How Social Media Can Help With Market Research

Anyone who has ever worked in marketing understands the value of market research. Solid research can teach you about your intended audience and what your customers are looking for, which will allow you to grow your company and position it for success.

Imagine if nearly everything you needed to know about your customer base existed in a single space, and all you needed to do was find a way to listen to the conversation. Well, it is -- and you can. That space is social media.

Social media (and the Internet in general) has come to dominate nearly half the globe. Customers use the Internet to communicate and connect with each other and the brands they want to do business with. These customers are telling you what you need to know about the needs of your intended audience. Here are a few ways you can put social media to work for you.

Pay attention to how your customers speak

You likely already know you should be monitoring social sites for mentions of your brand in case customers register complaints or talk about experiences they had with you. There's more you can get out of these basic brand mentions, though.

Pay attention to how people speak about your company and the services you provide. Listen to what your customers are mentioning as the most important aspects in their buying experience. What matters the most when developing customer loyalty? What draws people to your products and services? What causes them to go to your competitors? This insight will help you improve the customer experience and better meet their needs.

Get quick results for surveys

Rather than spending weeks or months gathering data from surveys and study groups, you can use social media to learn about your customers significantly quicker. Pose questions to your followers, and encourage customers to share experiences with your brand to get a feel for what matters most to them.

In many ways, the information you glean from social media might be even more valuable than what you learn from focus groups. Nearly 3/4 of all people with Internet access use social media in some form. Using social media for your research, therefore, has the potential to help you gain a much more complete picture of industry trends and customer preferences.

Using social media for your surveys can also be a fantastic way to control costs related to social research. There are a variety of free tools available across a number of social platforms, but even the ones that have a cost tend to be more cost-efficient than spending the time and money to conduct surveys and poll focus groups.

Get real-time results

Traditional surveys often take several weeks or months to process and analyze. When you use social media to gather this important information, you get your answers in real time. This can help you implement positive changes for your customers and take advantage of the information you learned, while remaining confident that trends have not yet shifted.

Social media is a valuable tool for market research. It can help you learn more about your customers so you can better meet their needs and grow your business.

Building a House, Building a Marketing Campaign

Imagine building a house. Before you saw a single board or dig the footings for your foundation, you must first finalize your blueprints. Without plans telling you what your desired result should look like, you won't be able to accomplish very much.

You also need to make sure you have the tools to accomplish the job. In construction, tools all have very defined purposes, and failing to listen to safety guidelines about using the tools can end up either hurting you or destroying your house.

Once you have your final plans and all the tools and materials you need, it's time to get to work. Now is your opportunity to put all your knowledge to the test. The process might be slow, but as you go step by step, you start to see progress. Before you know it, the final result begins to take shape. The further you get, the more confidence you gain in your abilities.

Most of us will never build anything more elaborate than a bird house. That doesn't mean, however, that the steps involved in building a house cannot teach us anything. Even just planning how one might begin to build a house can teach us something about how to succeed in marketing a company.

The planning

Before building a house, everyone involved in the process needs to know their role and desired outcome. Without a final goal, it would be impossible to create anything useful or of value.

The same holds true in marketing. Marketing is most successful when you have a final goal and vision in mind from the beginning. Understanding the end goal is the only way you'll know where you're going and what the final result should look like. This final vision will guide you as you develop your campaign message and plan for reaching the desired intended audience.

The tools

When building a house, you need to use a variety of tools that each serve a very distinct role. In marketing, you'll also find various tools in your tool kit. From direct mail to Facebook ads to inbound marketing, a successful campaign involves understanding the purpose of each individual tool and how to successfully use them.

Perseverance

Building something as large as a house will require an incredible amount of perseverance. There will be times when you get discouraged or struggle to see progress, but you still must keep going.

The same lesson applies in marketing. When starting a new campaign, it can be hard to see tangible results right away. The results will come. You just need to keep pressing forward. You must be willing to put in some effort before you begin to receive any return.

Building a house is something most of us only imagine doing. Those who have had the opportunity to work on such a project, however, know what an educational experience it can be. Even if you only ever dream of building your own house, consider the steps you would take. You might be surprised at the tips you can learn about marketing your company. If you're interested in making your dreams a reality and getting your marketing plan off the ground, contact us today. We'd be happy to help you get started.

Business Lessons You Can Learn From Film and Television

Inspiration can come from many places. While it's always important to look toward successful leaders to see what you can do to better yourself and your organization, you can also find tips in the most unlikely of places, including film and television. While certain fictional characters may seem like little more than "kids stuff" on the surface, entertainment is actually filled with budding entrepreneurs, successful businesspeople, and everyone in between.

1. Lex Luthor - Supervillain, Business Leader, Or Both?

If you've only known Lex Luthor as a "mad scientist" who will do whatever it takes to stop his arch rival, Superman, you haven't been keeping up with the character for the last several decades. In the classic Richard Donner film, Superman, Luthor's plot involves buying up thousands of acres of worthless Arizona desert that will eventually be transformed into a "new West coast" of high-priced real estate after he separates California from the rest of the U.S. by way of his dastardly plan.

Though Superman thankfully puts a stop to him before that can happen, the business lesson here is abundantly clear. Luthor recognized an opportunity in real estate (or, as he so eloquently put it, "the one thing they're not making any more of"). He thought outside the box and was able to find a new way to penetrate an existing market, which is something all business owners should be doing on a daily basis. Even though his target market seemed impenetrable, he was able to put a bold new slant on an old idea just by embracing unique possibilities.

2. The Avengers - The Importance of Teamwork

One of the most amazing things about the 2012 film The Avengers is the important business lesson inside. From the moment these heroes get together, all they do is bicker. Instead of saving the world, much of the first part of the film involves them arguing with one another to the point where a villain is able to execute the vast majority of his master plan while no one's even paying attention.

The business lesson from The Avengers, however, rests in the third act. Separately, each hero could not complete the mission before them. Only by properly teaming together and utilizing their complementary strengths were they able to form something much bigger than any one person. It's the same thing you need to be doing in business on a daily basis. Your team members are there for a reason. Everyone is good at something. Recognizing those strengths is what drives success.

3. Wile E. Coyote - There Is No "Magic Bullet" In Business

Wile E. Coyote is known for many things, including being a textbook illustration of what not to do in the world of business. As Wile E. Coyote attempts to capture his arch rival, the roadrunner, he keeps trying to do so with a single solution. Sometimes that solution takes the form of an Acme rocket that explodes too early or an anvil placed in just the wrong location.

The business lesson here is startlingly simple and amazingly important at the same time. If you depend on one single "magic bullet" solution to achieve business success, you're never going to get what you want. Such a solution doesn't exist. Putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak, isn't the way to run a successful business. It's gambling that will never quite pay off. You can't expect any one single move to rocket your business into the stratosphere. Instead, you need to have backup plans for your backup plans and (most importantly) patience.

You really never know where inspiration might rear its head. One second you might think you're only watching a diabolical villain trying to pull one over on the last surviving son of Krypton. But before you know it, you realize you're actually watching a master businessman at play. Important business lessons can come from even the most unlikely places. You just have to make sure your eyes are always open and you know where to look.

How to Convince Customers You're Worthy of Their Loyalty

Did you know that 71 percent of customers have stopped using a company because of the poor customer service they received? Did you also know that the average value of a lost customer is $243? Poor customer experiences cost companies money and seriously hurt the bottom line. No company can afford to just throw away $243 per person.

Fortunately, there is a solution. By focusing your efforts on improving your customers' experience, you can help encourage them to return to you, improving retention and stopping the bleed of past customers going to your competitors. Here's how to do it.

Focus on employees

Your employees are the face of the company when customers interact with your brand. Make sure they represent you well. Develop a strong relationship with employees by giving them degrees of independence, flexibility, and a work environment that's a pleasant place to be. Employees will become more appreciative and enthusiastic about your brand and pass that along to customers.

Give employees training, then independence

Focus on building a culture of independence. Allow company representatives to troubleshoot and solve problems on their own. This will help them feel more appreciated, while improving customer service. Now, when a customer calls with a complaint, the person who answers can actually help them, rather than passing the phone call from person to person.

Try to under-promise and over-deliver

Far too many customers are used to companies neglecting their promises, so show that you're different. Promise customers the minimum of what they can expect and then over-deliver.

Listen to what customers say are the weakest parts of their experience

Though fewer and fewer customers actually use complaint lines to let companies know they did wrong, that doesn't mean they've stopped complaining. Instead, it's simply become more common for people to release their reviews to the public through social media.

A bad review from a disgruntled customer can have an enormous impact on your company's reputation. Address customer complaints head-on and try to make amends for their poor experience. If the customer is satisfied, then politely ask them to update or remove the bad review.

Treat bad reviews as learning experiences. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What part of the customer experience was impacted (product research, pricing, the purchase itself, questions about the product, etc.)?



• Are there any patterns to the types of complaints made by customers?



• What do these bad reviews say about how customers wish to be seen in your organization?

Use the information you garner to guide you in making improvements to the customer experience. Prioritize changes based on the weaknesses customers point out in their reviews, and let them know they're valued by your company.

The customer experience can be a fantastic predictor of consumer loyalty and retention. When you learn how to convince customers to stay with your brand, you'll see more money in your pocket and better growth. Use the above advice to update your customer experience to make the most of every interaction between customer and company.

How Much Value Are You Providing Customers Online?

Imagine you're a student struggling to understand a difficult concept in one of your classes. A friend who aced the class last semester offers to help but ends up just regurgitating the same information you already got from your notes. Frustrated, you ask if they can give you any insight that might help you better understand the subject. "Sure," they reply, "but that wouldn't be fair to the rest of your class because it would make it too easy for you."

Sound far fetched? It probably is. After all, who would show such little interest in helping their friend succeed? Yet, for many companies, that's precisely the attitude they take with their marketing content.

How helpful is your content?

We're all turning more and more online to learn about products and make intelligent and informed buying decisions. In response to this trend, many companies broadcast themselves as the expert and want people to turn to them.

Their content, however, is far less than helpful.

Rather than actually answer industry questions or help customers learn about their products, these companies simply repackage the same general information found elsewhere online and remain vague about the advice they give.

They're afraid that by 'giving away' too much information, customers will not have a reason to hire them. In the process, they're missing a key part of the marketing puzzle: building trust.

Instead of giving customers a reason to hire them, they're driving them away in frustration over the lack of information they provide. Potential customers end up visiting competitors' websites and getting the information they seek there instead. The unhelpful content meant to entice customers actually destroys opportunities to build trust and credibility.

How you can avoid this scenario

The solution to this problem is straightforward: provide valuable content. Listen to the questions that customers ask and use them to generate blog posts. Write helpful articles that will actually inform the reader and guide them in making better decisions. Use the Internet to build a reputation as an approachable leader in the industry.

Consumers today want answers and help navigating your industry. Like a student seeking help in a school subject, these customers aren't going to stick around someone who just tells them general information they already know. To convert your customers, you need to be the helpful authority.

Lowest Cost vs. Cheapest whats the difference?

With the current state of the economy, everyone is looking for ways to cut costs to keep their head above the water. Here at Duplicates INK, we have been fortunate to find ways to provide our customers with the same, or better, quality and service they have come to expect, without hurting their bottom line. Regardless, a majority of companies have been affected by the current situation, and as a result are looking for ways to save.

Many business, both large and small, have looked at reducing marketing as a potential way to cut costs. Is this wise? According to Harvard Business Professor John Quelch, business should not reduce their marketing efforts, although there may be ways to market smarter. For some companies, now may even be the optimal time to increase marketing and capture more market share.

Eliminating the option of reducing marketing to save money, what about trying to do the same with less? With companies competing more and more for your business's money, you may see some services offered at what seem like rock-bottom prices. While these prices may be enticing at first, they can carry hidden costs.

The marketing seen by your customers is a direct reflection of your company, so it is important to weigh the benefits of lower costs against the sacrifices in quality. With Direct Mail Marketing, there are a number of considerations to make in your selection process:

Production Quality: Have you selected a printer that will produce a consistent, high-quality finished product to present to your customers? This can be affected by anything from quality of pre-press preparation and proofing, quality of the production equipment used and knowledge of the operators, to the final preparation for mailing. Remember, if the quality of the finished product suffers, so will your company's image.

Direct Mail Knowledge: With the United States Postal Service also looking to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its own operations in order to save money, changes to the way mail is prepared and accepted are happening faster than ever. For this reason, it is extremely important to work with a company that knows direct mail. The last thing you want to hear is that your mailing has been rejected due to improper preparation. In addition, a knowledgeable mail service provider can save you money by ensuring you get the best possible rates for whatever you are mailing.

At Duplicates INK, we are aware of the concerns of companies that do direct mail marketing, along with possible issues that may occur along the way. Since we provide all services from the generation of a marketing plan to taking a finished mailing to the post office, we can best advise our customers on how to achieve the greatest effectiveness with their marketing efforts, while ensuring quality will not be forgotten. If you are considering starting Direct Mail Marketing or just evaluating your current marketing offerings, we encourage you to contact us so we may advise you on how to best promote your company
 
Duplicates INK
http://www.duplicatesink.com/
info@duplicatesink.com

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One of the BEST motivating videos I have seen. Duplicates INK will be implementing the philosophy immediatly to be the best in the printing industry.