Thursday, September 28, 2006

Hey Ladies



I would like to say another thank you to all of you lovely ladies who came out to the Women in Business networking and marketing presentation last night. I met lots of wonderful new people with great ideas and I'm happy to see such driven talent here in the Kootenays. For a first time event, we drew a crowd just shy of 30 people (which is really great) and we talked about what marketing is (EVERYTHING YOU DO!) and what elements make marketing more effective. We also discussed new internet trends and how to foster women's natural ability to market by word of mouth.
From the feedback I heard, most people learned at least one new thing and had a couple of concepts reinforced. All in all, I would call last night a big success and I'm already looking forward to the next one!
For those of you who are still a little foggy on what a BLOG is, this is it. You're reading one right now! If you scroll down the rest of this page, you will see other postings of mine and how I 'slant' my entries. Mostly geared towards supplementing my business Marketing for Good. Blogs are quick to set up and easy to use. Click here to set up your own blog

Wikipedia explains as follows.. "Blog is the contraction universally used for web log, a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), displayed in a reverse chronological order.
Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media.

The word blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog."

I would also like to ask you to post a comment about last night's presentation. If you liked it and learned lots, please let other people know the value in understanding how good marketing works! Your endorsement means so much to me and my company. THANK YOU!

Hope this helps - Please follow up with me on anything that is not clear or that you would like help with. Remember, I specialize in successful low cost marketing solutions for small business!

Monday, September 25, 2006

What is Marketing?

Anthony O. Putman - who is a marketing coach and teacher- defines marketing in his book "Marketing Your Services" as;
"Marketing is the intentional process of creating and maintaining a customer relationship."
Seth GodinMarketing Guru defines it as;
Spreading ideas that you believe in, sharing ideas you're passionate about... and doing it with authenticity.

Marketing for Good'’s definition of marketing falls somewhere in the middle and has been broken down into two main parts;
Philosophically speaking, “Good marketing is the intentional process of sharing ideas you'’re passionate about, believe in, and which create an authentic relationship between your business and the people who use your business.”

Practically speaking, "Marketing is the way you answer the phone, your letter head, your business card, the way you describe yourself and your company, staff uniforms, store cleanliness, return policies and essentially every type of interaction between people that goes on. Even management-to-staff treatment, which filters into unsupervised customer service is a form of marketing."

The 'practical' part is inspired by Seth Godin, but it also reflects a lifetime of my beliefs about how life operates. Everything in life is marketing. "They" say everything in life is politics, and it's true. But politics is marketing. How people identify and relate with your image is called positioning. The amount of people who buy into your promises, and on what scale, is called many things: customer service, advertising, trust-building, through to promise-delivery.

Non-professionals do this as well, unintentionally. Instinctively you know it's always wise to ask your spouse for a favour at the right moment. You also know that it's an even better idea to offer an incentive (e.g., back rub) in exhange for this favour if it involves them helping on an already busy day. This is the same concept as a store owner asking something specific of their clients (e.g., buy MY product, use MY services) and then realizing the value and benefit of offering an incentive. E.g., buy two bottles of expensive hand lotion and receive a free massage. This random example employs incentive offering and understanding your market.