Tag Archives: advertising

How to Master Marketing Tactics

Posted on by

Once you’re sure of your marketplace, the next question is how to advertise. Nelson is a strong believer in trade magazines because their audiences most closely match your potential customers. She thinks wholesale businesses, for the most part, should avoid television, radio and newspapers.

Telemarketing, which means having your sales force make pitches over the phone rather than in person, should be done only by established companies.

“It’s a waste of time to do it at the beginning,” said Nelson, because people haven’t heard of your business and will probably hang up without getting the pitch. “If they’ve heard of you, they’re more likely to listen to the next 30 seconds.”

The rules of the game for retailers are a bit different. Reaching local customers means knowing your market and competition, running well-planned sales promotions and advertising at key times during the retail season.

Continue reading →

Tips for Marketing in Europe (continued)

Posted on by
Reply

– A two-pronged management structure keeps decisions close to the customer yet retains a Europe-wide scope. There will be two kinds of jobs in the new Europe: product-centered jobs with responsibility for the product across Europe, and geographic jobs responsible for national sales. The first assures that manufacturing and marketing is efficient at the European level. The second hones in on specific markets and assures success at the micro-level. Household product managers, for example, know their product category from Sweden to Spain, while subsidiary chiefs covering one country are close to the consumer and are responsible for implementing the Eurobrand locally.

– Set up teams of local, national and regional managers. “Euroteams,” as they are sometimes referred to, are ad hoc teams of multi-disciplined managers from various countries that convene for a specific mission. Euroteams foster (often neglected) communications between central and local managers and give team members valuable insights into other national markets. European business centers (EBCs) are another increasingly popular way to ensure coordination at the European level. EBCs are used to market products and manage profitability from a single base. Locate your EBC where its base is strongest: near a major market or close to a key customer zone.

Continue reading →