Does size matter?

When it comes to the quality and success of a business, size does not play as much of a factor as one may think. Of course larger organizations tend to have more resources and influence in the national and global business communities. However, being a small business owner does not relegate one to a life of meager profits and market obscurity. Small businesses are still the building blocks of our economy, and despite their size, these organizations offer many of us great products, popular services and the inspirational example of the “American dream”.

Small businesses have also evolved from the one man show variety, to encompass sophisticated partnerships and corporations that employ several talented members of society.

Smaller can be better, and listed below are the top five advantages that small businesses have over their larger counterparts.

1. Personalized Customer Attention & Service – Sure, the larger companies may have more customers. But rarely do these huge companies provide the level of personal attention that a small business can offer a valued patron.
2. Flexibility - How many times have we heard the dreaded “Our policy states…” line from a large business. But smaller businesses can be refreshingly flexible and open to listening to customer suggestions or meeting individual needs.
3. Strong focus – Small businesses have to use their resources and energy wisely. Therefore, many narrow their focus to one or two areas and often become valuable specialists in their fields.
4. Adaptability - The bigger a business is, the slower it usually moves. Small businesses can be nimble and quick when deciding to move in a new direction with their company. So customers can see improvements and changes right away with their favorite local business. On the flip side of this, if a small business makes a mistake, it can quickly be corrected.
5. Freedom - Most large businesses are corporations which are influenced heavily by shareholders, board members, and the upper echelon of management. With all of these cooks in the kitchen, it is difficult for any big organization to have a true personality that can be clearly expressed at all times. In contrast, smaller businesses usually consist of a tight-knit group of people who share common goals and ideas, and work really hard to make sure that the essence of these ideas are expressed in their business. The small business has the freedom to embody the qualities of the owner or owners, and that is a beautiful thing.

So in case you are still wondering…..
No, size doesn’t matter.

And in the world of business, being small can definitely be used as an advantage to cultivate a big success.

Keri Glover

VIRAL MARKETING

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, online video clips or even text messages. The basic form of viral marketing is not infinitely sustainable.

It is claimed that a customer tells an average of three people about a product or service he/she likes, and eleven people about a product or service which he/she did not like. Viral marketing is based on this natural human behavior.

The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being passed along.

The term "viral marketing" is also sometimes used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the use of varied kinds of astroturfing both online and offline to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.

One of the most efficient ways of spreading the word around about one’s products is the viral marketing technique. It takes the form of a few different internet marketing strategies that have proven their success. They actually take advantage of the great connection which exists among all internet surfers. And bear in mind: if you want to be a really successful internet business person who wants to earn money online, you have to take advantage of at least one of these simple strategies:marketing technique. It takes the form of a few different internet marketing strategies that have proven their success. They actually take advantage of the great connection which exists among all internet surfers. And bear in mind: if you want to be a really successful internet business person who wants to earn money online, you have to take advantage of at least one of these simple strategies:

THE PASS-ALONG TECHNIQUE
Have you ever received a mail with a funny video? A mail that shows you something very funny or very unusual. After seeing that, your immediate reaction is to pass it along to your entire group of friends for them to see that cool video, or picture, or letter, whatever. Well, this is the main purpose, as it encourages you to do just that. There are many ways of spreading it. At the beginning, the main one was the e-mail. Nowadays, Instant Messaging is very popular because all of us are more likely to trust a link sent by a friend than one received in our e-mails.

THE UNDERCOVER TECHNIQUE
This one is actually trickier, because you don’t get the impression that something is actually marketed. It takes the form of an out-of-this-world piece of news, picture, etc. The publicity is made somewhere in the background, and it doesn’t have a direct connection with what you are viewing.

THE WORD OF MOUTH TECHNIQUE
Also called the “buzz” marketing technique, it takes the form of a gossip, or a piece of news that is bound to create that buzz it borrows its’ name from. The information within this viral is very controversial, it makes people discuss the issue with others. This is most effective when there are celebrities involved, because everyone wants to know what happens to Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Robbie Williams, etc.

THE “REWARD” TECHNIQUE
Each time a person is signed up for a certain e-mail database, he gets a reward for referring it to others. This is a great way to dramatically increase the referrals database. It is even more efficient when it prompts for action, like participating in online contests.

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Out Of Home Advertising Trend

Outdoor advertising is getting a great deal of attention from marketers these days. While accounting for only a small proportion of overall ad spending, outdoor advertising, also known as “out-of-home,” is gaining share rapidly in both established and developing economies. Only online advertising is growing faster.

Advertisers have good reason for revisiting out-of-home communication. The combined effects of a number of trends have made consumers more mobile. Urbanization is increasing around the globe, and commutes between home and workplace are longer than ever, in terms of both time and distance. With TV audiences now fragmented across dozens of channels, television is not the preeminent reach vehicle it once was. Therefore, marketers who need to reach large numbers of people efficiently are reconsidering out-of-home opportunities.

Out-of-home advertising (also referred to as OOH) is essentially any type of advertising that reaches the consumer while he or she is outside the home. This is in contrast to broadcast, print, or internet advertising, which may be delivered to viewers out-of-home (e.g. via tradeshow, newsstand, hotel lobby room), but are usually viewed in the home or office. Out-of-home advertising products are divided among three primary categories: Billboards, street furniture and transit. OOH encompasses outdoor advertising but extends to the indoors as well (such as ads in malls).

The Out-of-Home (OOH) industry has pretty much standardized on three ‘advertising classifications” in order to further sub-divide and classify the sector:

· High Impact Sites
A terminology that covers "General Outdoor" and other high impact, large screens inside buildings, air and railway terminals etc. and mobile solutions.
· Retail
Typically high street retail, but also includes shopping malls and factory outlets – high street or out of town. It does not include certain in-store locations that are better described as captive (ie, hair salons).
· Captive Audience
These run in locations where the audience is stationary and remains in view of a screen, such as in transport (taxis, buses, trains etc.), for a period of time. This also includes in-flight advertising on seat-back entertainment systems, overhead storage bins and tray tables. This classification also includes a lot of "leisure" installations; typically installed in pubs, clubs, bars, casinos etc.
(Source: Out-of-home advertising - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

In fact, as digital, video and wireless technologies redefine the sector over the next few years, it will rank second only to Internet advertising in ad spending growth. "Outdoor advertising is bucking the trend," says Ben Macklin, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, Outdoor Advertising: A New Look. "While other traditional advertising sectors are struggling to adapt to increasingly fragmented audiences and changing media consumption patterns, the out-of-home advertising sector is actually reaping the benefits of the evolving media landscape." Unlike TV or radio, out-of-home advertising is immune to channel or Web surfing and digital and video technologies are making the medium more compelling and effective.

eMarketer forecasts that out-of-home video advertising spending inthe US will total $2.25 billion in 2011, up from $1.26 billion in 2007. According to a new report from PQMedia, alternative out-of-home ad campaigns - digital billboards and video ad networks - are working better than marketers had hoped. According to the report, alternative out-of-home media spending jumped to $1.69 billion in 2006 and is expected to grow even more in 2007. The report expects 27.7% growth in 2007. The segment has seen double digit growth every year since 2001. Video advertising is expected to push the most growth in 2007; that segment showed a 26% growth in 2006. The falling costs of flat panel LCDs, combined with the emergenceof IP and wireless Internet technology are driving the out-of-home video advertising market.
(Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS127782+02-Jan-2008+BW20080102)

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