Marketing vs. Advertising

You will often find that many people confuse marketing with advertising or vice versa. While both components are important they are very different. Knowing the difference and doing your market research can put your company on the path to substantial growth.

Let's start off by reviewing the formal definitions of each and then I'll go into the explanation of how marketing and advertising differ from one another:

Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a firm of its products to its existing and potential customers.

Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.

After reading both of the definitions it is easy to understand how the difference can be confusing to the point that people think of them as one-in-the same, so lets break it down a bit.

Advertising is a single component of the marketing process.

It's the part that involves getting the word out concerning your business, product, or the services you are offering. It involves the process of developing strategies such as ad placement, frequency, etc. Advertising includes the placement of an ad in such mediums as newspapers, direct mail, billboards, television, radio, and of course the Internet. Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with public relations following in a close second and market research not falling far behind.

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing as everything that an organization does to facilitate an exchange between company and consumer.

http://marketing--research.blogspot.com/

The past few decades have brought an ever-increasing number of marketing messages our way. Between television, magazines, newspapers, billboards, intentional product placement and celebrity endorsements, the level of advertising has become overwhelming for the average consumer. And as a result, today’s consumers have become desensitized to marketing in general.

This article will explore today’s new realities for advertisers, either online or offline. There’s a new approach in marketing today and it requires a lot more than ever before. Does that mean marketing is becoming prohibitively expensive? Absolutely not. In fact, done properly, modern marketing can establish customer loyalty far beyond what was possible in decades past.

Today’s consumers don’t trust you. In fact, they don’t trust anyone. They’ve been over-marketed since birth and are now encountering over 3000 marketing messages each day, on average. In order to gain their trust, the marketer must do a lot more than simply TELL them the truth. They have to SHOW them the truth.

Indeed, 3000 marketing messages each day is an estimate and it undoubtedly varies from one person to another. But this barrage of messages has left consumers skeptical of unsubstantiated claims. They’ve heard every clever slogan and every incredible product claim. And with today’s email world, they’ve seen every scam in the world. A message alone won’t capture their trust.

Buyers today want proof. They want to see it for themselves. In fact, they want to experience it for themselves too. Buyers today want to sample the goods before making the purchase decision, just like those sampling tables at Costco. They want to benefit from real value before they’re even requested to pull out their wallets.

These intertwined realities have resulted in today’s value-first marketing moniker. This new approach requires sellers of all kinds to sample their products for the world to try, all before requesting a penny in exchange. As a seller, you have to demonstrate your value. You have to demonstrate the benefits of your product. You have to prove your worth before you can expect any revenue coming in.

Nowhere is this more true than the internet. Almost every successful website offers valuable resources to its customers; valuable resources often free of charge. Whether it’s a consumer report, tools to calculate one thing or another, gobs of relevant information or a free sample of the product itself, internet marketers know they have to earn the trust of their customers before selling to them.

The upside of this new approach is that the consumers who give you a try, the consumers who sample your value, can establish a level of trust for you and your products far more powerful than that possible in the 80s or even 90s. And why? Because they experienced your value themselves. They saw it for themselves. And they made their own decision.

Modern marketing is empowering to consumers. It gives them an opportunity to experience the world directly and select those products and services they know will benefit them. The opportunities for customer loyalty are far greater today than ever before and it’s because consumers have the opportunity and the freedom to sample their solutions before they buy them.

ΚΑΤΗΓΟΡΙΕΣ ΠΡΟΪΟΝΤΩΝ (Greek Marketing Lessons)

ΚΑΤΗΓΟΡΙΕΣ ΠΡΟΪΟΝΤΩΝ
ως προς την στάση του καταναλωτή

• Προϊόντα ευκολίας: αγοράζονται συχνά από τον καταναλωτή, άµεσα και µε τη μικρότερη προσπάθεια (π.χ. τσίχλες).
• Προϊόντα προτίµησης: σχετίζονται µε µικρή αγοραστική προσπάθεια, αλλά υψηλή προτίµηση µάρκας.
• Προϊόντα επιλογής: δεν αγοράζονται συχνά, κοστίζουν πολύ περισσότερο απ’ ότι τα προϊόντα ευκολίας και η επιλογή τους γίνεται µετά από συγκριτική αξιολόγηση µεταξύ διαφορετικών µαρκών (π.χ. ρούχα και ηλεκτρικές συσκευές).
• Εξειδικευµένα προϊόντα: αγοράζονται λόγω τωνµοναδικών χαρακτηριστικών που διαθέτουν που κάνουν τον αγοραστή να τα προτιµά αφιερώνοντας χρόνο όχι για να κάνει σύγκριση µεταξύ εναλλακτικών µαρκών, όπως συµβαίνει µε τα προϊόντα επιλογής, αλλά για να µεταβεί στο εξειδικευµένο κατάστηµα που τα έχει. (π.χ. προϊόντα delicatessen και έργα τέχνης).

www.marketingpower.gr

GREECE MARKETING - ΟΡΙΣΜΟΣ MARKETING

GREECE MARKETING - ΟΡΙΣΜΟΣ MARKETING

Marketing είναι μια σειρά από ενέργειες και δραστηριότητες που κάνει μια εταιρεία ώστε να καταγράψει τις επιθυμίες των καταναλωτών, να δημιουργήσει τα προϊόντα και τις υπηρεσίες που θα καλύψουν αυτές τις ανάγκες και να τα πουλήσει αποτελεσματικότερα και αποδοτικότερα από τους ανταγωνιστές της, δίνοντας στον καταναλωτή τη μεγαλύτερη δυνατή αξία.

by www.marketingpower.gr

ΤΟ ΔΙΕΘΝΕΣ ΜΑΡΚΕΤΙΝΓΚ

Λόγοι για τη διεθνοποίηση μιας επιχείρησης.

• Η επιρροή του κύκλου ζωής του προϊόντος
• Ο ανταγωνισμός σε μια επιλεγμένη αγορά- στόχο
• Χρησιμοποίηση της πλεονάζουσας παραγωγικής ικανότητας
• Η γεωγραφική διαφοροποίηση
• Δυναμικό πληθυσμού και αγοραστικής δύναμης
• Στρατηγικό ανταγωνιστικό πλεονέκτημα

Οι δυνάμεις του περιβάλλοντος της Διεθνούς Αγοράς

• Πολιτιστικές δυνάμεις
• Κοινωνικές δυνάμεις
• Οικονομικές δυνάμεις
• Πολιτικές και νομικές δυνάμεις

Τρόποι διείσδυσης στις Διεθνείς Αγορές

o Έμμεση εξαγωγή κατά την οποία οι πωλήσεις γίνονται σε έναν ενδιάμεσο ο οποίος στη συνεχεία προβαίνει στη μεταπώληση σε πελάτες στο εξωτερικό.

o Άμεση εξαγωγή κατά την οποία η εταιρία πωλεί άμεσα σε πελάτες στο εξωτερικό.

o Παραγωγή στο εξωτερικό η οποία μπορεί να πάρει τη μορφή μιας μικτής επιχείρησης (joint venture) ή της εγκατάστασης στο εξωτερικό μιας θυγατρικής εταιρίας πλήρους ιδιοκτησίας.

Οι τρεις βασικές προσεγγίσεις για την ανάπτυξη διεθνών στρατηγικών προϊόντος και προβολής είναι:

· Η στρατηγική του Μάρκετινγκ για μια αδιαφοροποίητη (τυποποιημένη) παγκόσμια αγορά.

· Η στρατηγική του Μάρκετινγκ για μια διαφοροποιημένη παγκόσμια αγορά.

· Η στρατηγική επινόησης νέου προϊόντος

by www.marketingpower.gr

Google Adwords Overview

Google Adwords is the sponsored link system operated by Google. It is Google's chief source of income.

Advertisers choose keyword phrases that they want to advertise "on" and with proper design and funding, their ads will appear on the Google search engine results page (SERP) as well as partners, such as AOL.

With Google Adwords

• Your price is automatically lowered to one cent more than your closest competitor.
  
• No one can lock in the top position. User click through rates and CPC help determine where your ad is shown.
  
• Google offers a unique set of tools to forecast your budget and select target keywords.
  
• You can target your ads to users in a specific country or only to speakers of a specific language.
  
• By developing effective landing pages, you can receive improved listings at less cost than your less savvy customers.
  
• You can monitor your competition's activity.

Mystery shopping

Mystery shopping

Αύξηση των πωλήσεων μέσω καλύτερης εξυπηρέτησης και ικανοποίησης του πελάτη. To MYSTERY SHOPPING είναι ένα απαραίτητο εργαλείο της Διοίκησης και του Management , που αποβλέπει στην αντικειμενική μέτρηση και αξιολόγηση του τρόπου λειτουργίας της εταιρίας με απώτερο σκοπό , τόσο τον προσδιορισμό των αδυναμιών και την άμεση βελτίωση των , όσο και την λήψη σωστών στρατηγικών αποφάσεων. Η μέθοδος του MYSTERY SHOPPING βασίζεται στην επίσκεψη ειδικά εκπαιδευμένων ατόμων στο χώρο πώλησης /παροχής (προϊόντων η υπηρεσιών) που συμπεριφέρονται σαν υποψήφιοι πελάτες 'shoppers'. Κατά την διάρκεια της επίσκεψης οι 'shoppers' καταγράφουν βάση συγκεκριμένου ερωτηματολογίου και αξιολογούν κάθε σημείο και περιοχή ενδιαφέροντος για την εταιρία

The Impact of SEO Web Design on Search Engines

The Impact of SEO Web Design on Search Engines

SEO web design is a concept which emphasizes great architectural design principles based on how the search engines determine relevance and site information. The design should be able to give out the information that the user is seeking and at the same time be easily navigable. This is part of search engine optimization because the SEO web design should also be able to satisfy robotic crawlers and spiders in their quest for information regarding the website and other data.

SEO Web Design and Site Optimization

Search engine optimization is more than just a trend nowadays. It is used and applied by almost all sites on the internet that aim to make money and reach online popularity. Among the many strategies of optimizing a web site, SEO web design is one of the topmost priorities.

The impact of the design of the site on search engine robotic crawlers or spiders can help raise the ranking of the site. This is where SEO web design comes in. There are many ways to make the web site more attractive to robotic visitors and human visitors alike. Actually, spiders and crawlers from search engines do not mind the overall aesthetic value of the site. All these robotic crawlers need is the information it can get from the site. The tricky part is how to put relevant information in the site in order for the crawlers to properly index the site due to its relevance. SEO companies who specialize in optimizing web sites must also know how to put a site in front of others in order to bring it to the attention of the Internet users. The search optimizers who will handle your site must be able to know the right strategies to place the web site ahead of others in its field through accepted methods of optimization.

SEO web design is a competitive area where web designers, or what I prefer to call website architects, work hard to come up with ideas and designs that are aesthetically appealing and relevant at the same time. There has to be consideration for ease of getting around the website, being appealing to a wide range of visitors and finding the right place for the website. Making a basic, visually appealing site is easy with the many technological advances available today, but the problem with these advances is that they are sometimes quite tricky to use thus making your website difficult to navigate. SEO web design should be easy to use and friendly to both human and robotic browsers.

Easy navigational access can be done by making the pages of the site easy to navigate to and having easy to understand and use button or labels to click on. The pictures and images on your SEO web design should be just the right size and scale to enable users to see them promptly after clicking instead of taking a very long time to download. Waiting for images and other graphics to load can be off-putting for most visitors and will eventually lead them to another site which is more optimized and easy to view. Even spiders and crawlers will give up on a site which is not easy to navigate and get into.

The overall appeal of the SEO web design should not only be focused mainly on the niche that it is targeted to but also for Internet users who might have stumbled onto the site. SEO web design should have a universal appeal even for the most specialized type of sites on the Internet. Some webmasters or website owners could opt for specialized SEO web designs and these can also be done with the targeted audience in mind. It will also benefit the site if it is indexed as it should be. You might want to have a specific SEO web design which is built around the entire concept of your site and this can add to the ranking if you are quite specific with what you aim to sell or market. If you are marketing a specific product or information, SEO experts can focus on this product or information and build the SEO web design around it.

Another aspect of SEO web design that needs to be considered is what your competition is doing. The saying "know your enemy" is the key here. You do not want to have the same boring marketing strategies as the competition. Why? Because it is a good idea to keep abreast with what they are doing and how well they are doing in this field. There are many site optimization tools that can help analyze and determine what is needed for the site. Hence, in regard to the SEO web design process, content is one of the prime needs and tools of making the site rank high in searches. Finding out or identifying the right keywords to integrate into the site can be crucial in making the site among the top ranking ones. Keyword search tools and having keyword rich content and titles can help to optimize a site efficiently.

SEO web design experts should also bear in mind that there are web strategies that may be unacceptable for search engines. Using these underhand or black hat tricks to perpetuate a site in rank can cause the search engines to ban the site and also the SEO web design company that did the search engine optimization work for it no matter how well the SEO web design is.