Category: Uncategorized

Celebrating Brain Awareness Week!

Are you a right-brained or a left-brained thinker? Like handedness, one side or the other of our brain is nearly always dominant. But thinking and learning are enhanced when we work on using both halves to process information. You may already know how you best learn. Read on to learn more or jump ahead to take a quick test. Either way, by paying attention to your less dominant style you can learn how to improve it.

Linear v. Holistic Processing

• The left brain takes pieces of information, arranges them logically and draws conclusions.
• The right brain looks for the big picture, and then breaks it down into its components. It wants to start with the answer and work toward the details.

Right-brained people first want to know why. They may find it difficult to follow a lecture unless they’ve first read background information. That way, the details of the lecture make sense. They’ll also rebel against outlining a report or project. They prefer to write it first, and then make the outline if the job requires one. Left-brained people could exercise their right brain by trying this approach.

Sequential v. Random Processing

• The left brain is a list-maker, completing tasks in order and checking them off when they are accomplished. Learning something in sequence is relatively easy, like processing math problems and following directions.
• The right brain approach is random, resisting schedules and lists.

Left-brained people tend to be more organized; right-brained people may accomplish the same amount of work but may not have prioritized that work. Right-brained people might use colors to help them in sequencing. They may also “walk” a sequence, either physically or in their imagination.

Symbolic v. Concrete Processing

• The left brain is comfortable with symbols (letters, words, or math notations). It will memorize vocabulary words or math formulas.
• The right brain wants to see, feel, or touch. The preference is to see words in context or see how the formula works.

To exercise your right brain, seek out hands-on activities. Draw a math problem or sketch a map.

Logical v. Intuitive Processing

• Left brains express themselves in words.
• Right brains need concrete images.

Exercise your right brain by listening to your “gut feeling.” Then solve the problem logically and see if your intuition was right.

Verbal v. Nonverbal Processing

• The left brain uses available data to solve a math problem. It reads and listens to draw logical conclusions.
• The right brain trusts intuition. It may know the answer to a math problem but not be able to explain the steps.

When giving directions, a left-brained person will give a detailed explanation: “from here, go five blocks to Pine Street, then turn north.” A right-brained person might say “drive past the big pine tree until you get to the railroad tracks.” Left-brained people can exercise their right brains by visualizing or illustrating things they read or hear.

Think you know if you’re right- or left-brained? Take this 20-question test to find out which side dominates your life.

Article adapted from content on http://web-us.com/brain/LRBrain.html.

219.769.2299 or friends@viamarketing.net

We are not going to regale you with the top ten reasons why you should have a plan. Hopefully you already know why. Our intent is to give you the structure to actually do one. Many times people just don’t know where to start. We use the following outline.

Step One. SWOT/Overview
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Go through this excercise to help you think through where you’ve been and where you want to go. State in your overview any changes in the market and insights about your competiton.

Step Two. Target Audiences Defined
Who is your audience? List demographics. Are you adding any niches this year?

Step Three. Objectives and Budget Defined
Allocations should change depending on your plans. Don’t add a niche without adding a corresponding budget. Are marketing goals and objectives shifting from branding and market recognition to lead generation and sales conversion?

Step Four. Select Strategies and Tactics
Really think through where your customers are coming from and how they learn about you. There is a synergy that develops when you choose more than one medium.

Step Five. Plot Timing
Create a marketing calendar that contains a month-by-month schedule of marketing activities and events for the upcoming year.

Step Six. Monitor Results Throughout the Year

When finished, you will have a comprehensive marketing plan in hand. This important tool will help you work smarter (not harder) at achieving your goals. As you revise your marketing plan year after year, this tool becomes even stronger.

If you prefer having someone walk you through the process, we offer access to research, facilitation skills and online and offline media knowledge. Please don’t hesitate to give us a call.

219.769.2299 or friends@viamarketing.net

Impress visitors with custom pages

If you already have or are considering a business presence on Facebook, be sure it represents your company well. Many small businesses and most of the top brands add custom tabs to their Facebook pages to give visitors more reasons to return. Promoting an event, posting coupons or including maps and directions help keep people coming back to your page.

Facebook allows html designers to customize tab names and page content. The tab can be whatever we name it, such as Welcome or Services, and the page can contain whatever we program it to say. You can even direct first time visitors to a specific page.

Visit VIA Marketing’s Facebook Fan Page >>

Why should you have a presence on Facebook? Because it’s still growing. As of November 9, 2010, Facebook boasts 143,583,400 users in the United States alone. The strongest age group involved is 18-34 years old (http://www.checkfacebook.com/). Facebook is popular for many reasons. It keeps families and friends connected. It helps you find lost friends. It joins people together over common causes and interests.

For retail businesses and brands, building a Facebook following is an excellent way to persuade customers to buy from you and refer their friends. You can reach out through associations. Involvement in social media as a whole is a tremendous customer relations tool.

Facebook allows marketers access to data for sought-after target markets. You can buy an ad and send it to people chosen by age, gender, geography, and special interests. A common two percent click through rate for a Facebook ad performs better than the one percent averaged by direct mail. Remember it’s marketing’s job to bring you customers. It’s the sales department’s job to close the sale. If your Facebook page or ad directs people to your website, how good a job is your website selling for you?

At VIA Marketing we advocate using a mix of multiple media choices, as you will never “touch” everyone with any single medium. This is especially true if you’re trying to reach both boomers and millennials on polar ends of the electronic stream.