Feature Article

Survey: The Secret to Effective Marketing

by: Cynthia Pinsonnault Pinsonnault Creative

How can you go wrong when you have a great idea? How can clever, witty or beautiful ads go unnoticed? Is there a way to predict the behavior of potential customers? How can you create marketing and branding materials that will bring in customers?

Ask. The first step in marketing a product or service or selling a brand identity is making sure it's the right product, service or brand. You have to find out if you have it right. The way to do that is to ask. Survey.

Every single aspect of your business can be improved through the use of surveys. It's true. Everything and anything can be surveyed.

Before investing in a new offering:

• Find out if anyone is interested.
• What makes them interested?
• How should it be packaged?
• What color should it be?
• How do you position it among its competition?

For existing products:

• How do customers feel they benefit from your product or service?
• What words do THEY USE to describe the product and its benefits?
• What do THEY think could be improved?
• How do THEY related the product to other similar products?

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Business owners and marketing managers need to know their audience, who they are, what they want, what they think about the company or product or service, what "position" the company owns in people's minds.

It's easy to miss the mark on a guess or partial knowledge. Instead, what if learning about and understanding customers' needs and expectations became the driving force behind development of products and services? What if the company brand, mission, image and advertising reflected the desires and opinions of its customers?

What looks like brilliance or even luck in achieving marketing goals, can simply be the fact that one company really understands its products and how they are actually perceived by customers and potential customers.

Savvy marketers have discovered that learning what's in the prospect's mind gives them answers, gives them the clever ideas that work. Answers come from the customer, from the marketplace, not from the marketing manager, or the boardroom or even the CEO.

There is nothing too trivial to survey. You can ask about products and services, about your staff, about packaging, about promotional materials, even about the emotional response to your company or product. Try it. You might be surprised by what you learn.

Never underestimate the willingness of people to give their opinion. Ask.

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Benefits of using surveys:

• Know if what you are offering is wanted
• Find out if prospects understand the product or service
• Learn what benefits prospects want or expect
• Spotlight potential problems and new opportunities
• No guessing
• Understand the position your company holds in prospects' minds.

Use the information you get to:

• Improve your product or service
• Develop new products and services
• Create targeted promotional materials that get results

Tips for surveying:

• Tally responses when you are no longer getting different answers.
• Never act on a single opinion. Act only on the majority response.
• Always act on the majority response.

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Cynthia Pinsonnault is a writer, designer and marketing consultant. Visit Pinsonnault Creative at http://www.pinscreative.com to learn more. Subscribe to Pinsonnault Creative's free marketing "Solutions" newsletter for more leading edge tips and tools for building your brand through effective marketing, graphic design, Web site development and communication: http://pinscreative.blogspot.com/

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Second Article

5 Tips For Backing Up Your Files

by: Josh Hughes Digital Skratch

It has happened to nearly everyone at one point or another; we have lost some or all of our data - whether it be due to a computer crash, virus, losing the only disc, or deleting the only copy. Whatever the case may be, there are steps you can take to reduce the risk and not be put in that position again.

The key to backing up your files is to devise some type of system that works best for you and stick to it. You may choose to do it manually or use an automatic backup program. Whatever your case is, stick with it and do it frequently. Also, name and date your backups. If you have multiple versions, you will be able to tell which version is the most recent.

Hard Drives - Today external hard drives are so cheap that everyone should have one. They are not only perfect for storing all of those family photos and mp3's, but the perfect solution for backing up critical files and in most cases ALL of your files. They are also a fast way to backup large files that may be too big for CDs or even DVDs.

CDs & DVDs - Backing up your files on a CD or DVD is also very important. Hard drives can go corrupt, get viruses, and can crash. Once your files are burned on a disc they are relatively safe. Blank discs are so cheap that it should be a part of everyones backup procedure. Discs are also a prefect solution for archiving files that you no longer need on your computer.

Offsite Backup - It is also extremely important to have at least some form of off-site backup. You could have a dozen backups at your home or office, but something could happen to that location such as a fire, theft, or a natural disaster. They will not do you any good if they are all lost. A simple fix is to keep a copy of your files at both your home and office. Or mail CDs or DVDs of your files to a friend or relative in another location. If something were to happen you would at least have that as a "fail safe". Also Online Storage is another form of off-site backup.

Online Storage - There are plenty of online options such as xdrive (www.xdrive.com) and box (www.box.net) that range in price from free or start at around $5 a month. You may also use your current web-hosting as another form of backup. Most hosting plans offer at least 5 gigabytes of hosting space. You could create a folder on there called backup and upload all your files there.

Other Alternatives - Most web-based email accounts offer a large amount of storage space that could be used to backup files. Either upload your files there, if that is an option, or simply email yourself an attachment and you have another copy of it online. There is a great service called yousendit (www.yousendit.com) that allows you to email large attachments. It only stores them online for 7 days, but it is a good way to send a large file from the office to your home to then backup later.

*Side Note - Battery backup systems for your desktop computer are a must have in case of a power outage. They will keep your computer running for several minutes giving you time to save and shut down your computer. No more loosing files due to power outages.

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Josh Hughes owns and operates DigitalSkratch.com a small web and graphic design company based in south Florida. Josh is a recent graudate from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale from the Interactive Media Design program; Cum Laude and Best Portfolio.
www.digitalskratch.com

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