea. Shave a few pennies off the round dollar amount and people are more likely to buy from a TV ad, however this doesn’t work in all forms of marketing.

When buying in person people appear to prefer round numbers. For instance. I have a friend who sells knockoff tennis shoes at flea markets. Don’t laugh. He quit his regular job because he makes more in a weekend at the flea market than he did in a 40 hour week.

Anyway he dicovered that the magic price for knockoff tennis shoes at a flea market is $20. Any more and buyers huff and go “I might as well go to the shoe store for these prices.” Any less and they question the quality of the shoes, Look them over again and agian, then walk away without buying.

I won’t make a value judgement about peoples’ behavior. The object is to make sales, not judge your customers right? The simple fact is for every product and service there is a magic price that a customer will readily pay with almost no selling on your part.

I won’t even try to guess why, but for ebooks that price appears to be $7. You have probably by now seen the rash of $7 dollar ebooks everywhere. On marketing web sites and blogs and all over the web. For some unknown reason $5 is too low and 8$ is too high.

Does it really matter why? As marketers we don’t need to question why. We find what sells and stick with it until it doesn’t sell anymore.

If the public will pay $7 without flinching who am I to question them?

Maybe it’s because $5 is not a lot of money these days. So if it cost $5 it must not be any good or it would cost more. But then $10 is double digits. Hold on here $10, I could get two fast food lunches for that.

Okay, I am guessing why, but the point is, $7 is the magic price for an ebook. At least for now it is.

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You are not running a business. You are copying grandma's hobby of making pies.

 

Like all grandmas, she had the hobby of making pies and we receive lots of them to make her happy. Like it or not, as grandkids, we are told to thank our grandma for the pie and tell her how wonderful is the pie, how we cannot resist finishing the last pie, which was the best.  Then we ends up having more pies, although we did not like the pies till today.

 

Grandma is a very senior, (and I hate to say “old”) with very limited mobility and almost no eyesight. She will challenge her ability to make more pies and send them to her grandkids because she believes she makes them happier.

 

I was invited to the introduction of a new product with the business owner, and I was told that it is better product that best serve my health and my life.

I was given a bottle to try and I am just curious.   I was told that it is a new product that is better than anything else for my health.  I was intrigued and as I start to ask simple questions to find a reason to try the sample.

 

After asking few questions, I found a very strong resistance to answer these simple questions. Then, I was framed as a consultant who is looking for new clients. Then, I was told to not impose my service. The fact is I am not a consultant and I am not shopping for new clients.    I wonder, if I should ask the business owner to simply search my name on google “Wael Badawy” to know who I am and what I do.

 

The product is introduced, as a combination of ingredients that I know, ingredients that I do not know, and ingredient that I may not heard about it.

This introduction triggered a flag, because I do not generally eat or drink what I do not know, in the absence of a strong motive, such as being ill.

 

THEN, the ingredients are very healthy and it has better fruits and vegetables that I do not know but I should consume for their valuable impact.

I am not sure what is missing here? But, my understanding is the consumers of  organic products like to know everything about their food. They do not like the unknown chemicals that may impact their health.  At this point, I saw the second flag, because I was judged again.

For me, rightly or wrongly, “organic” is good enough to justify its high price, but  “organic” or natural ingredients that I do not know to be better for my health, is not true.   Pure marijuana and marijuana’s leaves are organic and natural but they are dangerous and even though we need to know more details to understand its medicinal effect.   If I consume it, I will be addicted and most likely, I will end up in Jail but I am consuming an organic natural plant!!!

 

THEN, the product’s presentation explained the principle of consuming the full fruit/vegetable in a juice, against extracts.  In my mind, this principle is questionable with diverse arguments. As a matter of fact, having a full lime as a juice will change its flavor and texture with time because of oxidation, and it can turn to be poisoning or has a higher level of toxic.  On the other hand, I cannot consume the whole orange or the whole banana. I have to peal it first!!!

– Anyway, I will pass on this argument because I am not the expert in food but I know what I eat.

 

At this point, I started to ask questions to better understand who is the business owner, what is the value of the product and what is the quality of the product in order to have a level of confidence to try the product.

 

I asked about the size of the business, to feel comfort that there are others who trust this product and buy it.  I was looking for the customers’ WHY to compare it to mine, i.e. what are the reasons to buy this over-priced product. Oh, this product will cost 25x – 35x the price of a high quality 100% natural juice.

 

I asked about the plan to grow the business in the next three or five years. I asked about the vision of the owner to confirm the quality of the product, and there is someone stands behind the product.   All what I received is “3 and 5 years are very long time”.  In the absence of an answer, it demonstrates that there is no continuity and no guarantee to a quality control process.   i.e. two samples of the product with the same ingredient, will have different taste.

 

I asked about the value of the product? The question aimed to help me to find my WHY, and I can try the sample.   The articulated value is “You drink good natural stuff, so your body will perform better”.  There is no confirmation or reference other than the business owner has issues and it was solved by personally drinking this combination. There was no testimonial and no confirmation of the business owner story. So, I attempted to clarify and I asked, does it help with a diet plan? or release weight? or having high energy? etc.  The value was articulated as you eat better ingredients, you will be healthier and you feel good, with a proof.

I do not eat pizza and burger everyday and I eat apple and banana everyday. As it was said “One apple a day, keeps the doctor away!!!”

The articulated value is very general and I can have a blinder. I will use a mix of fruits and vegetables. AND, WOW, the juice will have the same value.

 

The answer continues to be “the ingredients used are planted by the owner in business owner’s garden and then picked and prepared to make the product!!!”

 

I asked about the science or the research behind this drink.  The answer is that the business owner has researched each of the known and unknown ingredients.  But, the business owner has two degrees (none of them are related to food, or health or technology or medicine). Yes, everyone may be impressed of these two degrees that have no relation to the business.

Moreover, the business owner has no passion to either degree and do not work with these degrees but the business owner offers this product to serve and help others.

The product looks professional with an expiry date to expire in two days!!! The product comes in a quantity of 1, 4 and 8 bottles.   I do not know the reason that of the expiry date given that there is no research or science behind the product to determine the impact of the three days instead of two.  I wonder If someone orders a pack of eight bottles, will he/her consome them all in two days. What about the logistics of producing, distributing and consuming a product that has to be kept cold (I assume) in two days?

It translates to a very limited number of customers with limited quantity orders, within a very small geographical area. So, the production, distribution and consumption in two days!!!.

 

I have to say that this is not a business, this is a grandma hobby to make pies, as:

1- The pies are initially FREE, till she asks for a favor in return, which will be fairly pricy.

2- The ingredients are from grandma apple tree in the backyard – Oh, by the way, the apple tree is very natural and very organic, because grandma is a senior and can not take care of the apple tree and no one fertilizes the tree.

3- Grandma believes that she makes her family happier by offering more pies. She consumes her effort, while her grandkids do not prefer to eat the pies, or do not eat them at all.

4- Grandma’s pies have to be eaten hot, and within one or two days.

5- No one knows the secret ingredient of the pies, even grandma herself does not.

6- Grandma pies taste differs from time to time. It is a function of the mood and the time in the oven, but grandma does not read the time.

7- Grandma serves only her family and close friends, which is a very limited consumer base.

 

The whole time, I was simply looking for a reason to try a sample of a new product.  I may feel lucky to put my hand on a free sample of this product. I was trying to find a reason for myself. I know grandma, but I do not know the business owner.   So please stop copying grandma hobby making pies and focus on building a business.

 

Note from the author: 

This is a true story and I held the name of the product and business confidential because I have the care and passion to every small business and entrepreneur in our community.   I strongly believe that the message within this post will help everyone in their business, So please let me know your thoughts below. 

 

I declare that I owe the business owner the price of the sample because I did not feel comfort to drink it, which is my fault AND now the sample expired!!!

 

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Guerilla Versus Gorilla – Small Companies Can Win

We make our living as guerillas not the bad kind, but more of a freedom fighter. By using the term ‘guerilla’ I mean EMJ (now a division of SYNNEX) fights for business against big gorillas (other distributors) in the field. Our competitors are almost 100 times our size; EMJ is a Canadian-based, $165 million per year distributor. We have made an operating profit for the past 80 consecutive quarters. So even though we are up against the big gorillas as a distributor, we must be doing something right.

If you are in a business where some of the competitors are much larger, you may be able to benefit from using guerilla tactics. The principles of running a guerrilla organization differ from running a gorilla organization. As a guerrilla, we hide from our competitor; we do not try to crush them. I even go so far as to examine what they do well and let them do it. At the same time, I look for under-serviced markets and get to these markets fast.

A gorilla takes all competitors head on, trying to crush the competition. Sometimes this takes the form of a price war. Sometimes it takes major prolonged, drawn-out investment. This works as long as you are the same size, or larger than the competition. Even then, such a long battle can sap power and ultimately profits.

Companies that die often believe they were gorillas. It is certain death for a business to fight gorillas unless they can withstand the siege. Any time we hire someone with a gorilla-company background, we watch and coach that person to make sure they are indoctrinated with the appropriate tactics. We have to make sure they understand out business model.

My 8 favourite guerilla tactics are:

1 Act fast. I use my company’s size for my advantage. I can act lightning fast. In the computer business, this is a huge asset. Things change so rapidly that moving fast and being first to market is a huge advantage. Larger companies do not react quickly. Develop a reputation for being first it gets the attention of customers.

2 Welcome smaller opportunities. Gorillas tend to say ‘no’ to manufacturers who don’t think they can do significant volume with. But a small opportunity rejected by a gorilla can be a very profitable opportunity for a guerilla. For EMJ, a million dollar per product line is an opportunity big enough to get the attention of my first string. In your business, look for the right-sized opportunity for you. Frequently, it is the smaller opportunity that has the best promise. The gorillas will leave you alone. There is always a right-sized opportunity for a company of any size. Knowing your rightful place in the market can help you to thrive.

3 Get focussed. Higher focus means we know more, stock more, and sell more product of fewer manufacturers. The smaller our product listing, the more powerful we become. We know a lot about a little. That means we know the products we sell better than a gorilla, and we become a sales tool for the reseller, not just an order-taker. Could you become more focused and specialized in a business area by giving up on a part of your business?

4 Be more flexible. We can adapt more easily to our customers and suppliers. We try not to be ruled by policy. The bigger a company gets, the more likely they are to have policy and some of it is required. As a small distributor, we can be more flexible. Are there areas that your competition is ignoring that by being more entrepreneurial, you can capitalize on?

5 Be smarter. This sounds too simple, almost embarrassing to write. Since we are smaller, we can look at the business we do more carefully and make sure it makes good business sense. We don’t pick up another manufacturer just to increase the size of our line card. That’s just not good business sense for us. That’s the way we have to think and so should you.

6 Lower your overhead. For some reason, most companies seem to choose more expensive offices and furnishings as they grow. This expectation tends to increase costs in all areas of the company that distribution, at current margin levels, can ill afford. At EMJ, we buy quality used furniture. We are on the outskirts of Guelph where the cost of land and taxes is less. Our capital base is even high enough that our cost of capital is less than some of the gorillas. Are there areas that you can be lower overhead than the gorillas in your field? Costs always add up on the bottom line.

7 Foster staff loyalty one major advantage guerillas have over gorillas is the ability to attract, motivate, and keep good people. Primarily this is because guerillas can be more flexible, easier to work for and give people more of a sense of accomplishment because what they do contributes more directly the company’s bottom line. I have always found there to be great power by being smaller and treating my people with respect and not just as numbers. Gorillas can try to do this but it is tough for them to copy you.

8 Just BE a gorilla. We like to enter market areas that we can dominate and specialize in. We may not be the biggest but in certain specific niches, we dominate. As long as we are the biggest in an area, we can act the part. We can under-price and over-service the competition forever. Anyone who enters our markets learns that it is expensive and often impossible to unseat us.

9 Be personal. One thing a smaller organization can do is to be more personal. People buy from people. You can foster relationships that will help you sell. Part of the way we are personal is by showing our customers what markets and products ARE profitable. There is nothing that cements a customer relationship better than making them money, because you’ll be making money for them AND for you!

10 Be opportunistic to sum up guerilla strategy is simply to be opportunistic. Take advantage of opportunities that the gorillas cannot do. There are many companies that remain profitable by being opportunistic.

In summary, unless you are huge think guerilla. Appropriate guerilla tactics for your size will win any battle.

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