Zambia: updates

Lots of little updates; kit has been begged, borrowed and even bought in a few cases. There is a huge stack in our house of all the items we need to take. I'm not sure we can fit it all on our backs. Weight testing on Tom and Anna has shown the level os moans rises proportionally to the weight they are carrying and that if you push them over with their packs on they can't stand up again. Not helpful in a busy airport.

The most expensive item and curiously the smallest has been the anti-malaria tablets - they've cost a small fortune. Anna's been practicing the art of swallowing tablets, vitamins I hasten to add, but hasn't cracked the technique yet. Any advice?

We have our fetching yellow Bookbus t-shirts now. Jo the Bookbus coordinator flew out last week to get the bus up and running again after the rainy season. She's also going to the north of the country to establish a route up there for later this year.

The Hopkin's are a wonderful family who read about our adventure in the local paper and get in touch. They've spent a lot of time in Zambia and recently spent 6 weeks there with their 3 children. They came round to visit last week which was great for Toma dn Anna to quiz their children about Zambia, food, snakes, people and camping. Really helpful for all of us to hear first hand experience.      

We're going to do our first packing dry-run this week. Plus we've found we've got a weight limit for the internal flights of 15kg. yikes. More posts soon.

Jim

Effective Pricing in a Recession

We spotted an excellent and thought provoking article in Management Today about how to price products and services effectively through a recession. Here are some of the key points they raised and you can read more by visiting www.managementtoday.co.uk

- Price should reflect the value of your offer and not be discounted

- Lure people with incentives like free delivery, extended warranties and monthly instalments rather than cutting price

- Ensure clients see the value by delivering prompt, reliable and trustworthy service

- Do not enter a price war even if competitors significantly cut their prices. Trade instead on your added value

- Investigate who is spending what and how quickly they pay and focus on providing loyalty rewards for them

Think about what the customer is buying rather than what you are selling. These tips apply whatever the economic climate but as Management Today points out, it is ever more important when the going gets tough and there's pressure to take your prices in a southerly direction in an attempt to feel competitive.

We also believe it's vital not to do something like pricing by sitting in a vacuum... the best thing is to talk to your customers. Find out what they value most about your products and services. Build up your marketing around those things and remember it's those things that will help you to maintain or even increase your prices... whatever the financial climate.

This blog was inspired by www.managementtoday.co.uk/

The Importance of Market Segmentation

We have been banging on for ages to our clients about the value of market segmentation, the breaking down of all possible customers and prospects into bit-sized chunks so that marketing can be closely focused on messages they'll each understand. Lo and behold market segmentation has been picked up by the Chartered Institute of Marketing's magazine 'The Marketer' with an in depth article focusing on this essential marketing technique. They advise that:

- Ensure everyone agrees it’s needed and get buy-in across the organisation

- Find specialist segmentation professionals as usual research agencies may not have the skills

- The data may not give all the answers so have a strategy about what you are trying to collect and understand

- Statistically correct answers may not exist in segmentation so expect variations

- Segmentation is as much an art as it is a science

- Ensure your outcomes and segments are simple and usable

- Survey data relies on producing averages but make sure they are meaningful

- Bring your segments to life with names and images

- Segmentation is the start of the journey to deliver better value for customers

Market segmentation is not just something that you do when you are creating your marketing plans it should be a mantra for all successful communications people. If you aren't quite sure what we mean by market segmentation or you would like to explore how you might start to do it for your organisation please get in touch because it's something we can help you with and you'll never look back and generalise about your customers again.

Zambia: Sticky Back Plea

Hello!

We're only one month away I am on the hunt for Book Bus supplies! So here is my plea! Besides books we really need art supplies - crayons, paper, tissue paper, pva glue, funky stickers, tape - pretty much anything you feel you can give.

If you know somebody who works in a stationery store, art store or any where else which sells sticky, arty supplies then tell how lovely The Book Bus is!! As part of the deal - we can have an art day dedicated to the donor. Every contribution is valued and even if you want to send in just a pack of crayons then please do to:

The Book Bus Foundation
64-66 Marketplace
Iron Yard
Warwick
CV34 4SD

Let us know your details and we'll let you know how your donation was used! Many thanks for your time! Jim

Online Social Networking - It Doesn't Bite!

Finally it happened. Viper fully embraced the concept of Online Social Networking. Some of the team have been involved in the web since 1994. Yes really! And yet it's taken until early 2009 for us to practice what we preach every week in our e-Marketing training courses, distance learning programmes and recommendations to our clients for their marketing plans and campaigns.

Isn't that just typical though. Companies like ours always spend their time telling everyone else how great things are to do and yet don't find the time to do it themselves. We hold up our hands and drop our heads in shame!

Well actually it's not quite as bad as it seems. In many ways we have been like the vast majority of companies across the UK in a whole host of different market sectors. We have struggled to see the link between the fun of Facebook and the harsh commercial reality of generating new business and clients. Well in recent months with the huge explosion of interest in particularly Twitter and LinkedIn we could suddenly see how regular interaction with our friends and contacts in this online social world could bring us new business opportunities. Not just nice chatty and friendly opportunities but a real opportunity to promote our brand, our services and the great work we are doing for all our clients.

Yes the time has arrived when online social networking has hit the premier league of marketing and communications tools. We saw it rising through the lower leagues over recent years and months but in the latter stages of 2008 and now certainly in the first quarter of 2009 it's vying for a champions league place next season.

Here's the opportunity then. You either embrace the change and see this as an unknown but exciting and very cost effective way of developing your business or you sit on the fence or worse still, shy away from it as something not relevant to you or your organisation and too technical for you to think about.

For those willing to find out more and jump in now you will be glad you did. If you don't then there's a huge danger that by the time you do (and believe us, you will at some point in the future) your competitors or peers will be so far ahead of you that you'll never actually catch up.

If you are curious to learn from others who have made mistakes and learnt some good things just ahead of you then get in touch and we'll tell you what works and what doesn't for us. And don't worry, it really doesn't bite!