Utilizing demographics in online marketing

In simple words “demographics” is the data or information about some specific group of population. These groups are formed on the basis of distinctions like age, gender, monthly income, race, education, marital status, etc. The word demographics has stemmed from demography which is the study of population. In modern marketing, marketing persons tend to use psycho graphics in conjunction with demographics (demographics is the classification on the basis of age, sex, race while psycho graphics is the study of their attitudes, values, lifestyle, etc). Though some experts are not in favor of mixing up these two, you shouldn’t be too concerned about making out if the information you are going to use in your marketing falls under the label of demographics or psycho graphics (because in all likelihood you’ll be using both).

Using Demographics in Online Marketing:

The most commonly used demographic profiling is based on age, where we have groups like baby boomers, adults, teens or children. Other profiles include men, women, African American, Generation X, Hispanic, and so on. As you can see, knowing the demographics of your target market is imperative when making your marketing strategy or advertisement, or else you’ll be shooting in dark when making your marketing strategy. Therefore, the first thing when planning your internet marketing campaign is to make a demographic profile of your target market.

For example, if you are going to start an extreme sports blog, you must be aware of the fact that the majority of the visitors will be coming from the age group of say 18 to 35, most of them men (the figures are not based on some research but just been quoted as an example). Such generalization helps when deciding what kind of ads you can place on your website or what sort of design or features your target audience would like to see.

Similarly, when you are planning to start an e-commerce portal for some specific region, you must get hold of the information like internet usage in that particular region, online habits, online shopping behaviors and the likes. Users from one country or region can typically have quite a different set of habits, preferences, routine, etc. Furthermore, studies have shown a clear difference between the online habits of men and women. You can find plenty of survey reports doing rounds on internet with a focus on online shopping behaviors. Going through these reports and knowing the facts will definitely help as opposed to a marketing plan which has been put together around assumptions or wild guesses.

Source:
USA Wholesale Suppliers, Distributors, Dropshippers & Manufacturers

Things to remember when searching for job

Recent economic crisis has left many people unemployed. Being out of work for an extended period is a terrible experience to have, especially when you are the sole earner in your family. At these times, the only thing that lingers in your mind when searching for a job is that “you are jobless”. Such stressful situation can hurt your chances of getting a job because you are not able to do your best in job interviews, mainly because your mind stays overwhelmed with the worries and concerns. Therefore, the first thing you should do is to get a little loosen up, to let your mind work more freely and clearly.

Next step is to find a vacancy in your respective field. This part is not difficult, thanks to the Internet where you can find a number of portals to assist you in job search. You can upload your curriculum vitae at each of these websites and all it takes is a search with relevant keywords and a click on “apply now” button and your CV will be forwarded to the employer. If you’ve got the right qualification or experience, you can be sure of an interview call in most cases.

Some candidates get to the interviews with a negative frame of mind, thinking that there’s no way they can be selected. The truth is that most of the short listed candidates have fairly equivalent credentials; it is only after the interview that employers make their minds to select/reject a candidate, which means, you should approach every interview with positive mind and confidence. Don’t try too hard to impress the interviewee because you might end up talking too much, and whenever there is excessive talk, there’s every chance that you’ll come up with some thoughtless remarks or answers, resulting in a rejection.

Always follow up by sending a thank you letter (or email) to the employer after the interview. Tell them that it was a pleasant experience and you’re thoroughly impressed with their approach (yes, a little flatter can go a long way). Besides, follow up letter is a great way to put forward some of your plus points that you forgot to mention during the interview. In the end, whenever you receive a job offer, take some time to weigh up the salary and benefits against the duties you’ll have to perform. However, be practical instead of being greedy, especially in such circumstances when new jobs opening are already scarce to the point of non-existence.

Source:
Computer Wholesale Suppliers

Some basic ways to improve your business liquidity

The liquidity of an asset can be determined by taking into account the convenience, when converting it into cash at any given time. For example, an asset is highly liquid if it can be switched into cash quickly and easily, whereas an asset is less liquid if it takes lots of time and efforts to convert it into cash. Liquidity is an important factor, which is considered by investors whenever they are looking to invest. When we talk of business liquidity, it is the ability of some specific business to arrange cash for its daily requirements. A business can be profitable and all, but it can still fail to prosper if it lacks in liquidity department. Business liquidity is necessary to carry routine business operations, for example paying utility bills, wages and fulfilling other obligations.

Cash management and liquidity:
Business liquidity is directly related to cash management that includes budgeting, forecasting, ROI, cash collection & allocation, and the likes. Poor cash management can hurt business liquidity in many ways. Finance managers must consider liquidity risk every time they are looking to invest the capital in any venture; also they need to monitor cash flow closely.

Account Payable & Receivables:
When you’ve got lots of sale and purchase going on credit basis, you need to keep an eye on your account receivable, as well as account payable. The idea is to try and collect payments as soon as possible, while trying to delay payments which are due (while staying in ethical limits and not bullying your creditors). Encourage customers to pay in cash, remember cash is the king, even more so in times of recession.

Don’t stack useless assets:
Some businesses make the mistake of piling up assets that are not really useful at that particular time. These assets can be some seldom-used vehicles, vacant land, useless furniture, inventory or machinery that they don’t need at the moment. Sometimes renting or outsourcing can do the job, therefore you don’t really need to purchase all sorts of equipment every time the slightest need arises.

Choose the right investment:
When the company holds cash that exceeds its present expenditures, the excessive amount must be invested instead of holding (because of opportunity cost). However, the people responsible for choosing investment options must keep the liquidity factor in mind. Try to avoid investments that lack in liquidity, and keep an eye on future expenses as well.

Source:
UK Wholesale

Price determination – Profit and other contributing factors

If you are in retail or reselling business, setting price is not a concern, but if you are the manufacturer or producer, or if you are going to provide some sort of services then setting price can be a very difficult job. At times, new startups set prices in a hurry and focus more on making sales, only to find later that even though they’ve made good enough sales, the accumulated profit is not up to the mark. That is why when setting prices; you need to keep each and every cost in mind, along with adjusting the variables like competitor’s price and consumer’s purchasing power into the price. A price too low would bring more sales but no profits, whereas a price too high will bring large profits but very few sales (unless you enjoy some sort of monopoly). Therefore, the price needs to be spot on.

Rule of thumb when setting prices:

Try to kill your competition by setting low price, but make sure you are not choking your own business of profits. Whatever pricing model you use for pricing your products or services just remember this one point; you’ve got to set a price that will give you an edge over your competitor, still providing you with much needed cash to cover your costs while earning some profits. One more thing, the price you set initially is not something written on stone, it can be changed and it should be changed if the initial price doesn’t prove to be the right one for any reason.

Costs & Expenses:

The price should cover the cost of production and advertisement, that’s simple and everybody knows that. Where most businesses go wrong is when they are calculating their costs of doing business, they often overlook the possibility of some future expenses or completely ignore one or two indirect expenses (transportation & depreciation, etc). Therefore, before you start calculating the right price, you must be having an idea of all costs or expenses that will occur in course of business.

Different Prices for Different stages:

If you are just starting, your first goal must be to enter the market and capture as much market share as you can. At this point of time, you probably need a price as low as possible; some businesses even take a risk of setting a price lower than their break-even point. However, once you’ve managed to make inroads, you can raise your price, later when you’ve established as a well known brand, you can always set a price that offers maximum profits.

Source:
Computers Wholesale Suppliers

Improving productivity by removing bad working habits

Have you ever wondered how big an impact our habits can have on our destiny? Do you have any idea as to how much of what we do or what we think is actually habitual? You don’t need any stats or figures to understand the gist, as a little bit of pondering will reveal that most of the time what you do is nothing more than you following a pattern, set by No one else but yourself. You are not to be blamed though, because most of the times you were not even aware of the negative bearing some particular habit might have on your career. One wicked thing about bad habits is that they are hard to break, however the good thing about these habits is that we can replace them with new, more productive ones

Punctuality:
Often, we found ourselves reaching late at offices, day after day, despite the fact that we would like to get there in time. It almost works like a curse. Every time you find yourself behind schedule, you make up your mind to be on time from now onwards, only to find yourself behindhand once again, that too for no obvious reasons. There’s no need to describe how unpunctuality can hurt your professional life as everybody is well aware of the importance of punctuality. If your lateness is limited to reaching late at your workplace then maybe all you need to do is to sleep early and use alarm clocks, however if you are behind schedule in most of your business projects or meetings, then you may need some serious planning.

Unprofessional Conduct:
Maintaining a professional behavior is very important. There are many kinds of inappropriate behaviors, for example arrogance, humor, bullying your coworkers or dressing unprofessionally. There should be a friendly environment at the workplace, but some people go overboard and start cracking jokes and calling names in a manner that spoils the working environment. These funny fellows then proceed to ridicule some relatively shy ones, resulting in hostile feelings among the coworkers. Therefore, you must keep your anger, attitude or sense of humor in check while at office. The focus must be on official assignments, all other things (socializing, having fun, gossip) should be secondary.

Wasting time on irrelevant stuff:
One of the very few evils of internet is that it allows us to burn hour after hour of our precious working time, without us even noticing it. There are protocols in place at most offices now; however the time-wasting habit keeps hampering those who work from home.

Source:
Wholesale Suppliers

Hone your skills to provide better customer service on phone

If you’ve got the experience of calling some company’s helpline and talking to their representatives, you must be having an idea of the difference that the person on the other side of the telephone line can make. Some representatives are able to make a positive impression even before the actual conversation take place. Research shows that a good percentage of angry customers skipped the idea of getting rude and using foul language, just because the person who received the call sounds too polite and erudite. We can safely assume that a big majority of these customers must have skipped the idea of bad mouthing that particular business in front of their friends, as well.

On the contrary, some representatives take pleasure in poking fun at customers and making them feel sorry for even thinking about complaining or making an inquiry. Sometimes it can be due to insufficient training or little or no check over your CSR. Sometimes little things like advising them to call to another number or sending an email to some specific address can prove to be a big enough turnoff (ideally it should be the customer service representative who’ll forward their complains to the concerned department). At times the prospective customer calls a new business and upon hearing a somewhat discourteous greeting, the first thing that comes to his/her mind is “if hiring their services means hearing such displeasing response more often, then there’s no way I m getting into business with these fellows”.

Your customer service staff needs to be au fait with the main idea that they are there for customer’s service. What a “shocking revelation” Mr. writer, you must be thinking, but this obvious point is ignored by customer service staff quite often. CSR people are there to serve the customers, not for giving short answers to their questions and hanging up the phone instantly or take another call. However, it’s not always the customer service staff that makes this mistake, sometimes business owners are themselves the culprits, without even noticing it. If you are a small business and you don’t have the need or resources to hire specialized staff, you must hone your skills to give a better impression.

You don’t necessarily need to join some crash course of improving your telephonic conversation; some mock calls with your family members or friends can give you plenty of advice to work on. All you need is to ask them to comment on your voice quality, selection of words and convincing techniques.

Source:
UK Wholesale Suppliers, Distributors, Dropshippers & Manufacturers
Computers Wholesale Suppliers

Green Business – Change your business into eco-friendly business

These days business circles are abuzz with the talks of eco friendly practices. New startups and small businesses are keen to jump on eco-friendly bandwagon by adapting environment friendly practices like recycling, green manufacturing, sustainable development or renewable energy. Not only these practices provide small businesses with good projection, but the technologies like recycling or renewable energy are also beneficial to the businesses in terms of cost reduction. “Green business” is a recently introduced phenomenon and it is much more than placing a greenish logo on your products or packaging. In actual fact, Green businesses are enterprises that use natural products, reprocess materials and try to be as energy efficient as they can.

Efficient Use of Energy:
Businesses are keen to minimize energy cost and emissions. Businesses can save a handful on bills by taking initiatives like switching off unnecessary lights or using appliances which are much more energy efficient than the older ones. Energy efficient electronics like computer monitors, cooling systems or lighting systems have in-built programs along together with different kinds of sensors, which helps them save energy in various ways. Buying these appliances or installing new cooling systems may sound a little squandering, however when you look at the amount you can save on bills, it is easily justified.

Environment Friendly Manufacturing:
Manufacturers are quickly realizing that adapting an eco-friendly approach is actually more beneficial for the business itself than it is for the environment. A green manufacturer will focus on the longevity of the products, it won't pile up unnecessary inventory, it'll think of ways to recycle scrap and it wouldn't be wasting resources in over production. As you can see, these are all commonsensical practices. Therefore, green manufacturing is not some useless hoopla; it is in fact a more sensible approach of doing business.

Working for the waste reduction and Recycling:
Waste reduction should be added into the job description of managers or supervisors as an added responsibility. Take the example of paper wastage, which can be reduced significantly by taking small steps. For example, using electronic mail for internal communication or printing on both sides of the paper. Stop purchasing or making use of color printers when you can do with black and white copies. Read the instruction manuals of your electronic appliances like Air Conditioners, generators or printers and follow the instructions, it will maximize their performance while increasing their lifespan. Manager or anybody else who is in charge of purchases should make sure that the need exists before authorizing any purchase.

Source:
China Wholesale Suppliers, Distributors, Dropshippers & Manufacturers
UK Wholesale Suppliers, Distributors, Dropshippers & Manufacturers

Do you need a Sales Compensation Plan?

Sales Compensation Plan, or in simple words “sales commission plan” is a must to attract and motivate a sales force that delivers. In the absence of a sound Sales Compensation Plan (or in case of poor planning), you’ll keep loosing your sales reps (and eventually your sales) on regular basis. Apart from the motivating factor, it also helps in effective HR management, assisting you in carrying out duties like promotions, downsizing and recruitment. It won’t be an exaggeration if we state that the sales-force works as the engine of a business, by the same token sales commissions can be deemed as the fuel that runs this engine. Good commission means good fuel and good fuel means a more strong and effective engine.

Remember, products are more or less the same; and most of the times it’s the sales representative who can make a difference.

How to devise a practical Sales Compensation Plan:

As it is the case with most management decisions, you’re ought to be fully aware of goals and available resources for your business. As a general rule, sales compensation plan is the combination of basic salaries and sales incentives. Basic salaries are fixed wages that the sales people are going to get every month, irrespective of the number of sales they make. Whereas incentives are sales based commissions and you can add further bonuses on reaching some monthly or quarterly targets. While doing the planning, you must be able to come up with the answers to the questions like what percentage of total sales could you disburse as commissions? Or what’ll be the better option, giving out commission on each sale or when they reach some specific target?

A well planned incentive strategy will go a long way towards making your business a success; on the contrary an insincere plan may cause the collapse in no time. There’s no single structure for a good compensation plan, it differs with the type of business, product, industry, and the job market. Sometimes you must offer good basic salary; sometimes just good incentive package will do the trick. However, many businesses just rely on offering a hefty commission and no base salary; such compensation plan can be counter productive as no sales person will take the job seriously, moreover you won’t be able to execute any kind of control over your workforce, let alone holding anybody accountable. Therefore, you must take everything into consideration before finalizing a compensation plan.

Source:
Wholesale Suppliers
UK Wholesale