Videos for Marketing – 4 Types of Video

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There are essentially four types of videos for marketing your online business, product, service or yourself. It’s easy to learn how to make a video with clips with Amazing Sales Videos. Each type has advantages for your video marketing strategy, but some can be prohibitively expensive while others may look cheap and be ineffective. The following is a quick and easy description of the four types of videos for marketing your online business.

Broadcast Quality Video

A broadcast quality video is a high quality product which could be placed on network television. The production of such a video will usually entail the use of script writers, a producer, a director, and a cast of actors. The end product is usually very impressive but the cost of such a production can be frightening, ranging from $40,000 to $250,000.

Web Quality Video

Web-quality videos for marketing would be similar to broadcast quality in style, however; this is a product in which much of the production is your responsibility, usually requiring you to provide script, imagery, and voice.

The end result might be a bit less polished, but the cost of such a production may be more in line with your budget, usually about $1000 per minute of finished video product. However, the cost in time to you and your staff may be more than you are willing to pay, as you try to generate a quality script and voice. Plus, are you and your staff actors or business professionals?

Do-it-yourself Video

Do-it-yourself video production sites can greatly reduce the cost of using videos for marketing and can be found all over the internet these days. These are basically impersonal slideshow production sites, where you supply all imagery and text. A computer program then plugs your input into a video template with some music.

Many of these services are free of charge, as an inducement to purchasing higher quality, and higher priced, video production services. The major drawback here is, of course, a generic look without compelling personal engagement with your prospect, as well as the name of the site you used being featured in your video, detracting from your message.

Professional Slideshow Video Production

Similar in style to the do-it-yourself production sites, but with professional input and feedback from an actual human being, a professional slideshow video production will offer customized background templates and music scores into which your imagery and text is placed. With this type of video production, you are able to create a much more polished video slideshow in which to promote your product or service.

This type of video also allows for a uniquely tailored approach to your presentation which is targeted to your market, as well as the ability to re-purpose, or re-use, text and imagery already available to you. Further, you own the product, with no promotional material form the production company included in your video.

The cost for such a service is much more reasonable than full production video sites, ranging from about $30 to $150 depending on the length of your video slideshow. Also, professional text production, script writing, and voice-over services may be provided at an additional cost.

For the online marketer, local business, small business owner or entrepreneur, professional slideshow video production tends to be the most cost-effective means for taking the plunge into videos for marketing. Another great idea is learning how to make a video with clips. The use of these services offers professional quality, as well as professional feedback and input into your video marketing strategy, while at the same time helping you to greatly reduce your promotional video cost.

Legitimate Stay at Home Employment With Legit Online Jobs

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Instead of legitimate stay at home employment, many on the internet find scams and thieves. The roadway of the internet is littered with the husks of those who have tried to make money online, but have found heartache and disappointment. How can you save yourself from this heartache? It can be difficult, you have to do your research and use common sense. Eventually you will need to take action and take a leap of faith. But you can make the leap intelligently. If you’ve purchased one plan or many plans and still aren’t making any money, don’t give up. Understand that you must put forth some effort but you can make money online.Legit Online Jobs has done all the research on legitimate stay at home employment for you, so you don’t have to go out there wasting your time looking for the honest, legitimate companies, to get legitimate work. Instead, you acquire the access to Legit Online Job’s extensive database of companies, choose whom you will work for, and start working.Legit Online Jobs is a go between for companies with real advertising needs and you, the person who smells opportunity and wants to take advantage of these companies’ needs. These companies would rather pay someone from home than staff a market research or advertising department. Using Legit Online Jobs to align yourself with the legitimate stay at home employment is better for you than the do-it-yourself path, because Legit Online Jobs screens the scams from the opportunities so that you don’t become yet another husk on the roadside.As stated before, much of information contained in Legit Online Job’s system can be found elsewhere online, but the price you would pay far outweighs what you pay through Legit Online Jobs. You would pay not for the information, which is free, but for the time you waste learning how to accomplish what you would with Legit Online Jobs on your own, the mistakes, the lack of free starting credit and other perks you get with the site, not to mention the unreliability and confusion you get with the free information. So, sometimes free isn’t better.

Top Health and Fitness Tips You Can Use Effectively

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There are many people who are looking for a source that will provide them fabulous tips for development of their body. Proper maintenance of development of a human body is one of the important tasks that will provide a peaceful and happy lifestyle. Maintaining proper health mainly depends upon the ability of the person to fulfill best dietary and fitness measures.There should be proper balance between various kinds of diet consumed by the person. It is also essential to involve in sufficient level of exercise to maintain proper blood circulation. There are some useful health and fitness tips that will provide outstanding development of body.The importance of diet and involving in exercise sessions will be illustrated in a fabulous manner. The information that is provided will surely be of great use for all people who are looking for best method of body development.There should be more level of importance that should be emphasized to obtain balanced diet. The food that is being consumed should contain appropriate level of various kinds of substances such proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, essential fats and minerals. There should be proper percentage of this food maintained in the human body for effective functioning of human body.There are various supplements that are available in the market and this will provide wonderful benefits to fulfill various nutrient requirements of human body. It will be possible to maintain proper blood pressure and correct cholesterol level with the help of healthy foods.People are satisfied in a great manner with the help of development that is being provided with the help of balanced diet. Vitamins and calcium are important factors that play an important role in strengthening of teeth and bones in a wonderful manner. The omega 3 fatty acid that is present in fish oil is another excellent source that enriches the functionality of heart in a wonderful manner.It is very much essential to involve in exercise regime that will provide wonderful maintenance of human body. Many people have benefited in a great way with the help of cardio sessions in gym. Cardio sessions in gym will be of great use in increasing the heart beat rate. This will provide more level of blood circulation across the body and there will be great development that will take place in the body. It is advised to involve in 3 cardio sessions per week in order to make sure you always do enough exercise.

Photography Schools – Which One to Choose?

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There is a lot of choice when it comes to places where you can learn photography, but which would be the best for you? For sure there are plenty of online learning resources, but you will not get that practical experience you need. You will learn a lot more being with other students and a good teacher. Having said that, online information is good at getting the basics down, and is a good place to start.What exactly you require from a photography class will help you decide which one to go for. For example, a college which is not just for photography will only offer basic levels. If you only intend taking up photo-taking as a hobby then the basic levels of instruction will probably suffice.If you really want to take your photo-taking seriously you should go for a school or college which specializes in it. These specialized schools will probably employ a professional which should really help you learn the specifics and expand your know-how.You must decide what it is you exactly want from your photo-snapping, once you have decided that you can choose your school or college and set about applying for a course. Do your online research and try to find any local courses or even courses further afield.You may need to take specialized classes in basic disciplines such as lighting, composition and various other basic routines. Portrait photography, for example requires an understanding of light, angles, balances, and will teach you how to get the reactions you want from your subject. The digital photo-taking world requires the understanding of several different techniques that were not required when using the older type of film camera.As you get into it and really start learning all the ins and outs you may decide that you would like a career in photography. There is a lot of help both online and off-line if this is the path you choose.One specialized area of photo-taking is taking photographs under water. Most normal schools and colleges do not cater for this and you may have to do a bit of searching to find one which specializes in it. Underwater photography would make for a fascinating hobby or even better, a profession. To me, the underwater world is more interesting than the world above it. 

Which Health Insurance Plan Is Best for Me?

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Health insurance has proven itself of great help and financial aid in certain cases when events turn out unexpectedly. In times when you are ill and when your health is in grave jeopardy and when finances seem to be incapable to sustain for your care, health insurance is here to the rescue. A good health insurance plan will definitely make things better for you.Basically, there are two types of health insurance plans. Your first option is the indemnity plans, which includes the fee-for-services and the second is the managed care plans. The differences between these two include the choice offered by the providers, the amount of bills the policy holder has to pay and the services covered by the policy. As you can always hear there is no ultimate or best plan for anyone.As you can see, there are some plans which may be way better than the others. Some may be good for you and your family’s health and medical care needs. However, amidst the sweet health insurance plan terms presented, there are always certain drawbacks that you may come to consider. The key is, you will have to wisely weigh the benefits. Especially that not among these plans will pay for all the financial damages associated with your care.The following are a brief description about the health insurance plans that might be fitting for you and your family’s case.Indemnity PlansFlexible Spending Plans – These are the types of health insurance plans that are sponsored when you are working for a company, or any employer. These are the care plans inclusive in your employee benefit package. Some of the specific types of benefits included in this plan are the multiple options pre-tax conversion plan, medical plans plus flexible spending accounts, tax conversion plan, and employer credit cafeteria plans. You can always ask your employer of the benefits included in your health care/insurance plans.Indemnity Health Plans – This type of health insurance plan allows you to choose your own health care providers. You are given the freedom to go to any doctor, medical institution, or other health care providers for a set monthly premium. The insurance plan will reimburse you and your health care provider according to the services rendered. Depending on the health insurance plan policy, there are those that offers limit on individual expenses, and when that expense is reached, the health insurance will cover for the remaining expenses in full. Sometimes, indemnity health insurance plans impose restrictions on services covered and may require prior authorization for hospital care and other expensive services.Basic and Essential Health Plans – It provides a limited health insurance benefit at a considerably low insurance cost. In opting for this kind of health insurance plan, it is necessary that one should read the policy description giving special focus on covered services. There are plans which may not cover on some basic treatments, certain medical services such as chemotherapy, maternity care or certain prescriptions. Also, rates vary considerably since unlike other plans, premiums consider age, gender, health status, occupation, geographic location, and community rated.Health Savings Accounts – You own and control the money in your HSA. This is the recent alternative to the old fashioned health insurance plans. These are savings product designed to offer policy holders different way to pay for their health care. This type of insurance plan allows the individual to pay for the current health expenses and also save for untoward future qualified medical and retiree health costs on a tax-free basis. With this health care plan, you decide on how your money is spent. You make all the decisions without relying on any third party or a health insurer. You decide on which investment will help your money grow. However, if you sign up for an HSA, High Deductible Health Plans are required in adjunct to this type of insurance plan.High Deductible Health Plans – Also called Catastrophic Health Insurance Coverage. It is an inexpensive health insurance plan which is enabled only after a high deductible is met of at least $1,000 for an individual expense and $2,000 for family-related medical expense.Managed Care OptionsPreferred Provider Organizations – This is charged in a fee-for-service basis. The involved health care providers are paid by the insurer on a negotiated fee and schedule. The cost of services are likely lower if the policy holder chooses an out-of-network provider ad generally required to pay the difference between what the provider charges and what the health insurance plan has to pay.Point of Service – POS health insurance plans are one of the indemnity type options in which the primary health care providers usually make referrals to other providers within the plan. In the event the doctors make referrals which are out of the plan, that plan pays all or most of the bill. However, if you refer yourself to an outside provider, the service charges may also be covered by the plan but the individual may be required to pay the coinsurance.Health Maintenance Organizations – It offers access to a network of physicians, health care institutions, health care providers, and a variety of health care facilities. You have the freedom to choose for your personal primary care doctor from a list which may be provided by the HMO and this chosen doctor may coordinate with all the other aspects of your health care. You may speak with your chosen primary doctor for further referrals to a specialist. Generally, you are paying fewer out-of-pocket fees with this type of health insurance plan. However, there are certain instances that you may be often charged of the fees or co-payment for services such as doctor visits or prescriptions.Government-Sponsored Health InsuranceIndian Health Services – This is part of the Department of Health and Human Services Program offering all American Indians the medical assistance at HIS facilities. Also, HIS helps in paying the cost of the health care services utilized at non-HIS facilities.Medicaid – This is a federal or s state public assistance program created in the year 1965. These are available for the people who may have insufficient resources to pay for the health care services or for private insurance policies. Medicaid is available in all states. Eligibility levels and coverage benefits may vary though.Medicare – This is a health care program for people aging 65 and older, with certain disabilities that pays part of the cost associated with hospitalization, surgery, home health care, doctor’s bills, and skilled nursing care.Military Health Care – This type includes the TRICARE or the CHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services) and CHAMPVA (Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affair). The Department of Veterans Affair (VA) may also provide this service.State Children’s Health Insurance Program – This is available to children whose low-income parents were not able to qualify for the Medicaid.
State-Specific Plans – This type of plan is available for low income uninsured individuals.There are many different types of insurance plans that you may have the prerogative to know about. By learning which health care insurance fits your situation, you can avail of the many options that will likely be of great assistance to you in times when you will need it most. Insurance costs have typically become one of the common draw backs in choosing for an insurance quote. However, weighing the benefits will really matter. Make sure that you always read the benefits, terms and conditions before landing to whichever type of health insurance you choose.

Job Searching And Unique Places To Find Offerings

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There are certain places where everyone checks that is looking for a job. They go pick up a newspaper and look in the classified section. They go online and look on Craigslist, and other online locations that list job opportunities. They also go on to LinkedIn and put all of their job qualifications, experience, and educational degrees online. These are all pretty wise if you are looking for a job, but that is where everyone else is going as well. There are many other unique places to find job offerings.Perhaps you should be looking at bulletin boards at places like Starbucks, or at snack shops which are inside high-rise office buildings or small lunchtime restaurants in business industrial areas. It seems there are always job offerings available. Another interesting idea is to talk to someone that does mobile detailing in office parks, and ask them if they know if anyone is hiring, you’d be surprised how much information they know about the local business districts.You might also go and talk to a church during non-Sunday services, and ask the pastor if they have any information on potential jobs. Tell them of your situation, and your need to find work, and they may just refer you to someone who owns a business who attends the church who is looking for help right now. You’d be surprised how well that works. Community college bulletin boards also have job listings, and even if you aren’t a young person, you still might answer that call. Perhaps you might even be more suited because you have a little experience under your belt.If you are looking for work in the automotive sector, you might talk to the guy who delivers and sells tools in his van to all the automotive repair shops. They are definitely in the know, and they know when someone leaves or when a position opens up. What I’m saying to you is this; you don’t have to do everything the old way, you have to use your creativity and open your mind to other potential opportunities, things that other people may not be looking for – sometimes using unique strategies when searching for a job will yield the best results.Further, if you are a creative person, and a better detective while looking for a job, then I’d say you probably deserve it more than the next person. After all, you are using your mind, and that’s what an employer really needs. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Why Home Improvement Loans Suck

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Imagine the scenario: you’re ready to buy your first house. But you don’t have the cash lying around to buy your dream house, so you decide to settle on a fixer-upper that you’ll spend your free time turning into the perfect home. If you’ve been through the home buying process this already, then you probably remember this quite well. In fact, buying a fixer upper in need of major TLC is a rite of passage for many homeowners. Tons of first homes need work done like re-painting, deck repair, all new floors and wallpaper or an extra bathroom.

Of course the problem is that most first time home buyers simply don’t have the funds to pay for these home improvements after closing on their mortgage. So they go into a do-it-yourself mode. Sometimes they use home improvement loans to help pay for the work. Other times they do all the work on nights and weekends. Maybe the financing comes from credit cards. Sometimes, it’s all one terrible experience. This begs the question: Why do home improvement loans suck?

They take too much time. From the bidding process for the work, to the actual upgrades and construction to moving day, it can be very time-consuming. Many borrowers say closing a home improvement loan takes more than 3 months, and might never even close. An efficient lender who understands the home improvement loan process should be able to get your loan closed in a little more than a month. Sometimes even less time than that.

Renovation mortgages are too much work. Yes this option will take more paperwork. After all, the bid process alone can add a lot of extra work to the process. However, working with an experienced mortgage consultant will help you avoid the extra work, requiring mostly just extra signatures.

No one understands programs like FHA 203k or HomePath Renovation. It’s true that many real estate agents haven’t heard about some of the options for financing upgrades. Many deals die because the buyer sees a house they like but there may be a few things they’d like to change. The challenge to home improvement loans lies with the effort to help educate real estate professionals and buyers alike.

Do it yourself work is a real pain. Putting in a new kitchen takes time and skill, and doing all on your own isn’t likely something you want to do. Same with a bathroom, wider hallways for wheelchair access or painting the entire house. Again, it’s not something you may want to do, and that’s okay. Home improvement loans are generally for paying a professional to do the work. They’re not really for the DIY crowd.

Buying a new home is easier than buying a fixer-upper. This is certainly true in many cases, but it’s not always feasible. And with so many homes on the market today under the foreclosure cloud, you can actually find a great deal on a fixer-upper and roll the cost of the repairs right into the monthly payment! Plus, older houses have more character than subdivision cookie-cutters.

They are expensive. Home improvement loans generally come with a little higher interest rate, it’s true. Interest rates are based in part on risk. Paying for home improvements can be risky, as the after-improved value is used to predict the future worth of the house. But the difference between a home improvement loan and a regular mortgage is pretty low. It’s definitely lower than the cost of financing the work and materials on a credit card!

Store credit is so much easier to get. Again, this may be true, but you’ll pay a much higher rate than a home improvement loan and you’ll have to do the work yourself. If that’s your goal, then a home improvement loan isn’t for you.
Home improvement loans are definitely not for everyone. There’s no doubt that they take a little extra time and work. Sometimes you can find a newer home that needs less work for a good price. And that’s okay. Go for it. But if you find a home that’s average and needs your personal touch with a few upgrades and renovations, then a home improvement loan just may be your next step. Good luck in the house hunting, and let us know if there’s some way we can help!

Defect Management – Three Components of Effective Defect Management Systems

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Software development teams and software testing teams have numerous choices of defect management tools to help support their software defect efforts. Selecting and utilizing an effective tool is really only part of an overall defect management system.From a high-level view, defect management systems are made up of a combination of some defect management tools or tool and a defect management process. These two primary components work together to support each other. Ignore either one, and sub-optimal results can be expected. Below I will provide an overview of a typical defect management process. I will also list the key features to look for in an effective defect management tool. All of this information will be useful for you to review. But I would be remiss if I left out one of the most overlooked aspects of software defect management that goes beyond tools and processes, which I will also disclose later in this article.Defect Management ProcessHigh Level Steps in a typical defect management process:The typical defect management process includes the following high-level process steps. When implemented inside of a specific organization, each of these high-level steps would have more detailed standard operating procedures along with policies to carry out the details of the process.
Identification – This step involves the discovery of a defect. Hopefully, the person discovering the defect is someone on the testing team. In the real world, it can be anyone including the other individuals on the project team, or on rare occasions even the end-customer.
Categorization – When a defect is reported, it is typically assigned to a designated team member to confirm that the defect is actually a defect as opposed to an enhancement, or other appropriate category as defined by the organization. Once categorized, the defect moves on in the process to the next step which is prioritization.
Prioritization – Prioritization is typically based on a combination of the severity of impact on the user, relative effort to fix, along with a comparison against other open defects. Depending on the size and structure of the organization, the prioritization is often handled by a formal change control board. The priority should be determined with representation from management, the customer, and the project team.
Assignment – Once a defect has been prioritized, it is then assigned to a developer or other technician to fix.
Resolution – The developer fixes (resolves) the defect and follows the organization’s process to move the fix to the environment where the defect was originally identified.
Verification – Depending on the environment where the defect was found and the fix was applied, the software testing team or customer typically verifies that the fix actually resolved the defect.
Closure – Once a defect has been resolved and verified, the defect is marked as closed.
Management Reporting – Management reports are provided to appropriate individuals at regular intervals as defined reporting requirements. In addition, on-demand reports are provided on an as-needed basis.
Defect Management ToolsFeatures of a defect management tool:Following are the core features of a defect management tool:
Provides a centralized repository for tracking defects across projects.
Provides automated notifications of resource assignments.
Ability to define defect resolution status in order to map back to your defect management process.
Ability to provide management reporting, like the number of open defects grouped by various criteria such as open defects by project, severity, and priority.
Following are a few optional features worth mentioning when selecting a defect management tool:
Ability to capture other items in addition to defects, such as customer suggestions and project-related issues. Items such as customer complaints or enhancement suggestions are often lost if not logged in a centralized system. If other tools are not already available, a defect management tool can be used to track these types of items as long as they can easily be filtered out or logically separated from defects.
Ability to support internal and external teams. This feature provides the opportunity to involve external teams and in some situations, customers if appropriate.
Another consideration when selecting a defect management tool includes ease-of-use. Comparing a list of features is useful, but seeing how intuitive a system is to the people who have to use it provides a more concrete sense of how much training might be needed along with how well the system will be received.The Missing Component of Software Defect ManagementMost discussions on the topic of software defect management focus on defect management processes or defect management tools. That is where most stop. There is an additional and often overlooked aspect which is more important than the specific defect management tools or defect management process being used. I consider it the important critical success factor in software defect management. I call it “Organizational Culture,” which is comprised of the shared values, beliefs, and accepted norms of the people in an organization. But wait. Before you succumb to your sudden urge to tune out because this article just seemed to take a sharp turn towards some soft and fuzzy, executive management-level, buzzword-compliant rhetoric, please read on a bit more because there is a practical side of this that you may want to know. Getting even a crude understanding of how organizational culture affects software defect management could make the difference between success or failure on a high-profile project you are involved with.From my experience, in many organizations, defects are considered something negative, for which blame should be assigned as a way of preventing similar defects in the future. This sounds perfectly reasonable, right? The problem is that just because something seems to make sense on paper doesn’t mean it directly translates to the real world.Here are a couple of questions to consider. If team members feel like any mistakes they make may be used against them in a performance review which could affect their compensation or job stability, are they less likely to make mistakes which would decrease the number of defects? Possibly. But I would ascertain that the side effects are much more negative than having lots of defects. You want to know what defects you have and you want to know about them as soon as possible.As is commonly understood, the later in the process defects are identified, the most costly they are to fix. If defects are treated as negative things to be avoided, people will become less likely to disclose them, and may spend too much time on certain tasks in an attempt to avoid mistakes and subsequently defects. A hyper-focus on avoiding defects may be appropriate for certain situations, but for most business settings, an unrealistic focus on perfection can be a fatal flaw that leads to suboptimal performance, which can lead to outcomes which are far more negative than the defects some strive to avoid.”Field experience and data from leading research in organizational culture shows that a large majority of organizational cultures are defensive in nature, where people are punished rather than coached on correct procedures when they make mistakes,” said Buz McOmber, President of Constructive Cultures, an Atlanta-based organizational performance consultancy. “Fearing negative consequences, people learn quickly to cover their own mistakes, blame them on others, or push the correction off as ‘not my job’. These behaviors push defect identification to later in the development process or, worse, to the production environment, significantly raising costs to the business and harming both operational effectiveness and customer satisfaction. Fear of negative consequences is intensified in tough economic times, increasing the need to identify these defensive behaviors before they make a difficult situation worse. For the Project Manager, it can be very difficult to regain the trust that’s lost when their team fears retribution for mistakes.” McOmber said.If you are serious about having an effective defect management system, at a minimum you need to have a defined process, effective tools, and a culture that understands that defects are a simple by-product of getting work done in the real world. They are not mistakes that need to be avoided or covered up at all costs.ConclusionA defect management system is made up of a combination of defect management tools or tool and a defect management process.In addition, the effectiveness of a defect management system is influenced by the organizational culture it operates within. For most environments, it makes sense to utilize tools and processes that focus on the speed of identifying, tracking, and resolving defects. This provides the basis for understanding root cases and making appropriate process improvements. If the culture of the team or organization considers defects as negative, people spend more time trying to avoid defects and also are less likely to report a defect when encountered. This can lead to some defects being identified later in the process, when they are harder and more costly to fix.Based on my experience, organizations which consider defects as part of the process seem to be able to deliver high quality software faster than organizations which consider defects negative events for which blame should be assigned.

How to Segment Your Target Market

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Market segmentation can simply be defined as the marketing strategy that involves dividing a broad market into different subset groups of consumers who have common needs as well as priorities and then designing and implementing strategies in order to target their needs and also desires through media channels and other touch points that allow easier access to them. Market segmentation is of great importance for the companies serving larger markets. Consumer segmentation similarly is the process of classifying people into groups that do have some set of similar characteristics thus resulting in the ability to be targeted and studied.Categories of segmentationGeographicThis involves dividing up geographic markets by using the existing boundaries, population boundaries and natural climatic zones. It enables us to segment a market that is spread over a very large geographic area into sub-markets that cover smaller geographic areas. In geographical segmentation the market is divided into different geographical units such as; regions (by country, state, nation, neighborhood), Population density (urban, suburban, rural), climate (size of an area, population size and growth rate) and climate where regions have climate patterns that are similar.A company that is either serving a few or generally all the geographic segments, requires to put more attention on variability of geographic needs and wants. Immediately segmentation of consumer market on geographic bases is done, companies localize their marketing efforts such as production, promotion, advertising and sales efforts.DemographicThis segmentation occurs when one or more demographic traits are employed in order to divide the market. Demographics are quantitative characteristics of a particular group of people. These characteristics include age, gender, income, education, occupation, social class, family size, generation, family life cycle, religion, home ownership, ethnic group and nationality. Most businesses that segment their market in terms of demographics area attempting to lay their target o specific segments of the market that are most likely to be interested in what they have to offer.Demographic segmentation is the most popular form of segmentation for three reasons;First consumer needs, wants as well usage patterns often reflect closely in demographic profiles. This means that people with different demographic traits often will have different needs and wants with respect to products. An example is where preference for music and other forms of entertainment are often tied to differences in age, occupation and also educational backgrounds.Second, demographic data is very simple to obtain therefore there is a very huge amount of published demographic information that is available from a wide range of sources. Most of this information is available on the internet where you can easily get information such as census data by accessing the Census Bureau’s homepage.Finally demographic segmentation is the most common employed market segment because even if we use an alternative segmentation base such as benefits or consumption rates, we will still use demographics in order to profile the segments that are being created. For this reason, most firms prefer to use demographics to simultaneously create as well as profile the market segment.PsychographicsThis segmentation divides market based on differences in lifecycles, social class or differences in personality traits. Psychographics are attributes of a market that are qualitative and refer to the way people think and also what they like to do. Psychographic variables include interests, personality, opinions, self image, values, activities and attitudes. Market segments based on lifestyle entails creating segments based on differences in how people choose to live their lives. Lifestyle is highly predictive of many behavior purchase therefore marketers attempt to characterize lifestyle patterns of consumers by asking them questions about their activities, interests as well as opinions. The items of AIO can be used to segment markets by looking for the response patterns that are common to such types of questions on surveys.Consumption Behaviors SegmentationThis segment includes product consumption or rates of usage. Some other segmentation present in this category are product usage occasion, product user status and also loyalties tom some specific brands.When creating market segments that are based on use of product occasion, emphasis is put on identifying different occasions or circumstances under which the product is used. This product may be used on by different people on different occasions or circumstances. Example most airlines have segmented markets into occasion segments that comprise of people flying for purposes of business i.e. business flyers, vacation flyers and those people flying for family reasons. Each and every segment represents a different usage occasion and is each segment is targeted with a different strategy for pricing and promotion.Marketers who employ product user status segmentation attempt to identify differences between non-users, regular users, potential users, ex-users and also first time users of the product. Most of the large firms in the market do target non-users or potential users in an attempt to stimulate the product’s primary demand. The smaller firms on the other hand target regular users in an attempt to encourage switching of the brand. Most marketers put an effort in trying to differentiate between users and non-users of product categories when the characteristics of a consumer are tie d to the need of the product itself instead of use of different brands.Firms can learn and gain a lot by analyzing customer loyalty patterns in the market. They can do this by finding the characteristics of those customers who are loyal and non loyal for their brand and those of their major competitors then find ways to keep their customers loyal and attract the non loyal ones from their competitors. Brand loyalty is defined based on the consumer’s pattern of how repeatedly the customer makes a purchase.Consumer Predispositions segmentationThis entails creating segments based on the differences in the needs, wants and attitudes of the consumers. Markets can be segmented based on the level of peoples’ knowledge on a particular product category. This can be done by having in place different programs for promoting the products in order to communicate with those consumers who know little about the product and those who don’t know about the product.Segmenting the market based on media viewing habits of consumers, may reveal consistent differences in what type of media the consumers prefer may it be television shows, magazines, radio stations and newspapers and how these differences vary with the demographic and psychographic traits of the customer. Such information can be used to target advertising as well as other communication to groups of customers.ConclusionThe more the segments marketers are able to identify and also combine to target individual groups that are most interested in what they have to offer, the more effective their marketing efforts can be. Businesses puts much effort to learning as much as they can about their customers including where they live, their income levels, age, what they like purchasing and what they like and dislike. Using this information can be used to reach non customers

Strategic Customer Attraction Marketing Blueprint

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With the ever changing face of the economy based on varying factors [such as government protectionism, automation of industries, downsizing of companies] the trend to more and more people choosing to start their own business for various reasons continue to rise. With that said – along with this trend there is an increasing need for structured marketing process and client acquisition processes and methodologies to be utilised within these businesses in order to transform a startup into a fully functional revenue generating entity.It is often the case that many smaller businesses are product rather than market focussed. In many cases we find that there is no actual marketing department so to speak of and as a consequence the function of marketing within the company ends up being fulfilled ‘as and when’.We can contrast this to what we find in any larger organisation or corporate; we find an actual marketing department, with qualified marketing professionals who are analysing the market, target customers and competition, they continually look for trends and movements in their chosen space in order to refine the marketing message and continually push the communication through the channels. This is to include the distribution channel [where appropriate], print media, radio, catalogues etc, etc and of course the use of digital marketing channels [social media, email marketing, video marketing, micro blogging and more].The above is what leads to the typical ongoing market penetration that we see within these organisations leading to new products and services development a steady stream of new clients and the nurturing of existing clientele.It is with the smaller organisation in mind, the solopreneur or work from home business owner that any strategic business attraction marketing blueprint is targeted towards. This is one or two steps down from making use of an in person consultant that will look to understand the business operations and put specific structures in place that when followed; will first provide a deeper understanding of the market place and target market clients but will also provide the foundation for providing the products and services that the intelligence directs the company towards producing.It is recommended that organisations looking to add structure and processes to the marketing and client acquisition aspect of their businesses direct their energies to these main fundamentals.

Client Strategy & Preparation

Setting Up Key Business Processes & Systems

Getting Clients While You Sleep

Follow Up & Retention

1) Gaining a deeper understanding of the needs, desires and behaviour of the clients no matter what the industry will drive the decisions that are made in relation to the products and services that are developed and presented to the market space.2) Key systems and processes such as continuous market intelligence related to pricing and customer behaviour can help to take the organisation to the next level and gain a significant competitive advantage over other companies supplying related or similar products and services.3) The marketing process for bringing new prospects into the marketing funnel must be an ongoing activity; whilst focusing on servicing existing clients it is imperative that someone is taking care of make new clients aware of the needs that your organisation can fill.4) Too often it is the failure to followup and keeping in touch that leads to the loss of valuable customers; depending on the business tools such as email marketing, videos, membership sites and print media may be used in order to stay at the top of the mind of the target customer.Once the process has been developed it will then be a matter of refining it [say once a quarter] whilst some is taking care of the execution which will lead to new customers, sales and products and services leading to increased revenue generation.