Mastermind Solutions, a Toronto based management consulting organization that focuses on business growth through strategy, marketing, finance and organizational design and Corporate Renaissance Group (CRGroup), a leading provider of business software and performance management solutions, today announced a strategic alliance to bring a full suite of complementary services to the mid-market business[...]

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Unlocking Success: The Art of Strategic Marketing Planning Part 1 A dairy company decided to run an exciting promotion that they hoped would increase sales dramatically. Inside some of their small milk cartons they placed a device that made a MOO sound when the carton was opened. If the consumer had that carton, they would be a winner. The promotion was going along just fine until one of the [...]

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The Path to Informed Decision-Making: Insights into Your Market and Customer Behaviour How well do you really know your market or your potential customer? Do you really know what they want to buy? How much they are willing to spend? When do they shop? How do they shop? All these kinds of questions are really important because the answers should dictate your offering to them.[...]

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Strategic Competitive Intelligence gives you the edge over your competition Your competitors can be your best source of information. Use them to your advantage. Whenever you undertake any kind of marketing, one of the first things you should do is evaluate what your competitors are doing. The idea is not to simply copy them, but to actually learn from them and try to identify [...]

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The Dynamic Nature of Strategic Branding: Beyond the Logo Your brand is your product or company name and what it stands for. It is not only your logo as some people mistakenly believe. Your brand is a living organism, something that changes over time, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse, depending on how well you take care of the brand. It is often a key [...]

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Leveraging Warranties as Effective Sales Tools When you buy a new product from a store, doesn't it make the purchase easier when they salesperson says to you: "and the product is warranteed by us for 3 years"? Very often, just the use of the words warranty or guarantee helps to reinforce the product or service that is being sold, even if the warranty is never used. It's like that[...]

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Navigating the Shift from Do It Yourself Marketing to Professional Guidance for Business Growth For many smaller businesses, marketing is often a Do It Yourself project. That often works at a basic level and I encourage you to do that when it is appropriate, and when you have the time and the required skills. At a point in time (and every business owner will have a different [...]

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Turning Satisfaction into Advocacy: Crafting Compelling Case Studies and Customer Testimonials Who are the best and most respected promoters of your business – well obviously, it's your happy customers. So why not take advantage of this tremendous goodwill by documenting case studies and testimonials that your customers can endorse. If your customers are truly satisfied, they[...]

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Identifying a Precise Target Market for Enhanced Marketing Strategies One of the most critical things a business person needs to do is decide who they want to sell their products or services to. In marketing terms that is known as The Target Audience. While it is often totally logical, many people cannot truly identify exactly who their target audience really is. They often [...]

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Leveraging Satisfied Customers for Effective Referral Marketing Well it's definitely not the business owners, nor the people that work in the business. Quite simply, it's your best and most loyal customers. They have the most intimate, and relevant, knowledge about your business and why it is meaningful to customers, like themselves. Very often, business owners won't truly [...]

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