PlusOne – Marketing Musings

The decades running debate on implementation, policy change, change of government and new policy exploration,  high-court scuttling of policy and the opposition’s offer of assistance in formulating new policy,  ignores the real solution for dealing with asylum seekers who arrive on our northern shores.

The issue is not one of of where to process this comparatively small tide of people, nor is it a question of should we be accepting what the naysayers regard as a great flood of illegals trying to jump the queue. The willingness of both sides of politics to accept 4,000 processed immigrants from Malaysia clearly shows we have the capacity to accept those who want to come and who meet the criteria.

The really issue is one of storage. Where to store people while their applications are processed. The reason for even needing to look at overseas alternatives is merely brought about by the fact that all of the detentions centres run by the Australian Government (and not just this government, but its predecessor as well) are overcrowded and prison-like.

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SMS is a a proven and cost effective way to communicate with your market and your customers in a way that will reach them.  Here are nine ideas showing how SMS can be used to help drive traffic to your store, or used to enhance customer relations. Note the inclusion of the optout on all promotional messages.

If you would like to explore how SMS can be used in your business, feel free to call Matt on 0409 349 752 for an obligation-free chat. In many cases we can set up a free account for you to test your ideas!

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The use of SMS in marketing is growing in Australia as small and large businesses come to grips with the effectiveness of SMS as a tool that can deliver a tight, focused message to a specific audience at a time of your choosing with an excellent ROI.

While there are lists that can be rented, there is no better list to market to than your own customers.

While many businesses record customer’s details, including mobile phone numbers, as part of the sales process, it is more difficult for high-turnover ‘cash-sale’ type businesses like butchers, take-way food outlets, clothing stores etc.

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Here is an interesting perspective on the UK riots and the rise in technology.

It’s one thing to trumpet color revolutions far from home, quite another to confront violence at your own front door. It’s one thing to trumpet the revolutionary potential of social networking devices at posh conventions and in advertorials, quite another to bear the brunt of rumors and hate mongering spread anonymously at the speed of light.

When London and other English cities were shaken by street riots between Aug 6 and 10, British Prime Minister David Cameron and officials in high places were quick to point the finger at Blackberry and considered closing it down. This begs the question: Was Britain hit by a Blackberry revolution?

Low social mobility combined with high degree of social networking is a recipe for a revolution of rising expectations, as can be seen in Britain where the rich-poor gap is wide and social networks are all the rage.

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One can imaging that having been the world’s leading military and some would say economic power for over half a century imprints a certain amount of belligerence onto America’s economic attitudes, but also puts the USA into a very small and some would argue, backward club.

This club is so exclusive, it only has two other members: Liberia and Myanmar.  This is the exclusive club who’s members have not yet adopted the metric system.

This propagates the USA’s bizarre way of expressing weights and measures. While pints get upgraded to quarts and gallons, pounds stay as pounds. What is 30,000 pounds in real terms? Why not express it as 150 tons (ore preferably, 136  tonnes)

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Every business has more sales as one of their main priorities. Often increased sales are pursued with the same mindset as chasing new customers. In fact most businesses see the two as inseparable.

While new customers are great and many efforts to increase sales will bring new customers, communicating with existing customers is a prime way to market to an audience who has already experienced what you have to offer.

One of the best ways to communicate with your market is using SMS. While the costs compared to email are higher, statistics show that on average less than one-quarter of emails on any commercial nature are not opened.

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The challenge has been laid down to shopping centres, and not a moment too soon.

Premier Retail boss Mark McInnes has dangled the threat of widespread store closures over shopping centre landlords in a bid to extract a better deal on rents as his group of fashion businesses joins the throng of retail rivals warning of “challenging” conditions.

Mr McInnes issued the challenge to shopping centre owners yesterday during his first trading update since his appointment as chief executive of Premier Investments’ collection of retail businesses – which include Just Jeans, Dotti and Portmans – in March.

McInnes threatens landlords with store closures – The West Australian.

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I have said before that the constant wrangling over the Carbon Tax and the persistant nay-saying and negative approach by Tony Abbott is creating huge uncertainty in the market for consumers.

KMART managing director Guy Russo believes the carbon-tax debate is partly responsible for the slump in retail spending and that constant sales and discounting by retailers are confusing shoppers, making them distrust shelf prices and keep their hands in their pockets.

Sales fatigue fuels retail slump.

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SMS is a proven marketing tool for businesses who have a need to deliver timely offers directly into the hands of their customers at a time of their choosing. It is also a marketing tool that allows rapid deployment enabling a savvy business to take advantage of many sorts of events to frame their offer.

The effectiveness of any SMS marketing is heavily influenced by the list being used. Use a poor list and your business could suffer more reputational harm than the benefits of the send.

The best SMS list is derived from your own business, through acquisition of numbers from customers at the point of sale, through sign-up promotions or other activities designed to capture opt-in registrations.

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Just as a lead up to an election stifles consumer confidence, we are seeing the same effect over the slanging match over the carbon tax.

Sadly Abbott cannot see that his ongoing negative sentiments are causing great collateral damage to the retail economy and will continue to do so until the tax is in and we have had another election.

His best action is to work to make sure it is the best tax it can be, rather than being totally opposed.

Gillards best course of action is to be able to produce some seriously accurate numbers that will allay any fears on households of the impact of the carbon tax. Since the time when Rudd was proposing the idea, the Australian community has been ill-informed, leading to confusion and doubt.

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