The Changing Kiranawala! - India

80 Lakh Kirana outlets have been a number constantly quoted in various studies as the first consumer choice for shopping across India. They have distinct advantages that are obvious now; convenience, extension of credit, home delivery & leveraging personal relationships. But threats from outside & inside have ensured that they have evolved rapidly over the last 5 to 10 years.   

         

                                      

Bing new logo & Interphase - The Next Phase

At Bing, we understand that search is more than simply finding information, it’s about taking action and gaining knowledge. Since Bing’s launch, we’ve talked about doing instead of searching, and how the web has changed from a collection of documents to a constantly growing digital version of life as we know it. At the same time, the devices and scenarios through which people experience the web are morphing at an accelerating rate. We no longer think about search as simply a box that people type into. We ‘search’ on maps using our fingers, ask our devices questions using our voice, use our social networks to figure out what’s happening, and even use our phone’s ‘eyes’ to navigate foreign cities. Search has never been asked to do so many things in so many different ways across so many devices. It’s time to change.

Nowhere has this been more obvious than with how people use Microsoft devices and services. We can now speak to our Xbox consoles to find and interact with digital entertainment. Our Windows Phones offer contextually relevant suggestions and can translate languages in real time. Bing image search is now part of Word, and Bing Maps part of Excel. Bing is now an important service layer for Microsoft, and we wanted to create a new brand identity to reflect Bing’s company-wide role. The new look integrates the “One Microsoft” vision both from a product perspective and visually. 

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Microsoft gives Bing a new logo and is making changes to its interface

Microsoft has been constantly adding new features to its Bing search site since it first launched in 2009 as a direct competitor to Google. However, it hasn't made much of a dent in Google's overall search market share. Today, the company announced its biggest overhaul of Bing since it started over four years ago. The changes starts with a new logo:

Good-bye old Bing logo ...

How to Find New Markets

New markets can mean markets in a new location or country. However, on a more practical level, a new market is simply a set of customers who have not purchased from you before. This means that a new market could be customers in a different part of town, socio-economic group, country or industry.

Marketing Research Kit - Good Marketing Research Terms and Ethics

Marketing can increase your sales and profits. To optimize your sales and target the best customers, you need to conduct research to pinpoint the best approach for your marketing communications and strategies. Ensure that you’re conducting the best research possible, recognize and question standard marketing research terms so you understand every step of the process, and practice good research ethics to protect your business and guarantee its success.

Are Customer Surveys really important and helpful to Small Businesses?

Because satisfied customers are loyal customers.  Loyal customers come back and buy from you again, and tell their friends all about the great service they have received from you.  Then their friends come and shop with you too.

Customers that are dissatisfied or just feel neutral are more likely to try the competition.  They won’t tell you, they will just do it, and they may never come back to you.

Big businesses know this, and carry out customer surveys all the time.   A number of small businesses however will often skip market research as they feel that they cannot afford it or that it is not relevant to them.  However customer research is important regardless of business size, here’s why:

How to Survey your Market – Thinking outside the Online Survey Tools Box

I am always going on about how much small businesses need to do market research, even those who are just starting up.   Market Research will tell you everything you need to know about your customers, such as how they buy your products, and what needs they have that can be fulfilled by your products.

Many soloist and small businesses rush out into the market with their new product idea without first answering these questions, and then wonder why nobody buys their product.

One of the main reasons that research is skipped is due to lack of funds to hire a research agency, however there are a number of tools and resources available to help you run your own research studies right here on this site.

Guide to Market Research - For Beginner's

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” -Zora Neale Hurston

 What if tomorrow your best customers were in charge of your business? That’s right: you’re out, they’re in. Your CEO is now the customer whose loyalty card whizzes like a finely oiled European sports car. And your management team has been replaced by a cadre of heavy users, students of every nuance of your business.

The Marketing Concept

The marketing concept is the philosophy that firms should analyze the needs of their customers and then make decisions to satisfy those needs, better than the competition. Today most firms have adopted the marketing concept, but this has not always been the case.

In 1776 in The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith wrote that the needs of producers should be considered only with regard to meeting the needs of consumers. While this philosophy is consistent with the marketing concept, it would not be adopted widely until nearly 200 years later.