Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing can be classified into two types based on the technology involved. The more traditional form involves marketing on the move like moving billboards and road shows. The second type refers to marketing on a mobile phone like cell phone. Since the onset of millennium, mobile marketing though cell phone has become very popular. Short message service popularly known as SMS has made marketing by this method a lot easier.

There were some problems in the beginning as unwanted information was being sent to the people. Most of the SMS that were passed around was spam and it received negative media response in all parts of the world. This was because a sector of the advertisers bought list of mobile users and began sending them unsolicited messages. They were later stopped due to strict security measures and laws passed. Marketing industry recognized the potential of mobile marketing and utilized it to the full extent. The mobile service providers coded guidelines and laws. It then became a legal advertising channel. The Mobile Marketing Association and Interactive Advertising Bureau also have laid down guidelines for the proper functioning of mobile marketing.

Mobile marketing has become popular in Asia and Europe as it is a novel idea and in Europe alone hundreds of millions of pounds have been investing in SMS advertising. Now SMS has become the most famous part of mobile marketing. Because of the popularity of short codes, SMSing has become a lot easier. This has created a new approach to reach out to potential customers. Now mobile short codes are looked upon as mobile domain name, by many of the brands around the world, when the customers message the brand at any occasion.

In America, the first SMS short code campaign was started in 2002. SMS containing short codes are easier to send a message with complete information. Short codes are usually numbers that are assigned to mobile operators of a particular location, which they use for brand campaigning and other purposes. They are very small, like they contain only four to five words. These numbers are always under scrutiny by the service provider and each and every message is monitored to see that they do not go against the original service description.

Like opt-in emails, customers have to opt for SMSes. This is the biggest criterion, which the advertiser has to follow in order to send a promotional SMS. Some of the mobile operators ask for double opt-in form from the receiver. At the same time opting out is made easy for the customer. When the customer wishes to terminate receiving messages, they have to send STOP word by SMS. All these guidelines have been laid by the Mobile Marketing Association consumer best practice guidelines and it's a compulsion to follow those by all the marketers who wish to do mobile marketing in America.

Now, service providers have started to provide the option of sending SMS to email addresses. Other than this, other services provided are mobile games, mobile tones etc., which are used for promotional purposes. This has lead to the invention of MMS or Multi-media Message Service, through which short promotional videos and animations can be send. Bluetooth is another good technology. It started in 2003, and many companies in Europe have found it useful. When a message is send via Bluetooth, the receiver should accept request from the sender. So, sending messages by this method is legitimate. The message transfer speed is high and is also a free service as it is a radio-based technology.

The method of sending SMS advertisement to mobile phone users based on their geographical location is known as Location based service. The customer is tracked via a GPS chip which is built-in the phone. Radiolocation signals from the nearest cell phone towers are used for this purpose.

Mobile marketing follows a very safe marketing strategy, as it is customer opted. The short message sent through this method is known as mobile originated or MO message. If the advertisement is done through a call, the call is known as mobile terminated or MT message. As there is a phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users, this kind of marketing is a sure hit.
 

 

Tricks to sell your product

The whole idea of the marketing and sales is to play with the psychology of the consumers. In any campaign, efforts should be made it make it so influential that the decision making of the customer is totally in the favor of the company.

There are some tricks to manipulate the mind of the consumers, which can be utilized by not only ordinary sales person, but can be used by larger firms. Although they are used unknowingly, there is no set list.

Mutual exchanging is the first and powerful trick. The company can start with giving something for free to the customer. He will take it for the first time, but from next time he will feel obliged and will try to return the favor. Offering the product for free initially can do this. And if the customer is satisfied with the product, he will buy it for himself from next time. Some salespersons get confused with this principle.  For example, it is ineffective and wrong according to this principle, to quote 'Spend over $25 and get a free t-shirt'. The offer is not free; the customer has to spend something to get the free product. The product being given should be totally free without any condition to be fulfilled. For example, the line 'Get the latest lipstick shade absolutely free' will do the trick. If the shade is really good, they will buy it the next time and might even think of buying other shades of lipstick.

The next trick is to present something as of high value, but the company should incur only small or no amount in producing it, like information. It can tempt the customer by saying that the information provided to them is a big time secret and is not known to anyone at all. But some mess it up, by saying that they are providing very valuable information, but it turns out to be another advertisement.

Another example is giving out free sample to the targeted customers. Again the mistake made here is that companies distribute samples of poor quality or rejected products. This certainly lowers the customers liking towards the product and he will assume that's the way the product is actually and won't go ahead to buy it.

Use words, which initiate immediate action, like 'Limited time offer', 'Offer ending soon', and 'Offer till stocks lasts' are really motivating. The customer gets the impression that the offer will end really soon as the products are limited edition and he should go out and buy it at the very first chance. This works well specially with customers who have an interest in collecting antiques, collectibles and anything which are not easily available.

Tricking the customer in making a commitment is another next good method to increase sales. The trick is to make the customer to take small steps toward the goal, without realizing about it. Like when the customer requests for some information, provide them with the relevant information for free and make them fill a form and take contact information from them. This is like committing to get offers and information about products in future. Do not advertise in this step. In the next step advertisements about products and services can be sent to the customer to the address provided by them. Conducting surveys is another example.

Lottery is another good method. When a person buys a lottery ticket, he fills his address on the ticket. This information can be used to contact the customer in future. In the above practices it's very vital to not to advertise in the first step. Only after getting the customer contact information, should promotional mails be mailed to him. Long advertisements that are featured in the newspaper are a small twist to this trick. If the customer invests time to read the whole advertisement, he has committed and will surely respond to the ad.  
 

Reasons Projects Fail for a Business Analyst

Each day businesses call upon a business analyst to determine what must be done in order to accomplish a certain task. Each avenue must be explored and analyzed for a project proposal to be implemented. The project scope determines what the course of action may or may not be. Each person involved must answer to another until management is satisfied all has been done to rectify the situation. Everything stays on task. The project as a whole is coming together. Teams are co-ordinating with each other to apply the objective into the code. It is all going according to plan. At the end, it all falls apart. Nothing is as it seems. The project has failed to accomplish what it set out to do. The business analyst is hung out to dry. Every finger points to him or her. In actuality it is not the fault of the analyst.

It was a joint effort from the beginning. When the problem was recognized as such and something needed to be done is when the business analyst came into the scope of things. Management said get it done. IT said it is done. Low end said it just isn’t what we need anymore. So what happened? The first thing is failing to disclose all information necessary do make a proper assessment of the situation.

A business analyst is not a mushroom. You can not keep them in the dark. They have to know the in’s and out’s of the company. He or she must be aware of the company vision or end goal. A few facts and figures just will not do the job. Disclosure can close the project tighter than a drum.

Acting as the liaison between departments and upper management, the business analyst must gather data from everyone involved in the project. When someone feels they do not want to be a team player this can cause a disruption in the scheme of things. Each team was delegated a task. Upstarts who think they know what is the end result and rush to meet the goal, may find themselves dead wrong. However there are times when up and coming management leaders do the same thing. Instead of looking at the big picture and realizing all the intricate parts are necessary, they view a segment as the solution. This can only lead to failure. Communication is the key to success.

If someone does have a better plan, a good business analyst will listen to the idea. He or she may find it a viable solution for one aspect of the entire project. Unless the business analyst is told of the idea it can go unused or worse yet misconstrued as the proper solution. Communication is most commonly the reason projects fail.

The business analyst is what holds the project together. He or she is what makes the teams work together as teams. The analyst is the one who takes all the pieces of the puzzle and puts it together so the end result is success. Think of the business analyst as the nails in a house. When you do not use nails to hold it all together you wind up with nothing more than kindling.

What Are Use Case Studies?

A use case study is designed to describe a situation in which the program is being utilized by the end user. It will tell a story of sorts describing how the program works and the input of the user. It does not tell how the program was developed. The details of the programming are not included in the use case study. You are trying to express the concept behind the creation.

Use case studies are generally one of two types. Type one is the essential use case. This is the type of use case study which is created at the beginning of a project. The idea behind the essential use case is to show what the program is going to do. There is no technical jargon or reference to programming procedures in the essential use case study.

The second type of use case study is the real use case. This use case study will show the hands on of the application. Usually there will be slides showing how the system is operated. This use case study is developed mid-way through the development of the program. Stakeholders can see how the program is instrumental in it’s usage.

There may be several use case studies written for every scenario the development team can think of. This way the application is put through it paces, so to speak, on paper. Notes can be taken or suggestions made to better the program. Allowing the stakeholders to see the end results of the program without going completely through the development stage can save time and money.

The business analyst will ask for suggestions when writing the use case studies. He or she will draw on the knowledge of the IT department. He or she will account for what the end user is asking for as well. The business analyst will draw up scenarios with the stakeholders in mind also.

Use case studies are communication tools used to allow end users to express what they feel is necessary in the system. The stakeholders can see how the user interacts with the system and can make suggestions to improve the system. The use case studies communicate to the IT department what the system is being designed for. It shows hands on applications the system will be used in. The user will be able to say the system program is doing what is required. The IT department will be able to say the system program is functioning as required. When the system program is done and in place, everyone will know what to expect. The stakeholders, end users, and IT should be satisfied with the outcome.

Use case studies do more than just show scenarios of the application. They can be instrumental in training documentation as well. The stakeholder or end user may want to keep the use case studies for training purposes or to help in developing training manuals. The business analyst who uses great care and painstaking intuition when developing use case studies may be rewarded in more ways than one.

Future Careers in Finance

Those who are good with numbers may have future careers in finance. This is because most businesses need talented individuals who can manage and at the same time administer money that was entrusted to them in order to post a profit.

But can anyone do it? The answer really depends on the person. In order to get a head start, you need to get quality education. After secondary school, you need to go to college and graduate with a bachelor's degree in accounting, economics, finance, math or statistics to learn the fundamentals used in the corporate world.

When you graduate from college, you can apply for work in a bank, in a credit agency, insurance, sales or securities.

For those who choose to work in a bank, they will often have to start out as a trainee then be promoted to either approving loans or selling financial services to clients. Some examples of these include bank transfers to financial management.

Credit agencies just like banks offer similar services to clients. The only difference is that their policies with regards to lending are more flexible thus making them friendlier to potential clients.

With healthcare being so expensive, people need insurance coverage and after getting your license, you can go out there and sell these to potential clients.

How can sales jumpstart your career in the world of finance? Simply because people buy things and if these cost a lot of money, someone with your skills can help them plan how they can pay for it. Examples of these include a new home or even a car.

Securities is another field you can get into because the purchase and sale of bonds and stocks increases the value of the client more than keeping money deposited in the bank.

But in order for people to excel in this field, they have to overcome another hurdle and that is to complete graduate school. Why? Because the market is very competitive and there are always new trends and methodologies being discovered that makes you a better professional.

A lot of experts say that a future career in finance also requires a few personal skills. The most important is "people skills" because you will be working with colleagues and dealing with different clients.

You will have to be resilient because when you pitch a sale and things don't work out how you planned, you have pick yourself up again and be optimistic about the next client that comes your way.

It will also be challenging especially when you will need to work beyond regular hours on occasion to meet the deadline or have a night out with a client. This means you have to be committed if you plan to stick to this career in the long term.

The financial services sector has been growing even before the attacks of 9/11 and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Again this path is not meant for everyone but if you are good with numbers and are a people person, you may just have what it takes to excel in this profession.

If you are still unsure, look at your grades in math and talk with your guidance counselor. This person will be able to point you in the right direction then it is up to you whether or not you believe that you have a future career in finance.

Successful Affiliate Marketing

There are hundreds of thousands of affiliate programs
out there, all of which claim to be the best. Many
of them try to give you the impression that all you
have to do is use their banners and links then wait
for the money to start rolling in. Although this
can be the case, this type of scenario normally
applies to large sites with a lot of web traffic.

Choosing banners
With most affiliate programs, you are offered a
variety of banners to plan on your website, as very
few of them will be effective. The problems with
most banners are their size. If you choose a banner
that is high in size, it will take a long time to
implement and use. Therefore, it’s recommended that
you use banners no more than 15kb in size.

When you select any types of graphical advertising,
you should try and keep the theme of your website in
mind. Even though graphical ads are meant to stand
out and catch people’s eye, they shouldn’t be to
the point where everything else on the page is
completely ignored.

Pop ups and unders
A lot of companies will now give their affiliates
the chance of using pop up or pop under ads. In
most opinions, pop ups aren’t the way to go. They
can easily annoy visitors and are normally closed
before they even have the chance to load. You
should instead go for pop unders and those types
that only display once per visit.

Text link ads
Once of the most successful means of advertisting
is text link ads. They are easy on bandwidth, don’t
use a lot of space, and they easily be implemented
into most types of page layouts. Good text links
offer some information as to why your visitor
should investigate your offers.

Email advertising
The direct promotion via email has really taken off
over the last several years, although it has
brought tons of spam with it. If you plan to use
email as a method of advertising your products,
you should stand behind what you sell and make
yourself available to answer any questions.

Patience
If you feel confident that your site can generate
great sales for certain company’s, you should
contact them to negotiate an arrangement. If they
don’t seem to enthused to begin with, you should
remain patient as companies are approaced every
day with affiliates looking to make better deals.

The reality remains that most affiliates can’t
deliver what they promise, and companies are
aware of this.

You should always keep in mind that most forms of
advertising will take time. No matter what methods
you plan to use, give it some time before you make
any type of decision. Although something may not
happen overnight – it very well could in a few
days or weeks.

The Road To Success

Currently, there are thousands of online enthusiasts
who are taking the plunge and joining the community
of affiliate marketers. With e-commerce booming,
and the internet dominating the business world,
becoming an affiliate marketer is a very wise choice.

To be successful with affiliate marketing, it’s always
best to learn the basics of the affiliate marketing
business, then realize what sacrifices will need
to be made for you to accomplish your goals. To
get to the top of affiliate marketing, you’ll need
to make the necessary sacrifices.

Before you join any type of program, you should
learn as much as possible about the company. It’s
actually very easy to research companies, as search
engines are easily the one of the most primary
sources for information. To be on the safe side,
you should ensure that the program and company has
been operating for several years – which can be
easily and properly verified.

If the company has just started, make sure that
the owner has good credibility. Although becoming
an affiliate marketer doesn’t have to be a complex
task, you should always use caution.

Many individuals are under the impression that you
can earn a lot of money with affiliate marketing
and not have to invest a penny. Even though
the majority of these programs are free to join,
you’ll have to invest money at some point in
time during your affiliate marketing career.

More than likely, this money will be used for
advertising and the promotion of web sites. In
most scenarios however, the amount of money spent
will be earned back with a little bit of time.

Making it as an affiliate marketer will take
time, effort, and a lot of hard work. The more
of these qualities you put into your business,
the greater the success you’ll achieve. You
should always be willing and ready to stick with
your program to build up your earnings.

You’ll also need to design a variety of different
strategies and methods, which range from creating
web sites to product promotion. You’ll also need
to advertise, as well as keep in constant contact
with your affiliates. You should be ready to
put in the most time during the first few months
of your program, as once your network begins to
get established, your work load will lighten.

Even though the system of affiliate marketing
may seem overwhelming at first, you should realize
that you are surrounded by online support. A
lot of the individuals who join affilate programs
are new to the business.

Many organizations and companies have around the
clock support forums and customer support for
those affiliates who need advice or assistance.
A lot of web sites are equipped with e-books,
tutorials, articles, and tips that will make your
quest of becoming an affiliate marketer a little
bit easier.