Smart tips for tough times

Smart tips for tough times

How often do you admire someone’s smart idea but wish you’d thought of it first? Being smart in business can take you a long way on the road to success.

Smart marketing is a concept yet to be fully exploited and understood by many small businesses in New Zealand Bizzone Managing Director Sarah Trotman believes. ”It is essential that companies, both large and small, learn to get ‘smart’ and market ‘smart’ given the challenging economic times,” she says.

On the back of this she has instigated ‘Smart Marketing’ as the theme for this year’s Bizzone Business Expo on from 22-24 July at the TSB Bank Arena. Everyone visiting the 2009 Bizzone Business Expo will be in to win a smart marketing prize worth $100,000 simply by stepping through the doors. The ‘Smart Marketing’ prize will comprise marketing mentoring, expert advice, design services, Marketing Association courses, and advertising.

The prize, one of the richest ever to be offered by a New Zealand business, will be drawn from everyone attending the Bizzone Business Expos in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. There will also be a Smart Marketing Zone at the expo and a Smart Marketing School comprising smart marketing workshops each day of the expo from marketing experts Synthesis Marketing, one at 11am and one at 2pm. Attendees can register for this by emailing office@bizzone.com

Sarah Trotman says there are six simple ways for businesses to market more smartly and there will be experts discussing all of these issues at the Bizzone Business Expo which in Wellington is sponsored by the Marketing Association, OGGI and Newstalk ZB:

• Focus on your business plan to drive your business forward
• Believe in your offering
• Invest in your marketing strategy
• Invest in experts to challenge your thinking
• Develop the culture of your business
• Execute your smart marketing plan with an anything-is-possible and excellence-only attitude!

Some of the country’s smartest marketers will be speaking at a special smart marketing morning on Thursday, 23 July during The National Bank Seminar Series – free to everyone attending the Bizzone Business Expo.

The key to being smart is knowing and understanding your customers better than your competitors Brian Meredith from The Marketing Bureau says. He will kick off the smart marketing morning with the message that smart companies are those that:
• Understand their customers better
• Find and target new customers
• Position their company as having a real competitive edge
• Talk regularly to their customers to get regular feedback
• Develop new products and services.

Smart companies know exactly who their ideal customer is and focus all their marketing around them Helen Down, director and marketing specialist at Synthesis Marketing, Experts in Business Growth, says. She will discuss the benefits of database marketing at the expo and recommends companies that want to be smart at marketing:
• Organise, plan and use your marketing time, budget and effort focused around marketing campaigns that reach your ideal target markets rather than around the media you are using
• Make sure you stand out from the crowd by doing things differently from your competition
• Communicate regularly with your customers to retain the ones you have
• Develop strong word of mouth referrals with regular networking and communication
• Measure all your marketing spend to ensure you are getting a real return on your investment

The Bizzone Business Expo, New Zealand’s largest event for business, is on at TSB Bank Arena, Wellington from 22-24 July. To register for The National Bank Seminar Series or get a ticket for the Bizzone Business Expo go to www.bizzone.com

The Bizzone Business Expo is on:
Wellington 22-24 July
Christchurch 5-7 August.

ENDS

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