by Chris Hunter | Jan 21, 2016 | Market Research
A large part of effective marketing is analysis. Effective marketing involves understanding the product or service you sell, its unique features, its strengths and weaknesses. It involves understanding your customers, their values, habits, needs, likes, dislikes and...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 23, 2016 | Market Research
It’s not just your own product or service which determines the success of your small business – what your competitors offer is just as important if you are trying to establish a profitable company. So, it is important that you know as much as possible about your...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 23, 2016 | Customer Relationship Management, Customer Satisfaction, General - Marketing, Market Research
Customers are the lifeblood of any business, but too many businesses don’t involve their customers in planning for the future. Unless management knows what its customers think – about the business, about the service levels, about the products and about the way their...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 26, 2016 | Branding, Packaging
Packaging applies to professional services firms as well as consumer products. Your firm has a package that includes its letterhead, its name, its logo, its business cards, its website, its marketing and even the way your telephones are answered. This package is what...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 26, 2016 | Pricing
Business people are pretty efficient when it comes to negotiating prices for goods and services when they purchase them from others. However, when setting their own level of fees for professional services many firm owners do not know how to begin the process. Fees for...
by Chris Hunter | Nov 21, 2015 | Branding, General - Entrepreneurship, General - Marketing, Start-Ups
by Chris Hunter | Apr 3, 2016 | Marketing Plans, Marketing Strategies, Selling Skills
by Chris Hunter | Jan 14, 2016 | General - Marketing, Marketing Strategies
Buyers of almost anything you can think of — from televisions to desk lamps, face a plethora of products to choose from. It gets even more difficult for purchasers trying to make the right choice when there are several items on the shopping list. Imagine...
by Chris Hunter | Feb 1, 2016 | Web Sites & E-Marketing - Part 2
Websites are a bit like Topsy; they start small then grow, and then grow some more. The usual outcome is that most websites have lost their original single focus and become something like a library, with content intended to cover every possible topic. They lose a...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 23, 2016 | General - Customer Service, Market Research, Marketing Strategies
Terms like “Gen-X” and “Gen-Y” are often used without knowing exactly what group is being talked about. It’s generally accepted that Gen-Xers were born between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s, meaning that they’re now in their...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 23, 2016 | General - Marketing, Market Research, Marketing Strategies
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
Marketing is anything but a clearly defined science. What worked ten or fifteen years ago will now be seen by consumers as irrelevant and outdated. New generations are out there with unprecedented demands and new channels of communication; to ignore them is to invite...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
Businesses are waking up to an important fact, namely that women make up the majority of their customer base. Many businesses however don’t know what to do about it and are missing tremendous marketing opportunities. We’ll use statistics from the U.S. in...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 31, 2016 | Sponsorships
How can you evaluate the proposal and give your client the right advice? After all, the money could just as easily go into advertising, a charitable donation or simply remain on the bottom line. Consumers generally value sponsorships highly. They see most of them as...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 30, 2016 | Selling Skills, Selling Skills
It’s amazing just how indecisive some people can be. You’ve discovered their requirements and you’ve told them just how your product offers them the solution they need, and yet they still don’t buy right then and there. What stops them from...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
They’re a kind of metropolitan phenomenon. A large duck holding a sign saying “Pizzas today – $5 each”, or Superman leaps out into the street carrying a placard promoting a sale in a nearby store. In the depression era of much earlier times it was someone...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
Most of us have a charity or other worthy cause that we support. This lets us help others and in turn gives us a genuine feeling of sharing with those less fortunate than ourselves. By serving as volunteers we’re able to make a contribution that is perhaps even...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 26, 2016 | Pricing
When it comes to setting prices the majority of businesses are followers, not leaders. It they raise prices it’s always with the fear that customers will be offended, but they’ll lower prices to keep a customer or get a new one. They’re usually more...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 31, 2016 | Sponsorships
It’s called ‘cause related marketing’ in popular parlance today but it actually began in 1982, with an American Express campaign that helped restore the Statue of Liberty. The campaign raised $1.7 million in funds and fuelled a 27 percent increase in card usage. With...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 4, 2016 | Advertising & Advertisements
Radio advertising can be a very effective way of shifting your goods or services. But like a lot of advertising, that gives the appearance of being simple, there are many factors that need to be considered.Since potential customers listen to the radio at home, at work...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 6, 2016 | Branding
by Chris Hunter | Apr 3, 2016 | Packaging, Selling Skills, Selling Skills
by Chris Hunter | Apr 3, 2016 | Customer Relationship Management, Selling Skills, Selling Skills
by Chris Hunter | Feb 1, 2016 | Web Sites & E-Marketing - Part 2
A website can be a big asset for any business. For a professional services firm it can tell people about your range of services, introduce key personnel, and carry case histories that demonstrate a history of success in your field. For a client it can be a means of...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 19, 2016 | Marketing Plans
by Chris Hunter | Jan 11, 2016 | Branding
by Chris Hunter | Jan 17, 2016 | Advertising & Advertisements, Marketing, Marketing Plans, Web Sites & E-Marketing - Part 1
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
by Chris Hunter | Feb 2, 2016 | Web Sites & E-Marketing - Part 2
You may recall reading articles about how the website of a prominent politician has been “hacked” from outside and the site’s content altered to ridicule the person. Or about how a government body’s website has been sprinkled with pornographic...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 4, 2016 | Advertising & Advertisements
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
It’s generally accepted that word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising. If someone whose opinion you value recommends a product to you chances are pretty good that you’ll be inclined to give it a try. Other forms of promotion don’t have nearly the same level of...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
The arrival of a big conglomerate often serves as a kiss of death to small businesses. Forhow can you compete with these giants in the face of the vast technological resources, deep pockets, seasoned management, and the powerful brands of, say, a Wal-Mart, Kmart,...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 26, 2016 | Pricing
Most Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) undervalue themselves and consequently have prices that aren’t genuinely high enough. The prices may cover the costs of the product and maybe even the marketing costs plus a small profit, but they could still be...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 26, 2016 | Pricing
Costs go up in a seemingly never-ceasing process. Suppliers raise their prices so the businesses that purchase from them raise their prices. Those businesses that purchase from the businesses that have just raised their prices have to raise their own prices. And so it...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 31, 2016 | Sponsorships
The growing cost of advertising has forced many smaller enterprises to look towards sponsorships as a means of getting their brand across, especially for local businesses who view sponsorship as a contribution to their community as well as an avenue of promotion. The...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 19, 2016 | Marketing Plans
by Chris Hunter | Jan 23, 2016 | General - Marketing, Market Research
Very few businesses have a monopoly, as almost any product that is worth buying or selling will generate competition. But you need to have a detailed understanding of the products and services offered by your competitors, given that strong competitors could poach some...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 30, 2016 | Management & Motivation, Selling Skills, Selling Skills
Leads aren’t terribly hard to get. They can be purchased or bartered for. They can come from inquiries or from prospecting. Regardless of how they’re obtained, bulk quantities of leads are out there, waiting to be acquired. But that doesn’t mean...
by Chris Hunter | Nov 8, 2015 | Listening Skills, Selling Skills, Selling Skills
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
Small firms are often penalized for their size. They don’t get as much attention from governmental authorities as bigger firms, nor are they likely to be considered as important when it comes to matters like making capital equipment purchases or tendering for...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 26, 2016 | Pricing
Pricing is something that most small businesses do in a way that’s less than scientific. Usually the owner makes an estimate of what the costs are of providing a product or service, then adds a fixed percentage and calls it “profit”. The result is a...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 17, 2016 | Direct Mail
Direct mail is a powerful marketing tool, and when it’s used creatively it can be extremely cost effective. The biggest mistake to make when planning a direct mail effort is to allow it be uninteresting. Direct mail pieces that are big on product features and...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 14, 2016 | General - Marketing
Many businesses decide to host an event of some kind — it could be a dinner for clients or perhaps a picnic for team members and their families. Whatever the reason for your big event might be, it pays to plan ahead and make sure it achieves its objectives....
by Chris Hunter | Dec 25, 2015 | Financial Ratios & Formulas, Pricing
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
An eBook is just what it sounds like – A book that’s published online and exists in an electronic format that can be downloaded from a website. Anyone can write an eBook, including you, and use it to market their business and its products. An eBook can be...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 14, 2016 | General - Marketing
There’s a lot of confusion about just what constitutes marketing. Is it advertising? Yes. Is it pricing? Yes. Is it selling? Not often enough. A lot has been said about all the new ways of marketing and how businesses have to change to reflect a new focus on...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies
Did you ever buy something advertised on TV or in a magazine and end up disappointed with the quality or the performance of the product? Does it matter that you didn’t get what you thought you would? Surely it is the buyer’s responsibility to know what...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 14, 2016 | General - Marketing
by Chris Hunter | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Plans, Marketing Strategies
Marketing a professional services firm to identified prospects can be daunting. It’s even more of a challenge to get the firm’s name out to the world at large. But it can be done, and it’s not really that difficult. If you need a reason why you...
by Chris Hunter | Jan 14, 2016 | General - Marketing
The members of the “twentysomethings” of today were born sometime between the mid-1970s and the mid-1980s. As a marketing target they’re unlike any previous generation and so geared to new ideas that just getting their attention can be a real...
Chris’ combination of academic credentials, career experience and temperament ideally suit his calling as a business development advisor. Clients say he has a mind for business and a heart for service.