SigmaWay Blog

If customer psychology is to be followed then it is seen that a customer is more satisfied and happy when he has purchasing power. The feeling that the customer has enough money left gives him/her a sense of assurance and satisfaction than when he/she is spending the last dollar, no matter what is the quality of the product. Hence it is better to target customers at the month beginning than at the end of the month.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6460-customers-love-purchases.html

The most dangerous and common mistake that can be made in a market research is being biased. Most of us are bound by some preconceived notions about certain subjects and we react accordingly without completely clarifying or interpreting clearly. Such cases can lead to wrong research results even though the data might be correct. Hence, we need to stay free from conformation bias while doing market research.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2013/08/21/market-research-mistake/

There are large number of interesting research reports and results available from which we can understand the pulse of the market and accordingly make changes or take decisions to improve our businesses. Research can prove fruitful and effective if they can be utilised properly for the benefit of the business.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kernlewis/2014/02/11/how-to-use-interesting-research-to-help-marketing-your-business/

Building a brand with the help of social media is an absolute necessity in the present scenario. But to do so one must have to build trust about the brand first. Expertise is also required to build your brand, because otherwise it will not succeed. Most importantly to build and maintain brand value in social media one must constantly update itself with the latest trends.

To know more please visit:-

http://socialmediatoday.com/adhutchinson/2442911/three-key-elements-build-your-brand-through-social-media

Recent news said that Twitter is coming up with a new platform called Twitter Commerce. These branded tweets, which look just like normal tweets, can be expanded to reveal a Buy button that allows consumers to make a purchase from within the Twitter app. Though twitter commerce has not been launched yet, social media providers are on a path to convert the social media platform into e-commerce platform. Few years ago presence of a brand in social media used to provide a significant advantage to the brand identity. But currently brands use the social platform as a communication channel with their consumer. With new and upcoming social commerce technologies, the biggest change for social media marketers will be a shift in focus from branding to lead generation. For more details please visit: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6318-future-of-social-commerce.html

In a recent study it was found that more than 50% of revenue for small businesses comes from repeat customers. It is important for small businesses to retain their customers rather than acquiring new ones. Customer loyalty program is a good tool for small organizations to retain customers. Successful customer loyalty program requires authentic customer information. A digitally run and managed program will efficiently explore the data available and will in turn provide deeper insight about customers. For more details please visit the following link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6310-big-data-customer-loyalty.html

The toughest job for small business owners is to develop a cost effective marketing plan. Unlike large organizations, small business owners have limited resources in their hands. Hence they need to be more careful while developing a marketing plan. Communicating with consumers should be their primary focus while creating a marketing strategy. For more details about marketing strategy tips please visit Chad Brooks (senior writer of BusinessNewsDaily)'s article link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6289-making-the-most-of-your-marketing-plan.html

Market research is the most powerful tool to analyze whether a product or service can fulfil the consumer needs or not. Market research helps to find the target audience, buying behaviour of consumers, market trends, demographics, economic shifts etc. This information is essential to the success of small and medium enterprises. Markets are dynamic and therefore it is important for SME players to remain updated about the market trends in order to remain in competition. Market research can help SMEs to remain updated and help them to understand the key issues in their business. For more details please visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/201404230455.html

Feedback surveys can be used to maximize business effectiveness. Employees, customers and events are valuable and necessary sources of feedback.  Feedback helps in taking strategic business decisions. Feedback surveys can be used to improve internal management, external environment and event management. To read more about how feedback helps an organization, please visit the article written by Sabina Stoiciu, writer of 123ContractForm in this link: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24928/three-ways-to-use-feedback-surveys-to-maximize-business-effectiveness

Email Marketing is the buzz word in today's business. So what is email marketing? Email marketing is the online version of direct mail. Instead of sending fliers and coupons to a customer's home, you can send those same items digitally to a customer's inbox and also helps the sender to see who is actually using and reading the mail. A study suggests that small and midsize businesses are now concentrating more on email marketing. Email marketing is cost effective and easy to create. It has a wider reach.  There are many forms of email marketing like newsletters, promotional campaigns, invitation email etc. To read more details about email marketing, please visit Chad Brook’s (BusinessNewsDaily contributor) article in this link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4488-email-marketing-guide.html

Big data can improve sales and services by analyzing. Hence it is important for an organization to find big data and analyze the data properly. Big data can be collected through archives, documents, media, business apps, social media, public web, data storage, machine log data, and sensor data. In an article Verónica Maria Jarski discussed how Kapow software) helps an organization to find various sources of Big Data. Read more at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2014/24904/intelligence-by-variety-where-to-find-and-access-big-data-infographic

It is important for every business to allocate resource and budget appropriately in each department of the organization. But things get difficult for small or start-up businesses because initially small business runs out of both money and resources. It often happens that management allocate maximum budget for marketing. In an article by David Holland (CEO of branding and marketing firm Data Source), offers three marketing strategies to help small businesses save money. For more details please visit Nicole Fallon’s article link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6236-money-saving-marketing-tips.html

With the growth of social media, people are taking and sharing photos through their mobile devices regularly. Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO of web design agency, Blue Fountain Media, said "Technology has turned us into a very visual culture...for a brand that is trying to communicate a marketing message, image-based content is becoming one of the strongest tools [to do so].” To read how photo sharing can boost social marketing, go through Nicole Fallon's, link http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6244-visual-content-marketing.html

The term big data refers to large amount of customer information gathered from social media, which helps companies to improve sales and services by analyzing those data. But unfortunately small businesses have limitations while analyzing big data. Also the huge volume of data may be confusing for small organization and some time they don't know where to begin. Social platform gathers information which can be important for organisations. Hence tools provided by Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, are a good start as they offer low start-up investment as per Evan Greenberg, CEO of marketing and communications firm Allscope Media. To read more about how big data can help businesses to think outside the box, follow Nicole Fallon's article in this link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6190-smb-big-data-tips.html

Nowadays, companies find that targeting a particular audience is much more fruitful than targeting mass audience. But sometimes, it may happen that targeted audience do not buy the product, and hence targeted marketing backfire. A recent study conducted at Dartmouth College, explores what happens when identity marketing misses the mark. The research was based on two types of identity marketing,

•        Marketing that simply references consumer identity

•        Marketing that explicitly ties consumer identity to a brand purchase

This research suggested that consumers are less likely to buy a company’s product which explicitly links an identity. The reason behind this is, while people may be drawn to brands that fit their identity, they are also more likely to desire a sense of ownership and freedom in how they express that identity. For more details please visit Elizabeth Palermo’s article link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6277-how-targeted-marketing-can-backfire.html

Creating customized website for each international market is a good strategy to start global marketing. Also to increase the visibility of the site, it is time to invest in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as SEO algorithm are constantly shifting and getting more complicated. Organizations need to prevent their website from getting buried in the sea of competitors' sites. To boost website traffic overseas, organizations need to take customized strategy for each market. Rachel Chilson, marketing communications coordinator at Sajan has given five SEO tips for global marketers and they are

• Know your Customers

• Research key words and phrases

• Adapt your content

• Perform regular testing

• Seek out professional

Read more please visit: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24946/five-seo-tips-for-global-marketers

Virtually anything in life that is new can be exciting simply because it is new. Nobody can actually ignore the importance of social media in day to day affairs. Be it business or be it personal, social media is important. The movement away from centering on "Going viral" to creating meaningful engagement, the shift away from a seemingly sole reliance on Facebook as the cornerstone of social media marketing, the realization that "Just being there" isn't enough, and the awareness that content is more than only words have totally set the stage for what is to occur next. As media changes day by day here are the 5 predictions that can occur in near future:  Social media can make big data even bigger, Mobile and entertainment will morph, marketing programs will reintegrate, Content marketing will grow, and the power of your network will deliver. For more details please visit: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/36458.asp?imcid=recommend#singleview

According to Forrester's "Customer Experience Index," 80% of companies say they deliver "superior" customer service, while 8% of people say the same companies actually deliver "superior" customer service. This disconnect has a significant impact on brand impression and retention - making this a key issue that CMOs are now finding imperative to address. CMOs all over the world had spent $100 billion in 2013 to drive brands through online advertising, and for measuring the success of campaigns using agencies, analytics and marketing automation. Still businesses get nearly 45 billion calls from customers and prospects. These infarctions' remain invisible to CMOs. Hence it is the time for the CMO, marketers and call center leaders to work together and improve the customers' experiences. By integrating call center employees with the content marketing strategy, organizations can actually take the right communication strategy. For more details please visit: http://www.nojitter.com/post/240168198/marketing-is-eating-it--get-ready

A recent report suggested that small businesses are not concentrating on their online presence. Researchers said that 70 percent of small businesses spent less than one hour per week maintaining their online presence. On the other hand only 51% spend time on social media once a month or less. Small business owners are also not concentrating on their website to improve sale. This article tells us details about the different ways small business owners can give their online presence a boost in order to increase visibility, generate interest and capture any buzz. Read more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6419-bolstering-small-business-online-presence.html

In the 21st century with rapid development of technology and analytics, organizations claim that they are data driven and rely on customer information gathered from a diversity of sources. Data analysis provides us the effects, but fails to interpret the causes. As per Mike Mothner CEO of Wpromote "Data can tell you that this ad is better than that one, but human intuition asks why." He also said "The key to a successful, data-driven marketing strategy is finding the perfect intersection between technology and human expertise." As there is much customer information available, it is important for commercial enterprises to determine which information is relevant for processing to reach the target. For more details please visit: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6393-big-data-human-interpretation.html