The Quartz Effect

the quartz effect  //  Quartz Marketing is an innovative business service that helps companies develop a strong brand presence through developing strong marketing plans and running simple and effective marketing programmes and campaigns that you understand with you.

Oct 7 / 1:51am

We have moved

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You may have noticed that your favourite Blog is now sporting a new look and this is because we have finally migrated over to the popular blogging platform, WordPress.

With a strong ecosystem around WordPress, this is exciting news because there are so many more themes, widgets, plug-ins and overall community support available.

The more we learn about WordPress, the more we like it, and the more we want to tweak the various settings for a personalized experience. One thing has become quite clear in all of this, namely, if we want total control of the Blog (i.e. super-admin rights), we really needed to host the Blog on our own domain and thus we have decided to launch: TheQuartzEffect.

The move has been exciting and no doubt a learning experience, but one we highly recommend if you are serious about Blogging, and frankly you should be. I hope you follow us along as we continue to share our marketing experiences and update you on what’s going on within this wonderful industry.

Remember to Bookmark us and subscribe to our marketing updates

www.thequartzeffect.com

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Sep 12 / 11:59pm

#Branding Basics For Every #Zimbabwean #Business

Thank you for visiting our blog, if it’s your first time please subscribe to our blog page to learn how to maximise your online visibility and how to promote your business effectively online:  RSS feed.

It’s been a hectic summer and we have found ourselves distracted by some high value activities and events we have been caught up with, like the very successful Zimfest which we have been part of the last few years. It was fantastic to meet and mingle with most of you on the day. However we do apologise for not updating our blog but we are back refreshed and looking forward to the winter and giving you a lot more marketing tips like we have always done.

Zimfest has always brought out the best in us. It’s such an emotional journey and it’s always fantastic to see so many Zimbos in one place, however the one place that’s always of great interest to me is the Business Tent where a lot of UK based Zimbo business showcase and exhibit their services/products. I met so many businesses and made some observations in there which is what this blog post is about, some branding mistakes that I saw on the day and some simple tweaks and resolutions that you can use to improve the most important aspect of your business.

Imagine what it would be like if you can control other people’s minds—and you have the power to motivate, influence consumer buying behaviour and persuade people to agree to practically anything you propose. If you have the power to shape someone’s reality?

The Truth Is... You Can!

It all boils down to perception. You wouldn’t show up to an important business meeting wearing mismatched socks and a shirt full of holes—you wouldn’t look very professional or competent. So don’t do it to your business. Quite simply, the image you create of your business for prospects is their reality.

The following three components should form a launching point for developing your small business branding and marketing direction for your Zimbabwean small business.

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A Bullet-Proof Business Logo

In the blink of an eye, your sale can be made or lost because of the credibility and professionalism of your small business logo. A professional marketing firm can help you identify the core beliefs and mission of your business, and translate those intangibles into a compelling visual service mark. Resulting in a logo that effectively plays upon the subconscious to create positive mental associations and persuade people to see your business the way you want them to see it.

Matching Marketing Collateral Material

Imagine trying to play poker with a deck of cards where each card had its own completely different suit... it’s impossible! The consistency of your sales message is vital to promoting a strong, healthy, unified business image. The look and feel of your business cards, letterhead, envelopes, product packaging, brochures and website should all maintain a standard look, as dictated by your brand, website brand and logo. That means visual elements such as fonts, colours and layouts should be standardized. If you laid out each of the above pieces on a table, visually, each piece should complement each other.

A High-Impact Website

You simply can’t afford not to have a website for your business. With over one-billion people now using the internet, it’s too big of an opportunity to pass up. Even the smallest businesses can effectively use the internet to promote their products and services, attract new business, tap into new markets, and compete with the big dogs. With such widespread adoption of the internet, to many customers, you simply aren’t real to them if you don’t have a website. They expect to find you online! And if you do have a website, but it's dying a slow, painful death, now's the time to consider a website redesign.

Your overall, business image, or brand, speaks volumes about your level of commitment, dependability, quality of service, and overall value. That’s why it is absolutely mission critical your logo, marketing collateral and website send the right message about you and your business. Your customers will repay you in additional sales and loyalty, thanks to the confidence and comfort they receive from a consistent and carefully scripted brand image.

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Jul 10 / 12:07pm

Primary keys to using social media

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A lot of Small Businesses have stepped up their marketing initiatives in 2011 with free social networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. A lot of them are even hiring part time staff to help them keep up with the social sites.  After all, social media is no longer a fad; it’s a mainstream way of communication – for building both business as well as personal relationships. Proving further that social media is not a passing trend; Facebook celebrated moving into 2011, with more traffic than Google.

A lot of our own clients have been asking the question of how they can best improve their social media presence. So we’ve put together a quick list of primary keys to using social media to market yourself and your services:

1.    Never directly try to sell your product.

If you do, people will “unfriend” and “unfollow” you quickly. Instead, use social media to post interesting and useful content around your product. For example provide valuable updates and share links to information that your targeted audience would be interested in and that shows you have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in your industry.

2.    Get Personal.

Using social media to market your business is also about building trust. And trust comes from people knowing who you really are. So, in addition to the great tips and advice you may provide, share a little about yourself. After all, your customers are not only buying your products and services, they are buying you.

3.    Don’t be Boring.

Never, ever post what you had for breakfast. Instead post fun, interesting things that people are more likely to not only read and react to, but also re-tweet or share with their networks. Try posting different types of content to see what gets the best reaction with your target audience.

4.    Listen.

Remember that social media is a conversation. Login often and comment on other people’s posts and share other people’s ideas. It not only shows that you are listening, but also makes them more likely to react and share your information as well.

5.    Consider time of day.

Social media happens in real time. And as you use the different social networks, you’ll notice that the time of day you make your post can have a dramatic response on the comments you get back. Consider the target audience you are trying to reach and post accordingly. For example, working mothers are most often on social networks after 9pm, when the children are asleep. So posting Twitter updates during this time, is more likely to catch their attention.

What are you doing to build your influence in the social media space? I’d like to hear about it.  Share your ideas and thoughts here.

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Jun 14 / 3:21am

Welcome to the new Zimbabwean.co.uk

Exciting times ahead as The Zimbabwean launches a great new looking interface. Please do take a look. And please register! Many thanks to all concerned. Check it out www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

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Jun 9 / 2:14am

A Stronger Voice - Wilf Mbanga

The Zimbabwean Online has been re-designed

Dear Colleague

On Tuesday 14 June 2011 our new online news platform will be launched. At the same URL (www.thezimbabwean.co.uk) but with a brand new user interface, it will present a new richness of content. Easy to navigate, the new interface will bring The Zimbabwean’s content to its reader in a way that is clear and fresh.

The new website also represents a refreshed editorial structure with greater content associations and cross-referencing for a more in-depth and diverse news experience. It will encourage increased appreciation and exploration of the site’s rich content.

Our goal is to present news in a manner that better reflects the high standard of journalism for which we constantly strive. Through a new and distinct typographic design and a considered, clearly sign-posted structure we will uphold the values of The Zimbabwean and build on the publication’s established reputation for professionalism and accuracy.

A Voice for the Voiceless

Since its inception in 2005 The Zimbabwean has been A Voice for the Voiceless, dedicated to Truth, Justice, Hope and our country, Zimbabwe. It has diligently reported on the situation in our homeland, its culture and its people as well as on international affairs as they relate to Zimbabwe.

As time and technology change it is important that those who strive to report the facts keep pace. Over the last six months we have carried out an in-depth review of The Zimbabwean’s editorial structure and its content, to pave the way for this major upgrade.

We want to build on The Zimbabwean’s reputation as a courageous, authoritative and content-rich news service. And to do so in ways that keep it relevant, accessible and effective.

International Respect

The result of our commitment is respect. The Zimbabwean is held in high regard as a fair and reliable source of insight by its readership and also many other international news platforms.

Add to that the enormous body of support that has sustained the newspaper financially and encouraged it practically - support that is testament to the quality of journalism found within its pages.

International Support

Since its launch, The Zimbabwean has received the support of many international figures and organisations.

In 2009, with the global advertising agency TBWA, The Zimbabwean launched The Trillion Dollar Campaign to bring attention to both the publication and the Zimbabwean situation. The campaign won a record number of prestigious awards and brought the newspaper to the attention of many new readers. In 2010, a follow-up campaign – The Voiceless – was launched to tell the stories of Zimbabweans to the world.

Continuing our Promise

The promise we made when The Zimbabwean was first launched remains as strong now as it did when it was first made:

The Zimbabwean will be an authoritative and accurate newspaper of record and a reliable source of information to all those individuals, agencies and governments with an interest in Zimbabwe. A news blackout is dangerous for any society.

We will ensure that our coverage is accurate, fair and balanced. We will be accountable to our readers. We will endeavour to give all viewpoints and everyone will have the right of reply. In short, we will do everything the government newspapers in Zimbabwe are not allowed to do.

We hope you find the new Zimbabwean delivers an informative, well-balanced and accurate view. If you would like to find out more about The Zimbabwean, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

For a preview of the new Zimbabwean, download the PDF Press Release.

 

 

Wilf Mbanga

Editor

The Zimbabwean

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Jun 8 / 9:53am

#Social media: Power in the hands of the people by Dianne Bayley

Among other things, it’s been called a “fad” and a “waste of time”, but social media is a phenomenon that isn’t going away, says Dianne Bayley, founder of infORM.

It’s the Marmite syndrome: You either love it or hate it. For the most part, those who “hate” social media have never tried it – or are trying to find ways to monetise it, and it isn’t working.

While figures are changing so rapidly it’s hard to keep up, it is said that Facebook now has around 600 million users, while Twitter has some 75 million. YouTube – the site that enables user-generated videos to be shared with the world - has millions of hits every day and has even scared the governments of China, Turkey and Thailand into blocking viewership by their citizens at various stages.

In August 2009, Erik Qualman, a writer for Socialnomics.net, asked: “Is social media a fad or the biggest shift since the industrial revolution?” Truth is, it’s big. And if it’s a fad, it doesn’t seem to be losing growth momentum. The power of the “spoken word” has been put firmly into the hands of the people . . . and they’re not letting go.

Business dilemma

As more and more businesses set up Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, many do so without much consideration of how the medium works. Others refuse to get into the space, for fear of bad news about their company or brand being available to millions in mere seconds.

So, what’s the solution? Having a social media presence is not about selling product to the masses. In fact, businesses should heed the warning that trying to do a “hard sell” is not well accepted by users of the medium. When you think social media, think “word of mouth” marketing. Think “listening” instead of speaking. That’s all it is. Just as in “real life”, if your service is lousy, your press is lousy. But the social media platforms – managed properly – can turn a bad user experience into a positive for your company.

A 2009 Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 internet consumers from 50 countries showed that recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising; with 90% of consumers surveyed noting that they trust recommendations from people they know, and 70% saying they “trusted consumer opinions posted online”.

So, what of the comments that aren’t complementary? Here’s where reputation management is key; and anyone who implements a social media strategy without having an experienced manager monitoring site activity is either looking for trouble – or not maximising the opportunities online affords them to be seen to have the customer’s best interest at heart.

Consider this: You’re irritated with service from your bank. You go onto the bank’s Facebook page and tell the 3 000 other users what happened. Within minutes, you have mail in your inbox from a customer service representative, offering to sort out the issue. More importantly, the smart monitor is going to respond to your post, on the site, in full view of everyone who has read your complaint. That’s management. The days of ignoring customer complaints are over. Deleting a negative post is a huge blunder you don’t want to suffer the consequences of. But the opportunity to regenerate goodwill by acting smart and fast can be invaluable.

Socialnomics says that 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices; updated anywhere, anytime. Imagine, it says, what that means for bad customer experiences? Well, it means they’ll be shared the minute an unhappy customer walks out of your store and – if you’re not monitoring the various social media platforms - you may only know about it through a drop off in sales or subscriptions.

Should you have a social media presence? As part of your broader marketing initiatives, yes. Should you have a presence that isn’t being constantly updated and monitored? You’d be asking for trouble.

Contact infORM at http://www.facebook.com/infORMonline

Years to Reach 50 million Users: Radio - 38 Years; TV - 13 Years; internet - 4 Years; iPod - 3 Years . . . Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months… iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months ~ Socialnomics.net

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Jun 5 / 11:53pm

June Promotion – 100 bespoke A5 brochures designed and printed for just £500*

Brochures

Quartz Marketing June promotion is 100 bespoke, 8 paged brochures, creatively designed and printed for just £500*

Quartz Marketing can help you set yourself apart from your competitors with these bespoke, full colour, A5 brochures .

    Promotion includes...

        Bespoke creative design perfectly aligned to your company's brand identity

        100 printed A5 brochures on 170gsm silk, full colour throughout, folded, collated, stapled and trimmed

…Get in touch today and take advantage of this fantastic promotion…

    info@quartzmarketing.co.uk

    08443 510395

    Follow this link to complete a simple form and we will get in touch with you

* Terms and conditions apply.

Terms and conditions

1) Offer includes unlimited revisions until totally satisfied

2) All copy, images and brand identity must be supplied

3) Quartz Marketing Ltd have the right to refuse service

4) Offer only available until 30th June 2011

5) Payment terms - 75% of the cost must be paid before work commences and the remaining 25% upon delivery of brochures.

6) Service level agreements will be agreed upon instruction

 

 

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Jun 2 / 2:03pm

Building "Windows 8" - Video #1

A first look at the new "Windows 8" user interface

 

 

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Jun 2 / 4:49am

#Zimbabwe start up launches Dariro.com, a local pages platform

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Zimbabwe Internet entrepreneur, Richwell Phinias and friends recently launched a platform on the internet where Zimbabwean business organizations, educational institutions and various sectors from the country can interface first among themselves and then with the world.

The internet is becoming a major part of communication for people considering how infrastructure, access and skills in the field are generally improving. Only two years ago people in Zimbabwe could not access the internet from their mobile devices but in recent months two of the giant mobile networks in the country have introduced data services to their subscribers with smart phones, GPRS and 3G capable phones.

More and more internet service providers are coming into play introducing better services for the people. In line with this, the next development will be content. As people go through the internet, they are mostly limited to being consumers of information. The basics generally are sending/receiving email, using facebook.com, researching educational information, scouting for business and jobs over the world.

But the founders of the internet platform www.dariro.com believe that it is high time that people start sharing, networking and doing business online. People do not have to move out of Africa to know about Africa. A culture of telling Africa’s story by Africans is the case in point. The internet allows that.

To create websites, it is a cost that most people will not find justified besides people in the various sections of life do not have to start new careers as website developers and internet marketers to be able to close the digital content divide.

The Dariro.com platform therefore allows people to add their information seamlessly, the same way they open and use their new email addresses with free email providers is the same way Dariro.com is built. It takes less than five minutes to register and it is free. Once a user is registered they can then chose to create a website and allocate it a category that best suits what they do. All this can take a few minutes and your organization is online.

The platform is suitable for small to medium scale businesses, churches, schools, colleges, non-governmental organizations.  Most people who have tried websites for their companies are worried about who will visit their websites. Well with Dariro.com, your website is created in a networked community where there are already active visitors, so from day one you can even start receiving visitors and potential business partners after creating your website on Dariro.com.

Considering that there is much that people can use the internet for, Dariro.com is opening up its platform to programmers and website developers to develop applications for the website that could potentially benefit internet users from academic, education, health to the various sectors of society.

By default the dariro.com programmers launched the beta version of the website with four applications. The first one is a Provisional Driver’s License Practice quiz, this application allows learner drivers to practice questions and learn from guides how to tackle theory questions they are likely to encounter when they go for their Learner’s Driver’s theory tests. Given that people spend most of their times with interacting with computers or phones connected to the internet either at work or home, this also makes out for an interesting learning environment turning a difficult exercise into an exciting one, all for free.

The second application is an e-learning platform where academics from ordinary level, undergrad, post grad and professional students exchange notes and study guides in soft copies among Zimbabwe over the world. Zimbabweans in educational institutions across the world have access to fast broadband connections and therefore do have large amounts of free educational resources that can benefit their brothers and sisters locally. So the platform allows them to upload and share this content with others at home, making learning accessible for all.

The other application is a chat program where users on the site can interact in real time. The next application called ZimLyrics is a collection of Zimbabwe music lyrics uploaded and edited by users, it is a platform that is going to help many Zimbabwe music lovers appreciate more the meaning of Zimbabwe music as the can now access the words in the music.

More and more valuable applications and directories are coming on as more programmers join the Dariro.com vision.

Dariro.com e-Marketing executives and application developers will be sharing revenue from advertising on their applications with Dariro.com creating avenues for Zimbabwe programmers to make money online.

Pages created on the Dariro.com platform are integrated with many components of the more than 700million member social networking platform Facebook.com. So likes and comments on your Dariro.com Pages will be accessible to friends of your users creating a butterfly effect for the publicity of your Dariro.com Pages.

Ultimately, for organizations seeking marketing opportunities on the platform; Dariro.com is introducing a new concept even across the globe. The concept of integrated marketing message creation and distribution channels, the Dariro.com founder, Richwell Phinias calls the system, technology or way of doing marketing DIGITAL SUPPLEMENT.

DIGITAL SUPPLEMENT: Digital supplements involve integrated online marketing message packaging and distribution channels – Richwell Phinias, Dariro.com

The Dariro.com founders believe the internet is going to define Africa’s moment in the famed age of African Renaissance

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May 31 / 4:07am

Website Maintenance Is All About Keeping The Website Fresh!

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Having a website with professional design with all other elements in place is surely good thing in itself, but unlike other things like TV, air conditioner, computers, etc websites also demand maintenance at regular time interval. To make it going strong and attractive a site's look is very essential. This would keep your visitors and search engines keep coming back to your site again and again and ensure its smooth functioning.

Keeping the web content fresh and updating it at regular time interval is necessary to keep-up the interest of clients alive, and they would visit your site often for new information. If your site contains same old content for too long, search engines spider would find same old content as a result would ignore your web pages leading to lower search engine ranking.

Most of the time website owners don't know when the right time to update their site with changes or additions is. Sometimes a site also undergoes some internal changes like new accreditation, adding of newer skills, product addition or subtraction, service modification, customer friendly offers, etc. You have to intimate your customers about such changes and refer them in your website. It is also a part of website maintenance.

When your company successfully finishes any project, showcase it in the portfolio section which eventually brings value addition. Some web pages of a website that needs regular updating are testimonial section, news updates, latest happenings and so on. Such type of content value addition provides better exposure to your website and holds in your existing customers as well.

Keeping new content to your site is just like adding refreshment to the existing database leading to more and more people preferring to read your site content for knowledge or information purpose. Addition of newer articles can be done on daily, weekly or monthly basis whichever is needed to keep your site at higher ranking. Many times articles are written with a purpose of imparting education to readers and add to their knowledge for business promotion purpose. Articles are written with targeted keywords/key phrases so that it gets listed in top search engine rankings.

Apart from articles section news and press release section needs regular modifications and changes. These pages are important with respect to latest company announcements and news related to them. You can hire professional service providers who manage your website and handle all content related matters.

 

 

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