Archive for October, 2011

The rising over 65 population is serious business

October 30, 2011

person over the age of 65The Baby Boomers of the ‘60s have created an interesting new demographic trend precipitously poised to affect most developed world economies – that of a rising number of people aged 65-years-old and over, who are living considerably longer.

Apart from casting serious doubt on the future reliability of pensions and the furor about the strain this is expected to place on the provision and affordability of health care, the rising number of seniors has a number of other implications for business.

From a business management perspective

As the dream of working until the mandatory pensionable age and retiring to a life of leisure shatters, you’re likely to see employees wanting to work for longer. This will require a commitment to continued learning to keep skills up-to-date, and a flexible approach that allows people to work part time or remotely.

While the generation gap could create some tension, keeping older people on for longer can be a valuable way to maintain continuity in a recruitment environment that will see younger generations changing jobs more frequently. Using older employees as mentors for new staff is also an effective way to make use of an accumulated wealth of knowledge and experience.

From a product development and sales perspective

The change in demographics should present some new marketing and sales opportunities, especially if you’re first to market.

• Think about targeting seniors

No, not taking them out – marketing specifically to them. With the number of people over the age of 65 increasing, they’re becoming a significant market, possibly up to one-fifth of the population within a decade. Can you afford to ignore 20% or more of the population? Most businesses are thinking about how to market to Generation Y, but they also ought to make marketing to this segment of the population part of their marketing strategy.

• Think about related products and services

The growth in the over-65 population will provide the opportunity to develop new products and services. Can you diversify and come up with products that will ease pains, increase comfort or well-being or make their lives easier? Are there services you can offer this growing niche market?

The only constant in business is change, and smart businesses look out for change and find ways to use it to their advantage. Is there a way to use this change in demographics to your advantage, either directly or as a part of the larger supply chain?

What are you doing to use the change in population demographics to your advantage?

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Five ways start-up importers can attract suppliers

October 26, 2011

How do you convince manufacturers to supply your fledgling business, particularly if your business is online and you don’t even have a physical store to sell their products from? For start-up importers who have yet to get suppliers on board, finding manufacturers willing to work with your business can be a difficult task. Here are five top tips to help your importing business attract suppliers.

Find a manufacturer whose products aren’t being sold in your country

Most manufacturers only deal with one importer, or distributor, in each country, so there is little point approaching a manufacturer whose brand is already successful in your country. Instead, find a manufacturer whose products aren’t being sold in your country.

It may not be an issue that you are just starting out. A manufacturer not yet supplying your country may be willing to let you build their brand over a period of time. You can even promote your business to the manufacturer as an importer specializing in building previously unknown brands in your country.

Stand out with a mailed proposal

Approach manufacturers by mail with a thorough proposal. Manufacturers likely receive countless emails from individuals wanting to import their products, and most of these emails are probably ignored. Make your business stand out with a proposal covering which products you are interested in; your background and expertise; what the market is like in your home country; and similar brands sold in your country (your future competition) and how successful they are. You might even get your proposal professionally translated if needed.

You should know if the brand has been sold in your country previously. If you are only going to sell online, be aware that many manufacturers have concerns with an importer selling online and at reduced prices, as it may give the impression the brand is cheap. Outline why you intend to sell online only and explain how you are going to protect the brand image. And if you can afford it, you’ll ideally want to visit the manufacturer.

Form a collective with businesses who complement yours

Form a collective with importers in the same position as you, who sell products related to yours. For example, an evening wear importer might form an alliance with a jewelry importer and an importer of luxury shoes and handbags.

The collective can then sell through the same website or store. You maintain control of your manufacturers, and when you approach a new manufacturer you can mention all the manufacturers associated with your collective. Getting manufacturers on board is much easier when you can tell them that you (your collective) are importing other brands of a similar nature.

Approach an importer

Find a manufacturer whose products aren’t selling well in your country and approach the current importer. They may be willing to relinquish their arrangement and recommend you to the manufacturer, or they may be happy to enter into an arrangement where you handle different parts of the product range that better suit your expertise.

One advantage here is you’ll be able to combine shipping; a potential risk is that the original importer may take over importing your products if you are successful.

Know the benefits your small business offers

Early in your conversation with a potential supplier, you’re going to have to state the volume you expect to import. There is no point hiding how small your company is. Instead, highlight the strengths of your position as a small business – for example, you have relationships with various clubs and organizations whose members will be interested in the products you wish to import; you regularly attend or organize events that attract people who will be interested in the products; you are seen as an expert in your industry/niche, etc.

A supplier will often prefer to deal with a smaller importer who knows the market than an importer with lots of money to spend on products they don’t actually know if anyone is interested in buying.

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Seven important principles for email newsletters

October 19, 2011

Getting the balance right in a marketing email or e-newsletter is always tricky. You want to project the right image, while ensuring your mail-out actually achieves your objectives.

So here are my top seven design principles to keep in mind when trying to meet these two objectives. I’d value feedback – so do tell me what I’ve missed and what I’ve got wrong.

Number 1. Design for the preview pane

Most people preview emails in the preview pane of Outlook, Mail, or their preferred email program. In most cases this means they only see the top 200 pixels or so of your email. If this is a large, irrelevant heading, for example, there is nothing to encourage them to scroll down or to open the email and read it. Make sure the top portion of your email includes engaging text that encourages recipients to open your email and read on.

Number 2. Make the introduction relevant

It’s easy to stray away from the real purpose of a newsletter email and begin an introduction with a chatty comment on the weather or football results; however, your readers probably signed up to receive something rather more interesting. So keep the introduction relevant. Some may argue that they are building relationships with customers – I think providing them with the useful information they signed up for is more productive.

Number 3. Content complements design

A newsletter is all about the content. Design and content go hand-in-hand and design should complement and enhance the content, not vice versa. Test your email in a number of email programs. Statistically, over 40% of your readers are likely to have images switched off by default so view it with images switched on and images off. Can you get the gist of what your email is about without images and without scrolling? If not, change the design.

Number 4. Add a list of content

Make it easy for your readers and help them understand what your newsletter is all about in the shortest possible time. Every newsletter should have a simple, easily readable, short content list. This provides some reasons to scroll down and read the rest of the content. Place this list near the top in clear text.

Number 5. Deliver on promises

If subscribers signed up for news on the widget industry, give them news on the widget industry. It’s always tempting to fill up the newsletter with special offers and promotional material, or to drift off subject, but if that’s not what you offered people when they signed up, then this should be avoided. If you want to send out specials via email, that’s fine, but don’t call it a newsletter! Of course it’s ok to include both, but keep it in balance.

Number 6. Be aware of mobile devices

Check out the statistics on users from your email campaigns. You’ll probably see a fair number of people are viewing your emails on mobile devices and this percentage is growing exponentially. As there is limited screen space on a mobile, it pays to make sure it’s readable for these people too.

Number 7. Check the numbers

One of the great things about email marketing is that it can provide you with lots of usable data that can help you to improve results. If you know what your objectives are (sales or website visits, for example), you can make small changes from edition to edition and work towards improved results.

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Is Globish the answer to communicating in a globalised world?

October 4, 2011

“Roger played fantastic,” commented Roger Federer’s opponent at a post-US Open tennis match press conference. “He served unbelievable.”

Yes, the adverb is on the endangered list, apparently destined for oblivion along with the semicolon and other finer points of English communication. Economists may have discredited the theory of wealth trickledown, but language trickledown is alive and well. Quotes from popular sports people, movie stars and rap artists today are sure to be widely imitated tomorrow in our media-obsessed age.

What does this mean for business?

There’s a special skill togaining and holding the attention of time-starved small business people who want ‘the guts’ served up quickly and accessibly (two adverbs snuck in there as a rear-guard action, in case you hadn’t noticed). Clear expression, short sentences and paragraphs, bullet points and subheadings are just some of the tactics we use. But could (or should) we take this even further? What is the future of business communications on the web?

The challenge for business writers is to meet the market. This means we need to listen up and keep up and perhaps not pass quick judgment – not always comfortable for this easily irritated pedant.

A fair portion of small business owners don’t care about the finer points of grammar and this reality has to be accepted. Money now comes in ‘bunches’. Why not, they ask? It works for bananas. People come in large ‘amounts’ or may become‘less’ if your customer service is poor. Fine. Websites need ‘populating’. Naturally. Is there any point in being a curmudgeon over mangled English?

It’s no longer a surprise that even editors of leading publications seem unaware that ‘disinterested’ means something quite different from‘uninterested’. Shrug.

The next generation of small business people, raised on texting and tweeting, will no doubt express themselves in even more startling ways.

Are you getting your message across?

It all goes back to writing for the market. That certainly doesn’t justify serving up mangled English, but it does mean writing in a way that will be read – and quickly understood – by all in your market.

The point of the quote at the beginning of this blog is that it comes from a respected tennis player speaking English as second language. Hundreds of millions may speak or understand English at some level, but not all that well. This is a factor you should consider in your marketing, brochures, website copy and promotional material.

There have been attempts to solve this communication challenge. Various forms of‘International English’ have emerged (Google the topic if you’re interested) but for two reasons, I favour Globish over its competitors.

First, Globish was conceived by a Frenchman, Jean-Paul Nerriere, rather than a native English speaker. That’s one edge: selling products around the globe taught Nerriere the difficulties of communicating clearly with others who also speak English as a second language. His solution is Globish (a tool rather than a language), featuring a 1,500-word vocabulary and simplified grammar.

Second, Monsieur Nerriere obligingly provides a free Globish Text Scanner that allows you to type or paste in sample text to see if it passes the Globish test. Try it! You may be as startled as I was to discover how much of your copy could be misunderstood (or simply opaque) to others.

If you’re trying to sell products worldwide, Globish compatibility or communicating in plain English could be important. It’s also possible you’re missing sales close to home. Most Anglo-speaking countries now have substantial immigrant communities. Are you confident the first generation of these immigrants can understand your product messages?

Finally, let’s not forget the huge generation of texters and tweeters presently gaining top business positions. Their vocabularies are shrinking, thanks (among other factors) to the need to compress messages. A vocabulary of 1,500 words may well become a mark of eloquence in the future, in which case we may all need Globish as a communication tool. It’s certainly worth a thought. FWIW I hope this hasn’t been TMI.

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