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Posted on Fri, 01/20/2012 - 02:28 PM by
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Every small business wants to emulate the success of the FTSE 100 companies‘ online marketing strategies. But as many SMEs have significantly smaller budgets they believe that these strategies are simply too expensive for them. Recent developments in marketing, such as social media and consumer driven marketing stunts, are however within reach for even the smallest companies. Here are a few examples of consumer driven marketing in the corporate world and examples of how you too can stimulate the same conversations with your customers: Coca Cola in a recent internal video admitted that consumer generated stories outnumbered those generated by the company itself. If such a large company, with a huge marketing budget, is taking lead from its customers then so should you. Whether you make sofas or manufacture ready meals you can create a dialogue with consumers, or even weigh in on existing conversations. Ikea recently took advantage of a consumer driven idea and created a successful PR stunt. A group on Facebook called ‘I Wanna Have A Sleepover In Ikea’ was the inspiration for IKEA’s stunt. The company created a similar competition for 100 Facebook fans to be part of a giant sleepover at the Essex IKEA store. This stunt rewarded consumers for their brand loyalty and created demand for other events around the country. Have a look at what people are saying about your brand, and act on your findings. Social media is a great way to gauge the ideas of your audience and things people want to see from your industry. One company in particular did this especially well. Belling, a kitchen appliance manufacturer, compiled a book of recipes that had been tweeted to them. The recipe book entitled Tweet Pie – The World’s Shortest Recipe Book contained 50 tweeted recipes. If you are a business you can take full advantage of social media and consumer driven marketing, it is inexpensive and incredibly successful. GUEST BLOG: This helpful business article was provided by Katie Bryans. MORE NEWS FROM SME SMALL BUSINESS BLOGDon’t push when you can pullNo selling required There is a better way of winning new customers than pushing you and your B2B offer at them. Customers love it because they’re buying rather than being sold to. You’ll like it because it feels better than selling and you’ll get more long term business from it. U... Top 5 Tips for Taking Time Off from Your Small BusinessTop 5 Tips posts from the SME Blog are always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners. 1. Make sure that your email Inbox is totally clear of anything urgent and that you have replied to everything important. You can set your email to provide an ‘out of office’... The Power of your Sales LedgerMany businesses are not aware of the potential to release cash against their sales ledger. For every sale made, you have to invoice your customers for goods sold or services provided. Factoring.uk.net explains how resourceful your sales ledger could be in these economically demanding times. Work within reason, wise Dad advisedMy father, who worked for himself all his life, either alone or running his small business, said to anyone thinking of going for it (me included) that it would take ten years to get established. I couldn’t see that at the time but I now fully understand what he was getting at. Top 5 Tips for Business Credit CardsTop 5 Tips posts from the SME Blog are always full of hints and tips for small, home & micro business owners. 1. Using a credit card is actually a sensible thing for a business to do, provided they are going to be paying it off in full each month. Doing this helps to build a solid credit histor... RELATED SMALL BUSINESS NEWSYou’re the Boss Blog: White House Opposes Small-Business Contracting Provision in Defense BillIn a statement, the administration called higher goals for small-business contracting "laudable but overly ambitious." ... How the 'Little Guy' Can Partner With Big CompaniesIf you're a little guy, there are plenty of ways to partner with a much larger company. Here are seven. ... "Scott Thompson Was A Terrible CEO" And Other Snippets From Fred WilsonAs always, Fred Wilson had a lot of insights share this morning at TechCrunch's Disrupt conference in New York. Here are some of the highlights from his talk with the always barbed Mike Arrington:... SRDC Is Offering Loans Through RLFSouthwest Regional Development Commission (SRDC) is offering loans through revolving loan fund (RLF). Its purpose is to have a direct financing tool making loan funds available so as to assist in retail, manufacturing, and distribution businesses. What Job Are You Helping Your Customers Do?Marketing is often described in terms of a product life cycle. The development, the launch, continued support, and finally, discontinuation all have specific marketing efforts associated with them. From social contests to reduced prices and giveaways, the emphasis is nearly always on the product or service provided. However, this does not take into account the way that customers actually search for and find products. |
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