Wow! It’s been a great and busy August!
I’m really happy to announce a5MEDIA’s newest clients: the Spanish Centre of Toronto and Quasar Music Academy.
The Spanish Centre has chosen a5MEDIA to redo their website and Quasar Music Academy and selected a5MEDIA to create their new visual identity and website in time for them to open their doors for the fall.
Both these projects will see us developing content management systems as well as a back-end where these clients can manage their courses online.
We are super excited to have these two great companies as part of the a5MEDIA family.
Welcome aboard!
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc.
http://www.a5media.ca
August 26, 2010
August 11, 2010
5 Excuses to Conquer For Better Marketing Results
There are many reasons why a marketing campaign can go bad. Timing, strategy, execution, bad luck. They can all play a part.
Many marketing initiatives, however, are sabotaged before they even start.
Many business owners and entrepreneurs are actually their own worst enemy when it comes to marketing. Many will find every excuse in the book not to deal with it, not to make hard choices or not to have to address critical issues.
Today, I want to highlight the 5 excuses that every manager, business owner, and entrepreneur has to overcome to guarantee better marketing results.
The 5 Excuses:
1. Our business is different or special. It doesn’t require marketing.
I’ve heard this one so often, the next time I hear it my ears will probably bleed. 99.999% of all businesses are all based on the Customer, Company, and Competitor triangle.
The triangle is simple: the Customer does business with the Company, while the Company tries and keep the Competitor away from the Customer. The same dynamics that a small bakery has in this triangle are the same dynamics an international conglomerate has with this triangle: the Company needs to communicate effectively its brand and value to the Client, to avoid them churning to the Competitor.
So unless you own a monopoly on a vital service where people HAVE to buy from you and unless you have ZERO competitors (now or in the future), your business needs marketing. Period.
2. It’s all too complicated. I don’t want to have to learn all this marketing mumbo jumbo.
Marketing is no more or less complicated than accounting, legal, human resources, inventory control, supply chain management, customer service, safety standards, government regulations or the 1000 other things your business deals with on a daily basis.
Like all of those things, once you put systems in place to help you manage and execute them, marketing can easily find its way into your daily routine. And once it becomes part of your routine, you pick up on it easily, because the fundamentals of marketing are dead simple to understand.
And unlike most of those tasks already mentioned, marketing will actually help you MAKE money –not simply spend money.
3. What we’ve done has always worked in the past. There is no need to change it.
In the last 10 years marketing has changed so much, that if you are still doing the “same old , same old” you are walking down the path to closing your doors to new business –permanently. I still come across businesses that insist on only advertising on the radio, or in the same magazine that they did a decade ago because it netted them past success. They tell me they do this because “that’s where their clients are”.
The problem is that that isn’t true. That’s where the clients WERE. Today, clients are online, on phones, and are younger. Not adapting your brand and marketing strategies will only mean that you are actually LOSING clients to your competitors.
If you only do what you did before, you’ll never expand to get new clients from different demographics. Diversifying your marketing is important because it helps you grow your business into different segments, protecting you from client churn and making it harder for your competitors to keep up.
4. I’ll deal with my marketing after I return from vacation.
No you won’t.
When you return back from your vacation you’ll need a vacation from your vacation. And then you’ll have to deal with your inbox. And then you’ll have to deal with office issues. And then you’ll have to catch up on paperwork. Before you know it, 6 months have passed and you haven’t touched your marketing.
Deal with marketing NOW. Deal with it BEFORE you go on vacation so when you return you know you’ll have it at the top of your “to do” list. Trust me. You’ll be amazed at how much more efficient you’ll be.
5. We can’t afford marketing because business is slow. We’ll revisit it when things get better.
If this excuse was expressed as a function of the space-time continuum, the resulting paradox would destroy all reality as we know it.
Business will never pick up without marketing. And business is slow because when business was busy, you probably didn’t market. Marketing is something you need to do ALL THE TIME! Sometimes you can only afford to do a little, sometimes you are able to invest a lot. But you should always be doing something.
Remember: anything is better than nothing when it comes to marketing.
Conquer these 5 excuses and you will see a guaranteed improvement in your marketing and sales.
Marketing isn’t one giant leap. It’s a step by step journey. So don’t let there be any excuse for you to take that first stride!
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
Many marketing initiatives, however, are sabotaged before they even start.
Many business owners and entrepreneurs are actually their own worst enemy when it comes to marketing. Many will find every excuse in the book not to deal with it, not to make hard choices or not to have to address critical issues.
Today, I want to highlight the 5 excuses that every manager, business owner, and entrepreneur has to overcome to guarantee better marketing results.
The 5 Excuses:
1. Our business is different or special. It doesn’t require marketing.
I’ve heard this one so often, the next time I hear it my ears will probably bleed. 99.999% of all businesses are all based on the Customer, Company, and Competitor triangle.
The triangle is simple: the Customer does business with the Company, while the Company tries and keep the Competitor away from the Customer. The same dynamics that a small bakery has in this triangle are the same dynamics an international conglomerate has with this triangle: the Company needs to communicate effectively its brand and value to the Client, to avoid them churning to the Competitor.
So unless you own a monopoly on a vital service where people HAVE to buy from you and unless you have ZERO competitors (now or in the future), your business needs marketing. Period.
2. It’s all too complicated. I don’t want to have to learn all this marketing mumbo jumbo.
Marketing is no more or less complicated than accounting, legal, human resources, inventory control, supply chain management, customer service, safety standards, government regulations or the 1000 other things your business deals with on a daily basis.
Like all of those things, once you put systems in place to help you manage and execute them, marketing can easily find its way into your daily routine. And once it becomes part of your routine, you pick up on it easily, because the fundamentals of marketing are dead simple to understand.
And unlike most of those tasks already mentioned, marketing will actually help you MAKE money –not simply spend money.
3. What we’ve done has always worked in the past. There is no need to change it.
In the last 10 years marketing has changed so much, that if you are still doing the “same old , same old” you are walking down the path to closing your doors to new business –permanently. I still come across businesses that insist on only advertising on the radio, or in the same magazine that they did a decade ago because it netted them past success. They tell me they do this because “that’s where their clients are”.
The problem is that that isn’t true. That’s where the clients WERE. Today, clients are online, on phones, and are younger. Not adapting your brand and marketing strategies will only mean that you are actually LOSING clients to your competitors.
If you only do what you did before, you’ll never expand to get new clients from different demographics. Diversifying your marketing is important because it helps you grow your business into different segments, protecting you from client churn and making it harder for your competitors to keep up.
4. I’ll deal with my marketing after I return from vacation.
No you won’t.
When you return back from your vacation you’ll need a vacation from your vacation. And then you’ll have to deal with your inbox. And then you’ll have to deal with office issues. And then you’ll have to catch up on paperwork. Before you know it, 6 months have passed and you haven’t touched your marketing.
Deal with marketing NOW. Deal with it BEFORE you go on vacation so when you return you know you’ll have it at the top of your “to do” list. Trust me. You’ll be amazed at how much more efficient you’ll be.
5. We can’t afford marketing because business is slow. We’ll revisit it when things get better.
If this excuse was expressed as a function of the space-time continuum, the resulting paradox would destroy all reality as we know it.
Business will never pick up without marketing. And business is slow because when business was busy, you probably didn’t market. Marketing is something you need to do ALL THE TIME! Sometimes you can only afford to do a little, sometimes you are able to invest a lot. But you should always be doing something.
Remember: anything is better than nothing when it comes to marketing.
Conquer these 5 excuses and you will see a guaranteed improvement in your marketing and sales.
Marketing isn’t one giant leap. It’s a step by step journey. So don’t let there be any excuse for you to take that first stride!
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
August 26, 2010
New Clients: Spanish Centre and Quasar Music!
Wow! It’s been a great and busy August!
I’m really happy to announce a5MEDIA’s newest clients: the Spanish Centre of Toronto and Quasar Music Academy.
The Spanish Centre has chosen a5MEDIA to redo their website and Quasar Music Academy and selected a5MEDIA to create their new visual identity and website in time for them to open their doors for the fall.
Both these projects will see us developing content management systems as well as a back-end where these clients can manage their courses online.
We are super excited to have these two great companies as part of the a5MEDIA family.
Welcome aboard!
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc.
http://www.a5media.ca
I’m really happy to announce a5MEDIA’s newest clients: the Spanish Centre of Toronto and Quasar Music Academy.
The Spanish Centre has chosen a5MEDIA to redo their website and Quasar Music Academy and selected a5MEDIA to create their new visual identity and website in time for them to open their doors for the fall.
Both these projects will see us developing content management systems as well as a back-end where these clients can manage their courses online.
We are super excited to have these two great companies as part of the a5MEDIA family.
Welcome aboard!
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc.
http://www.a5media.ca
August 11, 2010
5 Excuses to Conquer For Better Marketing Results
There are many reasons why a marketing campaign can go bad. Timing, strategy, execution, bad luck. They can all play a part.
Many marketing initiatives, however, are sabotaged before they even start.
Many business owners and entrepreneurs are actually their own worst enemy when it comes to marketing. Many will find every excuse in the book not to deal with it, not to make hard choices or not to have to address critical issues.
Today, I want to highlight the 5 excuses that every manager, business owner, and entrepreneur has to overcome to guarantee better marketing results.
The 5 Excuses:
1. Our business is different or special. It doesn’t require marketing.
I’ve heard this one so often, the next time I hear it my ears will probably bleed. 99.999% of all businesses are all based on the Customer, Company, and Competitor triangle.
The triangle is simple: the Customer does business with the Company, while the Company tries and keep the Competitor away from the Customer. The same dynamics that a small bakery has in this triangle are the same dynamics an international conglomerate has with this triangle: the Company needs to communicate effectively its brand and value to the Client, to avoid them churning to the Competitor.
So unless you own a monopoly on a vital service where people HAVE to buy from you and unless you have ZERO competitors (now or in the future), your business needs marketing. Period.
2. It’s all too complicated. I don’t want to have to learn all this marketing mumbo jumbo.
Marketing is no more or less complicated than accounting, legal, human resources, inventory control, supply chain management, customer service, safety standards, government regulations or the 1000 other things your business deals with on a daily basis.
Like all of those things, once you put systems in place to help you manage and execute them, marketing can easily find its way into your daily routine. And once it becomes part of your routine, you pick up on it easily, because the fundamentals of marketing are dead simple to understand.
And unlike most of those tasks already mentioned, marketing will actually help you MAKE money –not simply spend money.
3. What we’ve done has always worked in the past. There is no need to change it.
In the last 10 years marketing has changed so much, that if you are still doing the “same old , same old” you are walking down the path to closing your doors to new business –permanently. I still come across businesses that insist on only advertising on the radio, or in the same magazine that they did a decade ago because it netted them past success. They tell me they do this because “that’s where their clients are”.
The problem is that that isn’t true. That’s where the clients WERE. Today, clients are online, on phones, and are younger. Not adapting your brand and marketing strategies will only mean that you are actually LOSING clients to your competitors.
If you only do what you did before, you’ll never expand to get new clients from different demographics. Diversifying your marketing is important because it helps you grow your business into different segments, protecting you from client churn and making it harder for your competitors to keep up.
4. I’ll deal with my marketing after I return from vacation.
No you won’t.
When you return back from your vacation you’ll need a vacation from your vacation. And then you’ll have to deal with your inbox. And then you’ll have to deal with office issues. And then you’ll have to catch up on paperwork. Before you know it, 6 months have passed and you haven’t touched your marketing.
Deal with marketing NOW. Deal with it BEFORE you go on vacation so when you return you know you’ll have it at the top of your “to do” list. Trust me. You’ll be amazed at how much more efficient you’ll be.
5. We can’t afford marketing because business is slow. We’ll revisit it when things get better.
If this excuse was expressed as a function of the space-time continuum, the resulting paradox would destroy all reality as we know it.
Business will never pick up without marketing. And business is slow because when business was busy, you probably didn’t market. Marketing is something you need to do ALL THE TIME! Sometimes you can only afford to do a little, sometimes you are able to invest a lot. But you should always be doing something.
Remember: anything is better than nothing when it comes to marketing.
Conquer these 5 excuses and you will see a guaranteed improvement in your marketing and sales.
Marketing isn’t one giant leap. It’s a step by step journey. So don’t let there be any excuse for you to take that first stride!
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
Many marketing initiatives, however, are sabotaged before they even start.
Many business owners and entrepreneurs are actually their own worst enemy when it comes to marketing. Many will find every excuse in the book not to deal with it, not to make hard choices or not to have to address critical issues.
Today, I want to highlight the 5 excuses that every manager, business owner, and entrepreneur has to overcome to guarantee better marketing results.
The 5 Excuses:
1. Our business is different or special. It doesn’t require marketing.
I’ve heard this one so often, the next time I hear it my ears will probably bleed. 99.999% of all businesses are all based on the Customer, Company, and Competitor triangle.
The triangle is simple: the Customer does business with the Company, while the Company tries and keep the Competitor away from the Customer. The same dynamics that a small bakery has in this triangle are the same dynamics an international conglomerate has with this triangle: the Company needs to communicate effectively its brand and value to the Client, to avoid them churning to the Competitor.
So unless you own a monopoly on a vital service where people HAVE to buy from you and unless you have ZERO competitors (now or in the future), your business needs marketing. Period.
2. It’s all too complicated. I don’t want to have to learn all this marketing mumbo jumbo.
Marketing is no more or less complicated than accounting, legal, human resources, inventory control, supply chain management, customer service, safety standards, government regulations or the 1000 other things your business deals with on a daily basis.
Like all of those things, once you put systems in place to help you manage and execute them, marketing can easily find its way into your daily routine. And once it becomes part of your routine, you pick up on it easily, because the fundamentals of marketing are dead simple to understand.
And unlike most of those tasks already mentioned, marketing will actually help you MAKE money –not simply spend money.
3. What we’ve done has always worked in the past. There is no need to change it.
In the last 10 years marketing has changed so much, that if you are still doing the “same old , same old” you are walking down the path to closing your doors to new business –permanently. I still come across businesses that insist on only advertising on the radio, or in the same magazine that they did a decade ago because it netted them past success. They tell me they do this because “that’s where their clients are”.
The problem is that that isn’t true. That’s where the clients WERE. Today, clients are online, on phones, and are younger. Not adapting your brand and marketing strategies will only mean that you are actually LOSING clients to your competitors.
If you only do what you did before, you’ll never expand to get new clients from different demographics. Diversifying your marketing is important because it helps you grow your business into different segments, protecting you from client churn and making it harder for your competitors to keep up.
4. I’ll deal with my marketing after I return from vacation.
No you won’t.
When you return back from your vacation you’ll need a vacation from your vacation. And then you’ll have to deal with your inbox. And then you’ll have to deal with office issues. And then you’ll have to catch up on paperwork. Before you know it, 6 months have passed and you haven’t touched your marketing.
Deal with marketing NOW. Deal with it BEFORE you go on vacation so when you return you know you’ll have it at the top of your “to do” list. Trust me. You’ll be amazed at how much more efficient you’ll be.
5. We can’t afford marketing because business is slow. We’ll revisit it when things get better.
If this excuse was expressed as a function of the space-time continuum, the resulting paradox would destroy all reality as we know it.
Business will never pick up without marketing. And business is slow because when business was busy, you probably didn’t market. Marketing is something you need to do ALL THE TIME! Sometimes you can only afford to do a little, sometimes you are able to invest a lot. But you should always be doing something.
Remember: anything is better than nothing when it comes to marketing.
Conquer these 5 excuses and you will see a guaranteed improvement in your marketing and sales.
Marketing isn’t one giant leap. It’s a step by step journey. So don’t let there be any excuse for you to take that first stride!
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)