Posts Tagged ‘AMA Tampa Bay’

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Top Reasons Companies Fear Social Media (And Why They Shouldn’t)

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

Social media isn't just for the 20 and under crowd anymore. Every day more businesses and publicly facing personnel create Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and LinkedIn profiles.  Although some companies are understandably hesitant about dipping their toes in these foreign waters, it could mean new levels of success for your business. Here are the top miscalculated reasons why you might be resisting the social media business revolution.

You Don’t Know Where to Start
If you aren’t using social media in your personal life, you might not know how to begin building online profiles for your business.  Although signing up for these services is often self-explanatory, where will you go from there? Complete novices often outsource their social media efforts to experts, but a do-it-yourself approach is also feasible. Your efforts should be divided into two categories: establishing a connection with your customers and potential customers, and providing valuable insights, advice, and interactions with your followers. These are both characteristics that any business owner will naturally possess, regardless of his expertise with technology.

You’re Avoiding Public Criticism
Yes, social media has made many customer complaints more public – but this will happen whether you are involved in social media or not. Your involvement in the online world will actually give you a way to find disgruntled customers, reach out to them, and make things right. It will also provide your PR team with a platform to respond to negative publicity if it reaches the masses.

You Have Doubts about Your ROI
Social media may be free, but it will cost you time. How will you know that your efforts will be worth the extra hours you and your staff put into an online presence? Although finding exact numbers could be difficult, it is common business sense to go where your customers are. If you are targeting an audience of people who frequently use social networking sites, you need to establish your name there with them.

Looking for tips on launching a successful Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn account? Consult with social media veterans through our network. Learn about all the benefits of joining AMA today.

Related Posts:
5 Ways LinkedIn Can Benefit Your Business
Market Your Business for Free

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Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

“Marketing that Rocks” Event

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

Our “Marketing that Rocks” luncheon event will teach you about the backstage marketing techniques that make the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino successful. It will be held this Friday, October 21, 2011 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel provides a unique and quality experience where guests can “rock, play, stay, dine and shop!” in Tampa Bay. At our event you will learn about the Seminole Hard Rock’s marketing strategies, including partnerships, customer loyalty programs and promotions that keep them rocking.

Doug Hoppe, Seminole Hard Rock Tampa’s VP of Sales and Marketing, will share marketing strategies and advice on how to keep the public entertained and still achieve those bottom-line results you seek. Hoppe’s topics of discussion will include:

  • How to create rock-and-play events that entertain and fill seats time after time.
  • Group sales and outreach programs that build loyalty in tougher economic times.
  • Partnership marketing that translates to the bottom line.

Here are the details on this can’t-miss event:

Friday, October 21, 2011
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
A La Carte Event Pavilion
4050 Dana Shores Drive
Tampa, FL 33634

Agenda:
11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – Registration and Networking
12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. – Opening Comments and Lunch
12:30 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. – Speaker Presentation
1:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. – Q&A and Closing Comments

Event Fees:
Members – $30
Guests – $50
Students: $25

To register for this event, click here.

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Posted in Main | No Comments »

Benefits of Outsourcing Marketing Efforts

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Your business’s marketing plan can either make or break your success. To be effective, creative marketing takes time, energy, and the ability to consistently dream up fresh ideas. Many small business owners will try to juggle these tasks on their own, while also maintaining a profitable company. When you take on too many roles in your work, compromises are usually made and most tasks will not get the attention they deserve. An easy solution is to outsource your marketing efforts. Hiring a team of professionals who can give the right amount of energy to your marketing campaigns will make a noticeable improvement to your company, not to mention your own quality of life.

Outsourcing vs. Full-time Employees
You don’t have time to take on marketing yourself, but do you have the resources to hire an in-house marketing director with a full-time salary plus benefits? Outsourcing is an affordable option that brings in expert advice and quality work without breaking the bank.

Fresh Ideas
Hiring outside help for your marketing needs will automatically add a fresh perspective to the table that you can’t acquire any other way. If you have been running your business for years you might think that you are doing okay marketing on your own. “Why fix what isn’t broken?” you’re probably asking yourself. Your marketing may work fine, and your ideas may be great, but a new approach from someone with an outside perspective could open up more doors for you, with new customers waiting behind them.

The Right Skills
There are many faces to marketing, and outsourcing from a team of experts will often cover everything from advertising to customer analytics. It can provide you with people who specialize in one area and have the experience and expertise needed to make your company successful.
American Marketing Association of Tampa Bay could be the solution for your marketing needs. Learn about current marketing trends, network with professionals in the field, and gain valuable resources. To learn more about how we can benefit your business, please visit our website.

Sources:
Bloomberg Businessweek
Harvard Business School

Related Posts:
How to Know When and Why You Might Need a Mobile Website
Using Emailing Marketing Campaigns Effectively

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Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

When and How to Distribute Your Own Product

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

So, you’ve created a new product that you think could enrich the lives of potential buyers. Development is finished, and you think you are ready to sell. The problem is that you aren’t sure where to begin. Self-retail can be tricky business, no matter what kind of item you are trying to market. Without the right timing and preparation, many entrepreneurs find themselves with crates of unsold merchandise and no profit to speak of—but a well-crafted approach could bring you from wannabe to rock star.

Testing

No matter how confident you are with your final product, you need more opinions before you launch your business to the public. Find family, friends and strangers—anyone who will provide honest feedback—to give you their thoughts, criticisms, and ideas for improvement. Listen carefully to what your test audience tells you. Even if you don’t agree at first, keep an open mind. Pay special attention to anything repeated by more than one tester. Tweak your product as necessary, and spend at least a couple of weeks advertising and building the hype before your official launch.

Determine Your Target Customers

Few products will appeal to everyone. You need to determine whose needs you are trying to meet before you can make a successful sale. Consider the gender, age, income level, and profession of your ideal customer, and keep those characteristics in mind while you make decisions about advertising and marketing.

Distribution

There are many ways products can be distributed to customers. Some will be sold through a physical store. Others can be mailed to buyers around the country. Items such as e-books, audio files or videos can be purchased online and downloaded.

There is no shame in starting small if you keep working toward your bigger aspirations step by step. You may want to eventually start your own store. With hard work, many self-retailers can eventually reach this goal, but they usually get their start by selling from their home, from a temporary stand, or by asking small local stores to sell their items. Likewise, online purchases can be done through a middle man such as Café Press, Etsy, or Amazon.

No matter what you’re selling or how you’re selling it, you need a solid marketing plan to bring in prospective customers. Let us help you take your business to the next level by connecting you with other marketing professionals and giving you the information you need to succeed.

Sources:
Entrepreneur
Mashable

Related Posts:
How Packaging Can Help Market and Sell Products
Increasing Sales

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Posted in Selling | No Comments »

Consumer Behavior

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Understanding the way consumers think, act, feel and make decisions can be a great tool in marketing. Marketing strategies and campaigns can be improved or altered to effectively reach or influence the consumer, based on how research shows they think, feel, shop and so on.

Issues Marketing Should Consider
There are several consumer behavior issues that market researchers can look at in determining their market strategies. Some of them are:

· How consumers make the decision to buy one product over the other.

· How the shopping environment affects the decision to buy—lighting, music, display of product/ organization.

· How a consumer’s personal environment influences them—family, culture, ethnicity.

· How a consumer’s level of knowledge influences purchasing decisions.

· How brands impact a consumer’s opinion on certain products and the decision to buy.

· How consumers shop—if they go to the front or the back of the store, left or right of the store, whether items placed on shelves near the checkout entice them to buy.

A successful marketing strategy will take into consideration all of the factors that may possibly influence consumer choice.

Methods for Studying Consumer Behavior
Market research is essential in marketing to ensure that consumer behaviors are fully understood and not simply assumed. There are several ways to conduct market research to determine consumer behavior trends. Popular methods include:

· Surveys/ Questionnaires—Surveys are a great tool for gathering large amounts of information tailored specifically to your needs.

· Observation—Observation of consumers can also be extremely helpful, but sometimes controversial, as some say it invades privacy. However, watching a consumer shop can give great insights as to how they make decisions.

· Online Research—Reviewing online search information, such as which routes a consumer took to get to a specific page, can reveal valuable insight into the preferences of consumers and the way they seek information.

· Interviews—One-on-one interviews can be much more in-depth and provide detailed findings but are more costly and often biased.

· Focus Groups—Focus groups are particularly helpful in getting feedback prior to new product launches. However, focus groups only represent a small sample of society and may be biased.

Researching and understanding consumer behavior is crucial to creating a successful marketing strategy and to the overall success of a business. Those who take the time and effort to include consumer behavior studies in their marketing efforts should see the benefit in the long run.

If you are seeking the tools to become a successful marketing professional, and would like to network with similar professionals in the Tampa Bay Area, look no further than the American Marketing Association’s Tampa Bay chapter. Explore the benefits of becoming a member and join us today!

Sources:
Consumer Behavior: The Psychology of Marketing
Psychology of Consumer Behavior

Related Posts:
How Packaging Can Help Market and Sell Products
Creative Advertising Placements (And Why They Work!)

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Posted in Market Research | 3 Comments »

What’s the Buzz on Daily Deals Benefiting Businesses?

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Daily deals or group buying sites like Living Social and Groupon have become extremely popular among consumers, but you may ask, “Can this discount model work in the B2B segment and what type of ROI are they generating?”

It seems the payback would come via an increase in business in the short term, an increase in additional purchases in the future, and the chance for upselling opportunities. However, the reach of a daily deals promotion goes beyond monetary gain—and its biggest benefit may simply be the exposure your business gets.

How Do Daily Deals Sites Work?

A company can go to a daily deals or group discount site and request that their deal be promoted. You set the terms (read: fine print) for the coupon or deal, as well as a limit on how many can be sold. The sites doing the selling will promote the deal to their customers through email, social media or other means. They take a cut of the sales (sometimes 50 percent) and you see an increase in business (hopefully!).

How Does It Benefit My Business?

While your business may have to eat the cost of providing a discount to consumers, a daily deal isn’t necessarily intended to be a money-making venture. Instead, the goal is to increase visibility for your brand and get your name out there.

The brand marketing with daily deals is twofold. Not only does the deal site market to their members, but those members will often share deals with their business acquaintances —be it through social media, word-of-mouth, etc. Creating this much buzz through traditional advertising could run a company thousands of dollars or more.

Another benefit to daily deals is that they can create repeat customers. A deep discount may encourage people to try out something new, and if they like it, they may return to buy again!

And the Drawbacks?

For companies that generate a decent profit on an everyday basis, a daily deal probably won’t affect their overall revenue. However, for a company that is already struggling, running a discount could cost them more than it’s worth. With the discount itself and the commission that the discount site keeps, businesses will only earn about 25 percent of what they usually do.

If you’re looking for more information, AMA Tampa Bay has an event for you! On Friday, August 19, we bring you Daily Deals: Wielding the Power of B2B Group Buying. Kevin Wells, co-founder and executive vice president of RapidBuyr, will share his advice on how daily deals in the B2B segment. The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. and run through 1:30 p.m. The fee is $30 for members, $50 for guests and $25 for students. For more information, visit our website.

Sources:

Daily Deals sites: Top Tips for Local Businesses using Pay-on-Performance Marketing (Annica)

Pros and Cons of Daily Deals for Local Businesses (The Local Marketing Expert)

Good or Bad Business Change At Groupon, Daily Deals Sites? (Answer Guy Central)

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Posted in Branding | No Comments »

Creative Advertising Placements (and why they work!)

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Have you ever been in the bathroom stall and noticed a plaque full of advertising? You probably read it, too! How about when you’re pumping gas at the gas station? Have you ever looked at the back of your baseball ticket and seen an advertisement?

Advertisers go out of their way to place ads in some of the most unusual, and often creative, locations. Here are some of our favorite places, and an explanation of why they work:

On the stall wall: Let’s face it, everyone visits the bathroom! It’s a place where someone is always going to be. On average, a person will stay in a bathroom stall for two minutes. That’s two minutes looking at your advertisement! Where else can you get that? Another benefit is that you can reach the clientele you wish to target. If your target audience is young, hip females, a posh nightclub restroom stall might work perfectly for your ad!

Inside T-shirts: Traditionally, companies advertise on the front or back of T-shirts that are being handed out or given away. But how about advertising on the inside of T? Some companies are now printing more extensive advertising, such as a mission statement or company profile, on the inside of shirttails.

On pizza boxes: Pizza is a staple in this country, so why not use it to your advantage! Millions of households order delivery pizza each year. Try talking to local pizza shops to see if you can make a deal to place flyers on their delivery boxes. This may cost you less than simply mailing out flyers or ads and it would likely get noticed more often.

In the doctor’s office: We’re told to go once per year, and we all know that there is always a wait at the doctor’s office. If each person has a 30-minute wait, there will be a lot of eyes on your ads. Some doctor’s offices will even allow you to place flyers in the waiting rooms. Check around town to see what your options are.

Golf carts: Golf is a huge sport that draws millions of people each year, and that makes golf carts a perfect place to make your brand seen. Think dashboard, exterior, steering wheel—you name it! Talk to local golf courses or golf and country clubs to see if they can put something together for you. Golf cart advertising will allow you to reach a vast audience without breaking the bank.

Airplane tray tables: The Sky Mall magazine has got nothing on this! We spend hours upon hours on flights, and we don’t have much else to keep our attention. Why not advertise on airplane tray tables? America West and US Airways have already climbed onboard, and others probably will soon, too. This sky-high ad spot allows for consumers’ undivided attention, but the cost is also “in the sky.”

Public buildings and vehicles: With all the budget cuts, many municipalities are considering ways to increase their returns, and that includes allowing advertising. Check with your local authorities to see if buildings, recycling bins, city vehicles, highway overpasses or other structures are available for print advertising. You may be surprised to find many unique locations the city will sell you advertising space on.

Staying relevant and up-to-date is the basis of the American Marketing Association. We are proud to be an organization that provides working professionals and independent entrepreneurs in the Tampa Bay area opportunities to network and learn about current trends in the marketing field.

Sources:

Five Places You Never Thought to Advertise (PS Print)

Five New Places to Advertise (Entrepreneur)

Related Posts:

Marketing to Moms

Marketing to Latin Customers

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Posted in Advertising | 2 Comments »

Increasing Your Networking Opportunities with a Guest Blog

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

AMA membership provides a great deal of opportunities for professionals here in the Tampa Bay area. One advantage that comes with membership is the ability to network with other professionals. All of the events that we host provide time specifically for meeting new contacts, which can help you advance as a professional and help you to build recognition for your company or organization.

The AMA Tampa Bay blog is posted weekly. It is an outlet for members to gain information and insight into areas of the marketing community that they may not know much about. It is also a perfect opportunity for AMA members to share their knowledge and introduce themselves to the rest of the organization. By submitting a guest blog, you can raise awareness of yourself and your organization while showcasing the work that you do.

Guest Blog Criteria

The purpose of the AMA blog is to help inform other members about your area of expertise. As long as the blog topic is geared toward marketing and has information about the subject matter that you deal with on a daily basis, it is acceptable.

  • The specific subject of the content is entirely up to you.
  • Blogs should be 300-400 words.
  • Ideally, blogs delve into a specific topic within the marketing world.
  • Include a headshot if you would like.

Click on the related posts at the bottom of this blog entry if you would like to see some examples of previous guest blogs. If you are interested in submitting a guest blog, simply email sarah@ballywhointeractive.com for more details.

Related Posts:

Centaur or Celestial Horse? Cultural Competence in Brand Imagery

Hiroshi, Kyosei And Me

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Posted in Networking | No Comments »

Getting in on Cell Phone Applications

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

We live in a technology oriented society. Four-year-olds can surf the web with ease, flat screen televisions are installed in gas stations, and millions of Americans now cannot live without their smart phones. A smart phone basically gives consumers a computer that they can fit in their pocket and pull out to reference whenever needed. Sometimes they even make phone calls on them.

The backbone of smart phone usage is based around applications. Little pieces of software, some more complicated than others, that help smart phone users to do everything from check in on Facebook to find healthcare information have established themselves as a mainstay in our world. The great thing for marketers is that they can be used to reign in customers.

Some cell phone apps are purely sales oriented. Impressive new applications allow users to photograph a product and immediately order it online. Others direct users to a useful information bank that is hosted by a particular company, which leads directly into building a relationship with customers. Further still a good developer will install features in the application that allow you to collect data on your customers. You can obtain hard numbers as to what products people view the most, times of day that sales tend to happen, and much more.

You do not need to be a Fortune 500 company to have an application. In fact, if you have an online retail presence and a somewhat tech savvy customer base it would behoove you to look into the subject in depth. As technology develops and the internet gains even more ground (as hard as it may be to imagine), having an app on a customer’s phone is a way of constantly being with them. Think about it: how close to your bed do you keep your cell phone?

Sources:

Android Wins in the U.S. Smart Phone Wars (Mashable)

Crowd Sourcing Healthcare With Cell Phone Apps (Crowd Station)

Cell Phones Let Shoppers Point Click and Purchase (New York Times)

Related Posts:

To Text or Not To Text

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Posted in Advertising | 1 Comment »

How to Use Search Engine Marketing

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

You’ve spent countless hours creating a website for your business. It has a professional, eye-catching design. It contains useful, rich content, and convincing copy about your products and services. So why is your visitor count so low? The majority of online traffic originates from search engines. Create a search engine marketing plan, and your page hits will increase.

The Basics

There are two ways search engines can generate traffic for your website. The first is through paid advertisements, when search engines will place your ad at the top of search results and you will pay for each click your website gets or impression that your ad receives on the search platform of your choice. This is what most refer to as “search engine marketing.” However we will also be discussing organic efforts in this post as well. You can also receive free, organic traffic from search engines when your website ranks high on the results listing.

Paid Search Engine Advertising

Paid search engine advertisements work on a cost per click (CPC) payment plan. When creating your advertisements, you will select the keywords you want to target, the price you will pay for each click, and the amount you are willing to pay each day. CPC advertising works as an auction, and you are bidding on keywords. The higher you pay for the clicks, the better visibility your ads will see in some (but not all) cases.

The best method is to identify keywords that your customers are using to find you and focus on the less expensive terms. While you will have no choice but to place higher bids on popular keywords, you can make your campaign more cost effective with some research and attention to your account as time passes.

Google, Yahoo, Bing and even Facebook offer variant forms of this advertising structure. In some cases you can choose to pay for every 1,000 impressions. This speaks more to branding than sales, but is another method of promoting a brand, product or idea. Both angles can be very effective means of advertising.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Optimize your website for search, and you will receive daily free traffic. In order to get a substantial page view increase, you must earn a high page rank for your content. This can be a gradual process requiring hard work and patience. Your page rank will depend on several factors, including the use of quality keywords within your content, and your number of backlinks. You will also need appropriate tags, fresh content, reasonable load time and a host of other factors that work together to increase your ranking.

Keywords

Whether you are working on CPC advertising, or SEO, choosing the most effective keywords is vital. You will want to choose relevant phrases to your website that are being regularly searched for on search engines. You can use the Google keyword tool to discover keywords with the most monthly searches. Another concern will be competition. CPC advertisers will want keywords that not many other advertisers are targeting. Those working with SEO will ideally choose keywords that create only 20,000 results on Google or less. Finding a balance between popular search terms and noncompetitive keywords is the recipe for success in search engine marketing. The popular terms drive traffic, but the less competitive keywords that describe your business help to differentiate your website.

Using the internet as an advertising platform is but one of the marketing avenues available to us. The benefit of an organization such as AMA Tampa Bay is that you get the opportunity to meet and pick the brains of professionals involved in every aspect of research, advertising and promotions.

Sources:

What is SEM? (Search Engine Land)

A Guide for Webmasters ad Search Engine Marketers (Search Engine Watch)

Related Posts:

Is Bing Gaining on Google?

To Text or Not To Text

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Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

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