Marketing to the Digital Generation

Marketing to the Digital Generation
I'd like to challenge the way you think and see the world;
not because you are wrong but because the world is
changing. The future will look very different regarding
marketing. One to one marketing is here to stay. Businesses
want to track their return on investment when they launch a
campaign. Real entrepreneurs don't start businesses with
traditional advertising like billboards. It's easier to
track the impact of a text message marketing campaign with
specific short codes.

Consumers want to control their busy schedules. New
technology helps consumers become the center of their own
universe. Just look at video recorders, text messaging,
online video etc... All these new mediums create
flexibility for customers while allowing them to take
control over the media. And newer mediums enable people to
input and create. Future winning brands will help their
customer's become more creative and free. Companies don't
give out gold watches any longer because time belongs to
the individual.

Customers love choice and want to choose the brands they
promote. It's in businesses' best interest to let customers
choose the brand. That way, the company knows the customer
supports their message. Instead of companies trying to
choose customers, let customers choose the company. How is
this accomplished? Interactive media places customers at
the helm of their own ship. People don't like
advertisements slammed down their throats. Peoples' brains
are already too noisy thinking about how they are going to
pay their gasoline bill. They want to feel like they have
control over their destiny.

Ever hear the saying, "I'd rather be a big fish in a small
pond, than a small fish in a large pond"? I have a better
viewpoint. Imagine a ripple in a pond. Dinosaur companies
believe in dropping big boulders in the pond. The ripples
spread out and through chance, some people carry on the
message, usually existing customers. And some new people
receive the message. Now imagine, dropping a pebble in the
same pond and producing better results. By letting people
choose you, you communicate too many more people who are
willing to carry on your message and perpetuate the ripples
in the pond.

The future is leading to hyper individuality. Technology is
empowering social influencers. People don't need industrial
age pyramid structures to feed their social needs. People
are self organizing with the help of great tools like web
2.0. social websites and text messaging. Technology is
enabling the self democratization of communities and social
circles. A paradox has formed. People are becoming more
disconnected while more opportunities for interaction rise.
Those who communicate a message of integrity will win the
hearts and minds of the masses. Popularity won't be
controlled in the future but influenced by creativity.

People don't obey copyright laws which exhibit a lack of
integrity to the whole system. So how do you profit when
everyone is copying your intellectual property? Can you
live a life of integrity when everyone else isn't? Can you
still profit? Yes, you can. Individuals want products and
information tailored to their own personal experience.
People will always attend mass marketing events like
concerts. However, imagine a more creative world where
there's a musician on every block. You might happen to know
this person. But how is that musician going to communicate
their next concert to you? How about through a text
message? That's the future of hyper individualism and one
to one marketing.

In the industrial age, those who controlled natural
resources like oil profited greatly and they still do. In
the information age, those who create individually tailored
experiences will profit even more. The key to your dream
house lies in acquiring new information. Knowing how to
create unique experience for people will have them
stampeding to your doorstep. Knowing how to communicate one
on one will keep them in your house. People are waking up
in their own ways!

----------------------------------------------------
Text Marketing Services provided one on one marketing
solutions for businesses wanting to adapt to the digital
generation. Visit us at
http://textmarketingservices.com/Text-Message-Marketing.html

How To Properly Waterproof Your Leaky Basement

How To Properly Waterproof Your Leaky Basement
There is a waterproofing company out there called Basement
Systems that has a patented WaterGuard system that is 100%
guaranteed to stop any water problem or leaky basement.

For years many homeowners could not finish off their
basements and make their dream basement into a game room or
lovely entertainment system because many of us suffer from
leaky basements which will not allow to convert all this
extra potential living space into wonderful ways to
entertain our guest.

Well what if I told you that there is now a way to ensure
that you can have all this extra space in your basement
without the fear of water getting in the way of your plans?

Well now there is a way. A company called Basement Systems
has introduced a ingenious patented way where there is no
chance of any water or leaky basement getting in the way of
having your dream home with a dry basement.

Along the way there have been many great ideas to try and
make your basement a dry one. Many of them worked pretty
well, however no one has ever come across such a
revolutionary idea as the one patented by a company called
Basement Systems.

WaterGurad has a drainage channel that is so well
engineered and especially designed to solve basement water
issues without any problems of clogging from the earth's
soil underneath the floor of the basement. The reason it
can make this claim because it has large holes towards the
back that allows water and a flange to drain water from the
problem area such as a basement wall leak.

The design is extremely practical and the patented
WaterGurard system has been specifically designed to keep
out soil that lies under your basement floor, this way you
will never have any problems with clogging. The WaterGuard
system also has a specific feature called a wall flange
that makes a clean separationg between the floor and the
foundation wall to easily drain away any wall leak or
seepage that may occur without permitting dirt and debris
from the floor's ground to enter.

The WaterGurard system works very well with all kinds of
foundations including a block foundation, poured concrete
walls, and stone. Holes called weep holes are drilled in
the block walls to allow water to drain out of the walls
into the water system. The water enters into the
WaterGurard system from the holes on the wall side and
flows directly into the patented WaterGuard conduit to a
TripleSale or SuperSump sump pump sytem or into another
drain.

This patented system called WaterGuard intercepts the water
from the perimeter of your basement ensuring that the water
will not enter areas which will cause water damage, instead
drains it directly to a sump pump located at the lowest
point of your basement floor. Usually its unseen, and the
water prevention system works safely and guarantees you
fantastic results!

If you are having problems with water in your basement or
leaky walls, and looking for a permanent solution, you owe
it to yourself to checkout this company. You will be glad
that you did.

----------------------------------------------------
For more information about waterproofing solutions please
contact http://www.BasementSystems.com at 1-800-638-7048

Eight Ways To Bullet Proof Your Business In The Coming Recession

Eight Ways To Bullet Proof Your Business In The Coming Recession
Business owners are becoming increasingly concerned about
what might happen to their business if this dreaded
recession actually settles in. By focusing on the business
fundamentals, you can actually THRIVE during such a crisis!
Here's how:

Focus on the Eight Essentials For Business Success. Now
you may say, "This is really old stuff, Henri - every MBA
tells me to work on these!" Bear with me, please...

Do a quick check-up on your business. How are you actually
doing in these Eight Essential Areas?

Essential Area 1: Operations - Have you optimized the way
your company delivers your product or service so that it's
the absolute best it can be? Do you know what the best is?
If not, you're going to continue to lose business to
companies who have this area nailed down!

Essential Area 2: Human Resources - Your People Do your
employees, vendors and other service providers know exactly
what they should be doing for you, and are you providing
these people with the critical resources they need to excel
in their job? Watch out - your competitors are empowering
their employees while you sleep!

Essential Area 3: Sales - Do you know what your sales
system is? Have you written it down? Have you transformed
your customers into cheerleaders for your company so
they'll enthusiastically spread the word about you? The
future of your business is riding on your ability to soar
in this Area. Learn to create a rock solid Sales foundation
you can build upon for years to come. Essential Area 4:
Finance and Accounting: Do you know what your net margin is
on each product/service you sell? Too many creative
entrepreneurs let finances and basic principles of business
management sit on the back burner, to their ultimate peril.
Hint: your accountant is not providing you this!

Essential Area 5: Future Product Development - Are you
thinking for the future? Are you spotting trends and making
plans to act on them? What will you be selling when your
present "hot product" has completed its sales cycle? You
can be sure that yourcompetitors are thinking ahead, and
you should too!

Essential Area 6: Your Leadership - as the CEO Have you
crafted the long-term vision of your company? Are all your
people on the same sheet of music with that vision? Do they
see you as an inspiring leader or as just another client or
boss? When you read about great "business leaders," this is
at the core of what they do. Do you even fully accept that
you are the LEADER of your small business?

Essential Area 7: Marketing - Do you know how you will fill
your sales pipeline next month? Next year? Better start
filling it now - your competition is already filling
theirs! Put a laser focus on your business growth through
targeted, potent marketing techniques. Understand the
basics of targeting, strategies, tactics and implementation
- they will give you what you need to create your own
powerful marketing plan.

Essential Area 8: Strategic Planning - How much money do
you want to make and how do you plan to get there? Do you
know what your 5 year and 10 year business strategies are?
Do you know how to get there? What about your legacy? All
successful companies have strategic plans. Many of your
competitors do - it's time for yours!

How does all this relate to the possible coming recession?
It's very simple! If you are strong in all eight of these
areas, then you will handle any downturn well. Chances
are, you have some work to do. If so, get busy!

----------------------------------------------------
Henri Schauffler, The CEO Coach, has dedicated the last 20
years to helping small businesses like yours to "Outmanage,
Outhire, Outsell and Outprofit All the Competition." For a
FREE business assessment and tune up to see exactly how you
are doing in all Eight Essential Areas for Business
Success, go to http://www.QuickBizQuiz.com .

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 3

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 3
In Parts 1 and 2 we explored six communication styles and
the relative advantages and disadvantages of each:

Tells, Sells, Tests, Consults, Joins and Delegates

So how does all this relate to coaching and where would we
place coaching on the spectrum. Some argue that coaching is
all about empowering others and so must sit 'right of
centre' towards delegation. However, we can also see that
perhaps coaching doesn't belong to this range of
alternatives at all as it almost represents a philosophy of
communication rather than a style. In many ways coaching is
a means of adopting the advantages of each of the other
styles whilst minimizing the disadvantages.

Good coaches don't fear loss of control as they know that
the people they coach will have formulated their plans and
ideas in their presence. Thus the coach has the ability to
warn against a certain course of action if it is against
the rules or likely to cause problems. Also, we've seen
that coaching is an effective way for managers to build
trust in their teams and so they can resort to Tell when
the situation demands it without worrying about the team
being uncooperative or becoming disillusioned.

So far we have considered the merits of various
communication styles in a general context. What about when
we need to communicate with another to help them develop?

It seems that Tell is dominant here and perhaps this is
because most of us were conditioned to learn in this way at
school. We would sit in rows of desks while the teacher
would tell us what we needed to do and how to do it and
lessons would consist of being told what we needed to know.
But this doesn't always work. Try explaining to someone how
to do up a tie or lace a training shoe without showing them
- it's almost impossible. To do so requires us firstly to
understand exactly the process that needs to be done and
then to find the language to convey that process to another
person in a way they can understand. The modern world of
work is changing so fast that we can no longer be certain
that the ways and methods we used to become successful will
be valid for the next generation. Solving today's problems
with yesterday's solutions is a big risk. Furthermore,
people don't retain a great deal of learning when they have
only ever been told what to do. How many managers have you
heard yelling, "If I've told you once, I've told you a
thousand times!", or "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Coaching presents a way of dealing with these problems as
it is concerned with drawing our rather than putting in and
thus enables people to learn in their own way and at their
own speed. In this way we get learning and development that
sticks in the same way as learning to swim or to ride a
bicycle.

There's an old Chinese proverb which, roughly translated,
states:

"Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me
and I understand"

Coaching is the best way to involve people in their own
learning.

----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular
mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE
at http://www.mattsomers.com