February 22, 2009 by Liga
It has always been an important matter to understand your customers: what are their needs, what do they want and how do they make the decision to buy or not to buy your product. In times of economical difficulties (like global recession) and major changes (like a fact that by 2040 or even earlier hispanic population in US will surpass the white non-hispanic inhabitants) understanding of customers are crucial.
I liked the creative approach of a real estate broker who used his knowledge about his customer to his own advantage. “Hispanic would-be homebuyers were allowed to spend a night in the house so they could invite family and friends for dinner prior to making the purchase decision. The family decided to purchase the house after getting positive feedback from the guests.” The knowledge of an importance of family members and their opinion in a hispanic family secured the real estate broker a deal.
Pay attention to who are those people you are going to sell your products to and customize your approach accordingly. It will definitely pay off.
Tags: customer, hispanic, selling, success, understanding
Posted in customer relations, marketing | 1 Comment »
January 11, 2009 by Liga
When everybody talks gloomy, doomy and recession this picture seemed encouragingly bright and positive. So thank you for staying with me, hope to see you again and have a very happy new year.
Photo ‘Happy 2009′ by faeryboots
Posted in thoughts | Leave a Comment »
October 28, 2008 by Liga
Probably I am too deep in what I am doing now but Pantone(c) coloured things really excite me. Maybe because of approaching winter, gloomy weather and quickly disappearing last coloured leaves. Maybe because of an undiscovered necessity to number, measure and organize everything. Or maybe just because beautiful objects make life such a delight.
Monday morning coffee from Pantone Mug 186C, a quick look in the daily newspaper filled with credit-crunch articles while sitting on the Flight Stool 13-0859 TPX, and Rubitone on the corner of your work desk will make your day brighter.
For now I have just the mug but believe me it works.
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September 12, 2008 by Liga
Web 2.0 is all about social media, communication and socialization. In a social interaction, as we know, the first impression is one of the most important things. It’s all about how you look, what you say and where do you do that (the site where you are actually hanging out). So the online image plays a key role.
I found those socially appealing icons (logos of popular social media sites in the form of mixed drinks) on the web and thought that they might give you an inspiration of how to make your online appearance smarter.
Tags: image, online appearance, social media, web 2.0
Posted in image, social media | 5 Comments »
September 4, 2008 by Liga
If you believe that something is possible, then it is.
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September 2, 2008 by Liga
When we do something, we want to do it well. If it is related to our business, we want it very good. And then we are analyzing and planning, and analyzing again. But sometimes preparation kills all the process. It’s just too long. And when we finally are ready to take action it’s closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.
Though there is a solution to that. As Jimmy Guterman writes in his blog: it’s by screwing up that we learn and discover (in Why screwing up is the smartest thing you can do). That means we just have to pick a direction and move. No hesitation, no procrastination, no playing safe. Just go and do it. Because only quick enough action will bring us in front of the competitors. And by trying long and hard enough you will be able to make enough mistakes so that one of them will be brilliant and will make you number one, like CocaCola, 3M or Pfizer (produces Viagra) who became world leaders by failing significantly.
So good luck and God bless you with a tremendous mistake!
Tags: mistakes, screwing up, success
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June 15, 2008 by Liga
The potential customers. Who are they? Where are they? How to find them? Which is the right path to take, which will lead us in the right direction? Simple questions but sometimes so hard to answer.
Latest Web 2.0 ideas have influenced marketing: go online – twitter, blog, socialize – and your customers will come to you. But as Lewis Green mentioned in his blog post – if it will be our only way of looking for the new customers, it will lead us to the failure. Why?
Because many of decision makers are not exposed to social media, they do not know about twitter, they do not have time to read blogs, and they do not use social networks. All those tools are good, but they have to be part of integrated marketing strategy and communication. You can not wake up one day and throw all the “old” communication tools – email and traditional media – away. Web gives you one more option. It is complimentary.
Think of your potential customers: who are they, how do they look, what do they do, what are their needs, exactly how you can help them, where you can find them. Go out, meet people (personal contact is very important and it works). Send follow-up emails. Create informative newsletter that answers your clients questions and gives solutions to their problems but is not selling. Send them links to your blog posts. Only all those means together will give you the expected result.
Posted in customer relations, marketing, social media | 3 Comments »
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The Groundswell
May 18, 2009 by LigaFinally got my hands on and read The Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff.
At a first glance it seemed the book does not contain anything new for me, but sinking deeper I realized that there are a lot of fresh ideas for everybody. We all have heard of such social web tools as blogs, forums, wikis, and on-line communities but there are so many ways how to use them. Some ways are smart and beneficial for the user and for the community, some ways are better to be avoided.
The authors provide an insight in the opportunities given to the businesses by those social technologies. Some most important things which are emphasized throughout the book are:
In addition to well written ‘theory’ Charlene and Josh provided a lot of interesting and educational case studies in every chapter, helping the reader grasp the idea better. And sometimes the unusual approaches to problem solving using social technologies can be very inspiring and lead to new development of tools and make their usage even more efficient.
I recommend this book to anybody who is in marketing, communications, customer relations, PR or in general has to maintain a relationship with people inside and outside the company.
Groundswell blog.
Posted in Public Relations (PR), blogging, comments & thoughts, customer relations, marketing | 1 Comment »