Selling Nostalgia or Why Work with Various Ethnic Groups and Sell to Them

In case of such multi-ethnic countries as the USA, Canada, the UK, and almost all the Western European countries, where there are a lot of ethnicities, businesses might consider selling nostalgia and try to satisfy homesickness demand (that’s how I prefer to call it).

By homesickness and nostalgia I mean everything connected with the home country or the exodus country. If I am an immigrant and live for over 10 or 15 years in the US, I am certainly longing for my friends and family in the home country. But besides it, I long for the food I used to eat, things I used to have, etc. – that’s, all that realia common to the previous life in my home country. I cannot say that 100% of immigrants become homesick at a certain time being away from home, but 95% really do.

For businesses it is a real niche. For instance, in the US there are over 30 thousand Bulgarians and 50 thousand Romanians (those, who were born in Bulgaria or Romania and immigrated in the US as grown-ups). They are spread all over the country, but all of them want to taste of bit of their motherland from time to time. Nostalgia is an emotion, but it can shape a certain buying behavior motivated by really strong emotive factors (the dream for any advertiser!).

Here comes an example: http://malincho.com/malincho.asp – buy a bit of Bulgaria in the US and Canada (traditional food and artifacts peculiar to Bulgaria)!

To me, any business built on emotions like homesickness or nostalgia is doomed to success, as people’s habits are deeply enrooted and change reluctantly in new environments.

Never experienced homesickness? See here what it is.

How to Parasitize on Your Competitor’s Advertising Campaign

Being a parasite (not quite the most beautiful word to use!) is not quite ok, but if it’s about saving lots of money for your company, it’s worth trying.

Here is a simple method of being a parasite on your competitor, who is advertising massively.

First, I should make a parenthesis and say this simple technique refers to the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) area.

Second, the condition is that your product sells in small shops and stores, or middle-size supermarkets, where customers are in direct contact with sales-assistants.

The thing is that sales assistants are human like all of us. The majority of sales-assistants and dealers are usually driven by laziness…sorry for being so direct…they are driven by “time-is-money” principle, which in their situation means:

> more sales -> more profit -> less effort, if possible.

From my practice in direct sales, sales guys sell well the product that they know well. Thus, they are able to handle complaints, objections. They are able to explain in detail all advantages of the product and can give valuable tips for use of the product. They are also ready to give an answer when asked “Which of these would you prefer yourself?” This is what I call “less effort”.

Once familiar with the product and its properties, the salesman already knows for him/herself, which product comes upfront.

So, facing massive a massive advertising campaign from a competitor, it’s probably wise to get into a multi-level training for salesmen and dealers.

After all, advertising reaches potential customers beyond stores, shops and supermarkets. Once they get in, they meet sales people/dealers, who already decided that your, and not your competitor’s, product is easier to sell.

So, good luck with parasitizing on the competition’s ad budget

What Price do you Choose for Your Product?

The pricing of a product is a real headache for many businesses. Establishing a price is a difficult task as it is necessary to take into account a lot of factors like:

1) whether the customer will perceive the price right for the product (not too low, not too high);
2) whether the competition does not offer similar products cheaper or more expensive;
3) whether distributors and dealers consider the price good for them to have profit, too.

Today I would like to speak about certain pricing strategies. I do not claim the list is exhaustive, but these strategies that can be easily discerned in the market.

CREAM-SKIMMING STRATEGY

Within this strategy a company launches a unique product. Consumers are ready to pay more for this product than it really costs. This situation lasts as long as the competition reacts. Once there are competitive products, the price falls.

iPhone can serve a good example for this situation. Its initial price of over USD600 is way too high for such a device, taking into account prices for mobile phones and PDAs. But its unique combination of functions and options with a supreme design makes the product unique in its sense. Until now there are no close competitors and Apple keeps on skimming the cream.

FOLLOW-THE-MARKET STRATEGY

When the market is already developed and it grows, sometimes it is vital to follow the market in order to survive on it.

For instance, in Eastern Europe the market of PVC windows is stably growing these years. First, PVC products were imported. Their prices were really high. Then, local companies adopted the manufacture of PVC windows and prices dropped significantly. Foreign companies had to also organize local production to
>> to keep up with the market by reduces expenses;
>> to stay in the market.

MARKET PENETRATION STRATEGY

This strategy is used actively by companies willing to take up a good share of the market, where they were not present. They set the lowest possible prices. This dumping strategy makes the product less attractive for other competitors unable to sell it at this low price. First, the company is in the red, then, by selling massively, it recuperates all expenses.

Unfortunately, this strategy can destroy markets and can lead to monopoly, which is illegal in certain countries.

Some additional reading on the topic:

Is the Apple iPhone Overpriced?
Marketing – Price strategies and adjustments

Embedding YouTube videos in Your Blog on WordPress.Com

Sometimes the WordPress does not allow you to embed YouTube videos in your blog on WordPress.com.

The FAQ section of wordpress.com gives the following tip.

Example: A video of how to embed a video in WordPress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NopuJ_OYjsk

I put it like they advise : I insert the code with this format square bracket +youtube= URL of the video+square bracket

Here what I got:

But once it did not work like they advised, then I put the URL in ” ” and it was ok.

It also does when done through the Videos upload thing below the new post.

PS: BTW, the video exposed here is a good tip of how to make your WordPress blog accept videos.

The Day the Dollar Falls…Economists Predict

In this documentary Dutch economists made up a number of scenarios of the world’s economy’s collapse when the US dollar falls:

The movie was shot when the rate was 1 EUR = 1,28 USD. Today it is 1 EUR = 1,52 USD. The question is whether the prediction may come true. If yes, will I have to draw cash before it all falls?

The length of the documentary is 50 min.
The documentary is full of economic and financial terms. Still, it is clear and very informative. Take your time and watch it through. (Dutch is annoying at times, but the subs are ok).

10 ways to waste your time productively at work

By doing these you’ll be seen as working. Nobody will know you’re doing nothing…

1. Read news from a news portal every 20 minutes. Allow yourself to browse all news categories. It takes 20 minutes? No problem, you’ve got plenty of time today.

2. Check your email every ten minutes. Or configure your mail program to check it every 10 minutes. When an email arrives, have a look, read and reply back immediately.

3. Keep your office cup full. Drink often, when the cup is empty go and fill it up. Allow a couple of minutes of chatting with colleagues over the cooler or coffee machine.

4. Think what can be ordered online for dinner tonight. Make up a list. Carefully. Order. When finished browse Ebay and Amazon for good deals.

5. Lunch time is coming. Talk to some colleague over skype, icq and yahoo messenger (it’s better to do all messengers at once!) and discuss where to go this time.

6. After lunch, pull on that serious face as if you’re working. Drowse a bit and let the food settle.

7. You’ve got a pile of paper on your desk. Move it around on the other end of the desk.

8. When in meeting, do not read the preliminary report. Discuss all issues fervently as if you knew what the whole thing is about. Pay attention to every petty detail.

9. Discuss financial and technical issues with your colleagues from the respective departments. Do not forget you’re in marketing, though. Still, the working day is for talks!

10. Pray to God your boss does not read this.

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Wink, wink…I hope you do quite the opposite!

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If you’re still in for doing nothing, here you go:

Doing Nothing

Goof Off at Work

Being a Couch Potato

Do Not Let Your Credit or Debit Card Fall into Skimmers’ Hands!

A good topic for those of you who go on shopping sprees during weekends:

One of my friends living in Madrid, Spain, complained he’d lost a pretty good sum of money from his debit card. How come? He was told his card’s information as well as the PIN were stolen. They also mentioned “skimming”. So, I grew interested what it might be as it was not the first time I heard about the problem.

Googling the “skimming” issue I came across this:

At thief may at this moment be holding a perfect copy of your credit or debit card. Perhaps he’s approaching the checkout line at a suburban Chicago department store with a cartload of shoes, clothes and electronics. Perhaps he’s charging a room at a hotel in London. And you have no idea. Your card is secure in your wallet.

How could this happen?
And could it happen here?
It already has.

The debit cards of 21 southern Wisconsin residents were compromised in June and July. It’s not clear precisely how or where it happened, but a recent report by a Rock County Sheriff’s Department detective said is was a case of skimming.

Read below and see how this happens in reality and how to avoid these rRRReally unpleasant losses of your hard-earned money.