10 Ways to Improve your Marketing Presentation

A market plan usually has the following components below
1. Value Proposition
2. Market Size
3. Environmental Analysis
4. Differentiation matrix
5. Growth Path
6. Product Positioning
7. SWOT Analysis
8. Expansion Plan
9. Revenue Model
10. Phased Development

Marketing presentations are meant to impress. Here I am going to show you how to translate boring text describing the above into colorful eye catching graphics using new inbuilt features of PowerPoint 2007 has. They are called smart art and they are every easy to use. You can also find the smart art feature in Word 2007 which means you can use the skill you learn today over there too. To insert a smart art, Click on insert, then smart art (It looks like a green arrow)

1. Value Proposition- The Benefits of your product

Where to find this Smart Art(After clicking on Insert Smart Art): Cycle->Radial Cycle

The Product at the center and the benefits of your product are the surrounding circles. The audience gets an instant feel of what benefits your product brings. You can also replace the words with pictures if you have professional created art. Do note that transparent gifs are better if you intend to insert pictures. Pictures with white background ruins the smart art color.

2. Market Size & Segment

Where to find this: This is NOT a smart art. Instead it is a 3D pie chart. Click on Insert->Chart->Pie Chart.

You can choose either the 2^nd or 5^th pie chart for this effect. Clicking on chart will open MS Excel. You have to edit the data of the chart from Excel. Also remember to change the headings so that word also gets your new headings.

Pie charts are simple to understand and usually used to show market segments in part of a larger market.

3. Environmental Analysis- The Trends

Environmental Analysis shows the background of why the time and place is right for your product.

Where to find this Smart Art(After clicking on Insert Smart Art): Hierarchy->Table Hierarchy

The tops shows the heading “Environment”. The second level shows the areas that make up the environment. The third layer shows what trends are happening in that environment. If you like animations during your presentation, you can use the show 1 level at 1 time option. This slowly shows 1 box at a time giving your audience time to read and digest your information.

4. Differentiation matrix

Differentiation matrix is used to set your product away from competing products based on feature set.

Where to find this Table(After clicking on Insert, click Table)

This is just a simple Table. But PPT 2007 has made it easy to make the rows and columns banded. To do this,

a. your table

b. Click on Design under Table tools

There will be a list of checkboxes (Header Row, First Column Etc). Check those that apply to your current table. Meaning if your first row is different from the rest(i.e. it is a row where Titles are in) check that box. Every time you check a box, PPT will make that row/column look different.

Also change the color of the column that your product is in. This will visually enhance and set apart your product from that of your competitors. I like to increase the font of my column too.

5. Growth Path

There are 2 components in this slide.

The first is the heading “12.7% market share…”

a. To do this, click on Insert, WordArt.

b. Choose a nice looking font you like

c. Type the words you want.

The second is the Growth Curve

a. Where to find this Smart Art(After clicking on Insert Smart Art): Process->Upward Arrow

b. For each phase, type in the text title.

The upward arrow should inspire confidence in the growth of your market while the eye catching word art will highlight the size of your market.

6. Product Positioning

Product Positioning usually is used to show that your product is occupying a position that is superior to your competitors.

Where to find this Smart Art (After clicking on Insert Smart Art): Matrix->Grid Matrix

Enter the Text you want. Usually your product should be on the top right hand corner. Right-Click on the rectangle that is there and select “Change Shape”. Choose a star as it is eye catching and delivers an impression.

7. SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis should show the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of your organization.

Where to find this Smart Art(After clicking on Insert Smart Art): Matrix->Basic Matrix

Enter the text you want. This Slide should be pretty texty as it is basically a descriptive slide. I haven’t really thought of a way to make it easy to understand without reading.

You might want to manually change the colour layout(i.e: Threats = Red, Strength= Green)

8. Expansion Plan

Where to find this Smart Art(After clicking on Insert Smart Art): Process->Gear

Basically, you can enter text or you can paste a picture of the country flag you are entering into.

I chose gears as it is symbolic of a movement to greater things and having more effects. The upward arrow chosen in Growth Path will do too, but I will try to avoid using the same Smart Art in one Document.

9. Revenue Model-Revenue Model shows how money is coming into and going out of our organization.

Where to find this Smart Art(After clicking on Insert Smart Art): Relationship->Converging Radial

Simple, Just add in text. You can adjust the size of the arrow to match the proportion of the money flow. I had some trouble with this smart art though. The arrows do not behave well. You need to flip the arrow around manually as it is meant to all point in ward.

10. Phased Development

Where to find this Smart Art (After clicking on Insert Smart Art): Process->Chervon List

This slide shows what steps you are taking in each phase. In my case, it is the promotion methods we are using in each phase. It is like a very pretty Gantt chart.

This one is pretty complicated, but here goes.

a. Once you have inserted the Smart Art, enter a space in all Level 2 Text

b.Level 1 Text corresponds to the first column text.

c.Level 1’s 2^nd level text is the top row text.

d. Fill in the top row (Phase1, Phase2, etc) and the first column(magazine, TV etc) with the appropriate titles.

e. Create as many rows as you want. For every row that you create, also create an equal number of columns.

f. Now click on the column you would like to be on. Click on Smart Art Tools->Format. (Smart Art Tools is at Top Row of PPT)

g. Change the look of the chevron by choosing a colored template.

h. You can select multiple chevrons by holding down shift and clicking on all the chevrons you want. After selecting all the chevrons you want, you can then choose a color and all of the selected chevrons will share the same new color.

Ending note

After you finish your PowerPoint slide, choose a theme that you like. Use Themes to make everything consistent. Most of the smart art will change color. If you do not like these colors, you can click on the color tab under design. The colors are color coded for you so you do not end up with conflicting colors that are horrible to look at.

You will also notice that your smart art do not look as nice as they are not 3D and have no gloss over them. It is actually every simple to enhance them. Select your Smart art (your diagram), click on Design(it should be on the right hand side of the highest bar of PowerPoint). Now you should see an array of 3D perspectives and gloss you can choose from. Click on one and your diagram will instantly get a facelift.

Causes of Anger at Work

As a Manager, we have the responsibility to manage emotions in the workplace. Anger at the workplace can cause unpleasant and uncomfortable emotions to many. Here we present the Top Ten causes of anger in the workplace. Anger in the workplace is quite common and research by Bensimon showed that most employees were annoyed at least 10 times daily. The frequency of the causes may vary according to your position in your organization. The results were from a survey from Monster(A online recruitment agency) and various journal papers. The list will help you avoid commonly made mistakes in organization.

1. Bad Management
->a. Employee was told to do something he felt was wrong or incorrect.
->b. Continuously changing expectations
->c. Supervisor was a micromanager and criticized employee frequently.
->d. Employee felt better qualified and skilled than his supervisor.
2. Unjust Treatment
->a. Another employee doing the same job made more money.
->b. Lack of punishment for other non-performing employees
3. Lack of career opportunity
->a. Employee was promised a raise, promotion or important project, and it did not happen.
4. Not being appreciated
->a. Managers whom do not have rewards systems for good work results
5. Excess Workload
->a. Employee could not live up to a supervisor's expectations, because the expectations were too high
6. Computer Irritations
->a. Slow, Inefficient Computer Systems
->b. Lack of Training
7. Dishonest Colleagues
->a. Office Politics that play a large part in propagating the unjust treatment felt by employees
8. Incompetence of subordinates
->a. Bosses are often angered by subordinates who are unable to fulfill the bosses’s work expectations.
9. Interpersonal Incivility
->a. Rude colleagues whom are rude and lack interpersonal skills
10. Asserting Power
->a. Managers use anger to asset control over subordinates

Stay tune for our next issue anger management techniques that can be used on yourself and others.

Scientific findings about Happiness

 

1. Researchers found that the majority of the subjects they studied were not able to identify anything they had done recently to try to increase their happiness or life satisfaction.

Happiness can be increased by planning to be happy. Have you identified what makes you happy? This list helps you do so!

2. Researchers who studied peoples level of interest in and attention to strangers found that people who were sad spent 35 percent more time focusing on strangers who looked unhappy than on strangers who looked happy.

If you are unhappy, you tend to notice people who are unhappy too. Looking at happy people might you feel happier.

3. People become about 1 percent more likely to hold a positive image of their bodies with each year of age after forty.
As you get older, you grow more confident or more accepting of your less than perfect body. Thus removing a major source of unhappiness. It also help that your friends are going through the same phase and physical appearance becomes less of a competition point.
4. Those who strongly identified with their current age became 2 percent less satisfied with their lives with every passing year, while those who infrequently thought in terms of their age showed no such negative trend.

Caring less about age brings more happiness?

5. Those over fifty who showed a high degree of resistance to change were 26 percent less likely to feel optimistic about their futures.
You need to get a change in direction if you are to feel that your life is going somewhere.
6. People in their sixties and beyond who had a long-term plan to accomplish something were 31 percent more likely to report that they enjoyed their lives.
With goal setting, you get a sense of satisfaction and a feeling that you are actually using your life effectively as there is a benchmark of your progress.

7. Those who considered themselves a success were 25 percent less likely to feel anxious about their lives, 14 percent less likely to be selfish, and 45 percent more likely to say they enjoyed their lives.
Everyone’s definition of success is different. What is yours?
8. Recent retirees were 15 percent more likely to be happy than those of a similar age who continued working full-time, but within six months retirees happiness fell behind that of those of a similar age who were working if the retirees did not have an active lifestyle.

Again, everyone needs something to do to feel their self worth. Without work, how do you ascertain your self work? Volunteering or part time jobs certainly help. Having an active online lifestyle do help too.

9. Those who said they regularly took notice of something beautiful were 12 percent more likely to say they were satisfied with their lives.

I really like this one. Why not start today. Change your desktop wallpaper to something is looks beautiful. Scenery usually helps.

10. Studies have shown that each additional enjoyable activity that people over fifty engage in per month increases their likelihood of life satisfaction by 2 percent.

Active body=active mind= happiness. Its that simple. Happiness comes through action.

Lessons From The Pursuit Of Happyness

I caught Will Smith’s The Pursuit of Happyness yesterday and came away highly affected. The movie shows how strong will and determination can change a person’s life. After reflecting on the movie on the ride back home, I decided to come up with 10 lessons that I had learnt from the movie.


Where The Title Comes From
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. These three aspects are listed among the "unalienable rights" of man.

Movie Summary
Based on true events, The Pursuit of Happyness (the incorrect spelling is explained in the film) follows Chris Gardner (Smith) as he struggles to achieve the American dream. Chris has everything going against him. His wife (Thandie Newton) left him and he's raising his 5-year-old son alone, without any real income. Determined to provide for his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) no matter what, Chris enters an unpaid internship program at a brokerage firm in hopes of landing the one paid position available at the end of the training program.
Sleeping in bathrooms, homeless shelters, and shabby hotels when he's got the money to afford a room, Chris never gives up on the idea he can land a job and provide his son with a better life. Will Chris be able to grab the brass ring? Will his son be raised in an environment of love? If you watched the 20/20 special on the real Gardner, you know exactly how this story turns out.

10 Lessons From The Pursuit Of Happyness

1. Necessity is the mother of invention
People like to be in their comfort zone. We tend to ignore problems until they become too painful to do so. That is why inventions seem so hard to come by. It is also the reason why insurance and saving plans are so hard to sell. People just prefer to ignore them at their own peril. How do we promote invention? You can start on a personal level by asking yourself the following questions: “Why is it this way? How can I make it better? What do I need? Who do I benefit” They are basic questions that we rarely ask ourselves.

2. Don’t do a job that does not directly link reward to results
In the movie, we see Will Smith juggle a stock broking job and a medical equipment sales job together. He worked on the sales on the weekend and broking on weekdays. If the performance of your job has no strong direct link to the payout, think of ways to improve and get another second income stream. Jobs that pay you based on time as just taking away the most valuable resource of your life from you. Time is the only limited resource in the world. You cannot make time and worse still, you have no idea of how much you have left. So invest your time wisely.

3. You are who you mix with
There are studies which determined that your income is the approximate weighted average of all your friends( I can’t find the link now but I am sure it exists). Stick with the right people and you will rise with the tide. Stick with the wrong group and you will go under. Will Smith had a big break where he got into the exclusive box stand. There he got to know so many contacts that were much valuable than those that could be found on his cold calling list. The fact that he came with a CEO of a large pension fund also help gained him creditability. The internet age has made it very easy to network. Try the business networking portal LinkedIn now. You can also add me to your network.

4. 1 decision can make your life difficult or very good
Some decisions, like Will’s decision to invest in the medical scanner, can make life more difficult than necessary. His decision to jump into stock broking however made his life much better. The point is not to avoid making big decisions in fear of making your life extremely bad, but to make sure that you always have a lifeline. Dumping your savings in something you do not understand is hardly a smart decision.

5. Determination, Motivation and Ambition are the same things
They make you take action. Action is the part separating thinker, dreamers from the successful. Set goals and work for them. If you are working, you should aim for your next promotion in the next X years. If you are doing sales, apply will’s mantra: “X calls=X meetings=X interested prospects= X closing=X money” Ask yourself: what is the X that you are aiming for?

6. You need a supportive partner
I thought it really sucked to have his wife walk out on him. I am generalizing here but I think the girls I know generally have less determination than guys. They are just not that interested in achieving goals. So if you see one who will stick by you through thick and thin, make sure the glue is always strong.

7. Luck evens out in the long term
Sure. In the movie, Will seem to always have bad luck everyday. But luck is statistically proven to be non existent. Flip a coin many times and you get even results. Work on your cold calling and you will get that X numbers of meetings. As long as in the short term you survive, there is nothing to blame on luck.

8. Money != Happiness
With an income more than 20K, your happiness level does not increase with further increases in income. In this study, it is shown that everyone needs a decent standard of living. But once you attain that, happiness is less definable because it varies from everyone. Varied experiences and being in control of your life generally bring experiences. See Maslow hierarchy of needs if you need to know basic stuff have to be fulfilled first. For me, happiness means being in control of my life, having financial security and doing hard and meaningful work.

9. Happiness is relative
They say a happy man is one whom earns $100 more than his wife’s sister’s husband. Less comparison of status with other people make you content. Or you could simply downgrade your lifestyle.

10. It is hard to climb out of poverty. Social mobility is dropping
In the Documentary 30 Days, they did an experiment where a couple worked on minimum wage for 30 days. Not only did they have no savings at the end of 30 days, they were in the red. It is not surprising that people cannot climb out of poverty. No one would be willing to hire anyone without a home address. You basically drop out of the system and no work=no money= no home. It’s just a vicious cycle.