Promotional Activities

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is a type of advertising campaign that seeks to elicit an action (such as an order, a visit to a store or Web site, or a request for further information) from a selected group of consumers in response to a communication from the marketer.

Publicity/PR

"The profession or practice of creating and maintaining goodwill of an organization's various publics (customers, employees, investors, suppliers, etc.), usually through publicity and other nonpaid forms of communication. These efforts may also include support of arts, charitable causes, education, sporting events, and other civic engagements."

Publicity — "Type of promotion that relies on public relations effect of a news story carried usually free by mass media. The main objective of publicity is not sales promotion, but creation of an image through editorial or 'independent source' commentary. While the publicist can control the content of the story, he or she may not have any control over its placement or interpretation by the media."

Advertisement

The Mind Mapping Software Blog offers numerous opportunities to promote your products and services to an eager audience of visual thinkers and mind mappers.

Personal selling

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Competitions

Who is the competition?

You have many challenges as a small business owner. There are customers to woo, bills to pay, upgrades to make and wares to sell.

So it’s easy to understand why your competition might take a backseat to those pressing concerns. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through my years working for businesses ranging from tiny to global, it’s that underestimating companies in your vertical is a foolish mistake to make.

I suppose I should be giving you a friendly, kumbaya message about how small businesses should work together, but that’s simply not realistic all the time. Sometimes, you must crush the competition in order to thrive. In fact, sometimes you need to have a healthy obsession with the businesses both small and large who are cutting into your customer count.

Direct competition

A term that describes a company that produces a virtually identical good or service that is offered for sale within the same market as those produced by one or more other companies. In addition to watching their relative pricing for similar products, a business operator will keep track of any significant technological innovations at any direct competitor that might put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Indirect competition

Indirect competitor is another company that offers the same products and services, much like direct competitors; however, the same end goals are different. These competitors are seeking to grow revenue with a different strategy.

Nearly every company is involved with some form of indirect competition. General contractors face indirect competition from do-it-yourself promoters, such as The Home Depot. Both of these strategies are aimed at satisfying the customer's needs and desires utilizing a different marketing mix. By outlining all the potential ways the customer's needs can be met and using the marketing mix to handle the competition you can generate an advantage for your products and services

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Buyers

Description of buyers

The buyers will dictate the level of demand of your product or service. On a Mind Map, you can use branches to explore the different avenues that the buyer could purchase from, such as a shop or online. Stick to keywords rather than phrases on your branches to help trigger more associations and a deeper analysis.

Start by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of each avenue, especially cost and availability. This will help you to determine where the buyers are most likely to purchase from. Further topics to explore on the Mind Map include the product itself, the concentration of buyers, price sensitivity and the choice available to the buyers.

Let’s take the example of custom made oak furniture. Buyers will be willing to pay more for this as it is not a widely available product. This gives the manufacturer, you, more bargaining power. However, if you look at a product such as washing up liquid, there are more readily available options to the buyer, and factors such as the price and quantity will play a pivotal role in the buyer’s decision.

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Objectives

Company Background

Mind Mapping software Ltd, a Hong Kong registered business, offers the productivity software tools and service. Mind map, its flag product, is a great mind mapping and brainstorming software, and serving more than a million users around the world. Our purpose is to develop the best productivity tool, save people's time and raise the efficiency. Mind mapping software was founded in 1998 by computer programmer Mike Jetter and his wife, Bettina Jetter, in order to support the development of their mind mapping software, Mind Manager. Jetter conceived of the idea for the first product while recovering from an illness in hospital, and began developing the program while living in Germany in 1994, aiming to simplify the creation and sharing of mind maps for business users.

Objectives of the plan

If we haven’t already done so, most of us are in planning mode and setting out business, departmental, team and personal objectives.

One definition of the term :-

                                          “Objective” is: “a statement of a specific result or outcome that a person is aiming to achieve within a defined timescale and within available resources”.

The same definition can of course apply to team or organizational objectives.

All around the globe, towards the end of 2013 and at the beginning of this New Year, many individuals, teams and organization have been harnessing the power of Mind mapping software to map out and, more importantly, focus on their plans, priorities and key objectives for the coming year. With that in mind, I decided to focus on the all important aspect of personal objectives for this month’s Newsletter and share some sample Maps with you.  Also included are some hints and tips on how Mind mapping software can be applied and add value to this area of work.

Vision

Do you remember the vision or mission statement of the last company you worked for? Did you actually understand all the bits that made up the vision, and why they were there?

If you’re anything like me (and everyone else employed at all the places I worked), then you probably didn’t really read or understand the vision statement, and it had no impact on what you did in the job or how you did it.

In many businesses, it’s like the owner or board of directors had a “planning seizure” one day and produced this document that got pinned to the wall somewhere, and has been steadfastly ignored ever since.

Well that whole scene changes when the vision statement is done using Mind Maps. The visual nature of the Mind Maps means that they are noticeable, colorful and easy to understand. The linkages between the overall company goals and the specific things that the company does to implement the things that lead to achieving the goals is clear. You can see at a glance what the company is all about and how they are going to achieve the vision.

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Mind Map Use in Marketing

Using a Mind Map Marketing Plan may be more important than using a Mind Map Business Plan.

Many entrepreneurs put together a Business Plan when they want to acquire finance. 

If you don't have a Business Plan look at our article on creating a practical Mind Map Business Plan, which can not only be used to raise finance, but to actually run your business.

A Marketing Plan while less often used, is equally, if not more, important. Knowing how you are going to take your business to the market requires some serious thinking about who you are and what you are offering your customers.

Using a Mind Map Marketing Plan will allow you to quickly and easily put together a plan that works. Mind Maps allow your Marketing Plan to come alive, yet still explore all the necessary options.

Use our Mind Map Marketing Plan guide to help you draw up your own marketing plan. Simply follow the instructions at the end of this article to have the first draft of your Marketing Plan within a few minutes. As we mentioned in our Mind Map by example article, using examples and templates to get you Mind Mapping is the easiest and quickest way to get started.

Things will also be much easier if you make use of Mind Map Software for your Marketing Plan. Try Free Mind Map software to get a feel for Mind Mapping before you try some of the commercial Mind Map Software products.

Before we look at our Mind Map Marketing Plan, let's explore some important points that you need to keep in mind when drawing up your marketing plan.

Who is your purchaser?

Knowing who wants your product or service is the very best place to start. The better you know your customer, the better your Mind Map Mark

eting Plan will be.

Knowing your customer will also allow you to get an idea of the market share that you will be able to take. Knowing what competitors your customers buy from will also give you a good insight into how you can ensure you get your fair share of the market.

Mind Map your Ideal Customer and use this with your Mind Map Business Plan and Mind Map Marketing Plan to attract customers that love what you have to offer.

Where do you want to go?

The success of your Mind Map Marketing Plan is also largely determined by your vision of the future. Try projecting yourself five years into the future. What do you want your business to be?

 Look back at where you are now. Can you build a roadmap to get there?

Having this future vision will enable you to put to a Mind Map Marketing Plan that all your stakeholders (you, your staff, your customers, your suppliers) can buy into.

How are you going to promote your product or service?

Before you can start with this, do you have a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). You Mind Map Marketing Plan depends on you having an idea of what you provide from the customer's point of view. Put yourself into your customer's shoes. You will then see your business through their eyes. Do you like what you see?

Now that you have done some visualisation of your business, you are better equipped to put together your Mind Map Marketing Plan. We've put together a short bullet list with headings to serve as an outline for your Mind Map:

Objectives

Company Background

Objectives of the plan

Vision

Buyers

Description of buyer

Competition

Who is the competition?

Direct competitors

Indirect competitors

Promotional Activities

Publicity/PR

Direct Marketing

Advertising

Personal Selling

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Mind Mapping Spray and Spider Diagrams

USES:

Mind Maps are useful for:

 
 Brainstorming   – individually, and as a group.

 Summarizing information, and note taking.
     
 Consolidating information from different research sources.

 Thinking through complex problems.

Presenting information in a format that shows the overall structure of your subject.

Studying and memorizing information.

Drawing Basic Mind Maps

To draw a Mind Map, follow these steps:

1. Write the title of the subject you're exploring in the center of the page, and draw a circle around it. This is shown by the circle marked in figure 1, below.

(Our simple example shows someone brainstorming actions needed to deliver a successful presentation.)

Figure 1

2. As you come across major subdivisions or subheadings of the topic (or important facts that relate to the subject) draw lines out from this circle. Label these lines with these subdivisions or subheadings.

 (See figure 2, below.)

Figure 2

3. As you "burrow" into the subject and uncover another level of information (further subheadings, or individual facts) belonging to the subheadings, draw these as lines linked to the subheading lines. These are shown in figure 3.

Figure 3

4. Then, for individual facts or ideas, draw lines out from the appropriate heading line and label them. These are shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4

5. As you come across new information, link it in to the Mind Map appropriately.

A complete Mind Map may have main topic lines radiating in all directions from the center. Sub-topics and facts will branch off these, like branches and twigs from the trunk of a tree. You don't need to worry about the structure you produce, as this will evolve of its own accord.

TIP:

While drawing Mind Maps by hand is appropriate in many cases, software tools and apps like Coggle, Bubbl.us, Mindmeister, MindGenius, iMindMap, and xMindMap can improve the process by helping you to produce high quality Mind Maps, which you can then easily edit or redraft. (Click here for a full list of Mind Map software.)

Source Link:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm

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Mind Map Use for Student

Mind mapping is one of the best ways to capture your thoughts and bring them to life in visual form. Beyond just note-taking, though, mind maps can help you become more creative, remember more, and solve problems more effectively. Whether you're new to mind maps or just want a refresher, here's all you need to know about this technique.

What Are Mind Maps?

A mind map is basically a diagram that connects information around a central subject. I like to think of it like a tree, although it has more of a radial structure. In any case, at the center is your main idea, say, poetry, and the branches are subtopics or related ideas, such as types of poetry, famous poets, and poetry publications. Greater levels of detail branch out from there and branches can be linked together.

Mind maps can be used for pretty much any thinking or learning task, from studying a subject (such as a new language) to planning your career or even building better habits. The Asian Efficiency blog offers a few unusual ways to use mind maps you might not have considered: create a knowledge bank (since mind mapping software lets you attach files and add links), solve problems (such as which credit card to use), create book summaries, and set goals. They're great for teams to use as well, for group brainstorming and interactive presentations.

Mind Mapping technique is, and why students would use it. Well, we have 7 ways students can start Mind Mapping to get better results, improve their memory and spend less time.

1) Making Notes

           Firstly, Mind Maps are a great way for students to make notes on all of the information they receive. Do you ever feel like, as students, you are being told a ton of facts and figures and have no way to get it all down and remember it? Mind Maps help students to note down only the most important information using key words, and then make connections between facts and ideas visually – keeping all of your topic thoughts together on one sheet.This makes note making easier or students, as it reduces pages of notes into one single side of paper. Having one visual resource to refer to makes everything easier. Then, when you come back to review your notes, you will remember the information more quickly – quite a feat!                                           

Plus, with the iMindMap software, you can attach files, videos, documents and web links to your Maps for information at your fingertips! You can add to these and edit when you revisit them for your exams.             

2) Planning and Essay 

Students get it all the time – your teachers are asking you to create an essay plan. But do you just not know where to start? Or, when you make a plan, do you find it hard to stick to? By creating a Mind Map to plan your essay, you generate more ideas quickly and, with the radial structure, you can quickly see the connecting topics, main paragraphs and structure.
Mind Maps will help you make a realistic plan for your essay, and create a logical structure for the introduction, main sections and conclusions. Mind Mapping focuses your mind on the message you want to get across and the key information you want to include, making you less likely to go off topic or start rambling – a great tool for making sure you hit the marking criteria.                                                                                                                                                                     With iMindMap, you create your Map of keywords, plus you can add notes if you need more detail. Once you have made your Mind Map, you can even export it to Microsoft Word – with your notes in place, your essay is nearly fully written! Great for students’ coursework. Mind Mapping to plan essays is especially useful for students facing timed essays in their exams!

3) Studying for Exams

Speaking of exams, how many students hate studying for exams? Having to go back through piles of notes, forgetting what they were about in the first place! With Mind Mapping, studying and exams don’t have to be scary. Simply review the notes you have made on each subject, and Mind Map the key information you need to remember.
To check that you have memorised this information, you can create a new Mind Map with only the main topic branches, and then fill in the rest from memory. You will find that you will have remembered more, and maintained the connections between ideas – ideal for answering exam questions! When students use iMindMap, you can collapse branches to test yourself, or focus in and out on different aspects of the subject.

4) Creative Inspiration

Have you ever tried to write a story, paint a picture or plan an essay but had no ideas to start with? Mind Mapping sparks billions of creative ideas, for students to turn into the next great novel or artwork! Mind Maps work in the same way as your brain, meaning that when you have a thought – this could be an image, a word or a feeling – this instantly sparks off hundreds of connecting ideas.
Mind Maps are just a way of representing this process on paper, so start Mind Mapping and you’ll find thousands of ideas flooding out. Plus, Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Mapping and all-round smart guy, says that when you start Mind Mapping students should note down any ideas that they have – no matter how crazy or random! This is where the best creative plans come from – so don’t be afraid to be off the wall…

5) Problem Solving

If you have a tough equation or obstacle you need to overcome, Mind Mapping can help you to see things clearly. Students should know that the ability to problem solve is looked for by universities and future employers – Mind Mapping will get you ahead of the pack!
When you encounter a problem, your instinct is to panic, meaning your heart starts beating faster and you feel stressed. Instead of ‘forcing’ your mind to find a solution, Mind Mapping helps to open up many possibilities and options to solve the problem.
When you Mind Map for a solution, you can add any ideas or resources you can think of, and the nature of Mind Mapping means that you spark off more possibilities from your original thoughts. You can then refine your Map for the most practical or realistic solutions available. For students, by Mind Mapping a solution to your problem, you should become focused on the many options you have, and then choose the quickest/easiest/best one for your problem.

6) Making Presentations

Making presentations at school, college or university can be daunting for students, but they are a great way of showing that you know the subject well and are confident to talk about it. With Mind Maps, presenting is a breeze for students. Reading from sheets of notes is boring for students – with Mind Mapping you only have keywords and images to stimulate your memory, so you automatically present in a more conversational way as you keep eye contact with your audience. When you make your presentation Mind Map, you only keep the most interesting facts and information, and you lay it out in a clear structure. You can even add numbers to order your talking points. With iMindMap, you can plan your presentation with all of your ideas and resources, create your presentation Map and even present using the amazing inbuilt Presentation Mode – all from within one Mind Map! Presentation Mode animates your Mind Map as you talk, to really wow your crowd.

7) Group Study

Group study can be a really fun way for students to share their knowledge, and Mind Mapping can help you to get the best out of a brainstorming session. First, you should make an individual Mind Map of your thoughts on the topic, as this will focus your mind on your own ides and opinions – not all the other students’!Then when you join together, you can combine your ideas with your friends’, without losing your personal insights on the topic, creating a new Mind Map with everyone’s ideas.With iMindMap, you can create a Mind Map with each of your friends’ names as main branches, and then even record Audio Notes of you and your fellow students’ discussions, adding each persons’ input to their individual branch.

Source link:

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-use-mind-maps-to-unleash-your-brains-creativity-1348869811   


http://thinkbuzan.com/articles/view/7-mind-mapping-uses-for-students/

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