Many firms, driven by a need to better communicate with their customers and other stakeholders, recognize that marketing “is not a specialized activity at all. It encompasses the entire business and is necessary for a healthy business . It is the whole business seen from the customer’s point of view.” Every aspect of the marketing mix - the product, channels of distribution, price, and marketing communications - affects customers’ response to a product/service.

The Marketing Association defines marketing as “the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual (customer) and organizational objectives”. The marketing concept is a business philosophy that defines marketing as a process intended to find, satisfy, and retain customers while business makes a profit. Central to both of these definitions is the role of the customer and the customer’s relationship to the product, whether that product is a good, service, or idea. Thus, in order for a company to investigate whether or not it has successfully managed to satisfy its customers, or to examine what type of products and/or services it would be profitable to introduce, it has to conduct marketing research.

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Become an Expert

You must do your research and become an expert on the topic that you are now writing about. You can gain this expertise either from personal experience, or from reading other subject matter, but which ever way, it must be 100 % obvious to your readers that you are an expert.

Find a problem and solve it.

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Not too long ago, people in the fundraising community, would peg stewardship as the thank you letter that was sent to a donor upon receipt of a gift. A form letter with an unrecognized signature, stuffed into a #10 standard envelope and run through the postage machine. In many fundraising shops the gift information would be logged into a donor database and that would be it until the charity went looking for the next gift from the donor.

A production line approach with little in the way of personalization, little in the way of sharing the mission and vision of what the organization was about, in other words a quick fix attitude to saying thank you.

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Franchising has been in the Philippines for 94 years. With the entry of Singer Sewing Machine in 1910 which introduced product distributorship. Numerous companies embraced this concept as their vehicle for business expansion over the years. From 1910 to 1965, businesses staked their flags in the Philippine economy through PRODUCT DISTRIBUTORSHIP. Some of these multinationals were tire and pharmaceutical companies.

The take off was slow in the early years as the succeeding companies like A&W Restaurant known for its root beer entered in 1965. The first outlet was established on Highway 54 (now popularly and historically known as Epifanio Delo Santos Avenue or EDSA) near the Big Dome-Araneta Coliseum. The concept was a drive-thru where women food attendants garbed in mini-skirts, black stockings and in roller skates would serve customers inside the comfort of their cars. Trays clamped by the side of the door and mugs with cold refreshing root beer partnered with foot long hotdogs were served. Its set-up was exactly the same as found in the US branches during those years. What this company brought was another form of franchising, which is known as Business Format. From then onwards most entrants into the market embraced this concept, in fact, so widely used not only in the Philippines, but all worldwide.

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Everyone has the same basic necessities. We all want the nice house, the new car, the latest HD widescreen TV with the 10,000 watt home theatre system. Maybe we don’t the have same dreams but we can attest to the basic desire to provide a better life your for yourself, your family, and those around you.

Most of us work the 9-5 and we are working our selves to death to make someone else rich. I know the frustration of being passed up for a promotion or being given more responsibilities without compensation. I was looking for a way out, I started my own business and began doing hard labor to make a little extra cash and hopefully one day be able to work for myself. I realized very quickly that I wanted a way out without the hard labor and I needed to do it before I got myself into debt with a huge mortgage that I can’t afford to pay, a fancy car with the rims and supercharged sport package, and all those things we want but we really don’t need. I wanted a way out before all of that happened to us, as it has for so many of you out there. You’re stuck! You can’t quit, you can’t move, and you can’t afford to go anywhere else. Trust me I know, I’m there too. But there is something else I know, and that is the power of leverage. We have a great opportunity to provide something extremely healthy to people around us and all the while making money and having fun.

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What are the things you argue about? Where are the disagreements? The small resentments? Where do you have to give in to get along?

Do you argue over money? Are you fighting over sex? Do you have different ideas about how much time you should spend together and apart? Do you squabble over extended family and friends? Is one of you daring and reckless, while the other wants to play things safe? Does one of you want to be right all the time? Does one of you want to always be in control? Do you disagree about the fun activities in your life?

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Since people generally ask me the same questions about list building all the time, I thought maybe you’d like know…

Q: When I am buying domain names, is buying “.com” all I need to buy?

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You can have the best products, the plushest offices, the best location, but unless you are a ‘customer focused’ business, all of this counts for nothing, you will never really hit the heights you deserve.

So what can you do to build a business which focuses outwardly on the customer, and not inwardly on the business?

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