Specifically, Kraft Foods decided they needed to do better in developing markets. Kraft knew they could do a better sales job outside the USA. Even though some of their products had been selling overseas for 22 years, sales were stagnant. The developing markets was a laggard and they were looking to improve their position.

How did Kraft do it?

I feel that we can learn three things from Kraft foods strategy that resulted in a revenue increase from developing markets to 21% of overall revenue in two years. Sales of Tang in developing markets grew 30% in one year.

#1: Focus on a specific task, instead of trying to do everything.

Kraft found their ten best brands, also known as their power brands, which were under-marketed and had the best profit margins. Some of the brands identified were Oreo cookies, Philadelphia cream cheese, and Tang. These ten products would get committed resources in R&D and marketing, while the other brands were not part of the strategy.

#2 Do market research

The second principle we can learn from Kraft Foods is they did market research. I think this is critical. We sometimes just jump into it and we think a product or a service, or even an e-book works no matter what country or new areas. But if you understand your target market, you can understand their needs, and problems. Then, you can create a solution to that problem.

In the case of Kraft, they found through market surveys that in China, mothers believed their children needed about six glasses of water a day. Of course being hydrated is a good universal habit. Moms really wanted their children to drink plenty of water, but the children felt water was boring and bland. Problem identified. Kraft Foods smartly pitched to the parent and to the kids that if they used Tang, it would make water more exciting. It became an appealing way for moms to use Tang to get their kids to drink more water.

Secondly, Kraft looked to expand their flavors to match the culture of the new market. It is still Tang, but they experimented with new fruit flavors, such as mango, tamarind, and maracuja (passion fruit), aimed at local palates in Philippines, Mexico, and Brazil. This reminds me of the worn out cliché -”When in Rome, do as Romans do”.

Finally, Kraft tweaked the packaging. The research showed that the Chinese preferred to make up powder drinks by the glass rather than by the pitcher. Given this behavior, Kraft created single serving packets of Tang. Kraft designed new single serving packaging similar to the powdered sugar pixie sticks found in the US market.

#3 Big product launch – free samples

When Kraft was ready to introduce the new Tang flavors and packages, Kraft distributed 27 million free samples in 2009, which is a big commitment. Consider that Kraft gave away 300,000 samples in 2008, so 27 million samples allowed them to reach an audience over 81 times greater in 2009. This meant that more prospects had an opportunity to try Tang and develop a relationship with the brand and a customer relationship with Kraft. Kraft really delivered value to prospective customers in developing markets. New customers were found.

Bottom line: Tang sales shot up 42% in Latin America, and 25% in Asia Pacific.

Conclusion

Applying these marketing principles can help any business expand into new markets for top line growth. Don’t try to do everything, just focus on a few products that have the best potential and highest profit margins. Do your market research. Commit to a big product launch. With minimal product changes, and a focused localized marketing approach, products can be successfully introduced to new markets.

Recently renovated bathrooms and kitchens are always of interest as well as how many bedrooms, bathrooms, storage, square feet, and asking price. Include your contact information like phone numbers and email address so individuals can get in contact with you. It really is important to get people’s interest up front so that you can sell your home quickly and easily.

Flyer printing is really not all that expensive if you have it done at a print shop and they can help you choose bright colors, fonts, and the like to make your flyers look excellent. If you are creative and want to save a little money then you can engage in flyers printing on your own. As long as you have a computer and a good printer then give it a shot. When you have flyers readily available you will pique the interest of those house hunting and they just may contact you about your home.

Be sure you provide contact information and even hours that you have an “open house” for people to tour the home and yard. Doing this will bring people back to your home with very little effort from you upfront. All you have to do is be ready for them when they call or show up so you can sell them the home. Flyers are a great way to spread the word about your home for sale as well as outline the many attributes the home has. Give it a try and you will be surprised at how well it works!

Design for your target market

The flyers are not about you or for you. It’s about your customers or potential customers. So the flyer design needs to reflect this. This means turning “features” into “benefits. For example, instead of “We have 20 years experience in the real estate industry”, try a different angle like “With 20 years experience in the industry, you’re guaranteed expert advice and high selling value”.

Consistency and frequency is key

You know from your own experience that seeing the same advertisement over and over again will result in you remembering it. Your real estate flyers, brochures and newsletters should always be consistent in look-and-feel. More importantly, don’t expect a response from just one flyer or one brochure. Distribute flyers consistency once a month or once every fortnight. After the 3rd month, you will start to get calls and enquiries. The longer you do it, the more calls you’ll get.

Make an offer

An enticing offer works a treat to urge potential customers to contact you. In your flyer design, offer a free property report, equity check, or beat any commission rate in the market.

Strong call to action

A golden rule for all types of flyers, not just real estate flyers, is to have a strong call-to-action. There’s nothing less effective than spending money and time on a campaign where your flyer/brochure’s call-to-action is not clear, hard to find, or even missing! Whether it’s your phone number, email address, website or all of these, ensure this is clear, prominent and enticing in your flyer design.

There are various factors which can affect the brand image of any organization. Some most important factors are as follows:

Website – A perfect portal is must for every small, medium or big organization, company or business. The world has become so small in this e-connected world, people are eager to know anything and everything about the details of products being offered by a particular company. They are also interested in knowing what your past customers are saying.

Logo- A logo represents the goals, vision, and attitude of any organization or company towards his business and customers. They need to be specific in terms of a Logo. Companies give stress on a logo which design can match the services and targeted customer’s prospects.

Stationary – Stationary is also one of the most important factor in deciding corporate identity and brand image of a company, business or organization. That includes, Company Letter Heads, Correspondence Business Envelopes, Services Brochures, Post Cards, Business Cards, and Employees Identity Cards (Magnetic Cards). A letter head makes an emphatic impact on readers or viewers mind. If your Letter Head looks professional as well as classy at the same with illustrating vital information regarding your organization, most of your business proposals will be readily accepted or at least you will get first hand queries enquiring more about your services. Business cards also make a great impact on your company’s identity and brand image. Those are not a thing to be included in wallets of your Top Business Executives and marketing personnel’s in fact they carry the most feasible means of contact for your organization. With every distributed business cards you executives are leaving information as well as future business prospects for your company, so it should be realistic and matching to your company’s identity and Brand.

Print Advertisements – Print advertisements still carry the same level of importance in front of people as earlier. Every ad flyer or ad brochure is representing a sample of your organization. So it should reflect the pride and uniqueness of your organization.

There are several other branding options and ways of enhancing your corporate presence. But stationary is one of the most important among all of them. No doubt the business scenario has changed a lot during last few years from manual to automatic transfer of operations. But still your printed materials are very important and you should not avoid it at any case.

Here are 7 ways you can manage high flyers.

1. Develop Them Horizontally

If the high flyers in your team have reached a peak in their own line of work, and there is nowhere above them for them to go, you can move them sideways to learn about other roles and so develop them horizontally. some people call this “crabwise learning”. It is a technique widely used in Japanese businesses.

2. Aim For More Moments of Excellence

It is rare for people to perform at optimum levels all of the time. The aim of developing high flyers should be to make those moments of excellence the norm rather than the exception. In appraising high flyers, focus on areas where things don’t quite work and how they can do well even in these areas.

3. Prepare Them For the Next Step Up

Most people who are high flyers are those who have reached a high level of competency in the skills of one job. Extending their skills upwards, through planned delegation, prepares them for the next job up the ladder and also helps them develop their personal and “soft” skills, such as their leadership ability and teamwork.

4. Add Quality to Competence

There is a progression from competence to quality that is the hallmark of top performers. When someone can do a job well, there is competence. When they can do it well for others, there is service. When they can do it well in the way someone else wants, there is quality. Turn your top performers into quality experts.

5. Spread the Expertise

A high performer is a valuable resource in any organisation. A wise manager will use them not just to get good performance from them but to extend their skills to others in the team. You can do this through using your high flyers as coaches, role models, and mentors. That way, one 10-minute act of superior performance can quickly become 100.

6. Let Them Take More Risks

When your high flyers have mastered the skills of their jobs, you can afford to let them take more creative risks. You can suggest they try new ideas out and perhaps get involved in projects and trying out ways to deliver an even better service.

7. Put Them At the Leading Edge

We live in a rapidly changing world where new ideas, new techniques, and new business solutions come at us almost every day. If you have employees who are totally competent in the present way of doing things, you can use these people to work at the leading edge of things, suggesting where you, your team and your organisation can progress in the future. To do this, give them the skills of managing change.

High flyers are one of your most valuable assets, ones you cannot afford to lose. Being imaginative about how to develop them even further will benefit them, your team, and your whole organisation.

However, I will tell you there are a plethora of absolutely free ways to go about advertising your home business or website. You don’t have to pay for it in order for it to be effective. There are several free techniques for both online and offline promotion. Start with sporting your favorite, creative thinking cap, and opening your mind to new and innovative advertising opportunities and ideas.

Promoting is the easy part. Getting your home business in the hands of your target market, creating an effective call to action, and producing sales is the difficult part. I have a few places and tips for you that may help.

Below are 21 free effective advertising techniques you may want to consider

Online

Participate in online message boards. Always follow all rules and guidelines, as you certainly don’t want to be banned.
Write articles relating to your business and submit them to directories, forums, and websites. (article marketing)
Create a free blog and start participating on other blogs. Make useful comments without spamming your web links around.
Exchange articles with other webmasters and bloggers. This will benefit both parties with fresh content and search engine friendly links.
Signature advertising. Include your signature when posting on forums and email marketing
Join free newsletters, ezines and submit your ads and articles. There are several online and new ones are being created daily. And most of them offer free ad and article submissions.
Join online niche directories and submit your website. This gets you some free backlinks and therefore, higher website rankings.
Participate on various social networking sites such as, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace. Always handle yourself in a professional demeanor, and without spamming links as opposed to offering invaluable information. Proper networking is key when representing your business.
Exchange links with other webmasters, preferably ones with high search engine rankings.
Host a contest on your business message board or on your blog. Offer real prizes such as a free sample or free advertising.
Email marketing. If you have a nice compounded list of past customers, members on your forum, or members on your networking website, email marketing could be in your favor. Of course an attention-grabbing headline is key with this advertising method.
Guest blogging is becoming more popular, as many webmasters have converted their websites over to blogs. And to sustain their traffic flow and also due to time issues, many are seeking guest bloggers to keep their blogs going strong.

Offline

Create business cards from your home computer and post them throughout local businesses in your area
Create flyers and post them throughout local businesses in your area
Donate freebies for fundraiser events with your business card attached
Network with others in your church community that also have a home business. Get in on the various events that are taking place within the church. For example, if the community has craft shows, maybe by being a member of the church, you can get a free booth.
Giving gifts. Whenever you give a gift, include them from your business inventory. Always have your logo and card attached to them.
6. Keep a stash of business cards and flyers in your car for whenever the chance of advertising presents itself. You never know when the opportunity will arise, this way you will always be prepared.
Vacation time is upon us, whenever you take some time off for a vacation, always leave your business card with the front desk and also the maids when you leave your tip.
Ask about leaving your business cards at salons, daycare centers, and laundry mats. These are high traffic areas where moms are always around.
Word of mouth. This is by far the best way to advertise offline. Whenever you are out and about, talk about what you offer and what you do from home.

There you have it, the best of both worlds, some free online and offline marketing ideas. I hope they are helpful. Whenever you think of advertising, you may think of high cost strategies. In today’s marketing world, there are a considerable amount of free ways to help promote yourself. Finding free ways to advertise as a quick way to make money is one of the best money making ideas for your business.

More often than not, advertising generally involves an element of cost, although it is possible to do it for free if you know how to go about it. Free advertising is easier to get with an online business than a traditional offsite concern. Generally, however, advertisers will pay publishers or media and broadcasting companies to provide the advertising platform of a newspaper, radio or television.

What is Advertising

1. Advertising consists of written and oral messages that are directed to a target audience.

2. Advertising persuades the public to purchase a certain product or service.

3. Each advertisement is related to a certain advertiser who is selling the product or service involved.

4. Advertising requires the advertiser to pay the publisher in return for the advertisement.

In summary, advertising is any paid form or message that presents goods or services of a certain advertiser or sponsor, and should present the product in such a way as to persuade the reader or listener to purchase the product.

Objectives of Advertising

Its objective is to stimulate sales, create customer retention and increase cash flow. However it also be intended to brand a product, since branding can do more for sales than simply advertising it. When one thinks of specific items, they often think of a brand name rather than the product itself.

Hence, vacuum cleaners became so connected to the brand name Hoover, that it became synonymous for a vacuum cleaner. It even entered the English vocabulary in the sense of ‘hoovering up’ being given the meaning of clearing something away.

The functions of Advertising for a company can be classified into two groups. These are known as the primary and the secondary functions.

Primary Objectives

1. Advertising helps increase sales of the service or product because it helps promote it to a bigger market. People who don’t previously know about that product or service become aware of it because of the advertisement about it.

2. Sales persuasion is frequently used to help buyers decide on their next purchase.

3. Advertising also helps dealers or franchisees to sell the product or service being featured.

4. Advertisement makes it easy for a company to adjust to a new product or service. People are most likely to welcome a new item or service if they have already seen it in an advertisement. Many companies commence the branding of a product before it has hit the shelves.

5. Buyers tend have a better view of a well advertised product or service as compared to those that don’t have any advertisements or are poorly advertised. People tend to purchase products they are familiar with, and a well thought out advertising campaign can achieve that.

6. Advertising leads to branding and promotes brand loyalty as well. Once a user has become satisfied with a specific brand, they tend to stay with it.

7. Products and services that are advertised are deemed as better and higher quality products or services by the public. Many take the erroneous view that if it is well advertised then it must be good.

Secondary Functions

1. To encourage salesmen and provide that feeling of support especially when they are dealing with hard to get customers. Sales staff find their job easier with a good advertising campaign behind them.

2. When a company makes use of advertising, it helps employees feel more secure in their jobs. If a company can pay a substantial amount just for advertising purposes, then the workers will feel that it’s a good company to work for and remain loyal with.

3. Advertising helps the company to attract better or more qualified employees.

So, advertising has many facets and objectives, and its functions are more than just letting the world know of the existence of a specific product.

Most real estate agents use a sales flyer template which showcases their listings using out-of-date marketing strategies. For some reason, agents don’t follow successful Internet marketing sales-copy techniques. They put a pretty house picture in the middle, list the home’s features, and finish with a big picture of themselves. But, buyers don’t care what your agent looks like! They want to know why your house outshines every other house in the neighborhood. Buyers want to know what your house can do for them!

Internet marketers learned how to grab your attention and motivate you to buy, NOW. How do they do that? They emphasize benefits to the reader. Not features of the product. Internet readers want to know, right away, “What’s in it for me?”

The purpose of your flyer, to motivate home buyers to look at your home and to remember it, requires that you spend some time thinking about what’s in it for your buyers. Why would they like living in your home? What makes your home better than the other houses for sale in your area?

Marketing Psychology turns features into benefits.

1. Think about why your large back yard benefits the buyer. Instead of saying “large back yard,” give a reason to care, such as: Room to play in your large back yard.

2. Why is your patio unique? Does it have a built-in barbeque? Then list the feature as a benefit: Entertain in your private park with built-in barbeque.

3. Why does a buyer care about paint? No painting needed, fresh paint throughout.

4. Why does a buyer care about new kitchen appliances? No worries, all new kitchen appliances.

5. Great neighborhood? Why? Easy walk to top-rated elementary school and city park.

What’s so extraordinary about your house?

Copyright (c) 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

1. Contests

As one example, a cookware store decided to sponsor cooking contests. After sending out a press release announcing a competition for the best cookie or chocolate cake, a mailing went out to the store’s customers soliciting entries. Food editors, professional chefs and cooking teachers were invited to be judges. Both the winners and the winning recipes were publicized. Essay and design contests are also possibilities, such as a furniture store establishing a prize for student furniture design. Pie-eating, pancake-flipping, oyster-shucking and grape-stomping contests make sense for restaurants. Dentists can hold smile contests, while video rental stores can stage movie trivia quizzes.

2. Newsletters

Another good way to promote, particularly for brokers, banks and business consultants, is through newsletters. Newsletter articles demonstrate how much you know about your field and do so in a low-key, informative way. They also help keep your company high in the consciousness of your prospects.

3. Demonstrations

Demonstrations are an option to attract people to your place of business, to show them how to best use your product and to establish your credibility. A retail-wholesale fish outlet holds cooking demonstrations twice a week, featuring a different restaurant chef each time and attracting substantial crowds. Recipe cards are even given out. Wallpaper demonstrations, fashion shows, gift wrapping, refinishing and computer demonstrations have all worked well for retailers who were selling products associated with them.

4. Seminars

Often more appropriate for business-to-business marketing, seminars are the commercial side of demonstrations. If you hold a seminar, follow these rules for success:

1. Schedule the event at a time that is convenient to most attendees.

2. Be specific in the invitation about when the event begins and ends, who will be there and what the agenda is.

3. Follow up the invitations with personal phone calls.

4. Charge for seminar entrance to give it a higher perceived value.

5. Follow up after the event to get people’s reactions.

5. Premiums

Also called an advertising specialty, a premium is a gift of some kind that reminds your customer of you and your service. There are thousands of premiums from which you can choose: key chains, coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets, baseball caps, paperweights – just about anything that can be engraved, imprinted, silk-screened or embroidered with your company name and phone number.

6. Speeches

Depending on your topic and your market, you might want to speak before chambers of commerce, trade associations, parent groups, senior citizens or other local organizations.

7. Articles

Another possibility is to write an article for a trade journal, reprint it and mail it off to your friends, customers and prospects. Well-crafted articles position you as an expert and are a particularly good way to promote a consulting business.

8. Bonuses

If you have a restaurant, give away a glass of wine with dinner to introduce a new menu. If you sell to retailers, give them a display fixture with the order of a gross. If you sell office supplies, give away a new pen with a sizeable purchase. If you’re in the cosmetics business, offer customers a free sample blusher when they buy mascara and lipstick.

9. Coupons

For best results, the price break should be significant – at least 15 percent. Coupons are one of the least expensive ways to develop new trade and are an excellent tool for evaluating advertising. However, one theory holds that coupons draw people who only buy discount and never become regular customers, so be sure to monitor the results.

10. Donations

Donating your product or service to a charitable cause often results in positive exposure to community leaders, charity board members, PTAs and civic groups. While consumer products are desired most, many organizations also look for donations of professional service time. If you have a restaurant or a large meeting facility, consider hosting an event for a charitable organization. This strategy works best if volunteers for that charity are potential customers.

11. Samples

No matter what you do to promote your business, giving potential customers a sample is an excellent way to attract attention and make a positive impression. In many cases, it makes just as much sense to spend your marketing and advertising dollars on giving out your own products instead of buying advertisements – especially if cash is tight. The key is to give samples to the audience you want to reach (i.e., software packages to computer user groups or nutritious snacks to health-oriented consumers). In the food arena, where one taste is worth a thousand words, firms now exist that test market new products for large and small companies alike through in-store demonstrations. A good demonstration company not only keeps track of how much of your product was given away but also submits detailed reports on what people said about the product and how much of it was purchased.

12. Free Trials

If your product is too big or expensive to give away outright, why not offer a free trial to qualified customers? Try shipping it out to prospects with no strings attached. Most people will appreciate the opportunity to try the product, and many will like it enough to buy it.

13. Free Services

If you can’t afford to give away products, offering your services as a way of generating new business can also pay off. For example, if you own a retail clothing business, send out a flyer offering customers a free fashion consultation to draw them into the store.

14. Special Benefits, Rates or Notices

Smart organizations go out of their way to make customers feel important and appreciated. Frequent flyer clubs are the most pervasive example of loyalty-building benefits for customers only that are now being adapted by many kinds of businesses. Most software companies sell program updates to customers at discounted prices. And advance notices about sales or other changes or opportunities can help cement customer ties.

15. Say “Thanks”

One of the best ways to let customers know you value their business, and to simultaneously encourage their continued patronage, is also one of the easiest. It boils down to saying “thank you” in letters, mailers, surveys, statement stuffers, receipts and invoices, and in person.

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Beware of the common mistakes presenters and persuaders commit that cause them to lose the deal.

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.

Other posters are so bare that you wonder why anyone even bothered. Here are some tips on how to create a good balance between overkill and barely-there to make your poster stand out from the rest and catch prospects’ attention.

Focus your message
A big mistake that I believe stems from people wanting to get their money’s worth out of their poster printing budget is to put too much info, too many graphics, just too much stuff on their poster. These are the cluttered posters I talked about earlier. You only have a few seconds to catch someone’s attention and if you have 89 ideas going on in one poster, no one is going to read any of them.

Before you even start designing your poster, ask yourself what you want the poster to accomplish. Are you promoting an event? Introducing a new product? Introducing your business to a new community? You need to make sure everything on your poster contributes to that one message.

Good graphic design is key
An eye-popping photo or some kind of awesome graphic element that catches people’s attention works best for posters. A rule of design is that the graphics should not upstage the content. In the case of posters though, the graphic is the content.

With only a few seconds to catch someone’s attention, it is best to use a big graphic to pull them in because our brains process objects and images quicker than text. Try to make your design the main element of your poster, rather than making text your main element. If you are bent on getting details of your event or new product on the poster, save that text for the bottom of the poster. Use the top half of the poster to pull people in with few words that are huge (your poster should be readable from 20 feet away) and an interesting photo or image.

Use posters as more than lead generators
In many cases, posters are used to only draw people in. Do not get me wrong – that is their main use and great way to use them. However, consider also using them as a follow up method in your store.

Hang posters in your store that are reminiscent of the ones out on the streets or in your store windows. Alternatively, start a graphical story on one poster hanging in your store window and finish the story inside, on posters scattered throughout your store. This will intrigue people to come in and finish the story!

As with any advertisement, be honest
You should promote your business with integrity – do not lie in your posters or in any of your advertisements. As soon as people find out, they will tell their friends and family, and you will lose what could have been long-time customers. When it comes to advertising, under-promise and over-deliver.