Dodging marketing's silver bullet

 

SMEs need to beware of 'silver bullet' marketing warn Tony Gattari and Shaun Mooney in their new book Marketing Success.

It's claimed 'silver bullet' marketing occurs when advertising or graphic design agencies develop glossy and expensive campaigns without any means of measuring success.

Apparently many SME fall into the trap because they simply don't understand marketing, which the authors point out is not simply ads, a website, brochures or brand recall.

Gattari and Mooney say the key to successful marketing is to measure every activity with brutal efficiency; consistency also matters – don't just consider marketing when sales are down.

More executives flying economy

PlaneCorporate travellers are turning their backs on business class air tickets as fears of an economic slowdown intensify, Smart Company reports.

According to the article, travel agents are finding many executives, most notably those in the financial sector, are choosing to fly economy to keep travel costs down.

In addition, many professionals are shrinking the duration of their time away with overseas trips that once might have taken up to a week now being completed in three or four days.

Travel agent Phil Hoffman confirms the volume of business travel isn't shrinking however many companies are attempting to cut costs by requesting employees rough it a bit.

Time to get organised

TimingProfessional Organiser Lissanne Oliver has been keeping an eye on the small business people of Australia and identified five common time wasting mistakes.

Writing for Money magazine, Oliver says if any of the following issues sound familiar it's time to re-evaluate your organisational skills:

1. Give things a home - habitually place office items, computer documents, chequebooks, etc in the same easy to find place

2. Don't be too eager to please - don't say yes when you should be saying no; be realistic with deliverables and deadlines

3. Online all the time - don't spent too much time on the internet or reading non-work related email

4. Stay focused - know which jobs are important and prioritise; complete each task one at a time

5. Introduce systems - make sure you have processes in place for all aspects of your business; build a routine and stick to it

Here comes 'mile high' SMS

FlyinghighThe days of having to turn your mobile phone off while flying will soon be over with Qantas announcing the introduction of SMS and email capable fights, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Following recent trials, the carrier says it will equip the first of its domestic 767s and A330s with mobile phone connections by November or December this year. For best collection of 2023 Lang calendars, check our portfolio of 2023 Australian calendars here.

Although technically possible, the service will not allow voice calls as Qantas says feedback indicates passengers don't want to overhear other people's conversations during flights.