Social Media can take Public Speaking to Next Level

Public speakers most enjoy the challenge of facing the audience from up a podium. However, sometimes public speakers cannot locate the next major event and this is where social media can prove to be a major aid. As per marketing research conducted, more than seventy percent of respondents polled, acknowledged the usage of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Yet a similar figure responded to not use email as a means of digital marketing. Email marketing is possibly the most effective and safe. Social media cuts research time especially if one uses Bluetrapp to help schedule relevant articles online. Advertisements work well on Facebook as instead of simply boosting a post one can simply choose users with whom to personally share. Lists must be created on both Twitter and Facebook of users to follow in order to cut through the jamboree of people on social media. While some feel that things change way too fast in social media, the Forbes app on the same helps keep track of latest changes. 

Days of our Digital Lives

While traditionally, we analyzed data on an annual or seasonal or at most daily activity, now due to the business analysis provided by Google, we are getting minute-by-minute updates. It is like a microscopic analysis which provides us information on what kind of keywords are searched for at different times of the day. This business research will allow firms to zero in and launch marketing campaigns for times of the day most suitable. During evening hours for example, searches increase on topics such as fashion and shopping and this data will help align corporate strategy of retail chains’ marketing. This tool can even aid policy makers as data suggests crimes increase after local football teams lose games. Surprisingly no lunchtime trends seem to appear in the USA while they are quite visible in countries such as UK, Belgium and Japan. 

A New Digital Marketing Tool

In this era of digital marketing, large firms have massive budgets for their online presence yet smaller ones are getting crowded out. Thus Melon Studios has developed a tool called ‘Page for Promotion’ (PFP) which specifically intends to help SMEs. The idea is to gauge users’ interest levels in various subjects and them being posted with information on similar product available but by a smaller player. It will appear as a post and not an advertisement. The developers are a startup who have received funding from angel investors.

Gaining Currency: Fall of Euro has American Tourists Flocking to Europe

The fall of the Euro against the US Dollar has proved to be a boon for American tourists, flocking in great numbers to Europe this year. Prices are about a fourth less than last year with the Euro heading to almost parity level with the Dollar. Marketing research conducted by Gallup shows that about four-fifths of Americans had a favourable opinion towards France, the country that is attracting maximum tourists from the USA.  Italy and the Netherlands are other popular destinations. This has led to jamming of tourism lines as Americans are queuing up in large numbers to reach the old world. Thus prior bookings have become necessary now.

4 Steep Pitfalls You Must Avoid when Flipping a Classroom

The flipped classroom model is considered one with increased interactive learning and engagement, yet it may not work if executed badly. It can be an extremely effective method for an executive MBA yet some pitfalls need to be avoided. The classroom must not imitate any production house full of cameras. Business research suggests that cameras make students and teachers alike uncomfortable. The video based presentations must remain short and crisp. Flipping does not mean creating video or audio based content and then just launching the same on to the students. The students need to be nurtured and coached just like traditional methods. Also the methodology must include assessment criteria as without testing students do not feel accountable and do not make the additional effort. 

European Vacation as much as 25 percent Cheaper due to Europe

Europe is witnessing a surge in travel jobs as the continent has become 25% cheaper this year for tourists from the USA and other countries like China. US bookings have in fact risen by a fifth already this year. The European Central Bank (ECB) is weakening the Euro thanks to Greece’s massive debt restructuring and the zone’s subdued growth. The Chinese are also making a beeline for Europe due to the increased economic growth in China. Greece and Spain are two countries which have seen good growth in inbound tourism numbers closely followed by France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands.

How Deep is your Love for your Community

Businesses exist as part of society and thus at the end of the day are liable for community welfare. Every medium to large firm today must have this aspect firmly embedded in its corporate strategy. Social media has now provided firms with another channel to broadcast its depth towards community initiatives. Some methods exist to demonstrate the same. Community engagement must be done across platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. Community must feel a sense of empathy emanating from the firm in terms of shared joys and challenges. The sense of passion regarding the brand must come out in the digital marketing. Community members must be encouraged to interact among each other. Certain influencers of opinion must be identified with whom fruitful relationships are to be developed. Successes at community or regional level must be reported across platforms for people to know. The community must also get some joy or entertainment out of the firm’s social media content. Crucially, community members must get a feel that the firm cares for the welfare of the same.

Tourism Market: Global Industry expected to grow from 69.8 million in 2013 to 83.8 million by 2018

As per business research, the tourist arrivals in the USA are expected to top eighty million by the year 2018 compared to less than seventy million for 2013. Rising affluence in Asia and South America have been quoted as significant reasons. This provides great opportunity to develop more and more tourism jobs in the USA. Certain major global events affect the tourists numbers as hallmark events like the Football World Cup in 2014 in Brazil, London Olympics in 2012 or the 2011 Cricket World Cup in India boost numbers. On the other hand, outbreak of the feared Ebola disease in west Africa disrupted tourism in much of that region. Medical tourism is one field which is growing at electric pace.

More Business Schools Tap into Online Education and Smart Devices

The MBA has diverged from the traditional classroom teaching to incorporate online education. Executive MBA is now a module followed by number of business schools and appropriate for students who do not wish to take out separate time for full time study. Smart devices are coming in aid of these courses. A university in Australia has devised an online based study module where students are provided with Apple i-Pads pre-fitted with video based classes and study material. Coursera is providing an online platform so popular that more than ten million users are now registered with the same. Even Stanford University in California has developed a LEAD Certificate programme specifically for executive MBA. The trend is set to grow as recent market research has revealed that more than four million tablets and PCs sold out in the third quarter of 2014 in the US education sector alone.

How to Sustain a Successful Referral Strategy

Successful referrals have proved a timeless strategy to ensure growth in sales. Business research has demonstrated certain methods which have been successful in chasing referrals. They must always be asked for as just part of life rather than some target to be achieved. Customers must be trained as to the sales pitch to be deployed during referrals. One must ensure that the prospects referred must be taken proper care of and not seen as profit centre. The referrer must feel important even if conversion does not take place. Importantly the one who asks for referrals must start doing so oneself and start generating referrals.

The Internet of Things Changes the Company- Customer Relationship

The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to change the world in many different ways. Traditionally people used to interact with physical products but now gadgets have enabled an interaction between intelligent devices across the globe. Certain firms may not survive in this scenario but others will see opportunity. Instead of trying to fool the customer, the new age firms will try to use business analytics to gauge actual customer needs and will customize product/ service accordingly. Separate KPIs will be developed for demographic segments. Cloud computing has enabled the constant interaction between devices.

Head to Oregon for Tribal Tourism

The state of Oregon in the USA has become a beacon for tribal tourism as Native American villages have been developed to host theme based tours. This has led to the surge in creation of tourism jobs across the state. A special museum has been created in the town of Warm Springs to facilitate learning about the tribal communities. As yet the level of tribal tourism has not reached the frenzy of neighbouring Washington state or Canada’s British Columbia, but some luxury hotels have sprung up.

10 Ways to Improve your Marketing Automation in

Market research conducted by a leading firm has generated certain results and tips which can best accelerate automation in marketing. Certain methods have been suggested to ensure the same. Personalization is passé, now is the era of hyper-personalization. Buyer personas must be understood to tailor products/ services accordingly. Greater investment must be made in the field of Business analytics. Each marketing campaign must have its own content strategy. Sales and marketing must not be exclusive of each other, but must instead complement. The future of business and marketing lies in the smartphone. Data generated must be synced between all sources including Facebook, e-mail, field data and LinkedIn. A platform such as Makesbridge must be selected as it ensures multi-tasking capability. Communication must be a continuous process within the firm. Crucially, integration across channels must be implemented as it helps in utilization

Engagement Labs Amps up Audience Intelligence Data through Partnership with Macro-measures

Engagement Labs which has created the eValue score has joined up with Macromeasures to form a business analytics and consumer insights giant. Clients will now be able to tap information important regarding social media and analytics to develop buyer personas suited to their products/ services. It will help in demographic segmentation in order to develop corporate strategy. Each firm will get a score to benchmark itself against more than a hundred thousand brands. KPIs will also be generated on social media responsiveness, impact and engagement success.

Why Integrated Social Suites are Failing Marketers

ERP eventually developed out of integration between various back-end processes which found common platform as it was needed. Similarly, firms have tried developing suites to package all social media products into one bundle. However, business research conducted by Forrester has proved this to be unsuccessful as only the word social is common to Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram etc. and their purpose and operations are totally different. Adobe Social which is an integrated suite has been unable to generate the business analytics which the creators hoped to. They have also made management training more complicated than ERPs.

Avoid Being Disrupted by Aligning Travel and Technology Outcomes

Corporate strategy has usually considered alignment of technology solutions to operations as best possible outcome. Yet at a conference held at Ras-al-Khaimah, an IT industry insider pointed out that the industry has always tried to keep things complicated at operational level to maintain the aura which tourism firms hold technology in. Software is often created by geeks in order to satisfy their creative urges, but may not always be applicable and this creates complexities in CRM. 

11 People Changing the Way we Travel

Eleven people have been identified as trendsetters in the travel industry generating numerous tourism jobs and creating further avenues for travelers. Ruzwana Bashir has developed a digital suite at peek.com to explore unique travel packages and enable bookings along with other back end operations. The founder is an MBA with Fulbright scholarship. Robert Milk has founded NOVICA, which is an online, fair trade market place to promote art developed by local artists often working from home industries. Now nearly fifty thousand works of art get traded there. HarriKulovaara of Royal Caribbean cruises has initiated the construction of world’s largest, yet thrilling ships such as ‘Oasis of the Seas’ and ‘Allure of the Seas’. His smart-ship ‘Quantum of the Seas’ is fitted with an observation pod, virtual balconies and skydiving facilities. Number of tourism jobs have been generated by this. Using business analytics ADARA started by Layton Han, collects data and arranges for seat upgrade on flights. For the youth in the USA, bus travel seemed unfashionable until very recently when it has revamped thanks to the efforts of Dale Moser and his megabus.com which enables travel on double decker buses fitted with state-of-the-art facilities. Chris Lopinto’s expertflyer.com provides users with a virtual round-up on all inexpensive flights and the amenities expected. Zeke Adkins and Aaron Kirley have developed Luggage Forward which enables the transport of luggage across more than two hundred countries. Travis Kalanick has disrupted market dynamics by founding Uber which uses crowd-sourcing to organize cabs for travelers. Ed Kushins of Home Exchange has arranged for a website which helps travelers to seek rooms rented so they can reside locally at low prices. Geraldine Caplin of Hilton Worldwide has come up with this new tablet which allows travelers to check-in to hotels without the assistance of the reception counter. Even rooms at hotels worldwide can be unlocked using the smartphone or tablet post booking confirmation.

Do you Really Know the Value of your Data?

Products of all kinds face depreciation, be it cars or electronics. Similarly data faces decay and organizations need to upgrade the same in order to execute effective CRM. Business research conducted proves that customers protect data with utmost care, using all forms of digital gadgets. In case firms do not update data, they will be faced with duplicate leads, lost sales opportunities, brand decay, wrong segmentation and thus poor service to user. The firms will thrive only if they do the things correct.

Untangling Big Data for Digital Marketing

Big data has a major role to play in digital marketing. Giants such as Facebook and Google are generating business analytics which marketers wish to track at a premium. Earlier records gathered about customers were transactional in nature, but now they have evolved to track behavioral among clients. Even secondary data derived often comes in handier than the primary intent of the market research. Personal blogs and online review forums allow another tool to track consumer ‘conversations’. The data generated is then used to develop consumer engagement tactics. The databases of prospects are then guarded zealously and used to align loyalty and incentive schemes.

How can I get Hiring Manager’s Attention

Getting management jobs is today almost like winning a sales pitch. While automation has worked across industries, it has complicated recruitment matters. While companies advertise for jobs, convincing the hiring managers is a complicated procedure and often the pitch cannot even be made and the process is over due to poor channels of communication. A more effective approach could involve identifying the organization where the job seeker’s skill sets match with requirements. Within that firm, one has to gauge the identity of the hiring manager. Business research must then be conducted to understand which firm is weak at which point which can be met by the job-seeker. Then a relevant cover letter must be sent to the exact person who will execute the hiring. Following up then personally is crucial.