Why Is Marketing and Advertising Essential for Every Business?

To survive in today’s competition, every business – large, medium, or small – needs to promote itself. It should make people aware of the products and services it offers. The availability of a variety of media sources like television, radio, print, outdoor media, the Internet, etc., offers businesses numerous opportunities to promote themselves with a little effort. Many businesses have already understood the importance of marketing and advertising. Businesses in US spent around $144 billion on marketing and advertising in 2011. Globally, it was $ 498 billion.

Marketing and advertising are not the same
Marketing and advertising are two unique concepts which are important for every business to succeed. Many people wrongly assume that they are the same. But, they are not. Marketing involves various activities like identifying the target markets, their needs and requirements; new product development, promotion, building brand image, etc. Advertising, on the other hand, is one of the marketing activities. It is a kind of promotion to make consumers aware of the products/services available under a brand.

In this article, we will discuss on how marketing and advertising help businesses.

• Marketing defines target markets: Target markets or target customers is a group of people who are more likely to buy products/services offered by your business. Unless a business identifies its target market, it cannot design its advertising strategy that is customized to serve potential consumers. Marketing helps the businesses effectively identify their target markets. Marketing involves research to identify people who you want to sell your products and people who need your products.

• Identifies customers’ needs: It is important to continuously monitor and produce products that suit the requirements of your target group. Marketing does this exactly. It identifies customers’ requirements by conducting various polls, campaigns and research, which enable the businesses to produce products that match the needs and wants of the consumers.

• Builds brand image: Good reputation makes a company stand-out from the rest. As marketing enables a company to produce products as per the customers’ demand, and helps it conduct various programs to promote the brand and its products, a kind of brand image will be established among the public.

• Advertising helps publicize company’s products and services: While marketing involves all the back-end operations like research, collecting opinions, identifying needs and requirements and so on, advertising is associated with publicizing the brand to the consumers. It creates an awareness of the brand as well as the products/services offered by it among people and thus makes the brand well known among the target markets.

Besides creating brand awareness, an effective advertisement does have the power to persuade the public to buy the products. The diverse means of advertising include non-electronic media like newspapers, brochures, journals, magazines, banners, posters, etc., and electronic media such as television, radio, the Internet, etc.

• Differentiates company’s products from others’ products: Another advantage of advertising is that it gives a company an opportunity to differentiate its products from its competitors’ products. Many of us might have seen advertisements which compare the effectiveness of their products with that of their competitors. A popular example is consumer product advertisements, which show comparison of the products. This kind of promotion helps people understand the specialty of your brand/product.

• Enhances your presence in the market: An advertisement campaign continuously reminds the prospective customers about the brand and its products. In a troubled economy, where so many companies are coming in and going out of business within months, an ongoing advertising strategy helps businesses reach their customers effectively. In the long run, it helps the companies build long term relationship with their target customers.

• Marketing and advertising both help a business increase revenues: The final goal of both marketing and advertising is the same – to improve sales and revenues of the company. While marketing improves sales by producing products that serve the needs and wants of the customers, advertising enhances the revenues by making people aware of the products offered by the company.

Any business can accrue these benefits by considering marketing and advertising as essential elements of business. Implementing effective marketing and advertising strategies customized to a business is, however, essential and works out better when both the strategies are integrated. To make the most out of them, it is better to take help of professional advertising and marketing service providers who offer tailor-made strategies designed to meet your business goals and help you prosper and grow bigger.

How to Find Great Live Auctions for Resale Items

Hi, my name is Walt. I’m an auctioneer with 25 years of experience in the auction business and licensed in the state of MA. I own Quick Auction Service, a company that specializes in building and running custom auctions, I’m also the webmaster of my own site and have been on eBay for 8 years. Besides eBay, the types of auctions I run most frequently are antiques and on-site estate auctions, although I’ve run everything from business overstock auctions to charity & special event auctions.

I enjoy sharing my knowledge and stories of the auction business. My goal for article is to help folks get the absolute most out of their auction experience.

Whether your fresh out of the package or a seasoned dealer I think I can offer something in this article to help you with your auciton adventures.

There may be as many reasons to attend auctions as there are types of auctions to attend. Maybe you want to attend an auction to buy items for re-sale on eBay, or some other market. Maybe you want to furnish your home with wonderful antiques, or you want to furnish your home as inexpensively without sacrificing quality.Some folks are just looking for a fun night out. With a little perseverance all these things are possible.

There are antiques and estate auctions, auto auctions, overstock auctions, absolute and no reserve auctions, real estate auctions, specialty auctions where only one genre of items are sold, tailgate auctions, live auctions, online auctions, sealed bid auctions, silent auctions, charity and fund raising auctions and many more.

Can you really buy for pennies on the dollar at an auction? You bet! Many times I’ve seen folks buy and re-sell at the same auction on the same night for a good profit, although be advised, this should only be done after the auction is over.

There are a lot of ways to find an auction, but here are some tips on how to find and attend the best ones.

Visit the genre of shops in the area that apply to the type of auction you want to attend. IE: If your looking for a good antique auction to attend, stop in the local antiques shops and ask for what there are for good auctions in the area. Sounds obvious right? But listen to what they don’t say as well as what they do say. Oftentimes when a dealer speaks poorly about an auction he or she attends, it may be likely that they are trying to keep a good thing secret. Think for a moment, why would a dealer keep attending a lousy auction?

Newspaper ads: I personally like to find ads in the classified ad section rather than flashy display ads. Flashy ads are usually indicative of an auction that will be high priced, may have reserves, (a set price on an item), and usually an enormous crowd. While any auction can be profitable to attend, it is usually best to steer clear of the glitzy ones, at least for the beginner.

Here’s the minimum you want to find out before you go. If there is a phone number in the ad, call and ask for the terms of the sale. What forms of payment do they accept? Is it an absolute auction? An absolute auction is one that has no minimum or reserve bids on items. These are the best auctions to attend! Is there a buyers premium? A buyers premium is like a tax that everyone who makes purchases at that auction must pay above the winning bid price. Most auctions these days do charge a buyers premium, 10% is not unreasonable but I feel much more than that is greedy, and the auctioneer that charges over 10% is counting on most bidders not doing the extra math as the bids quicken in pace.

A fair auction will have ample time to inspect the merchandise, usually at least 2 or 3 hours. Find out when inspection starts and make sure to attend! Never attend an auction if you can’t make the inspection, not unless your prepared to gamble. Most auctioneers sell at a rate of about 100 items per hour, which is why they sell “as is”. They simply don’t have the time to give a detailed description of all the items. Since almost all items at auction are sold AS IS, there are sure to be some damaged, refinished, fake and incomplete items at any given auction. Beware of any auctions that offer very little or no inspection time.

Good auctions will usually have 150 to 400 lots. A lot may be one item or a group of items. The exception to this are specialty auctions, auto auctions, real estate auctions etc.

When you attend your first sale, take note of the 1/2 dozen or so dealers that buy the most often. See if you can find out about other area auctions they attend.

When you do find an excellent auction, attend it as often as possible. By frequenting good sales, you help increase the bottom line of that business. It’s difficult for many auctioneers to keep the quality of merchandise consistent, so good attendance certainly helps. And when an auctioneer gets to know you as a buyer, he/she will go out of the way to accommodate you, to keep you coming back.

Differences in the Types of Auctions That Take Place Around the World

Auctions are those events where properties or goods are sold to the highest bidder. Auctions are mostly public events, where bidders make a series of bids and purchase a particular item for a high price. During auctions, bidders decide the price of an item rather than the seller. It depends on bidders to decide the amount they would want to pay for a specific item. During an auction, a bid is a proof of a legal binding. Bidders agree to pay the amount that they have bid. In a high profile auction, bidders may have to pay a deposit in escrow accounts or give a proof that they can pay for those items.

Types of Auctions:

Different types of auctions take place around the world. Below mentioned are some types of auctions:

1. English auction:
This is a basic type of auction. In this type, people can see the item and then start bidding. Bidders slowly raise the value of their bid until everyone gives up. The highest bidder is the winner. An auctioneer manages an auction, keeps records of the on going bid and decides the winner. Sometimes, the seller will quote a minimum amount for an item to the auctioneer, below which the auctioneer cannot sell that item.

2. Dutch auction:
In this type, the auctioneer sets a particular price and then gradually lowers the price. People in public will start bidding and later decide which prices are suitable for the item. A seller may use this type of auction to sell large quantities of same products to the public. For instance, a seller may want to sell a large amount of hay and will thus, decide to sell this hay to people for the same amount, once a reasonable price is decided.

3. Silent auction:
In this type, the bidders in public will present their bids in a sealed format. These sealed bids open at the same time and bidder with the highest bid wins. There could be a modification in this type of auction. The bidders are allotted a specific period to bid. They can roam in a room displaying the items, and write their bids on an associated sheet of paper. The bidders are allowed to see bids of other bidders and can choose a higher price for an item. At the end of the allotted time, bidder with the highest bid is the winner.

Examples of Auctions:

Auctions can be of two types either public or private. Sellers may trade any kind of items in both types of auctions. Some areas where auctions take place are:

1. Antique auction: An antique auction consists of a trade opportunity as well as provides entertainment.

2. Collectable auction: In a collectable auction, the seller may put up collectables like coins, vintage cars, luxury, stamps, real estate, and luxury for sale.

3. Wine auction: In wine auction, bidders can bid for rare wine, which may not be available in retail wine shops.

4. Horse auction: Bidders can bid for young horses of the best breed.

5. Livestock auction: In livestock auction, bidders can buy pigs, sheep, cattle, and other livestock.

The other examples of auctions may not be public. These auctions are for bidders from corporate levels. Some examples of private auctions are:

1. Timber auction
2. Spectrum auction
3. Electricity auction
4. Debit auction
5. Environmental auction
6. Auto auction
7. Electronic market auction
8. Sales of business auction

Bidders in an auction need to examine the items displayed and decide an appropriate price for an item. Thus, auctions help buyers in getting the best deals and in gaining better profits for sellers.