Introduction We’ve all seen the media frenzy over the banking fiasco, the so named “credit crunch” and mass layoffs as companies panic. In talking with clients and customers it’s becoming quite clear that there is a need for business as usual. Products still need to be made, distributed and sold and services commissioned.

 

The car industry has seen a massive decline in sales but just watch any commercial TV station, have the ads disappeared, no, has your favourite newspaper or magazine disappeared from the shelves, the answer is probably no.

In our experience there is much business out there and buyers want to deal with positive and enthusiastic people. Cutting back on marketing budgets is not good for your business and the wider economy. Keeping your brand in the public eye is paramount. Adopting hermit strategies and falling back on old campaigns and images only dates your identity and makes you less visible. Just take a look near Christmas time, at a certain men’s aftershave featuring a man and the ocean. It’s been recycled for the last ten years as I can remember.

Ask you self this question; “Who would you rather do business with, a positive, enthusiastic company that seeks the opportunities or one with its head buried in the sand crying credit crunch?”

Recycling is the buzz word of this decade but not when it comes to marketing , your brand image or customer communications, these need to stay fresh and up to date. The same applies internally with your employees, keeping them motivated with a positive outlook reflects in how they deal with customers. People buy from people and they come back to happy helpful people.

So before you all reach for the sick bucket or discard this as pure puff, remember it’s about being realistic but on the optimistic side of the fence.

The Detail behind It So lets take a few of the points raised in the introduction and look at these in more detail.

 

Media Frenzy We see this so many times over something that could be described as trivial. Just look at the pandemic swine flu story, breaking it back to the real world, a girl went on holiday and came back with a bit of a runny nose!

 

Within just a few hours of media interest in a story you can be the biggest thing from Boston to Budapest, all caught high def, colour corrected, computer enhanced. But what many news items lack, is depth and realism, it’s easy to whip up a panic or over reaction to an event, it’s harder to take a balanced view and report the facts, why, because that takes time, creativity, but is less interesting and doesn’t sell newspapers or generate viewer ratings and we site page views.

The media can be your friend or you foe – it all depends on if it’s a slow news day and what side of bed they got out of!

Take the banking fiasco as already mentioned, if this had been reported more neutrally then less banks, local authorities, businesses and home owners would have suffered. Fewer jobs would have been lost as less panic and knee jerk reactions created as companies laid off thousands of staff amid a banking freeze on loans and credit. All of which were perfectly acceptable the day before!

The media has a great influence upon an organisation’s marketing communications and that can affect share prices and stock values as well as the wider economy. As they say in the City “buy on fact sell on rumour!”

Layoffs and Panic Leading to Motivated Staff?

Well that would be great wouldn’t it? Well taking into account what has been said so far, lets take a look at two set ups, the panic company and the realistic company.

The Panic Company

Watches the news and lays off all un-required staff – well un-required in their opinion, so they remove the temps, operations and marketing all seen as an unnecessary balance sheet item. Sounds good to a Financial Director. Wrong. Now you have no market presence, no new campaigns and no new customers and because you sacked operations, no one to do the work!

The Realistic Company

This company looks at its sales, balance sheet and order book. Gathers its work force and makes a statement – no layoffs if we can maintain our present position. What the directors say no growth, what about my bonus! Well they are just that, bonuses not guarantees. This is where maintaining a market presence and sales in a recession should be considered as growth! Alien concept – no it shouldn’t be because your company is not going backwards like everyone else’s. With them cutting back and you maintaining presence and sales you gain market share – just by doing the same thing you did last week with the same team of people.

This company then communicates with its employees and motivates them to look for opportunities, the ways to maintain sales, retain customers and to seek the sales and to deliver the service. Other companies will not, because they are panicking, laying off staff and failing to deliver on service. Their staff will be distracted, worrying about redundancy and are unfocused on the job, that or they just will not care.

Strategy

Hermit strategies leading to budget cut backs again are based on kangaroo court reactions to a change in market conditions. Companies need to start being led by marketing and market conditions, not by accountants that only have historic information to base decisions upon. Sets of management accounts don’t show market opportunities and don’t motivate staff to go that bit further to look after an existing customer.

Now is the time to make use of the panic and cut backs your competitors are making and to raise your presence in the market place. Crawling under a rock and hoping it’ll get better just means people forget about you. Your competitors are concentrating on something else, now is the time to make a move. There is also another key opportunity, a market full of skilled people looking for work – you could gain some key assets, a time to change out some dull pennies and gain a shiny new 5p!

Marketing

A company loosing it market visibility is a real problem, we look at how this happens. Being a marketing consultant means that this can be summed up in two ways, less Marketing and PR and less customer communication.

Employees still read newspapers and magazines; it’s one of the last cut backs they make, their favourite read. This is where a well thought out PR strategy can work and it’s cheaper than display advertising and if you can do it in house – it’s essentially free.

The public still visit websites – so keep them up to date with fresh content and images. Find information that your customers would need or be interested in.

Direct Mail has for a long time featured less, due to the low response rates. How does 98% wastage sound when you try and justify the cost? Well targeted small campaigns can give 12 – 20% response in my experience. Some of this has transferred online but as the public have got fed up with Junk Mail, so too have they started to shy away from an over full Inbox. Subscription based newsletters are one way to build both customer and prospective customer awareness of your brand .

There are of course other tactics like sponsorship but measuring the response and attributing it to direct sales becomes more difficult. Exhibitions and trade shows used to do well, but with more sellers selling to you and less footfall from the buyers, picking the right event is paramount .

Internal Communications

Internal communications is in some organisations far from the agenda of the board room table; in others it is fully integrated into the organisation and embellished with the drive and determination of top management so that it succeeds. Good internal communications strategy and implementation motivates work forces and generates clear, useful communication to drive the company forward and ensures all employees take ownership of the positive side of honest communication of both opportunities for improvement and praise of fellow workers. Employees need to know what direction an organisation is heading in, where their individual and team roles fit in and what they have to do in order to achieve the goals set. People will put every effort into advancing the business if they can communicate their ideas.

So what do Internal Communications strategies look to achieve , well with many organisations it is the desire to further the quality standards needed in the business environment and to transpose that need internally towards its employees. With others, it is driven by the speed at which the business environment is changing and hence the need for the firm to change. In this case good internal communication is delivered through a company vision and a change in focus toward face to face or more personal communication.

In order to achieve this, a company must understand several aspects to the organisation. It is necessary to understand the environment of the employees and what likely influences there are. These factors that influence employees include line management, immediate workers and any subordinates. As well as their own set of values, but also, those of their colleagues that surround them in the working environment. The key points of influence are, and always have been, our own co-workers. Peers influence more than managers influence subordinates. Added to this are the issues of culture and the sub culture of the company. Politics play a part as does the management style. In all a complex set of variables are at play.

The communication environment is conceptualised via the modification of the concept of communication taken from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. The author has embellished this concept to include the environment of the employee.

If the company understands the environment of the employee then it can use the best methods to get information to each person.

The second aspect the company needs to understand are the perceptions of the employees concerning the information they receive. If the organisation understands this aspect as well, then it will know what information is best received. Hence an appreciation of these two aspects will indicate whether or not an Internal Communications strategy is working. Management is then in a position to either continue or change its strategy.

The importance of this article is to bring to the fore the need for company to appreciate these two key aspects of the organisation and then to plan an Internal Communications strategy that works.

Author : Peter G Davey MA DipM

“Saving a home from foreclosure needs fast and informed action but the solution doesn’t have to be costly,” said Fed Reserve Governor Elizabeth A Duke. “It should not hurt to get help.” There are several foreclosure guides available online which assist the homeowner in understanding their options to avoid foreclosure.

Many solicitors of foreclosure schemes reach out to potential victims by a variety of means using the Net, the telephone, and direct mailings. Some barristers go door-to-door or approach house owners at events related to home preservation. The info the Fed Reserve is providing, which is a part of its “5 Tips” series, is designed to give consumers the basic info they have to recognize and prevent foreclosure avoidance scams. Consumers are counseled to check the certifications of advisors and to avoid working with someone that collects a fee before providing any services or accepts payment only by cashier’s check or wire transfer. Shoppers should not pay for a service without knowing exactly what they are purchasing.

Avoiding foreclosure cannot be guaranteed–regardless of the circumstances. Working with a legitimate advisor can increase the possibilities of keeping a home, but consumers should be wary of people that tell them it’s a dead cert. Details of the exchange, together with any promises, should be provided up front and in writing.

Often customers think the insurance market is complicated. There are a lot of assurance companies. Persons can hardly get an overview. Nevertheless the user wants to get the fitting alternative. Nowadays it is a good choice to seize a rate comparison web page, when the client is searching a particular insurance. There you can get the right assurance comparison from a great number of insurers. Different common German insurances – as: Guenstige Tierversicherung – have to be mentioned in this context:

The automobile casualty insurance: If you get an automobile for yourself, you have to insure it. The auto indemnity assurance is required by law – without proof of casualty assurance already the admission of the car is impossible. The automobile casualty assurance covers whenever you culpably cause a damage to another road user. Fully comprehensive cover or part insurance cover can voluntarily be effected. Comprehensive insurances pay for damages of your own vehicle.

The German Riester-Pension plan: The so called Riester-Pension is a government-funded private pension customers should seize to close their personal pension gap. It is both safe and attractive: During the active working life, you pay contributions into a private annuity contract, a bank or savings fund, additionally you get growing state allowances and tax allowances as a bonus. Later customers will receive monthly benefits for lifetime – in the form of a retirement pay or a payment plan. Each employed professional, who is not willing to rely on the statutory pension alone, should think about a Riester-Insurance agreement. Also officials, judges and soldiers belong to the circle of beneficiaries of public support for Riester-Pension plans.

The private health assurance: Private sickness insurance can be taken by self-employed people – regardless of their salaries. As an employee you can switch to the private medical assurance, if your annual gross income lies 3 years in a row over the insurance limit of 48,600 Euros (equivalent to 4,050 Euros a month, status of 2009). Also officials, judges and members of parliament are regularly privately insured. The German private medical insurance usually provides better performance than the governmental medical assurance. Many assurance vendors give the option of making adjustments to the tariff of the active insurance agreement.

The personal casualty insurance: Even a slight mistake e.g. a lapse in giving way when bicycling, or a careless cast away cigarette could cause extensive damages. Especially when individuals come to harm, the claims of the victim could result in the financial ruin of the tortfeaser. There is no limitation to the top. So the private liability assurance is recommended for everyone. With private liability assurance you and your family have defense against the typical liability risks of everyday life in the private sector.

The above mentioned insurances and several more can be found at specialized insurance comparison Internet sites: Tierversicherung Online Vergleich. That price comparison page is independent from a particular assurance company and provides a sound overview of the market.

Losing weight has been the dilemma of most people for many years now. Well, we all want to look fit and sexy all the time. Hence, we strive hard just to get the body that we want.

However, with the lifestyle and eating habits that we were brought up with, it is almost impossible to stay slim and so easy to gain weight.

What with all the calories that we take in everyday, with all the junk and fast foods that we eat as well as the caffeinated beverages that we drink.

And in our desperation to trim down excess fats, we are always seeking for weight loss tips and different means to loss weight.

There are lots of tips available for you when it comes to losing weight, some can be found at ripped abs. Books and magazines about weight loss as well as other essential things in losing weight are now within your reach.

Visit your favorite bookstores and magazine shops and you’ll surely find them. Do-It-Yourself Weight Loss Tips As there are a lot of tips on how to trim down excess fats and shed extra pounds that have been published, you can now easily find a set of procedures fitted for you and you lifestyle.

However, the best procedures to losing extra pounds are those which you can do even when you’re all by yourself; those which don’t require you to go and consult a clinic or a weight loss expert.

Here are some weight loss tips that you can do yourself;

• Trim down your calories consumption – we need calories for our day to day activities, but we need to trim down unnecessary percentage of calories. Mostly, you may need to avoid soft drinks and alcoholic drinks. Gourmet coffee also contains too much calories and you may want to reduce consumption of this or totally avoid intake.

• Exercise is still a best way to shed extra pounds bajar de peso – yes, this is still among the best practices that you can do at home to trim down extra pounds. You can start off by moving more often.

Like instead of driving to a nearby supermarket, you can walk. Avoid riding if it is just a walking distance. You can also walk your dog every morning. Cleaning the house also makes your body move more often. You see, you don’t need trainers and equipments just to exercise.

• Feast on 5 small meals everyday – instead of eating 3 heavy meals, you can eat several small meals throughout the day. This way, you can divide your daily calorie intake without having to undergo fasting or skipping meals.

• Always eat breakfast – it is not a good idea to skip on breakfast just to lose weight dietas para bajar de peso. You will only tend to eat more later in the day.

• Water therapy – water may not be considered as something which can burn fat, but drinking the right amount of water everyday can help with bodily functions such as proper digestion.

It also makes you feel full so you won’t feel like eating and eating. If you haven’t noticed, the tips above mostly involved self discipline. This is because discipline is the fundamental of all the weight loss procedures out there.

You have to know your limitations if you are serious about trimming down those unwanted fats. No weight loss tips are as effective as they promise if you, as the person who wants to lose weight, won’t have even a bit of self discipline.

With the escalation in the number of houses in the UK, the need for extra power output will follow. With the necessity for more power, there is the need for more power plants and what kind of power resource variety of existing power source give off more power and less pollution? None other than nuclear power.

There are believed to be ten reported new nuclear reactors set to kick-off soon and insuring them is said to cause a hefty sum. With the nation’s aging coal power plants reaching their shell life along with personal injury, property and death claims. The government admitted that if the insurance industries within the country will not be able to fulfill this rule, they will have to provide backing for it using the national treasury which would ultimately cost taxpayers.

Both the insurance sector and the government acknowledge that the capacity to meet the liability guidelines concerning the utilization of nuclear energy is not yet resolved. The plan is to construct the first nuclear facility start its function by 2018 and with the current economic crisis still plaguing everyone, numerous consultations are being made.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change was forced to hire PricewaterhouseCoopers to give audit and recommend a resolution to the existing dilemma. They also consider getting some public consultation in order to meet the insurance liability convention rules on time.

The need for a more efficient power supply that causes less carbon emission is an important priority for the government. Nuclear powered electricity will dramatically enhance the UKs power output, but the environmental threat that comes with it provides a larger consequence for all sectors in the event of an accident.

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