Marketing Articles About Buyers Search Results
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- Does being ethical pay?. I just ran across an article in WSJ that answered the question,"How much are consumers are willing to pay for ethically produced goods?" These statistics are only among coffee drinkers (cotton t-shirt buyers had a much narrower range of price...
(02/04/09 09:00 PM)
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- Social Shopping and Getting Your Share of the $600 Stimulus Check.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of social shopping sites. Several times per year our family, just like everyone else, is tasked with purchasing various gifts for relatives, Christmas, birthdays and other such moments. Like most guys out there, I rarely, if ever know what to buy!
Enter social shopping sites. According to a recent AP article on MSNBC "Web surfers buying into social shopping sites":
Social shopping sites with such names as Kaboodle, ThisNext, Wishpot and StyleHive combine two of the Web's most prominent activities: engaging in commerce and chatting with like-minded folks. The sites don't directly sell things, but encourage users to share links to good bargains, obscure finds, products that work and ones that don't.
All of those sites are pretty sweet, if you ask me. While not a 'social shopping' site per se, I'm partial to using Gifts.com as well. I've gotten some solid ideas from there as well.
With Valentine's Day just around the corner (hmm...what should I get this year???), now is a great time to test out all of the social shopping engines to see what kind of goodies they recommend.
Personally, Kaboodle and Gifts.com had the most ideas for gifts I'd likely purchase. However, the others had some good ideas as well. Wishpot is actually powered by results from Shopping.com.
Now, how does all of this have anything to do with the likely "stimulus package" that we're about to receive? (If you've not tuned in to the $150B economic stim pack banter, here's a square assessment from the WSJ[sub]). Well, if you believe that Americans will follow a similar behavior pattern following tax refund time (Tax-refund season helps kick off the spring shopping season. Last year, retail sales jumped 12% to 20% in March), there's going to be a portion of us, 12% to 28% of us, depending on who you ask, who will go out and immediately spend the money, it's a marketer's world and the smartest marketer will win when seeking their fair share of the potential 'windfall' check that consumers are likely to receive this late spring to early summer. Here's where really knowing your customers and their behavior can pay off. A few ideas:
- Go back to your customer or buyer profile and figure out who in your customer base will be getting the lion's share of the stimulus monies. For reference, families with <$110K in earnings and individuals with <$75K will be getting the most, while the lowest income and highest income segments of the population will be getting the least. Needless to say, this won't be the time to go after your high rollers who just got a check for $200...
- Run a contest or a survey or something to get inside the heads of your customers. If you're doing a regular email newsletter, throw in a survey question or two that takes a fun approach at getting after "what they're going to do with their checks". Segment out those that intend to 'spend it' for a separate marketing effort around the time that checks are distributed.
- Be mindful of all of the recession talk. People might not splurge on that big gas grill they've been lusting over, but they might be interested in securing a raft of gift cards or gift certificates to kick off their Christmas or birthday shopping. Now would be a great time to mention that yours have no expiration date and that they're a great way to stretch their dollars for themselves and their loved ones
Whether or not you agree with the efficacy of the stimulus package, if you look at this from the perspective of 'customer behavior' and tap into the most 'likely to buy' segment of your customer base, you're setting yourself up to capture your fair share of the $150B that's likely to be doled out.
(04/04/08 09:00 PM)
- Private Bid Notification Services. In addition to the government's bid notification services from FedBizOpps and Grants.gov, there are many private firms that provide these types of services. You can find some of these firms by doing a Google search on phrases such as "find RFPs" and "bid notification."
Although you have to pay for it, there are several advantages to using a private bid notification service:- Many of these services can also provide you with information on solicitations issued by state and local governments. While more and more state and local governments are putting their bid opportunities on the Internet, not all of them have geared up to do this.
- Since FedBizOpps and Grants.gov may not cover all all bureaus and departments within each federal agency, you may be able to get access to these bureaus' bid opportunities via a private service rather than having to search for them by going to individual websites.
- If you are interested in seeing bid opportunities at two or three levels -- federal, state and/or local -- you can may be able to receive these opportunities via daily e-mails or through online access. This can be a real time-saver.
One of the private serices that has been around for a long time is Bidnet (see clip below), which offers customizable packages to meet your specific needs and interests. However, since Bidnet is only one of many private services, it will probably be worth your while to research and compare these services with respect to their prices and offerings.
(04/02/08 09:02 AM)
clipped from bidnet.com
With BidNet, you will have access to Government Bids from thousands of Federal, State and Local agencies, and see bid opportunities you won't find anywhere else. Our diverse network of agencies will give you the competitive intelligence needed to compete effectively for the nation's largest buyer of goods and services - governments across the nation and right in your hometown.
- Many of these services can also provide you with information on solicitations issued by state and local governments. While more and more state and local governments are putting their bid opportunities on the Internet, not all of them have geared up to do this.
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- How Much Do Business Brokers Charge?. Business brokers typically charge the seller approximately 10 percent of the final sale price. As a buyer, you are usually not responsible for any part of that commission. In some cases where the buye ...
(08/25/06 09:02 AM)
- Jargon Watch. Buyer's Guides. Payroll Software & Services - Jargon Watch ...
(08/24/06 09:00 PM)
- Recommended Payroll Capabilities. Buyer's Guides. Payroll Software & Services - Recommended Payroll Capabilities ...
(08/22/06 09:00 PM)
- Resources. Buyer's Guides. Payroll Software & Services - Resources ...
(08/21/06 09:00 PM)
- Guess what is the top B2B marketing tool?. Us poor B2B marketers...the top three things buyers look for in a product aren't under our direct control...price, service, quality. We can add sizzle to these, but ultimately, the buyer will discern the truth.
So what is our #1 marketing tool? Amazingly it is something we've only had for ten years...our websites. Results of a user survey by ThomasNet were summed this way:"Of course, competitive pricing, good customer service and high quality are a given, but the next single most important thing buyers mentioned is a detailed, user-friendly Web site. "
The article has lots of other handy tidbits from the survey:
Comments by users like this:
"Provide enough information within their Web site for me to make an educated decision-? comparative product details, listed prices, and list of distributors that I can purchase from if they don't sell direct."
This factual gem:
36% of the time users will seek out new suppliers for a new purchase.
Look at the top two of '10 Things Buyers Look For In a New Supplier'
1. Easy-to-navigate Web sites with accurate, detailed product and pricing information
2. Companies that are easy to find and have a strong Web presence
This shouldn't really be news to us B2B marketers...but after ten years, we may have grown complacent about our websites. From the details of this survey, I say our target audience has become even more discerning and faster to pass on poor (to them) websites. We can't become complacent!
Read more: It's Not Who You Know. It's Who Knows You (07/29/06 02:28 PM)
