Marketing Consulting - How To Set Your Rates As A Marketing Consultant

Posted on 6 January, 2013

Marketing Consulting - How to Set Your Rates As a Marketing Consultant John J Gosselin John J Gosselin Level: Basic PLUS John Gosselin, co-founder of The Ally Advertising Group, Profitable Online Franchises, Complexion Perfection and founder of A Healthier You has dedicated over 14 years to ... There are several hoops to jump through in becoming a marketing consultant. One ever-expanding hoop is of course is how to set your rates? This can be tricky, so use guidelines because with rates too expensive, you may price yourself out of the market and with no packaged rates at all, good luck trying to "reel in" sales. Truth be told, this was one of our largest hurdles to jump over when setting out on our journey as being a professional online marketing consulting firm. In fact, how to set your rates as a marketing consultant should be the very last thing you actually solidify in your marketing plan before you set out to prospect customers. The reason why is because without experience, you just don't know how good what you have to offer really is until you give it a shot! Sometimes you'll be successful and sometimes you won't - isn't that what being an entrepreneur is all about? If I was to provide you with a blanket answer that would not be fair because what you charge clients for services really depends. We were throwing out quotes to prospective clients that were front-end loaded into the thousands in the beginning and getting totally frustrated at all of the NO'S we were getting. This is when we realized the power of providing an a la carte menu of services, as well as a packaged rate for our services. When designing your sales and marketing funnel, I would suggest starting at the end first. Beginning with the end in mind allows you to best know EXACTLY what your clients will be receiving from you. Once you know what you'll be supplying them, it's easy to be more revealing and honest on the front-end of your exchanges. On the a la carte menu, have some ballpark numbers to work with so that you provide both you and your clients the flexibility to create a nice mixture of back and forth correspondence until you agree to the most ideal arrangement. Most offline business owners know two things about online marketing. First, most are happy to admit know nothing about websites, HTML coding, auto-responder email marketing, QR codes, Facebook, Twitter and who knows what else. All they really want is to be more findable online and make more money. They are also not very shy about letting you know their prior experience with other online consultants or online marketing services; most services haven't provided favorable results in the past and they can't express candidly enough that you'll be swimming up-stream just to get the chance to prove to them that you can help improve and better their bottom line. They'll open up if you stay with it. So my best answer in helping you understand how to set your rates as a marketing consultant is to work off a baseline grid and attempt to package your suite of services into one, all-inclusive monthly cost. One final tip is that many times, a client is much more receptive to rolling their set-up costs into their monthly cost if you are willing to amortize it over the course of the year agreement you make. If they have the cash and are willing to pay, don't offer them the option to pay it throughout the year and put them on a month-to-month, client at will basis.

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Marketing Through Sports

Posted on 3 December, 2012

Marketing Through Sports

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Sports Marketing

Sports marketing is popular in developed countries and it is gaining popularity in developing countries. Even fast moving consumer goods like, soft drinks and beverage products are very aggressive in sports marketing globally, whereas, telecommunication companies are very aggressive in sports marketing at national level. Health related products like innovative technology equipments to loose weight and stay fit, and dairy products like goat milk and vitamins supplements are also very active in sports sponsorship and marketing.

The commercial success and acceptance of sports marketing have made it popular in the Western countries and marketing can be in any form of media, like sponsorship in sports events, commercials on television, magazines, social media, placing advertisements in sports pages in newspapers and many more.

Marketers and advertisers see sports marketing and sponsorship a trend and a vital tool to reach consumers these days. In America , there are academics that provide professional certification program in sports marketing and associations set up to promote sports marketing, like Sport Marketing Association (SMA), founded in Columbia.

For marketers in sponsorship in sports marketing, their first priority is getting the exposure as it can assist in promoting the brand. Companies can get an association with something that is good with the investment in sports marketing as sports are where miracle happens and are full of happiness. In addition, marketers will get positive brand experiences and this might assist them to increase their sales. Brand differentiation is another important factor that governs the effectiveness of sports marketing as marketers can open up a new avenue of advertising that will set them apart from their competitors. Of course, marketers can also invest in sports marketing by creating interesting game events.

However, being clear about the Company's objective is essential when marketers are going for sports marketing and sponsorship. Objectives can include targeting the mass market or raising the brand's profile. Some people might have a misconception that the target market for sports marketing is mostly men. I wish to correct it by saying that it caters to women as well. An example is ESPN sports where around 45 per cent viewers are women. Overall the current global economic crisis impact on sports marketing is still positive and also very much depends on the sport.

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14 months ago

Despite the current global economic situation, savvy marketers realize the effectiveness of sports marketing in weathering the slowdown in sales and financial storm.

2 months ago

Useful information here . Fantastic is all I can say

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Online B2c Marketing Secrets Revealed

Posted on 5 October, 2012

Online B2C Marketing Secrets Revealed Rob Fore Rob Fore Level: Platinum Rob Fore is a full-time, work from home entrepreneur specializing in the creation of multiple streams of income. Rob currently rank in the top 20 ... What is B2C marketing? Business to consumer marketing is when a business markets products to a consumer market not to another business (B2B). Marketing is marketing whichever way it is done - well that's what most people think but, business to business and business to consumer marketing are two entirely different ways of marketing, and must both be approached with different criteria. B2C is all about building relationships directly with consumers. B2B describes the commercial transactions between businesses, such as those between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or those between a wholesaler and a retailer, where generally the total volume of transacted business is large. Business to consumer marketing is when a business offers its products directly to the consumer market and where the consumer is the end user. Those products include clothing, electronics and food etc. B2C Marketing - Targeting Your Market The first step in either of these marketing situations is by identifying the customer, but from there on, the approaches become different. The goal of business to consumer marketing is to convert potential purchasers into buyers as effectively and consistently as possible. To this end many means can be employed: coupons, promotional activities, special offers and sales and by employing strategic product placement within stores, if B2C is not employed on an internet marketing platform. Transaction time is short and it is essential to capture a prospective purchaser's attention immediately, before he or she moves on. The goal of B2B marketing is of course also to convert prospective clients into purchasers, but generally the process is longer, especially where capital equipment and high-end durables are concerned. Offline B2B involves a lot more face-to-face relationship-building and marketing activities that can generate leads are often utilized during the B2B sales process. Online B2C Marketing Systems Business to consumer marketing is often product or brand driven, and very often purchases are made on impulse and there are a number of tactics involved in enticing a prospective purchaser to buy, especially online where competition is far more plentiful. Offline there is a constant ongoing battle between supermarkets and retailers, who are vying for cost-conscious purchasers, again coupons and in-store displays and advertising have to be used as enticements. The majority of business conducted on the internet is run on a B2C basis; even informational websites that are not actually selling or promoting products will have advertising such as Google AdWords or affiliate links to relevant products, in the hope that they can make a few dollars to cover expenses. Large well known websites such as Amazon.com have no need to employ any other types of advertising on their sites, but if you are a small website you are probably thinking about using some form of advertising on your site. This can be paid advertising through pay-per-click, affiliate advertising or you can rent space to other companies who can place their banner ads on your site, either on a paid basis, or through swaps. However you choose to employ B2C advertising, it is a good idea to keep an eye on stats, to see how effective those ads are, and to change them out as soon as you see they are not working. B2C Marketing - Proven Systems

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How To Estimate Your Marketing Costs

Posted on 7 November, 2012

How to Estimate Your Marketing Costs One way to calculate your marketing and promotional costs is to hire an agency, for example a brochure printer, to represent your brand image. They should be the one to provide you a package for your promotional needs. Another way to compute for your marketing costs is to do it yourself. This option needs you to research different types of printing brochures for example and then you can calculate the price from there. Nevertheless, regardless of how you do it, how to estimate your marketing costs when printing brochures for example depends on how you shop for the most appropriate brands of services for your particular requirements. When you are looking at a fair number of promotional needs, you might be interested in computing for your costs separately. For newspaper and magazine ads, your advertising costs are computed based on how many columns are needed to carry your ad. In addition, remember to include different rates for color and black-and-white ads, as well as the fonts, lines of text, pictures and other elements found in your ad. These elements contribute to the varying total costs for your marketing campaign. Expect to pay more if you have more elements integrated in your advertisement. When it is online marketing, you can look for banner ads to promote your products and services. Most banner ads are computed based on what their size would be and how interactive they are. There is also the pay-per-click banner ad that allows browsers to click on your marketing campaign that is strategically placed on a banner ad. How this works is that the pay-per-click advertisements start with a monthly budget that is based on the expected number of visitors to the banner ad. As each visitor clicks on your ad, a portion of your budget is used. The advantage of this kind of advertising tool is that you can strategically position your ad that allows you to drive traffic to your website. On the other hand, television commercials can be very costly depending on the time slot your ad is on. For a 30-second commercial in the prime time slot, you can pay as much as a hundred thousand dollars. However, the benefit to this kind of advertising route is that you are assured that millions of customers will view your commercial in a particular time slot. Just imagine the number of viewership that the television industry has accumulated over the years. Finally, there are the radio commercials. You can calculate your costs by looking at how many impressions you get in a time slot, as well as the frequency that your ad is played on the airwaves.

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The Home Improvement Marketing Plan

Posted on 3 July, 2012

The Home Improvement Marketing Plan Dave Yoho Dave Yoho Level: Basic PLUS Dave Yoho presides over one of the oldest and most successful consulting groups in the US - He sits on the board of public companies, ... Marketing in this industry means finding ways to get people to respond, creating opportunities to make presentations and ultimately to sell a fair percentage of the respondents. A large successful home improvement company is usually a "lead factory". Leads, from advertising and those self-developed through canvassing or referrals are the lifeblood of a business. The successful home improvement retailer uses a variety of methods to consistently keep the lead pipeline full. The plan to do so is frequently regulated by the territory, economy, average contract size, the weather and even the news of the day. The marketing plan includes a budget. How much will be spent and where. It also includes projections to ensure sufficient leads to provide prospects for the salespeople. A key is the number of leads which are necessary to produce net good business. In a plan where the salesman sells a minimum of 2 contracts per week averaging 3 presentations to 1 sale and where there is a 30% of fall off from leads issued to actual presentations, the plan calls for 9 to 10 leads per salesperson per week. Since an issued lead many cost from $250 to $300, remaining within budget may require salespeople to self generate a percentage of their own leads. How do you know the plan is working? Each week measure the number of leads which have been generated, those which are confirmed, presented to and sold, less those which cancel or are credit rejected. When some aspect of the plan is not working, adjust rapidly - eliminate low producing methods, reduce regularity, intensify methods to produce less costly leads (canvass, referral plan). Unsold leads or those not receiving presentations, have to be rehashed. Experimentation with new methods of lead getting requires concentration and control. Ultimately, the measure of a successful marketing plan is the amount of net business (ready for installation) you have sold, measured against the cost of procuring the leads to sell that volume of business. If the cost of your marketing program when measured against this net business exceeds your budget - then the plan needs modification.

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Donald Trump Recommends Network Marketing

Posted on 2 September, 2012

Donald Trump Recommends Network Marketing Aaron Loh Aaron Loh Level: Basic PLUS Aaron Loh is an avid learner and is always in the pursuit for success in what he's passionately involved in - helping others to constantly ... If billionaire Mr Donald Trump recommends network marketing business to you, what would you say? In awe? Well, I would take that as a yes from you. According to Donald Trump, "Marketing is a powerful tool, and network marketing can increase that power, provided you are self-motivated. In a simple visual, see a product and then remove the advertising agency from it. It is up to you to do the marketing and advertising." Is this is true, will that signals the dooms day of traditional advertising agency is coming? Well not really. This option is still the preferred method for traditional businesses, despite the high cost. The media of today has made significant progress by leveraging on new technologies. Now let's get back to our topic. Donald Trump mentioned some important qualities which you must have if you want to start this business. 1. Passion Whatever activities that we involved in, we must have a certain level of passion. Why would you buy a particular car? Why would you go on date with someone? Why would you burn midnight oil to complete a difficult project? It all boils down to passion, which must be strong enough to get you going. 2. Self-motivation Self-motivation comes from internal, in other words, your inner self. I do agree that external motivation does help but eventually it is your self-motivation that will pull you through. 3. Entrepreneurial spirit To have high entrepreneurial spirit simply means to have focus and perseverance. There is no such thing as successful business but successful entrepreneur. It is the person that is running the business. To build a business requires lots of time. So you have to have lots of patience and persevere. If you identify that these qualities are lacking, get lots of trainings from your network marketing company. Most companies have good training system to mold you into a successful businessman. 4. Sociable If you dislike socializing, then this business model is not suitable for you. In fact you shouldn't start any form of businesses. In business, you need to deal with people. You got to go out there and talk, present, train and negotiate with people. 5. Break your comfort zone All sorts of resources and help will not do you good if you get too comfortable with your current lifestyle. Increasing your comfort zone means expanding your scope of learning. The more right skills that you learned the better you became. At the beginning, you may find a lot of resistance doing network marketing business. If you persevered, maintain your momentum, undergo good training programs and do what it takes to be good at what you do, success will come to you.

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Business - Marketing Tips

Posted on 7 July, 2012

Business - Marketing Tips If your business is intended for local shopping, there is great way to get customers in a limited geographical area. The advertisement process is not limited since there are so many ways to do the advertising. A lot of business owners do not have a specialization in marketing, and that is the reason why they have limited ideas in advertising their products and services in their region. Here are few tips in business - marketing that I would like to share with you. The marketing process should not take a longer time because the longer the time you a lot for this matter, the bigger money it implies. The utilization of creative strategies which attracts people in your region will draw them to your business and would definitely increase your sales. Saving money while you advertise is really helpful in your business. You can do this by writing some press release that will be published in your local news papers which will be available to all citizens in your area. The press release should be detailed and it should tell everything about your company. Some tips available in the World Wide Web are beneficial in making a press release and you might be interested reading it. If you are not fond of writing a press release, there are institutions which cater such task for you. It might be costly but for sure, you will be satisfied on the result since such institutions are expert in writing press release. A story telling about your business will call the attention of every reader who will encounter the story as soon as it will be published. You can do this as many as you want, just make sure the press release contains all the required information for the publicity. You can always send your customers detailed coupons regularly if you want to bring them closer to you. This way, you will not be worrying a lot on advertising innovations since you will be sending them letters such as thanking them for availing your services, welcome letters, detailed instructions on how your services work. You can send multiple mails, multiple emails; publish it in a news paper, or even utilizing cheap postcards just to make them closer to your company. You can also include a letter of invitation to all who are curious about your services. When planning to make your own post cards, there are so many guides in the Internet on how it works. Just make sure you are reading the most reliable one. People nowadays are attached to the virtual world or the Internet. You can publish advertisements in your local websites, community websites, social net working sites or any websites which targets local customers. People nowadays prefer reading information in the Internet rather than scanning newspapers since online advertisement is more accessible than newspapers. It is fast, easy and cheaper to scan than purchasing newspapers which is being replaced every day.

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