Listening is an important element in communication that most businesses can improve to their benefit. For various reasons, many people do not listen as well as they should whether at business or in most other social situations.

Not listening causes breakdowns in communication and thus leads to problems like errors, delays and bad relationships among coworkers, employees and clients.

Why people do not listen
In many cases, people fail to properly listen because they feel overloaded with tasks, problems and responsibilities. They view listening as a distraction rather than as something that can actually help solve many of their problems and reduce their workload.

Many people believe they listen when they are actually only hearing. The difference between listening and hearing has to do with comprehension. Some studies have shown that most people only comprehend about 50 percent of what they have heard even when they think they are listening.

In many cases, the difficulty in listening involves problems with concentration.

How to become a better listener
The first step in becoming a good listener is to learn how to concentrate. Proper concentration requires the right balance of focus because it is possible to concentrate too hard. When one is focuses too much on every detail of the speaker, they often miss the big picture that the person is trying to convey.

Listening requires a type of relaxed concentration that is very natural. Obviously you must avoid distraction, but should not strain at comprehending in any way. Also, controlling one’s emotions and not forming conclusions too quickly is important. Oftentimes, speakers may say something that rubs you the wrong way, but is important to hear everything out before deciding to shut out that person. Try to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Avoid getting distracted on attributes of the speaker rather than on what they are saying. In some cases, listeners will take note of the personal appearance, the race or ethnicity, the language accent or speaking patterns, rather than concentrating on what actually is said. Do not let these common distractions get in your way of listening, or you will may quickly find that you have missed many important points.

Become an active listener
One easy way to improve your listening skills, is to become more responsive to what the speaker is saying. Think about each important point made and ask yourself whether you have any questions on any of these points.

Always be alert to any information that you need further clarified. Also, try to discern what the speaker considers important by observing cues such as body language and voice intonation. Sometimes gauging the emotion of the speaker allows you to better understand the message they are trying to get across.

Ask good questions as this further stimulates both you and the speaker toward better communication. Make sure your question does not betray the fact that you have not been listening though! With some thoughtfulness, everyone can become a better listener and help improve the business environment.

Business Management simply means a system of managing the business activities of an organization in order to achieve set goals and objectives. And yet the concept of business management has been exhaustively expounded and redefined in the past centuries with many thought-provoking theories invented by influential management gurus such as Mary Parker Follett, Peter Drucker, Adam Smith, Max Weber, Ken Blanchard, Warren Bennis, Philip Kotler and Gary Hamel, to name just a few.

Models and theories of business management have greatly evolved through time – mainly to keep up with the rapid changes in the economic landscape and the way businesses operate today. As globalization propels many companies to grow larger and become more global, business management concepts have also changed dramatically. Today, it is a norm to apply business management models to different branches of the organization such as human resources management, operations or production management, marketing management, financial management and information technology management.

Marketing Management
When applying business management concepts to a marketing environment, a well-structured marketing management system can be established with clearly defined processes in the following framework:
• Marketing analysis and research;
• Marketing Strategy;
• Marketing Plan;
• Project Implementation;
• Measurement and Evaluation.

Marketing Analysis and Research
As the most crucial phase of marketing management, this information-gathering stage assists an organization understand the complex market in order to form an effective strategy and plan to reach out to target markets. A marketing analysis normally comprise of an analysis of the 5Cs, which are customer analysis, company analysis, collaborator analysis, competitor analysis and industry context analysis.

Marketing Strategy
Without a strategy, a company will be shooting in the dark and wasting resources. A company’s marketing strategy helps companies define direction towards increasing revenue and profits and expanding market share based on target segments and the positioning of one’s products and services.

Marketing Plan
Once a strategy has been defined, a marketing plan will map out how the strategy will be implemented. The marketing plan lists down the 5Ps of marketing, which refers to product management, pricing, place, people and politics. In summary, a marketing plan outlines ways to strengthen the company’s chosen positioning, build customer loyalty and brand equity in order to achieve the business objectives.

Project Implementation
The actual implementation of the marketing plan calls for an efficient management of human resources and skills where expertise in advertising and promotion, project management techniques, project schedule and budget, brand management, product development and marketing communications are required.

Measurement and Evaluation
The success of a marketing campaign cannot be evaluated without progress charts and continuous evaluation of a particular marketing plan to gauge its success rate. Therefore, mechanisms such as sales forecasts, incentive programs, customer relationship management tools and brand valuations are utilized to measure whether the campaign has achieved the goals as defined in a marketing strategy.

Marketing management system provides companies a structured framework in which to strategize, plan, execute and measure their performances. However, as markets become more dynamic and pace of change begins to accelerate than ever before, marketing management needs to evolve with new strategies in order to capitalize on market opportunities in a global environment.

The Future of Business Management
The 21st century has created two major challenges for companies. Firstly, as companies become global there is a dire need to subscribe to workplace democracy where employee’s innovation and potential should be the main drive in a company’s success. Secondly, as technology grows at a rapid pace, companies are challenged to be resilient and innovative, and must be continuously ready to change to market conditions and industry developments.

Gary Hamel the well-known American management guru who has been referred to as “the world’s most influential business thinker” by Wall Street Journal in 2008 wrote in his latest book “Future of Management” that companies should prevent themselves from “strategy decay”. They must ensure that innovation and constant change are weaved into every management process and practice.

Developing a good business plan is an essential first step for any entrepreneur. If done well, a good business plan serves the dual purposes of helping focus and motivate the entrepreneur while at the same time conveying his message to prospective investors. The perfect business plan will be clear, concise, well thought out, and based on realistic projections.

The first step in developing the perfect business plan is to establish a Statement of Purpose. In other words, why are you embarking on the business you’ve chosen? Why was this business or field chosen over another? Being able to convey your purpose largely affects whether or not you’ll be moving in the right direction.

Next, your plan should include a complete and detailed description of your business. Be careful to avoid the temptation of wordiness; be concise and write only what’s necessary to complete an accurate description. You can follow this with an objective list and description of goals. Include short, mid, and long-term goals along with the methods you will employ to reach those goals. Careful research in the industry of your choice will help you set realistic goals.

In the next section you’ll need to spell out who your target customers are, why they are your targets, and how you will reach them with your product or service. Include marketing methods such as advertising strategies, promotions, and how much you plan to spend as a percentage of your total budget. In this section you should also write a paragraph or two assessing your competition, both locally and regionally.

The final section of your business plan deals with finances. Here you will discuss cash flow, balance sheet, and an honest assessment of your finances. Discuss potential sources of investment and how you plan to make your company attractive to investors. As you did with your goals, do the research necessary to find out how similar business are doing in your area.

Putting the plan in writing can be a daunting task, so make sure to seek out others who have started their own successful businesses. Even the most well thought out plan will have its flaws, and no one is in a better position to help you correct those flaws than someone who’s already succeeded. If you’re on the right track others will see it and let you know.

Lastly, developing the perfect business plan certainly increases your chances of success but it’s still no guarantee. If things don’t turn out exactly as you had planned it’s not necessarily the result of a poor business plan. Take a copy of your plan and meet with a business counselor, or someone else you respect in a similar field, and go through it together. If flaws are found you can correct them. If you find sections which are not flawed, but which need to be updated to fit your current circumstances, this is the time to do that as well.

Remember, a business plan is not set in stone. Rather, it is a guide which can be changed or adapted to fit your current circumstances. Just be realistic and willing to flex as your business environment evolves.

When a devastating earthquake hit the Caribbean nation of Haiti, people from around the world, in including the United States wanted to help. This is when the now familiar “Text [number] to donate for [specific charity]” message first captured the attention of millions of people around the world. What made the Haiti disaster unusual was not that people were willing to give: it was how they were able to give. Donors no longer had to call telephone numbers or visit Web sites to make a donation: all they had to do is send a text message. Within seconds of seeing a billboard, hearing an ad on the radio or seeing a television commercial, concerned people had their donations in the hands of people on the front lines of the relief effort. For Haiti, relief totaling millions of dollars was raised from social media donations.

The relief effort in Haiti revolutionized the way charities raise money. Text messages proved to be one of the easiest ways for people to give. Gone were the long telephone numbers and hold times. No more reaching for the wallet to find a credit card. Time consuming Web-based donation forms were removed from the equation. Now, people moved by an emotional appeal from a charity organization can give immediately without interrupting their lives.

The advent of social media donations has made charities more viable than ever. Although appeals for donations are still made through television, radio, print, and outdoor advertising; charities are relying more heavily on social media to connect with potential donors. They use outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to publicize their activities, to highlight special urgent needs, and to solicit donations. Having less revenue for advertising than most commercial organizations, charities have found social media effective at expanding their outreaches at very low costs. Needy causes such as earthquake victims in Haiti, genocide survivors in Darfur, clean water for Africa, and wildlife preservation have all been among those that are promoted through social media. Charity efforts have received record donations through social media donations, including both text and traditional means. More recently, YouTube’s “Call to Action” feature has enabled charities to release videos depicting the desperation of the people they aim to help. These videos often include the number to text to make a donation as well as links to get more information and to Web sites where traditional donations can be made. The power of video to appeal to the emotions of donors has proven to be significant as donations to these causes using it are on the rise.

Charities have been remarkably proactive while striving toward their goals. Rather than accepting trends of declining donations, they took steps to address the two factors that were limiting their income: publicity, and ease of giving. Social media has made it easier than ever to get people involved with good causes. Just a simple tweet can let people know when money is needed and just a simple text can get the money sent in. In spite of widespread cynicism, charities have shown us that people are still good and that they are willing to help.

You are a Facebook fanatic, MySpace specialist and Youtube aficionado – and you are over the age of twenty-five. No, you are not experiencing a mid-life crisis. You are a social media marketing expert. As such, you know that social media can be incredibly expensive. However, there are several steps that you – and other companies – can use to drastically cut marketing costs.

The Basics

The simplest tool to reduce expenses is to make marketing more effective. Andrew Lennon, writer for The Daily Anchor, notes that effective social media marketing entails “Sewing ad offers into the very fabric of the platform in such a way that the ads actually enhance user experience. Yes, ads that consumers would be happy to see, and not only see but engage with.” Jim Tobin, Ignite Social Media consultant, places the average 2-3 month social media campaign cost at $50,000. With such high figures, marketing is too costly to support failing programs.

Slash Direct Costs

Several traditional social media marketing strategies can be much more costly than need be. Pay Per Click (PPC) and Pay Per View (PPV) advertisements can be extremely expensive, especially on first-tier networks, such as Google or Yahoo. Switching to Cost Per Action/Acquisition (CPA) advertisements, in which the usage fee is only paid when the desired action (purchase) occurs, can significantly reduce costs.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential tactic for online-savvy marketers. When working with programs like Google Adwords, experts suggest using long tail keywords (four or more words) to eliminate irrelevant results, listing broad words (”cattle” rather than “longhorn”), and including negative keywords (words that are excluded from search) to narrow search results listings.

Make an E-Friend

Online partnerships are successful methods for garnering customer traffic and interest. This is called “Affiliate Marketing,” and was pioneered by sites like Google and Amazon.com. For example, Amazon.com proffers a popular Associate program, and offers free Fulfillment Web Services (FWS). Other online partnerships sport similar opportunities.

Let Someone Else Blog

Research shows that over 40% of corporate blogs have generated customers. A quality blog should have SEO savoir-faire, offer customer service opportunities, and be used as a free market research avenue by developing an ardent reader base. However, writing a steady stream of interesting content fries the noggin and takes time. Using freelance writers to write blogs considerably shrinks time costs, as well as using freelance writers for periodic content updates or website introductory material.

Stop Interrupting!

In this melodramatic marketing tragedy, interruption advertisements lead the pitiable cast. Andrew Lennon writes, “[Millennials] don’t listen to the radio or read print newspapers, they gloss over magazine ads and fast forward through TV commercials, and they probably haven’t ever clicked on a banner ad.” With the barrage of commercial snippets that attack a customer every day, interruption ads are ignored. In their book “Permission Marketing,” Seth Godin and Don Pepper write: “Interruption marketing fails because it is unable to get enough attention from consumers.” Use humor, stories, and interactive strategies to capture consumer interest.

Social media marketing campaigns should not cost $50,000. Aim for advertisement effectiveness and time management – and watch costs shrink while business thrives.

An ongoing battle has been circulating the inner depths of the ‘interweb’ and with the emergence of a new contender, the dominant networking site faces its demons and has it all come to a head here: Facebook vs. Twitter, which is the better choice for advertising for big business.

In today’s dog eat dog, business eating world, things are getting more difficult everyday in the search for new customers and new ways of advertising. Luckily business, built on the idea of innovation, has found a new way to keep up to date with today’s consumers by following the pattern of the great Internet craze Facebook and Twitter. However, the question remains: which is the more dominant and effective means of advertising and bringing in new customers?

Twitter–the contender with the edge of being the young easily accessible site for all ages– has recently challenged the ever-growing model of the Facebook epidemic. With the backing of hundreds of celebrities, Twitter has quickly grown to be known as the new sensation sweeping the web. With its sleek design, hip lingo and simple format for popularity, it would seem to be the best contender for the corporate world to freely advertise their business. In some ways, Twitter takes the cake in terms of advertising: the simple format of gaining followers, without page stalking, and ‘Tweeting’ the news of the day is a quick, clean and easy way of updating customers about the business’ happenings. It delivers a mild profile, adjustable page style and quick display that any age can easily access and understand. If the corporate business is shooting for ‘easy-going’ simplicity of Twitter, then it’s most definitely the obvious choice, however, that’s all Twitter is; a forum of status updates, with a generic profile that only lists basic information. For business, it’s nice to let the customer know exactly what they’re being recruited to follow and the general format of Twitter doesn’t deliver the details.

Facebook, the second coming of Myspace, is the redesigned, social networking site for millions to come together and peruse profiles for hours in a more advanced setting. Composed in a dorm room, the evolution of Facebook is the story book tale of business at its best, being built from the ground up. With the ability to create a detailed profile, have limitless text at one’s disposal for status updates, an easy inbox messaging format, the ability to form groups that can link one big business to another and partner for a specific cause and even a handy instant messaging system, Facebook seems to have it all in one neat package. While it does offer a more detailed foundation for corporations and big businesses to build upon, the clencher remains–Facebook page stalking, bombarding invites and the constant notifications on your consumers Vampire Wars leveling seems to be a bit more like a gaming site and place to relax in one’s spare time, rather than a legitimate networking site to gain meaningful clientele.

The question remains: which networking site is better for advertising in business? It can be said that both Twitter and Facebook have draw backs as well as potential for gaining customers. It simply depends on the format for which the business is to be based by: a simple status updating system that just needs its customers to rely on short messaging or the somewhat advanced system of updating, informing and networking coupled with several options to further advertise. It all depends on the type of business and style it wants to portray.

The most important thing for a business or brand is reach. The ability to reach people of everyday society and all walks of life and give them a message about your product or service is the only way to get that product or service bought and thus maintain profitability and continue doing work around the world. It may seem simplistic, but it’s the truth that without reach, a way to communicate with people on a large scale, you are minimizing your potential profits. Google Adwords is a way for businesses of virtually any size and with virtually any amount of capital, to get that most important reach.

Google Adwords works by allowing advertisers to sign up and create text or image based advertisements and match these advertisements with keywords which their business is related to. For example, a Personal Trainer may set up a website and create an ad that targets the keyword “weight loss” or “exercise” or other keywords related to these. The ads that the trainer makes would then appear either on the side of Google’s search results when a person searches the terms, or on a website that has content related to the terms, such as about.com’s weight loss subdomain. Whenever someone clicks on these ads, the trainer pays Google for allowing them to reach a visitor through the search engine. This is one of the most simplified scenarios, as there are different ways to both buy traffic and advertise, with more being produced all the time.

Google Adwords is so important to businesses today because it allows a business to expand far past its phyisical limits. Even if you were an enormous corporation that spanned multiple countries, you would be hard pressed to have a shop or store located in convenience to all of your target market, and even if you did, you would then have to pay an exorbitant amount of money to make sure your consumers knew about your location- putting up billboards and getting media spots on magazines or television. The amount of time and effort is daunting for even the larger corporations that do span multiple countries, especially when compared to running advertisements on a network that does, in fact, span the entire world. The amount of people you can reach through Google Adwords is just one of the benefits of it, however.

After all, being able to reach everyone is impressive, but if you could never focus or target who you reach and what message they receive, then it’s hard to be impressed by the fact that you can reach them. But Google Adwords has highly flexible modules allowing you to target down to the city and state of potential customers, which is a must have for local businesses. In addition, the ability to target based on the keyword typed into the search engine allows you to better understand what the market you are interested in truly wants, so you can grow as a business. And where TV spots and magazine ads are high priced, ads on Google’s networks are considerably lower costing- many advertisers manage to create highly compelling ads that drive their costs down to pennies per click.

Without the internet, connectivity would certainly be in a bad position worldwide, but because of the vast array of technology people are capable of reaching one another more easily than ever. With the advent of Google Adwords and similar internet advertising platforms businesses are now capable of reaching out to target consumers around the entire world as well. It’s worth it for any business or brand to invest in Google Adwords- just so you won’t be out of reach!

With social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn gaining more popularity and being regularly featured on the news, many companies are considering the use of social networking sites to further their business. As these sites already have an established user base and widespread popularity, you are better off using these existing sites rather then developing your own social networking site that is specific to your business.

The reason is simple: exposure. Millions of people visit these sites daily, including your employers, partners, suppliers and customers. Any company, large or small, can maintain a presence on social media sites. There are multiple reasons to do so. If you are a start-up, or small enterprise, it can help you acquire new employees, partners and customers. There are countless examples of entrepreneurs, such as restaurant owners, nightclub promoters and clothing vendors who use social media to acquire the vast majority of their customers.

Even if you are a larger business with an established customer base, it is possible for you to use these sites to your advantage. For example, Facebook lets you create “groups” that people can subscribe to. Your employees, customers and potential customers can then join your group. You can use it to post information about your company’s current products or upcoming releases. You can also set up a discussion board to discuss general or specific issues pertaining to your business. This can give you unique opportunities to interact with customers who have questions or complaints about your products. Facebook also has a powerful advertising platform that you can use to acquire new business. You can purchase pay-per-click ads that promote your company or a specific product. One of the advantages of using Facebook Ads is that you can easily target specific demographics, for example by geographic area or age group. This can give you a good return on your investment as your ad will appear to people who are more likely to buy from you.

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site that is comprised mostly of professionals. Its purpose is for members to maintain a list of business contacts that they know and trust. Businesses can use LinkedIn to acquire new employees, business partners, vendors and suppliers. By adding your company info to LinkedIn, users who search for it will be able to view details such as the location of your headquarters, the industry that you are in, the number of employees you have, etc.

Twitter is a microblogging service that allows users to send short messages (less then 140 characters) to their followers. By default, the messages that you send (called Tweets), are viewable by anyone who accesses your Twitter page. Using Twitter can be an efficient way of sending out updates about your company’s products, or to give information on an upcoming event such as a trade show. You can also search for your company’s name in Tweets sent by other users. This can help you to interact with customers, especially if they have a problem or complaint.

With a great number of people using social media, you will find it as a powerful tool to further your business. Remember that the online world is constantly evolving and there will certainly be new social networking sites that will become popular in the future as well. In the modern business world, using new tools and technologies can help you stay one step ahead of your competitors.

When marketing or advertising a product, service, or company as a whole, there are many things to consider. One of the most important questions to address is, “Who is the target market?”. By considering this from the get-go, it can save a company both money and time spent in advertising and marketing research. If this question is not addressed, it can lead to unnecessary spending towards clients who are already not interested in what is being sold.

Simply performing market research exercises such as surveying and polling can go a long way. If the company can find out who is interested in the product, more focus can be placed upon that group, a.k.a. the target market. For example, if upon surveying, a new energy drink company finds out that 85% of its potential cliental reside in the 18-25 year old male demographic, then more of its advertising efforts may be placed on appealing to those men. The company can then establish what appeals to 18-25 year old men (things such as women and sports) and utilize those attractions in the advertisements to help promote sales. If this company did not acknowledge who the target market was, then unnecessary and inefficient forms of advertising may be utilized towards promoting sales with a demographic who was not interested in the product regardless of the advertising campaign.

Knowing the target market can help determine not only what to utilize in the advertisements, but also where those advertisements should be place. If a company understands that its target market is 18-25 year old men, placing advertisements in magazines like Vogue or commercials on TV stations like Lifetime probably is not the most efficient business decision to make. Companies like Gatorade realize that the demographic that they target is about 12-25 year old males and females who enjoy sports and competition. Therefore, that is why they typically place their advertisements in magazines like Sports Illustrated and TV stations such as ESPN. Placing advertisements in a magazine like TIME would promote some additional sales, but it is not nearly as efficient as placing them where their targeted demographic is likely to look. For this reason, advertising in inefficient places is not worth to expenses as the money that is spent in advertising would be better served somewhere else. By studying the target market, companies can also avoid making decisions that would hinder the companies’ ability to sell towards their targeted demographic.
Acknowledging who originally is interested in the companies’ products or services is key towards building a successful company. A successful company needs to be a smooth operation that runs efficiently and is aware of any changes that take place in the market. Market research can be a very wise investment to make to help ensure that a company is selling to whom it is suppose to. There is no sense in selling to someone who is not interested in the product under any circumstances.

No matter your title, your industry, or the type of marketing you use to promote your business, one of the most vital statistics you can track is your marketing return on investment, or ROI. Your ROI not only gauges the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, but helps plan your marketing budget for months and years to come.

The best way to measure your ROI will vary slightly depending on your preferred marketing method, but there are some basic principles you can apply across the board.

If You Really Want to Know, Just Ask

For traditional forms of marketing like local media, tracking your return on investment can sometimes be difficult. Print ads, radio spots, and billboards provide lots of visibility for your brand, but the only way to establish a direct correlation between the advertising and your conversions is to ask customers what encouraged them to choose your business. This method can produce mixed results, though, as customers’ responses may not always be entirely accurate.

Metrics and Analytics

If you are using cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand (CPM) advertising through a service like Google or Yahoo, you already know how many impressions your ads are making. To measure your ROI, though, you’ll need to be able to track the number of conversions completed once a prospect has gotten to your site from an ad. This usually involves an analytics solution that places a cookie on a prospect’s computer whenever they click on one of your CPC or CPM ads. Many advertising providers also provide no- or low-cost solutions to allow tracking of conversions and, ultimately, your marketing ROI.

For businesses using a third-party email marketing provider, conversion tracking is often included as a feature. In cases where it is not, marketers can use the same type of analytics software as those available for CPC and CPM providers.

Now that you know how to measure your ROI, how do you go about increasing it?

Maximizing ROI

If you’re using traditional media, and are unable to accurately pinpoint your ROI, it will likely be difficult to effectively increase it. Adding web and new media marketing to your plan will help you to better track – and subsequently increase – your ROI.

If you’re already using CPC or CPM, you should analyze your campaigns to determine which keywords and ad placements have historically provided the best return. Once you’ve pinpointed your most profitable ads, you can redirect a portion or all of your marketing funds into these and similar ads.

If you don’t have enough historical data to determine the best ROI over time, you can test different combinations of keywords and ad placements over a short period of time. At the end of your testing period, you can proceed using the ads that produced the most favorable ROI.

Never Stop Improving

Once you’ve found the combinations that produce the best ROI, you might think you’re done, right? Wrong! It’s always a good idea to keep testing new and varied content and placement. You never know when you might find the magic keywords that push your marketing ROI to the next level.