Social media has paved the way for companies to get closer to their customers. And while this has proven to be advantageous, it can also be disastrous if you do not know how to properly deal with angry customers who vent their ire, frustration and disappointment in social media.
Word of mouth still is the best marketing method, and whereas before any bad feedback or complaint from your customers may have gone no further than a conversation between friends or through snail mail, nowadays every complaint, valid or not, is available for the world to see.
People say that business is all about relationships, but the truth is that business is really all about communication. Communication is key to virtually every aspect of business—from acquiring and retaining customers to improving employee engagement and performance. At the most fundamental level, business can’t happen without communication. This is even more true in the era of globalisation. As geographic borders become porous and the world flattens, effective communication with customers, employees, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders across the globe becomes essential to successfully running a company.
Culture is crucial when it comes to understanding the needs and behaviours of an individual. Throughout his existence, an individual will be influenced by his family, his friends, his cultural environment or society that will “teach” him values, preferences as well as common behaviours to their own culture.
Sometimes, bad publicity is inevitable. Even when you and your organisation behave responsibly, you always run the small risk of an unexpected PR disaster. In the information age, bad publicity can reach the masses before you can even mount a defense.
Demanding customers, fierce competition, breathtaking technological innovation, etc. These are the realities of today’s global marketplace; realities that have changed forever the way we do business, especially the way we sell.
The importance of consistency in business seems so basic as to not need discussion. Yet many companies, especially smaller ones, operate in a day-by-day, case-by-case fashion that is disorganised, undisciplined and certainly inefficient.
Packaging plays an important role as a medium in the marketing mix, in promotion campaigns, as a pricing criterion, in defining the character of new products, as a setter of trends and as an instrument to create brand identity and shelf impact in all product groups.
Refunds are no fun. You get that email, or a call, or worse yet, a public shout out on social media that reads, “I’d like a refund.” Those four words can send any small business or solopreneur into a tailspin of self-doubt. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Nurturing relationships with your customers is a crucial part of growing a successful business. In this age of automation and innovation, caring for your customers has never been more important.
So you want your website to make you look big. More power to you. But the business experts I talked to recently say small is cool with customers, too.
As a general concept, research is the process of gathering information to learn about something that is not fully known. Nearly everyone engages in some form of research.
Building a brand is about building a relationship with your customers. For this relationship to be long-lasting, it has to be based on something meaningful. That comes when a brand satisfies a real need, either better or in a different way to any other brand available.