Diploma in Electronic Accounting

Diploma include two parts

First Section: accounting book

Section II electronic accounting

Include accounting book on the following: -

1 - Financial Accounting

2 - Cost Accounting

3 - Accounting in English

4 - Accounting firms persons

5 - Managerial Accounting

6 - Analysis of Financial Statements

Include electronic accounting on the following: -

1 - 2010 Excel

2 - Peachtree

3-quickbooks

4 - oracle

Screenshots

  Video Explanation

 

download program

1- First download the program Netframework 4

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851

2- Second, download the program Courses Zoom
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kg84h30263viaor

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The Changing Marketing Department

The traditional marketing department focused on brand management, advertising and communications, event management (tradeshows, lead generation etc.) coupled with Product Management with ownership of the product across all sales channels.

If your marketing department still sits with these roles you are likely part of the old school and you are likely going to be replaced by a new roles and responsibilities you may also not be very comfortable with.

While traditional media such as TV, newspapers, magazines and radio advertising continues to drop the new media advertising requiring a very different skill sets such as banner ads, PPC advertising, mobile and social media continues to grow.

The modern Marketing department should probably be renamed to customer relationship management and analytics department. The new roles in the Marketing departments are typically:

(1) Social media management. The rapid fire and free language of social media is very different from the traditionally carefully analyzed advertising process and the skill sets are very different requiring a good understanding of do's and dont's in this social media world. A simple answer written to one individual and delivered in a few minutes without any formal internal reviews process may be read by millions of potential customers. One bad move and a large number of customers can be lost. The freestyling methods requires a special skill set of enormous importance.

(2) Web marketing / lead generation and channel management. The modern marketing department has responsibility for keyword analytics for PPC, banner advertising (for quality sites which properly represent the brand) as well as channel relationship management to make sure you are effectively using and branding your company on partner sites.

(3) Data Quality Management. With the amount of data from social media, web analytics and complexity of customer master data now available to the Marketing department the responsibility in managing the data quality does not only lie with the IT department but also the Marketing department.

(4) Marketing Data analytics (Big Data). The marketing department is now a key consumer of Big Data and new data sources and is starting to employ data scientists to crunch through the large amounts of information becoming available to generate new leads, improved personalized service/offerings and analysis of complex web marketing strategies and campaigns. The traditional saying that "only 50% of advertising is effective but the problem is that we don't know which 50%" can to a greater extent be gone. With careful comple analysis of the data the effectiveness of campaigns can be better understood.

(5) Search Engine Optimization and Blog management. The Marketing department (not the IT department) should own the responsibility for Search Engine Optimization as more and more the strength of search engine ranking is made through social media, web content and interactive communications with other web media outlets.

If your marketing department are missing these responsibilities you are likely missing out on

significant opportunities which can be had in this new media world. If your competitors are effectively using these techniques and methods you are quickly ending up with a competitive disadvantage.

Diane is a founder with Bitidy. Bitidy is a start-up company building the next generation data quality management software used for data conversions, data maintenance processes and for Big Data cleansing. Bitidy also provides consulting services focused on automating and managing data cleansing and conversions and outsourced services of Master Data Management processes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dianne_Arneberg

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Is Internet Marketing Taking Over Network Marketing?

I know that since 2008 we've been saying that online marketing is taking over the world when it comes to marketing.

Even to build traditional network marketers are beginning to agree with us that online is the way to go for speed and even community building.

Why you ask?

People would rather be online than in person. Sad but true.

People can get to know you better online through social media.

You can communicate the message and the vision faster and numerous times per day online.

Simple and common sense if you ask me.

Online Marketing is the best and fastest way to build a traditional network marketing company.

Here is what you need.

You need a company that allows you to do business online.

You need a company that is world wide or has potential to go world wide FAST.

You need a computer and you need guts because online will expose your weaknesses.

When it comes to offline, you can and should still use what works but do not make the mistake of neglecting online marketing and it's powers.

Online Marketing is by far the smartest way to build a business and YES you can build community online.

So take it from me, you want to go faster than you are?

Spend time and learn online marketing and give yourself 90 days to see the best results you've ever seen.

So where do you start?

Start with social media.

start by creating accounts in all major social media platforms and start to build relationships.

Here is a tip.

Optimize your efforts by how you write your profile and the about you section.

Use words that others in your niche will be searching for.

It's really not that hard to start conversations online.

Actually, it's a lot easier than doing so offline.

I did say conversations right?

I did not mean posting stupid links on people's walls or sending random messages to people that don't know who you are.

That is a sure way to get canned and blocked.

Don't ruin your chances, be normal and be friendly.

What else can you do? start up a YouTube account and make a video introducing yourself to your new friends.

Here is what you do.

Make a video on your webcam and upload it. Take the link and share it on YOUR wall not your friend's wall.

Do not tag people. that was cute 2 years ago but not anymore.

Until next time, live online..

My name is Jaime Morales and I am a highschool drop out who found his calling in the world of marketing. If you want to connect with me give me a call 562-547-7762

Connect with me on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/LifeAndBusinessTipsByJaimeMorales?ref=hl

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jaime_Morales

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Backlinks: The Good, The Bad, and the Only Sometimes Useful

This is a question I get asked a lot these days, and so I want to clear up some misconceptions regarding backlinks, and using them to get more customers to your website. First, let's get clear on what backlinks are.

If you want to get more customers to visit your website, you need great content, but you also need some powerful backlinks. Content is pretty obvious - material that's worth reading, material that shows off your expertise or your relevance, and that keeps people wanting to come back for more. If you have content, then you are worth "sharing", and sites or businesses that are shared more often are viewed as being particularly relevant to a given search term or key word phrase.

Theoretically, backlinks show the webpages to which they link back to as being relevant and credible by the very fact that they're worth linking to. They're generally how you shared a website (and still do to some extent). Google's original search algorithm relied very heavily on the presence of backlinks to "organically" determine the value of a webpage (the "PageRank", named not for the term "web page" but for Larry Page, one of Google's two founders). The thinking being that the more back links you have, the more you're being shared and the more relevant you are. As we'll see in a moment, this thinking left open a few very exploitable loopholes. And exploited they were. That said...

Backlinks alone will not make your website great.

In just the last year or so they've gone from being the most important thing to getting your page seen (as the source of how search engines determined if you were "relevant" or not), to only one of a few dozen.

Backlinks will appear in one of two ways: either as clickable hyperlinks linking back to your website either as a stand-alone link (e.g. http://www.wikipedia.com ), or as a link "anchored" to a word or phrase, which is intended to associate a particular page with those keywords, bumping up the pages relevancy for such terms (e.g., Aristotle ).

Part of what drove down the importance of backlinks was the cottage industry which sprung up around creating "fake" backlinks. Using automated programs (or a large group of dedicated folks), people figured out that they could artificially "bump up" the rankings of a web page and it's association with certain terms. This gave rise to the "Google bombing" that ultimately lead to the Google-ing of the phrase "miserable failure" leading to the White Houses biography of George W. Bush!), as thousands of people joined in creating anchored hyperlinks to associate politicians and other famous individuals and organizations with terms that were at least ironic if not outright disgusting.

Then, a certain department store chain got called out by no less than the New York Times for picking up on this, and using it to their advantage. Google panicked, and began to look for ways to rely less heavily on backlinks.

Social Media and Page Rank

Facebook is the largest thing on the internet - with about 1 in 7 people in the world having an account at this point (roughly, though some are fakes or duplicates, to be sure).

Shares, likes, Twitter tweets and more are all becoming important ranking factors, in part because they all represent genuine backlinking. It's much, much harder to get fake, pointless content to go viral with real people, so when something get's thousands of likes on Facebook (or +'s on Google's social network, Google+). Social media represents, overall, what real people are thinking or how they're feeling about whatever the relevant noun would be (the person, place, thing, or idea in question). Social sharing is the new backlinking.

Relevant Backlink Rules

That said, the traditional form of backlinks can still be valuable, but Google has continually revised how it appreciates them, looking at not only how many there are but who put them there, where they are, how quickly they occurred, etc.

Backlinks need to be from sites which themselves have a high page rank. Subsequently, the

page rank of those sites needs to be "organic", driven by their content.

Sites that are respected for being business sites, or business listing sites, like Yellowpages.com, Yelp.com, and of course Google's own Google+ Local, are going to be the best bets for "organic" and worth-while backlinks.

Thus, rather than focus on artificially creating backlinks, focus on creating good content and a good community, and the backlinks will take care of themselves!

Justin has been working as a consultant, helping small and medium sized companies dominate their local market by getting on the first page of Google + Local's business search listings, and through reputation marketing. He has a unique, 5 minute video at http://www.HundredsOfCustomers.com which outlines the drastic changes that have occurred in the world of internet marketing! He's helping dozens of companies get hundreds of new customers every month.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_M_West

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How Small Businesses Can Market Their Products and Services

This is a valid question. All businessmen want to know how to market their product and services effectively and efficiently. No entrepreneur would start a business without profit in mind and all revenue comes in when people are able to know about what you have to offer. Unfortunately, people will never know what you have to offer unless you market your product or services. So the question is valid: How can I market my product and services even if I am a small business player?

Here are some important points for you to remember:

1. Know what sells

Admit it, many people who start a small business focus on creating a product or selling a service that they like. They envision themselves making a trend and changing the world with their product and services. This is not so in the real world. For instance, they would think of a product or services that they believe other people need without enough market research and survey.

In my Sales and Marketing trainings and seminars, I have always taught my participants that business is all about "calculated risk". When you don't calculate then you are speculating, and we all know that speculation is the twin brother of failure.

Know what people are buying and why they are buying it. Always remember that people always ask the WIIFM question: What's in it for me? People don't really care about your idealistic approach, people go for practical nowadays. In my trainings and seminars I always talk about the Pendulum effect in our society that affects sales and marketing. This is a 40 year effect where society swings from idealism to realism. Take my advice; we are still in the realist swing.

Check out products that have been successful in spite of it being new in the market. Among these are Apple's products like iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc. Samsung has also been successful in selling their product. You see the price of these products has nothing to do with its saleability but it is the practicality of it. People, nowadays, buy because it is practical. They are realist and you don't need to tell them what they need - they already know what they need.

Once you know that then it will be easy to market your product and services.

2. Know your customers

John Maxwell, in one of his books, said "No one will really care what you know, unless they know that you care". Many times, entrepreneurs never realize that they have not paid enough attention to their customers.

I remember when I was new in sales. I was so aggressive presenting every feature my product can offer and overwhelming the customer with information they don't even need. At the end of my sales pitch the customer was so confused that they needed more time to think.

In the end, I never made that sale. I realize that I need to stop talking and start listening to my customers. Can you imagine going on a date only to hear the other person talk about himself? The way I did it was asking questions on the first meeting. I won't even talk about my product and myself. I would spend time listening to my client. I realized that the more I do this, the more I understand my customers; and the more I understand them the better I can sell my product - it was a precision sale. All I need to do was listen and know what they need and how my product can satisfy that need.

Imagine marketing as building relationships. You need to develop your relationship with your customers from stranger to friend. It's easy to convince a friend than a stranger.

3. Know your competitors

Do you really know your competition? Many of us are so engulfed with our own product that we forget that there are also other businesses who offer the same product and reaching out to the same prospects.

ince you are "still" a small entrepreneur, you need to know 2 things: 1] Your competition's weaknesses and 2] your competition's strength.

Do some research about your competitor and learn about them. Know what's keeping them in the business and how they are doing it. Know where they are getting their customers and why customers flock to them.

Understanding these things will help you strategize better and market your product well in spite of competition. This is what I call riding with the waves. You see, when you are in the ocean you can't control or stop the waves from coming but you can always surf and ride with it. The secret to riding the waves, as any other surfer would tell you, is knowing and understanding the waves.

There it is folks. Now you know how to effectively market your product and services. Let me know how this article has helped you and share this with a friend.

- Al Echegoyen
For more info on Sales and Marketing Trainings.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Aldous_Irving_J_Echegoyen

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Marketing Can Be Daunting

Marketing can be daunting, time consuming and in many cases a very confusing task. "What is going to work for my business and what is just a waste of time?" These questions have been plaguing business owners and entrepreneurs for centuries if not a millennium. So how do we as business owners and marketers swift through all the options and theories to know what is right?

Also we now have social media and the seemingly free promotion through this new media. But don't kid yourself this is NOT free. You need to devote time and energy to social media and then there the unseen and dangerous cost if you post the wrong image or get too political with your customers. How will this affect your brand and your business? The old adage "bad publicity is still good publicity" can still work but be careful that you do not alienate your core target market!

So what am I trying to say in this article, how am I going to help you? I brought up some interesting ideas but I haven't actually given you something tangible to work with! And that is what is lies with marketing. Marketing is more art than science and you can only really use your own gut to be your guide. What marketing strategies and tactics have worked in the past? What are your goals? Do you know your target market? These are first areas to look at. You need to set a goal; then you need to pick strategies and tactics that will appeal to your target market. If your target market are teenagers then you will have great success in using a video that will appeal to them so that they can spread it virally through social media. But if your target is baby boomers over the age 65 then this might not be a great tactic.

Your next step is how you are going to measure your success and what amount of success do you want? If you want to increase sales by 10% then you can then you just need to measure sales in a particular time period. But if you want something more like 1000 new customers in 2 months, then you need to work out the best way to identify new customers. Whatever your goal; write this down, measure it. There is no point in starting any marketing if you do not have a goal and way to measure that goal. But make sure your goal is realistic and achievable.

Whatever you choose as your goal and how you are going measure it, you need to give yourself and your business time to achieve the goal. Most marketing activities will take up to 90 days to reach their peak. So if your business isn't doing well, think about what you were doing in your business 90 days ago. If you weren't doing any marketing then you know why your business needs help.

To some you will recognize what I am taking about especially if you have done a marketing plan for your business before. So think of this a mini marketing plan. This should be something you do regularly and not just once a year or just when you started your business to get that start up capital. It doesn't have to be super formal, just write it down. Make a plan, follow through and measure your success.

Marketing is an essential part of any business and if someone tells you that they do not have to do it is fooling themselves and they don't have a growing business.

Take a step forward with your business with the right marketing advice.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicole_Dooley

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Why It May Be Wise to Purchase Charged Off Debt

When it comes to business, generating sizeable revenues is the name of the game. With such a diverse economy, there are now many different ways to earn money. Other than the more traditional means of generating income, many are unaware that buying debts can result in profit. The concept sounds confusing and ridiculous for many, but it is a reality. This article discusses the basic of debt purchasing to help you understand how you can make money by engaging in the same.

Understanding the Process

Debt purchasing is a term used in financial circles to describe one of many activities meant to generate revenue. The liabilities involved are normally credit lines accumulated by an individual or company that they are unable to pay off. In most cases, lenders and companies that manage debt for profit are those that Purchase Charged Off Debt. Although this is typically the case, you, too, can do the same to generate some income. Here is how it works.

Most debt purchasing activities involve private individuals who cannot pay off their credit card bills. Larger scale cases involve companies with outstanding balances that lenders charge off. What this means is the lender deems the amount as uncollectable. Although the creditor regards it as such, the charge-off appears on the credit report of the debtor and stays there for an extended period. This lowers credit scores and makes it difficult for the debtor to secure loans and other forms of financing. In almost all cases, the only way to strike it off a credit report is to pay it off. This is where you come in.

When a charge-off happens, most creditors report the debt and make it available for purchase. They sell the account at a lower amount, knowing they will make a profit because of the unlikelihood that they will succeed chasing after the debt. It then becomes responsibility of whoever purchases the debt to go after the debtor to recover full amounts. This is why most cases involve lenders who specialize in and have the tools for successful collection.

Engaging in Debt Collection

Getting involved in this kind of business for the first time can be tricky if you are unfamiliar with the tricks of the trade. It is important to learn as much as you can about it or consult with a professional. Once the original creditor turns over the responsibility, you can go after the nonpayer until you reach a settlement. Remember, though, that state and federal laws apply. It is best to familiarize yourself with the legalities involved by going over the Fair Debt Collection Practices. You may also want to invest in the services or advice of a legal counsel to ensure you comply with all requirements.

A successful settlement may be difficult to achieve, but it is worth the wait and effort in most cases. If you and the debtor come to terms about payment, it is important that you get every detail in writing. It is always best to negotiate deals where they pay in full so you recover losses and they get the negatives stricken off their credit report. Consult with experts in the industry like http://www.bayviewrmc.com and similar websites for the best results.

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Mobile Opt-In Strategies

Mobile SMS and text marketing is a very effective means of creating client engagement. With response rates of up to 30%, mobile text marketing is proving to be a vital piece within many company's overall marketing mix. One of the reasons why such high response rates can be achieved by using mobile channels, is the fact that in order to legally send a message via mass SMS distribution, one must first opt-in to a subscriber list. Essentially, the opt-in gives the marketer the right to leverage the end user's mobile device a medium of communication, while still giving the user the option at any time to elect to not to receive further communications. This being said, building a mobile Opt-in list is an essential part to any successful mobile strategy. Convincing consumers to provide the right to market to them has long been a challenge to marketers. By using a few effective strategies, a marketer can better rely on his or her message being considered, thus helping to bring the consumer one step closer to the defining moment of an actual purchase.

When dealing with SMS and text marketing, one must note that the effectiveness of leveraging your database comes at the price of building the database to begin with. Since consumers must opt-in to your mobile distribution, an effort must be made through other forms of promotion, to make them aware of your product, and lure them into signing up for your mobile list. Customers must be instructed to sign up for your list, and explicitly be told what they will be receiving when they do so. This directional marketing is referred to a call to action, and is essential to any Opt-in strategy.

When creating call to action material, a few basic questions should be answered, in order to ensure a high client response. Your call to action should always answer the what, why, when and how, around your product or service. Clients need to have these basic items answered, and feel there is a strong benefit before they allow you the right to market to them via text message. In addition, call to action materials should always include clear opt-in directions and should include somewhat of a sense of urgency. For example, a call to action that covers each of these parts could be as follows: "Text milkshake to 96362 (how), before 5:00pm today (when) for your chance to receive a life time supply (why) of your favorite ice cream flavors (what)". This call to action is clear and straight to the point, and the customer would leave this interaction knowing exactly what he or she signed up for.

Creating a concise yet detailed call to action will encourage customers to become active participants in your promotions, as well as help to build your mobile opt-in database. As mentioned, your opt-in materials should be distributed within the existing channels of your marketing campaign. There are many ways one can leverage their current marketing materials in order to capture mobile specific information. The most common of these methods is the mobile keyword, which is a short phrase, which links a text user to a mobile database. For example, if your company distributes a weekly newsletter, include a blurb about promotions that are only available for customers that send a message to your keyword. This message could also be spread via print ads, or even radio or television.

QR codes are another increasingly popular means of creating engagement, and are effective when combined with a call to action strategy. For example, a QR code can be attached to a lunch menu at a local diner, with instructions for patrons to "Scan here for our VIP lunch specials". The QR code can be programmed to send a message to your distribution list (mobile keyword), and clients would receive promotions at whatever time intervals you choose. Also, in the case of online and email marketing, a widget or simple sign-up box, can be created which directs customers to sign up for your specific promotions. This widget can be designed to capture many forms of information, in addition to the mobile phone number, and is a great tool for creating a more detailed customer profile.

When building your mobile Opt-in list, always remember to measure the value of your efforts. The biggest value metric would be the growth rate of the list itself. Next would be the churn rate, or the rate that customers opt-out of your list. In regards to opt-out, there is always going to be a natural loss of subscribers, due to various reason, many of which will be out of your control. As long as the growth rate exceeds the churn rate, then you opt-in efforts can be deemed valuable. Also, always measure the response rate of each mobile campaign sent to your list. If a decline in response rates is seen, in may be time to freshen up the promotions that are being sent to your clients.

The beauty of building a mobile opt-in list, in addition to the high response rates, is the ability

immediate return can also be seen. Building and growing your mobile opt-in list is a critical step to supplementing any additional marketing initiatives you currently employ. As customer become more demanding, more savvy, and require more "right now" interaction from businesses, utilizing a mobile opt-in list is the perfect way to engage clients and build more long term and interactive business relationships.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terrell_Scott

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What Soap Can Teach You to Do in Your Business

A couple of weeks ago I trav­eled to Washington, DC, to do some consulting for a group I'm working with to help them focus their marketing efforts. Lorie and I decided to go up a few days early and spend the weekend visiting museums and seeing the sights, which are amazing in our capital.

Sunday morning we decided to go to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. On the way from the Bed and Breakfast ac­commodations we were staying at we walked through Dupont Circle, which was holding its weekend Farmer's Market. We weren't going there to buy fruits and vegetables as we wouldn't be making dinner, but we thought we might be able to get some food there for lunch and we weren't disappointed.

There were vendors selling the usual vegetables, but there were also people there selling crisp fall apples and the most amazing Asian Pears. There were vendors selling all sorts of cheeses, breads and pastries.

In addition, there was a vendor selling soap, not your ordinary deodorant soap, but about 50 dif­ferent scents of soaps. There was French Lavender, Cherry Choco­late Truffle, Honeysuckle, Lem­ongrass and a multitude of other samples lined up in a row that you could sniff and decide which one was your favorite. Once you made your choice of which one you liked, they would cut off a 1-inch wide bar of your selection from a large chunk of soap.

There were a few things that this vendor did exceptionally well that you may want to consider in your own business, even if you don't sell soap.

Help your prospect to inter­act with your product. All of the vendor's soap samples were promi­nently displayed so you could pick them up and hold them in your hand while you breathed in their scent. There were quite a few people in front of the booth, all smelling the soaps and deciding which ones they liked the best.

When I asked the vendor the price, she said the soaps were $6.25 each, but you could get 3 for $17. For some reason 3 for $17 sounded like a really good deal, but when I figured it out later, I only saved 58 cents per bar. Why do you think that is? The answer is that when you add.25 to the $6, it seems more than when you leave it off. You notice they left it off of the $17 so it seemed cheaper.

Now I bet you that even though I didn't ask, I'm sure they had tested various price points. Remember the only way to make more money is to charge more, get your customers to buy more, or get more custom­ers. Take a look at your own pricing structure and see what one works best in your business.

In addition you could join their frequent buying club and get a free bar after you bought 10 bars. Can you do this in your business?

Another nice touch was that they added a few small samples of other scented soap in your bag with your purchase so you could try out some different soaps later.

So what can you learn from them that you can incorporate in our own business? First, people like to interact with a product. They like to look at it, feel it, taste it, or even smell it, as with the soap.

People have five senses: hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste. And different people are more prone to respond with one sense over an­other. That's why it's vitally impor­tant when selling your product or service that you incorporate the five senses into the sales process.

Does your prospect need to see what your product does? Does your prospect need to touch the product to get a feeling of how it works? Does your prospect need to have the benefits and features of the product explained to her? Does the prospect need to smell or taste the product before he buys it?

While at the Farmer's Market, other vendors were doing just that... providing samples of the food that people could try before they bought it. A cheese vendor was giv­ing out samples of different types of cheeses. There was a fruit vendor offering a taste of different types of apples and Asian pears.

Now you may not have a product that can be eaten, but you can offer your prospect a free trial of your product so they can start consum­ing it to see if it's right for them. We sometimes call that a Try Before You Buy offer.

You can offer a money back guarantee so consumers know that they can try it out and if it's not what they thought, then they can return it.

There's a lot you can learn from a soap vendor. How can you trans­late that into your business?

Ron Rosenberg is a nationally recognized expert on marketing and customer service, business coach, and public speaker. Maximize your marketing efforts and generate more revenue in less time with his Business Self-Defense 90-Day Success Program and Business Owner Survival Kit. Get free marketing tools, tips, and tactics at http://www.RonsBusinessCoaching.com or for details on our speaking and coaching programs contact us at 800-260-0662 or info@qualitytalk.com.

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4 Ways Product Managers Can Let Their Customers Make Their Product A Success

The one thing that every product manager wants more than anything else in this world is for our product to be a success - this should almost be a part of the product development definition. We are willing to work very hard to make this happen. However, maybe we've got it all wrong - it's not what we do that will make our product a success, but rather what our customers do. Let's take a look and see how we can let them show us what we need to be doing...

Welcome To The World Of Social Web Sites

One of the biggest advantages of living in the 21st Century is that we've got this great thing called the Internet. All of a sudden, product managers now have an easy way to both get and stay in contact with the customers of their product. Having a communications channel like this is great; however, it doesn't come with any operating instructions...

All too often, product managers try to control how our customers use the Internet to talk about our product. What a lot of us have done is to set up web sites where our customers can come and talk about our product. However, that's it - all we want them to do is talk about our product. Oh, and don't you even think about saying something bad about the product - we're going to tightly police what is said and delete any negative comments.

The end result of these kinds of actions are rarely visited web sites that are of no value to your customers or to you. This is not something that you're going to want to put on your product manager resume. It turns out that there are other types of social web sites out there that discuss products (such as those that talk about just about any Apple product) that are wildly popular. What's the difference between these two types of web sites?

4 Ways To Create A Brand Community For Your Product

The big difference is that those other web sites have been successful in building a so-called "brand community". This is a site where customers can learn more about a product, discuss problems and how to solve them, and talk with other people who use the product.

I'm going to guess that you'd like to be able to create a successful online brand community for your product. If so, then you're going to need to follow the following four steps to create a successful social web site for your product:

1. Hand's Off!: When you set up a social web site for your product, you get to set the rules. However, if you limit the discussion to only product-related items or if you prohibit negative comments about your product, you'll be shooting yourself in your foot. A social web site is just that - social. Let your customers talk about what they want to talk about - they'll always eventually come back to talking about your product. Also, let them make negative comments about the product. Both of these types of discussions will provide you with great insights into both your customers and how they are using your product.


2. Keep It Diverse: Who do you really want to come and visit your product's social web site? Do you really think that your market segmentation is 100% correct? Don't limit use of your web site to one particular type of customer or even to people who have already bought your product. Instead, throw the doors open and let anyone who has an interest in your product participate. This is when the real learning for you will occur.


3. It's Not A Support Site: If your social web site was just an extension of your customer support department, then visitors could open trouble tickets and get them answered. Instead, you need to provide your customers with ways to interact and communicate with other visitors. Don't make it a customer-to-company discussion, make it an anyone-to-anyone discussion - that's what "social" is all about.


4. Unofficial Is OK Too: There is no way that there will only be one web site that deals with your product. In fact, there may be many others. As a product manager you're going to need to come up with a plan to at least monitor what is being said about your product on these other sites. An even better plan is to participate in them. Become a contributor and you'll be able to harness their customer feedback in addition to your own site.

What All Of This Means For You

As a product manager, we can accomplish a lot. However, we may not be able to make our product a success simply by our own actions. Instead, it turns out that we need the help of our customers.

We can get the feedback that we need from our customers by creating social web sites that they can use to talk about, among other things, our products. However, in order for these types of sites to be effective, we need to follow the four things that we've discussed. The ability to set up this kind of effective customer communications channel will probable soon become a part of every product manager job description.

We live in fantastic times - never before have product managers had so many tools that can allow us to connect with our customers available to us. However, we need to learn how to use these tools correctly so that we can ensure that our products will be the success that we know that they can be.

Dr. Jim Anderson
"America's #1 Unforgettable Business Communication Skills Coach"

http://www.blueelephantconsulting.com/

Dr. Jim Anderson has been a product manger at small start-ups as well as at some of the world's largest IT shops. Dr. Anderson realizes that for a product to be successful, it takes an entire company working together. He'll share his insights and guidance on how to make your products a fantastic success.

Subscribe to the FREE Accidental Product Manager newsletter to get the information that you need to have a successful product and a successful career. Go here to to get your free subscription: http://tinyurl.com/p4ru9d

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Things To Consider When Choosing Promotional Products Such As Printed Lanyards And Pens

One of the best ways to increase awareness of a company's brand is by giving away free promotional products to the public. People love receiving things for free, especially when these objects can be used for more than just marketing purposes. There are certain qualities that ensure effectiveness of a promotional product, and marketers should take note of these when choosing promo materials for their companies.

The most important feature that a marketing product must possess is value. The chosen product has to be useful, functional or at least entertaining; otherwise, recipients of the product will just stash it in a hidden corner never to be seen again, or worse, throw it out with the trash. A promotional product that is not used or seen by its audiences is useless not only for its receivers, but also for the company; after all, the reason behind its distribution is to get the brand seen by more people. To find valuable products for a specific audience, try to think of what the members of the market might need. For instance, if your market is comprised of students or office workers, printed lanyards to hold identification cards are a good item to give away. On the other hand, if your audience lives in an area with a hot climate, then stubby holders that can keep drinks cool can be of value to them.

In addition to value, another important quality that promo products must possess is durability. One goal of marketing is to increase awareness - get as many people to see the brand and know the company behind it. Another goal is to make a long-lasting impression on the public and get the brand's name and logo ingrained in their memory. The first goal can be achieved by providing valuable marketing materials. The second goal, on the other hand, can be achieved by providing promotional products that last a long time. As such, printed pens and other useful promo materials, such as bags and flash drives should be both functional and durable. You wouldn't be able to create a lasting memory with customers if the product they received breaks down and is thrown away in just a short time.

The last consideration when choosing promotional products is style. In marketing, image is everything - and the appearance of a product can have some influence on the public's perception of the brand. In addition to building up a company's image, style is also important because it can influence a product's usability. For instance, if the company decides to give away shirts or custom caps, they have to ensure that these are stylish enough for people to wear. Poor design can keep recipients from using a product, rendering it non-functional and reducing its overall value as a result.

If you want your company to be noticed and earn more customers, then you should think of

promotional products that can be very useful for your target audience. Promo items must also be durable, functional, and stylish. Printed pens, for example, may be ideal for pupils or office workers. While custom caps or shirts may be more efficient if they are stylish enough to be worn anywhere.

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How to Promote Your Business With Old and New Methods

For those of you that own a business, there is no doubt that promoting a business successfully is going to be one of the key points to keeping it up and running and increasing your bottom line. To be certain, many of the old ways that were used for promoting businesses are still able to do so successfully. There are also some new options that have been around for the past decade or so that were not in use before that time. Here are some ways for you to continue to promote your business, both using the old methods that were available and some new methods that will help to increase your reach.

One of the options that was always available for businesses is using a variety of promotional products. These can be used directly in your office, when you are at business meetings, or even as tradeshow giveaways. These are very effective, but they can also be quite costly. That is why it is important for you to do some testing and to research the various options that are open to you very carefully. The last thing that you would want to do is to spend too much money on promotional products and end up getting no return from it.

The older ways of advertising are still very effective if they are done properly. They include television and radio spots as well as advertising in your local paper. It should be noted, however, that the reach of these older ways of advertising has diminished to a certain extent because of the Internet. To be certain, there are still people who are watching television, listening to the radio, and reading newspapers, so it is not a form of advertising that should be avoided. You just need to make sure that you do so smartly and look for specials that are being offered by those media outlets so that you can advertise for less.

Internet advertising has helped many businesses to continue to grow in the new economy. There are a number of different ways that you can advertise your business on the Internet, including through the search engines and through email advertising. One thing that is important for you to consider when using the Internet for advertising purposes is that you must do so legitimately. Be cautious about companies that make offers which seem out of the ordinary when it comes to extending your reach. The Internet can certainly provide you with access to a whole new group of individuals, but only if you do so legitimately can your reputation be maintained.

One final option that you have available to you is to use social media in your advertising practices. This is also something that must be approached with at least a little bit of caution. Just as it is possible for you to increase your reputation and reach using social media, it is also possible to destroy your business. Make sure that you use it for its intended purpose, gaining a relationship with your customers, and you will find that it works much better for you in the process.

The author of this article has been in the marketing and advertising industry for over 10 years. From her experience, she suggests companies to offer promotional products and trade show giveaways for effective marketing. During her free time she loves to travel to Asia to visit her family.

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What to Consider When Choosing Promotional Products for Your Business

The novice marketer usually focuses on promotional stickers and buttons, but there are hundreds of other promotional products available for businesses. There are a plethora of customized products that can be imprinted with your business logo or ad message. You can choose from thousands of products to promote your business, from promo phone stands, personalized Smartphone cases, customized sunglasses, customized mugs, and personalized calendars - even personalized computer products like flash drives and mouse pads. The list goes on. Imprint your company logo on a variety of promotional items that people use everyday. Customized products are a low-key commercial for your business all day, every day. If you're considering purchasing promo products for the first time, here are some tips:

Know Your Customers

You need to determine the target audience for your advertising campaign before doing anything else. Are you trying to reach a wide-ranging customer base? Then choose promotional pens and refrigerator magnets or personalized T-shirts - items everyone can use. If you have a sporting goods store geared to young professionals and college students, customized sports bottles, promotional Smartphone cases or sunglasses may be a better choice. They cost more than promotional pens or magnets, but are better suited to your client base. If you're running a seasonal promotion, we have many customized products, including customized tissue boxes, hand sanitizers and lip balm for cold and flu season. If you're not sure which promotional products will pique your customers' interest, conduct a survey on your website or by e-mail newsletter.

Cost

If you're a one-person operation and want to make the most of your ad money, personalized pens are a great idea. They are inexpensive and you can usually order customized pens in quantities of 100 or more. Everybody uses pens, so it's a great marketing tool. We have many different types of customized pens available - gel, retractable, metal, rosewood, stick pens and pens on a rope. Pens are lightweight and inexpensive to ship. Save money by ordering promo pens in advance and choosing ground shipping. Overnight mail can get pricey even for small items like customized pens. Other low-budget personalized items include keychains, magnets and buttons. For companies with bigger promo budgets, Most promotional product companies have many types of products, from customized ashtrays and letter openers to personalized T-shirts, messenger bags and crystal desk sculptures. Once you've determined how many pieces of a promotional product you'll need for an ad campaign, you'll need to prep artwork and call a promotional product company for pricing and shipping information.

Methods of Distribution

Your salesman can give away a product like gel or retractable pens on sales calls. You can give promotional products away at tradeshows or leave a dish of candy (with your company's name on the wrappers) on the reception desk. It's easy and inexpensive all-around marketing. You can include a refrigerator magnet sporting your company logo with direct mail packages. Coordinate special promo events or giveaways at your place of business or at other local events. Give away imprinted SmartPhone covers at concerts or set up tables with company reps and promo items at local fairs. There are many ways to distribute promotional items or swag, as they are sometimes called. You can sell promo products on your website's e-store or arrange to give swag away during radio station contests. Offer promo item as an extra when customers purchase a certain amount of your company's product. As you can see, there are many ways to get your message out to the public via personalized pens and other promo products. Whether you choose to give away promotional products or sell them, you're making a long-term investment in your business without spending a lot of cash.

To check out a variety of low-cost promotional products, including pens, tote bags, seasonal products, calendars and more, go to http://www.Bizpen.com

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Meet Challenges Head On With Cross Media Marketing

As the competitive market place drives an establishment to devise surefire marketing strategies, organizations leave nothing to chance while building marketing campaigns that can produce fruitful results. But, introducing programs that promise great results remain a brain teaser for organizations that fail to consider features that impact the program.

Cross media marketing campaign is an effective weapon in the arsenal of a company that is keen to engage customers' attention. With this campaign, establishments can get closer to the target audience by developing alluring content that attracts attention of customers. For a company that wants to override challenges that come in the way of marketing measures, cross media marketing seems to be the perfect fit to meet and override such challenges.

Inadequate Resources
While the focal attention of a company falls on marketing strategies that promise good results, making diligent use of resources to conduct the campaign is another feature that deserves the organization's attention. With inadequate resources to support the marketing campaign, an establishment is not in the best of positions to gain mileage out of the campaign. Marketing campaigns that make good use of cross media communication are campaigns built to overcome this challenge where inadequate resources can produce a negative impact on the campaign.

Smaller Marketing Budgets
Another feature that can produce a telling effect on the marketing campaigns rolled out by a company is the marketing budget of the company. With smaller marketing budgets, companies are not well placed to create maximum impact amid the target audience, which also doesn't augur well to enhance the brand appeal. This campaign built on cross media communication allows the company to override the challenge that takes the form of smaller marketing budgets.

Unearthing leads
Needless to say, an organization takes all measures to adopt the right marketing strategies that help the company to unearth new leads. Without a result-driven campaign that can unearth new leads, an establishment is not in a healthy position to improve its sales figures. The campaign that makes good use of this cross media strategy proves to be an effective campaign that allows an establishment to unearth new leads.

Improve Customer Loyalty
With stiff competition driving players to introduce novel marketing measures, building programs that inspire customer loyalty is more of a challenge to an establishment. While an organization rolls out a campaign built on cross media strategy, it is well placed to improve customer loyalty and enhance the brand appeal in the process.

Cross media marketing is not only a potent weapon to lure customers' attention, but is also a mode that allows an establishment to thwart challenges that can derail marketing programs pertaining to an institution.

For more details about this articles click here:- Cross Media Marketing

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Being Smart in a Tough Credit Market

Current economies are such that you run the risk of being given the pink slip irrespective of whether a recession is in progress or not. If your job is found in the least bit redundant, the chances of losing it are quite high. In the bargain, almost all your investments will also suffer. Most people make investments based on their income. The larger the income, the bigger the investment is the norm. Car and loan mortgages are some of the biggest worries for people who have been laid off.

There is however a way to insulation yourself and that is with a layoff assurance plan. Technically these are a form of safety nets whereby a consumer is able to return something that he can no longer afford. Depending on company policy your money may be returned to you or the payment for the product will be deferred till you can afford it once again.

But like with any form of assurance you will need to go through the fine print in detail. Layoff assurance plans are generally provided by retail organizations. One of the main reasons for doing this is to push sales despite slow market. It will push profit margins up for the company. When you get into such plans you have to understand all the terms and conditions that are applicable. They may seem good on paper, but you have to understand their implications. This however does not mean that every kind of assurance is out to get you. What you primarily have to look for are the exceptions. Every assurance policy will work in some details that will prevent you from collecting on the assurance. Find out what these are and how it could work in your case. Only when you are completely satisfied should you venture further with it.

The idea of this policy is to insulate yourself from liabilities in the case of losing your job. But at the time of contemplating the purchase do think about how strong those possibilities are. Should you be absolutely sure of losing your job, it would be a good idea to just refrain from making a big ticket purchase.

When you are settling on your plan make sure that you understand it as a value addition and not just a protection plan. Make sure that you do all the groundwork needed to see if the policy is comprehensive or if there is another entity offering you a better deal.

Welcome to Layoff assurance, We assist and give Protection to the victims, suffering from the recession economy due to shortage of work and seasonal layoffs.

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500 Ways for Keywords to Generate More Enquiries

We all know you can't just build a website and wait for people to flock to it, any more than you can open a shop secure in the knowledge that the hoards will come with their wallets bulging.

It is obvious you need to tell people you are there and give them a good reason to try you. This means getting involved in marketing, which can be a bit tricky.

Marketing is tough

In ancient times, this was easier. You listed your business under the appropriate heading and made sure you were in Yellow Pages and other directories, trade bodies and relevant organisations. It was a simple matter - if you were a plumber, you had to be under the heading of 'plumber'.

You still had to promote and build awareness and reputation, but the search facilities were limited and straightforward.

Now we have the web and the world is not so easily classified. It can be hard to know with any accuracy what terms may be used to search the internet for the services you offer. Which, let's face it - especially in the UK - means Google.

Keyword Mastery

Keywords are an important part of your website construction and there is much to learn about how to get them right and how to use then properly.

Google itself provides a lot of help. It helps you by telling you that you need keywords to describe your site and its' content and that these should be matched to the words that prospects use to find what they want.

Google even provides a keyword tool to help with this: punch in any term and get 500 keywords and phrases relevant to that search term - mind you, they will need going through in some detail to sort the wheat from the chaff.

There are all sorts of tricks to gain more insight: look at the phrases listed at the bottom of the Google results page, get phrases from Google Analytics (you have analytics on your website, of course), not to mention asking customers and prospects what they used.

Getting more from your website

All this helps you hone in on the key words and phrases that people use to find what you are selling.

Naturally, you still need other forms or marketing to achieve your goals. Keywords are just one tool in the SEO armoury, but if you don't get them right, how does Google know you sell what it is being asked for?

If you would like to find out more about keywords and their use in building your business then this book by Andrew Mason will help: Keyword Mastery,

Centre Manager at Colston Office Centre, providing fully serviced offices suites and virtual office facilities.

Marketing professional with experience in the hospitality and catering sector as well as commercial property.

Website: http://www.colstonofficecentre.co.uk

Blog: http://www.colstonofficecentre.co.uk/businessresource

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