Monday, December 10, 2012

Think your teen is tech savvy because they spend hours on the computer? Think Again!

There is a false belief amongst parents, where they think their children must be tech savvy because they spend hours on the Computer, Internet and Smartphone. Sure they may be able to navigate their way on how to download apps, upload pictures, post video's to YouTube and write Twitter, Facebook and Blog posts, but if this is all they are doing, parents need to delve in and pay close attention.

Yes, it is true! With computers and the internet playing such a fundamental role in pretty much every aspect of our lives, especially within the work world, teens need to be digitally literate. However, spending hours upon hours on social networking sites does not mean teens are tech savvy. In fact, if this is all they are doing, chances are their technology addiction is having an adverse affect on their digital skills, education, literacy, and their overall developmental growth.

Today, approximately 80% of teens are living in the 'Cyber Bubble', and there are serious risks to this lifestyle. The fact is, the average teen in North America spends 8 hours per day being digitally connected with 2-3 hours per day on social networking sites and sending 80-100 texts per day to their friends.

So why should parents, guardians and educators be concerned? The bottom line is, if teens are hyper-connected they are likely experiencing the adverse affects of being trapped in the Cyber-bubble:

  1. The Cyber-bubble warps a young person, making him/her less able to interact in the real-word. They hone their texting skills but may not learn the art of face-to-face conversation.  
  2. Texting has resulted in 'Dummy Down' language: Teens tend to pick up bad grammar habits with simple syntax, phonetic spelling, and low diction, which is crossing over into their school work and education.  
  3. The Cyber-culture gives rise to a relentless focus on the presentation of self in images and sound bites before the 'she' or 'he' has a chance of fully developing. 
  4. Teens pretend to be impressed with things to fit in, creating a persona they think will be liked versus presenting their real selves. 
  5. Over connection traps teens in a bubble. The ability to connect with any girl or boy their same-age at any moment of the day deprives them from any break, any breather, and any alternative perspectives. 
  6. Teens are hyberconnected to their peers, while disconnecting from themselves. Teens need time to reflect on who they are and want to become; they need chill time. Technology Addiction steals down time from teens with their phone vibrating constantly. 
  7. Spending too much time online generally means teens are neglecting their studies, practice, and chores, resulting in poor performance. 
  8. Sleep Deprivation is on the rise while impacting attitudes and performance. Many teens are online late at night resulting in sleep deprivation, therefore they have a lack of focus and concentration at school and are super-sensitive. 
  9. Girl-world / teen drama tends to cross from school-to-online and vice versa. 
  10. Cyber-bullying is on the rise and has become a serious epidemic. There is nothing new to teens, especially girls, being mean. What's new is the technology that creates the 24/7 relentless attacking that has the potential to reach literally millions of people in hitting the 'enter' or 'send' buttons. 
  11. Self objectifying! Teens, particularly girls, are focusing on how they look versus who they are, because they see themselves as an object first and a person second. Teens are choosing to evaluate themselves based on their appearance because they believe this is how others adjudicate them.  
  12. Sexting – It ruins reputations. Teen girls, more so then teen boys, sext. In fact 20% of teenage girls in North America have committed the act of sexting, and that number is rising. Given the amount of pornography on the internet, and the depiction of women and girls as sex objects in mainstream media, many teen girls think this is what boys want. The reality is, if a teen takes a nude picture of themselves, they could be charged with the production of child pornography. If they, or anyone else, forwards that picture, they can be charged with the distribution of child pornography. Girls that sext or expose themselves on the Internet put themselves at serious risk for sexual abuse and cyber-bullying. 

It is important for parents to pay close attention to their teens use of smartphone technology, social media and the Internet. While teens are experiencing the many benefits each of these have to offer, they are also being exposed to the dangers and risks. As parents, we need to teach our children to set boundaries and limits in their use of technology. We need to education them on proper and appropriate use, how to play safe, and how to be a good cyber friend and cyber citizen.

So if your teen is spending hours on end on their computer, smartphone and the Internet, we strongly recommend you become a Computer Cop and find out exactly what they are doing, and what activities they are engaging in. If you have concerns of their technology use and habits, it may be time to establish Computer, Internet & Smartphone Rules, which includes you and your teen signing an Internet & Smartphone Usage Agreement. Breaking the rules and violating the agreement results in loss of use and privilege of using these technologies.

You must establish within your teen that the Computer, Smartphone and Internet is a privilege, not a right!  They have the responsibility in using these technologies properly and appropriately. Be sure to set the stage by being a good example and practicing what you preach because more often than not, teens model the behavior of adults, more so when that adult is their parent(s).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Nancy Beth Guptill,Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada
Digital Marketing & Social Media Training Consultant / Women & Girl Thought Leadership


http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Girls & Their Online Behavior - Internet Safety Workshops Schedule For Prince Edward Island

Sweet Spot Marketing Canada is offering Internet Safety workshops for Students and Parents in Western Prince Edward Island.  Below are the workshop dates and schedule.

At this time, we would like to thank the Interministerial Women’s Secretariat, Province of Prince Edward Island, for funding these programs.  We would also like to thank our program partners: East Prince Women's Information Centre, BullyTag, and PEI Western School District

For more information on the workshops

WORKHOP SCHEDULE:

ATHENA CONSOLIDATED
  • November 13th, 1:20 PM - Student Presentation
  • November 13th, 6:30 PM - Parent Presentation
SUMMERSIDE INTERMEDIATE
  • November 13th, 6:30 PM - Parent Presentation
  • November 16th, 9:40 AM - Student Presentation
  • November 16th, 10:40 AM - Student Presentation
KINKORA REGIONAL
  • November 19th, 3:15 PM - Student Presentation
  • November 19th. 6:30 PM - Parent Presentation
MISCHOUCHE CONSOLIDTED
  • November 21st, 2:40 PM - Student Presentation
  • November 21st, 6:30 PM - Parent Presentation
KENSINGTON INTERMEDIATE
TBA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Nancy Beth Guptill
Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada
Digital Marketing & Social Media Training Consultant
http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

About Sweet Spot Marketing: Sweet Spot Marketing is a new media marketing training and education company that lives by the motto "It is better to know than to think you know, there is power in knowledge". We have a host of education programs in the areas of digital technology, new and social media, marketing automation, creativity, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. To learn how we work with government, business organizations and corporate clients, please book a complimentary assessment appointment: http://sweet-spot-marketing-canada.genbook.com

Media Release - Managing Your Onlne Presence - Internet Safety, Educational Workshops for Students and Parents


MEDIA RELEASE

November 8, 2012
Managing Your on Line Presence

Education and Awareness sessions will be provided to students and parents of Summerside Intermediate, Athena, Miscouche, Kensington and Kinkora on Safety on the Internet.

Students will be given sessions on “safe usage on social media sites” relating to
* how to create positive relationships, experiences and digital footprints,
* how to protect their identity, reputation and image ,
* how to protect themselves from online predators and bullying,
* using social media for good, impacting self image, strengthening safety,

These workshops will be offered through the day to the students

Parents will have evening workshops on :
* how to protect and monitor social media sites
* safety controls
* privacy settings
* legal issues
* establishing rules
* family safe centres

Booklets/resources will be provided .

The first parent session will be offered on Tuesday, November 13 at 6:30PM at Athena and will be for parents of SIS and Athena.
Somerset School in Kinkora will be Monday, Nov.19 at 6:30PM
Miscouche Consolidated will be Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 6:30PM
Kensington is TBA

The Sessions will be provided by Sweet Spot Marketing.

The week of November 12-17 is Anti- Bullying Week and there will be a presentation by BullyTag ( www.bullytag.com ) during the sessions.

For more Information :

Andy Lou Somers, Ex. Director
East Prince Women’s Information Centre
902-436-9856

Girls & Their Online Behavior: http://bit.ly/GirlsOnlineBehavior
Girls & Social Media: http://bit.ly/GirlsAndSocialMedia



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Nancy Beth Guptill
Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada
Digital Marketing & Social Media Training Consultant
http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

About Sweet Spot Marketing: Sweet Spot Marketing is a new media marketing training and education company that lives by the motto "It is better to know than to think you know, there is power in knowledge". We have a host of education programs in the areas of digital technology, new and social media, marketing automation, creativity, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. To learn how we work with government, business organizations and corporate clients, please book a complimentary assessment appointment: http://sweet-spot-marketing-canada.genbook.com

Monday, November 5, 2012

How To Build A Strong Online Presence



In this 3-part Internet Marketing workshop series  we help entrepreneurs and small business owners raise the impact of their website and boost their overall online marketing efforts.
  • Session 1:  Fundamentals of Internet Marketing      November 23rd 
  • Session 2:  Social Media For Small Business           November 30th  
  • Session 3:  Learn To Sell Online                               December 7th

  Time:       9:15 AM - 11:45 AM,  Friday Mornings
  Location: PEI Local Boardroom, 129 Water Street, Charlottetown
  Website: http://bit.ly/StrongOnlinePresence



Build A Strong Online Presence  Fundamentals of Internet Marketing

This session is designed to help companies expand their marketing strategy to include a strong web presence. 

This workshop will give you an understa
nding of the latest tools, terms and techniques to create a powerful web presence using digital marketing, social media and e-commerce applications that work.

This is not a technical course but one that supports marketing functions



          Make It Work For You!             
Social Media Training for Small Business
SM

In this Social Media Workshop, we will walk you through our step-by-step process of creating a Facebook Page for your business and show you how to turn your Facebook Page into a Social Media Marketing machine.  We will cover the basis of our 7-Step Facebook Marketing Campaign and you will learn the practical use of Facebook Tools & Features which will spread your name across the Facebook Social Network.



                     E-Commerce                       Learn To Sell Online
Buy Now
More and more customers are buying online.  How can your business take advantage of the power of the internet so you create an online storefront to sell products on the web?  

This workshop is about first steps in moving towards reaching new markets, increasing your sales and growing your customer base by selling products online.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Nancy Beth Guptill
Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada

http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

About Sweet Spot Marketing: Sweet Spot Marketing is a new media marketing training and education company that lives by the motto "It is better to know than to think you know, there is power in knowledge". We have a host of education programs in the areas of digital technology, new and social media, marketing automation, creativity, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. To learn how we work with government, business organizations and corporate clients, please book a complimentary assessment appointment: http://sweet-spot-marketing-canada.genbook.com

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Girls & Social Media - The Brand of You

  Girls & Social Media "The Brand of You - Protecting Your Identity, Reputation & Image" is funded     by PEI's Interministerial Women's Secretariat


Girls love the internet and social networking. The two have become intricate parts of their daily lives affecting everything from how they connect and communicate with friends, learn about the world around them, spend their leisure and entertainment time, and define their self image and social worth. While there are many benefits to using social media, with its use comes inherent dangers that puts girls of all ages at serious risk.

Managing and protecting your online identity and digital footprint has become increasingly important. The purpose of The Brand of You! is to educate girls on the benefits and dangers of social media, while empowering them to use social networking for good.

This workshop will teach girls how to manage their online presence, encourage them to use social media for good, educate them on how to create positives profiles and digital footprints, and protect themselves from some of the more serious risks and dangers that are associated with using the internet.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
  • Use the Internet and Social Media for Good
  • Find Your Voice & Be a Positive Influence
  • Create Positive Profiles, Relationships & Digital Footprints
  • Protect Your Identity & Online Image
  • Protect Against Risks: Predators, Bullies, Identity Theft, Social Media Depression
  • Tips, Advice, Best Practices
  • Careers in Digital Technology & Social Media

WORKSHOP DETAILS:
  • Hosts:        EPWIC & Western School District
  • Dates:        During the Month of November 2012
  • Times:       TBD
  • Location:   Junior High Schools in Western PEI

SPONSOR: The Interministerial Women's Secretariat, Prince Edward Island

 

Workshop Hosts

  • East Prince Women's Information Centre
  • PEI Western School District

Contact

Andy Lou Somers
East Prince Women's Information Centre  
Phone: 902-436-9856


WORKSHOP FACILITATOR 
 NBG
Facebook_Icon  Twitter Icon    LinkedIn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Nancy Beth Guptill
Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada
Digital Marketing & Social Media Training Consultant
http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

About Sweet Spot Marketing: Sweet Spot Marketing is a new media marketing training and education company that lives by the motto "It is better to know than to think you know, there is power in knowledge". We have a host of education programs in the areas of digital technology, new and social media, marketing automation, creativity, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. To learn how we work with government, business organizations and corporate clients, please book a complimentary assessment appointment: http://sweet-spot-marketing-canada.genbook.com

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Twitter ... Seriously!




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Nancy Beth Guptill
Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada
Digital Marketing & Social Media Training Consultant
http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

About Sweet Spot Marketing: Sweet Spot Marketing is a new media marketing training and education company that lives by the motto "It is better to know than to think you know, there is power in knowledge". We have a host of education programs in the areas of digital technology, new and social media, marketing automation, creativity, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. To learn how we work with government, business organizations and corporate clients, please book a complimentary assessment appointment: http://sweet-spot-marketing-canada.genbook.com

Friday, September 7, 2012

We're Looking For Agriculture Social Media Leaders In Atlantic Canada



Are you an Agriculture Producer using social media for business?   It's time to .....






We are looking for local producers in Atlantic Canada to share their social media stories to be included in a presentation that will be delivered in front of an audience of 200 people in January 2013.

We are looking for the good, the bad and the down right ugly ... but mostly the good so we can share success stories.

In return, we will give each producer who submits an entry by November 1, 2012, a complimentary life time membership to our Sweet Spot Marketing / eLearning Marketing Program. http://www.sweetspotmarketingacademy.ca/

If you are interested in getting some free promotion, being recognzied as an agriculture social media leader in our region, and a free life time membership to our Sweet Spot Marketing Club - go to the top of our
Facebook Page and send us a Facebook message for more details.


Monday, September 3, 2012

Should businesses ignore Facebook for B2B marketing?

We came across this article on Social Marketing Forum and give full credit to  .


The first social network that comes to mind when thinking about B2B marketing is obviously LinkedIn. However, what about Facebook? Is it suitable for business-to-business? Of course it all depends on your market, goals and target groups.
Business buyers are people and they also use Facebook. Although Facebook is generally less used in the buying process than blogs or LinkedIn, it certainly shouldn’t be ignored.
While many strictly distinguish between Facebook as the ‘consumer environment’ and LinkedIn as the B2B place-to-be, in many countries and demographics Facebook is so popular that professionals use it both for personal and business reasons. They simply know how to distinguish between friends, family and professional contacts.
Furthermore, there is a new generation of B2B buyers: the social ones. They are more used to social platforms and can be compared with the ‘connected consumer’.

Differences between Facebook and LinkedIn

In total, 93% of all business buyers believe that social media presence is important and necessary, 85% believe interaction and engagement is important.
Facebook of course has way more users and people spend much more time on Facebook then on LinkedIn. However 41% of all companies that used Facebook for B2B marketing did acquire new customers via this network as LinkedIn reaches a more professional audience by definition and is built for business networking.
Also remember that the B2B buying process is a group process so, even if the final decision maker is not on Facebook, those that influence him might be. Tip: only request to connect on Facebook if the buyer already knows you from a blog, Twitter, LinkedIn or in real-life.

Some goals you can use Facebook for as a B2B marketer according to a survey of B2BOnline.com:

  • Focus on thought leadership (done by 60% of respondents).
  • Generate leads (49%).
  • Solicit feedback (46%).
  • Use Facebook advertising but only when the goal is clear (35% of respondents do it).

More goals you can serve using Facebook for B2B marketing:

  • Branding: being more personal and transparent by interacting in a more human way.
  • Customer support.
  • Creating communities (Groups).
  • Relationships: showing who you are and what you do in an engaging and more ‘fun’ way.
Should you advertise on Facebook as a B2B marketer?  It really depends on your goals and target group. In integrated marketing activities, it surely helps. One reason might be reaching more people although that often goes hand in hand with other tactics such as sponsoring.
Why did the $100m companies sponsor the Olympics 2012? Because the reach was phenomenal. So is the reach of Facebook.
So listen, watch and learn.. but don’t forget to be prepared for criticism too.
Facebook in B2B Marketing (vs Linkedin) Infographic


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author: Nancy Beth Guptill
Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada
Digital Marketing & Social Media Training Consultant
http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

About Sweet Spot Marketing: Sweet Spot Marketing is a new media marketing training and education company that lives by the motto "It is better to know than to think you know, there is power in knowledge". We have a host of education programs in the areas of digital technology, new and social media, marketing automation, creativity, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. To learn how we work with government, business organizations and corporate clients, please book a complimentary assessment appointment: http://sweet-spot-marketing-canada.genbook.com

Friday, August 17, 2012

How to Make Telemarketing Work for You

Telemarketing is an efficient and cost-effective way to generate leads for your business and boost your customer service standards.


When I use the word ‘telemarketing,' I really mean any type of formal communication between you and an existing or prospective customer over the phone. Each time you or your staff have a customer on the line, it is an opportunity to market your business and provide exceptional customer service.
A salesperson making a cold call is an obvious example, but the people who answer the phone at the customer service desk, your receptionist and every other member of your team, including you, participates in your telemarketing strategy.
In this context, telemarketing is a powerful lead generator and conversion booster. It makes sense to me - it's a really cheap, and with some thought and planning it can be super effective.
To learn more about How to Make Telemarketing Work for you - sign up for our online Marketing School at: http://sweetspotmarketingacademy.ca/ 
In the Telemarketing E-Class we cover:
  • What is telemarketing?
  • How your business uses telemarketing on daily basis
  • How to use the telemarketing process for incoming and outgoing calls
  • How to write an effective telemarketing script
  • Strategies for effective telemarketing



Meanwhile, here is an article authored by Andy Dickens of Virtual Sales Limited titled "Top 10 Ways to Use Telemarketing" http://www.virtual-sales.com

Most people mistakenly believe that using telemarketers is limited in use to cold calling sales activities. But telemarketing can turn be used to turn many opportunities into business, there a literally hundreds of ways to do this but these are our Top 10 ways to use telemarketing.

Appointment setting is, always has, and always will be, a primary way that companies generate new business.  Organisations usually place a great deal of emphasis on appointment setting, and also a significant proportion of their budget.  Why do they do this? Because there’s no more effective way to close a sale than a chance to sit down with a prospective client in a face-to-face meeting.  Appointment setting is a cost effective and intelligent use of telemarketers to generate new business for your organisation.

In recent years, telemarketing has proven itself to bring exceptional results for those individuals and organisations that deliver seminars.   It doesn’t matter how good your seminar is; if delegates aren’t booking you’re losing out. Using a telemarketing team to book your seminars means getting the good news out to people that could greatly benefit from attending your seminars.

Working from existing mailing lists or cold calling people with industry links to the seminar subject or topic is a great way to put a telemarketing team to work for your seminars.

THREE: The Follow Up
Using follow up calls is a powerful and effective way to make the most of your direct mail or email marketing.   The recipient has already had the opportunity to consider your offer by mail and now telemarketing offers a renewed chance to capitalise on that offer for both parties. 
Follow Up calls can also be made after literature or sales enquiries, chasing up interested parties and converting prospects that may have otherwise dithered undecidedly about purchasing your goods or services from a brochure.  Follow up interest by using a dedicated telemarketing team to convert interest into action.

FOUR: Market Research
One of the truly time-tested uses of telemarketing is market research, often used for product review and customer feedback.  However, these days it can be used to cover a full range of quantitative and qualitative data collection. 

Using the latest integrated technology, telemarketing interviewers can handle everything from small executive level surveying to mass nationwide customer feedback questioning.  Doing Market Research via the telephone is a highly cost effective method of conducting large-scale market research and can cover vast geographical locations from a single base.  Of course, given the right permissions, data gleaned from your market research telemarketing can be used to target the prospects for your next telemarketing campaign.

Your organisation should keep a record of all current customers and all those people that were customers but are not actively buying from you.  Telemarketing is an effective way to reconnect with and reactivate your dormant customer database and using data that you already have in your systems.  By using telemarketing, your company can win you up to 50% of your past customers back!

SIX: Collections
Outstanding invoices and missed payments can really cripple a business and hinder a company’s progress and development.  If you’re struggling to recoup outstanding sums, then telemarketing can be an effective method of collecting what’s owed to your company.  Working from a list of your debtors, a tele-collections team can identify individuals or companies that owe your organisation money and ensure that you have the correct contact details for them.  If you then wish to take a payment, these can be handled through an automated system or passed through to your own payment teams.

When you’ve got space to sell, you can’t rely on people just coming to you.  You need a team of dedicated telemarketers that can directly sell your space to the people that need to advertise.  This isn’t simply cold calling; it’s designing a campaign to target those businesses and individuals that might benefit most from the opportunity to use your advertising space.  A team of experienced telemarketers can target likely clients and more effectively approach hundreds of potential clients, rapidly improving your chances of new business generation.

The information in your database is quickly out of date.  By using telemarketers to work through your data, you can correct, delete or amend the details of your existing customers, leads or prospects.  By making sure that your data is up to date and accurate, you can increase the rate at which your sales staff can make sales.  Data cleansing may also be a legal requirement in various industry sectors, so it also keeps your nose clean with industry’s regulators.  Make your existing data work for you by purging useless existing data.

Using telemarketers to generate leads means increased sales revenue and greatly reduces the amount it costs to make a sale.  When you use telemarketers to generate your leads, you free up your sales teams to do what their good at – which is making sales!  

Last, but certainly not least, telemarketing provides a successful route to improving sales by selling directly to those that are already using your products or services.  Existing customers are much more easily converted because you don’t need to convince them of your expertise, reputation or benefits. 
With an existing customer, you can use telemarketing to offer extended service, upgrades and further features on something they’ve already bought, or offer them a completely new product or service.  If the existing customer is happy with what they bought from you in the past, the worst that can happen is that they will simply reject your new offer.  But since they were willing to listen in the first place, it wasn’t a hardship and you can still call them again in the future with new offers.

Telemarketing offers organisations of all sizes the opportunity to expand and develop their customer base with reduce costs and impressive results.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Nancy Beth Guptill
Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada
http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

About Sweet Spot Marketing: Sweet Spot Marketing is a new media marketing training and education company that lives by the motto "It is better to know than to think you know, there is power in knowledge". We have a host of education programs in the areas of digital technology, new and social media, marketing automation, creativity, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. To learn how we work with government, business organizations and corporate clients, please book a complimentary assessment appointment: http://sweet-spot-marketing-canada.genbook.com

Monday, July 30, 2012

THE CORPORATE PUZZLE

The 7 specific areas you need to consider in your franchise prototype process:
   Primary Aim
   Strategic Objectives
   Organizational Strategy
   Management Strategy
   People Strategy
   Marketing Strategy
   Systems Strategy

These 7 areas will fine turn your plan for the ultimate level of success. In this lesson we are going to cover the first three.



Primary Aim
It’s essential in business development to set goals and see a vision for the future. This needs to go beyond the business and you need to think about what you want out of life. What do you dream about? How do you see your success unfolding? Knowing and understanding these things will give you the momentum to get started and the stamina to see it through. Even take a minute to write them down and tape to your desk for a constant reminder of what you’re aiming for.



Strategic Objectives
These are essential in taking your business from surviving to thriving. All of these objectives should offer solutions for how to get to your primary aim. There are many things you can use to set strategic objectives, but here are a couple of the most popular:

1. Money: Setting monetary goals is a great, simple way to see how you are doing at any point in the game. It’s easy to measure and easy to find adjustments to help meet this goal.

2. Worthy Opportunities: When considering partnerships and other business opportunities you need to think about whether or not they will help you reach your primary aim. Those that will are the best opportunities to seriously consider.

The key in setting standards and goals is not to limit you or stress yourself out. You need to find some quantifiable things you can use to measure your progress toward your primary aim. These are just two suggestions, but make sure no matter what you standards you set you are paying attention to the details, as these are one of the biggest keys to your success.


Organizational Strategy
The strength of your organizational structure can make or break your business, so it’s important to take the time to put together a solid structure for your business to grow from. Generally a company is organized around the roles and responsibilities that need to be taken care of on a daily basis and the personalities that need to fulfill those roles.

No matter what roles and responsibilities you’ve defined for your employees, you must always keep your personal primary aim separate from your company’s primary aim or mission statement. Once you’ve identified the primary aim for your company it will be easy to set up a position structure that will work.


Don’t forget to put together position contracts. Your employees should sign a statement of their roles and responsibilities. This helps keep them clear for you, the employee and other employees/vendors or other individuals.

You can see how these areas all work together to build a solid structure on which to build your business. If you need help defining any of these areas, you can check out the resources, tools and speak with one of our fantastic coaches during your FREE test drive of our online Marketing Business School.  
Sign-up Today www.sweetspotmarketingacademy.ca

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author: Nancy Beth Guptill
Founder of Sweet Spot Marketing Canada
Digital Marketing & Social Media Training Consultant
http://www.SweetSpotMarketing.ca
http://www.SweetSpotInternetAcademy.ca
http://www.SweetSpotMarketingAcademy.ca
Twitter: @SweetMarketing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SweetMarketing

About Sweet Spot Marketing:  Sweet Spot Marketing is a new media marketing training and education company that lives by the motto "It is better to know than to think you know, there is power in knowledge". We have a host of education programs in the areas of digital technology, new and social media, marketing automation, creativity, commercial innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. To learn how we work with government, business organizations and corporate clients, please book a complimentary assessment appointment: http://sweet-spot-marketing-canada.genbook.com