Sports Fundraiser: Choosing The Right Product

In organizing a sports fundraiser for your athletic team, it is important to select the right products. And when I say right products, it means they are saleable and unique so that you can maximize your financial income after your sales campaign is over. They must have mass appeal on your customers, large price point and excellent profit margin.

In this article, I am going to discuss the initial steps on organizing a sports fundraiser that your team can try. The product that you are offering must be appealing and attractive enough for your customers to buy. In this way, you could attract them into purchasing you products with ease. People nowadays are very picky in what they buy so make sure you can encourage them enough to participate in your fundraising event. Your products should have attractive price points in them. This basically mean that your price is high enough for you to make profit but low enough that would encourage people to purchase your products. This is very tricky sometimes so make sure that you have done your research on how much will you price your product along the way. You can even offer product bundles that would greatly improve your marketing strategy. Next is a good profit margin for your products. Most fundraising organizers would put their profit margin to 50%. You can push the limits by making it 80% especially on your bundle packages. It is also ideal to stick to this profit margin if your product is unique and very appealing to your customers. But try to do a dry-run first on your acquaintances before launching your fundraising campaign so that you can change some aspects that needs adjustment.

Now that you have settled your products and their own prices, the next thing to do is to prepare your sales script. Never send out your team without their sales scripts at hand. The sales script contains the most important details that they have to deliver to your customers such as the name of your fundraiser, goals and objectives, why are you doing the fundraiser and how they can help. Make sure to include the words “because” and “we need your help” in your sales script since it has been shown that these words are effective in encouraging your customers to participate in your event. Teach them how to remain eye contact on their customers, smile and being courteous at all times. This would show your customers that they are sincere in what they are doing and would persuade them to help out. Make sure that they have brought their brochures, sample items and order forms. This would make the selling process easier for both your team and your customers. They can even suggest their favorite products so that your customers will have a deeper insight on what to buy.

Always remember to make the whole fundraising campaign a fun experience to your team. They need to be enthusiastic about the whole fundraising project so that they can easily encourage customers to participate. If they are always looking down and mumbling their words, people will not buy their products so make sure they look alive and excited.

iPhone Accessories – Apple Launched Its Hottest Selling Product, the iPhones

With the success of its iPods, Apple launched its hottest selling product the iPhones, which has every feature of a cellular phone and also a wide touch screen controls and moreover an Internet enabled device which make the communication around the globe easier and much simpler. The best feature that one would definitely appreciate is the iPhone blue tooth that permits users of this iPhone to speak without the requirement of wired headsets and moreover these come with a large number of handy features too.

The Bluetooth headset feature of the iPhone permits its users to receiver call with merely touch a button feature similar to that of an institution. Moreover, one gets 72 hours of standby time and 5.5 hours of talk time which is because of its lithium-ion batteries that are not only rechargeable but also are in built. As the Apple iPhone Bluetooth is slowly becoming available it is great to be acquainted with that its just a inconspicuous accessory although there are a few in built features particularly when the headset is linked to the dock which is dual charging and one is also able to view the headset charge along with the iPhone’s own charge to allow you to comprehend the time the iPhone is Bluetooth is available to use.

And just a few more dollars one can also get the iPhone Bluetooth travel cable and is able to get a set of replacement stereo headphones. By any chance no one can deny liking the iPhone Bluetooth that is very light in weight and simple on the other hand the design is so attractive that one might consider it to be a bit more expensive and may deem that it does not live up to the potential but that is not very true as one can assure a high end performance from this beautiful device. Moreover, one can take 2 phone calls by just pushing a button and put the other caller on hold. He or she may need to push yet another button till it produce a beep that the person on hold is still on line. It really not that difficult to pair the Bluetooth with your iPhone as the design is so compatible that it really makes it go well with your iPhone.

So next time when you are on the look for a iPhone or have a iPhone, do not miss this gorgeous device as it can not only make you look good and but also help you to take care of all your all without using those wired headsets.

Successful Corporate Race Sponsorships With Inflatable Product Replicas

You’re in charge of a big launch for a new brand of snack food – the hottest thing to hit the shelves since chips in a can. You’ve got a great product, now you need to generate a bit of buzz, and fast. Thankfully, that’s just what inflatables do. Coupled with a corporate race sponsorship, inflatable product replicas can give a much-needed boost to your marketing campaign.1. They’re visible. How many ads do you encounter every day. Fifty? One hundred? More than that at a NASCAR race, for sure. After a while, they all blur together in a dizzying mess. That’s why inflatables work so well. They’re large and unique, so when they appear in a parking lot or on a rooftop, people take notice.2. They’re attention grabbing. If you’re not taking consumers by the hand and introducing them to your product, they will never give you a second look. A new bag on a shelf – even with the best eye-level placement money can buy – will go unnoticed. There’s just too much competition. Greet a crowd of hungry NASCAR fans with a 20-foot-tall replica, though, and now you’ll see some heads turn.3. They’re interesting. That inflatable product replica is a great start, but to really get the crowd revved up, pair it with samples and coupons. Now you’ve got a consumer who will seek out your brand because he’s ready to buy.4. They give you a chance to get personal. In massive crowds, you’ve got about five seconds to make an impression. Handing out tasty samples of your new product from the shadow of an inflatable bag of chips increases your odds of being remembered later, when the buying decision is made.5. They’re fun! Race fans are enchanted by the sight of giant-sized advertising balloons. For more punch, combine a product replica with an inflatable batting cage where visitors compete for coupons, free products, or other prizes. That’s a winning combination that will stay in the minds of customers long after you’ve packed up and gone home.Inflatable product replicas are made from durable materials, so they stand up to NASCAR race tracks all across the U.S. You can use them repeatedly, no matter where your marketing campaign takes you. They’re quick to set-up and quick to take down, and can be easily handled by one or two people.Super-size your hot new product in inflatable form, and watch your sales take off faster than Tony Stewart at the Daytona 500. Maybe they’ll even name a race after you.

It’s One Thing for People to Buy Your Product or Service, but It’s Another for Them to Tattoo Your

William Harley and Arthur Davidson, both in their early twenties, built their first motorcycle in 1903. During their first year, the company’s entire output was only 1 motorbike; however, by 1910, the company had sold 3,200. Movies such as Easy Rider made Harleys a cultural icon and soon the company attracted people who loved its bad-boy mystique, powerfulness, rumbling voice, distinctive roar, and toughness. It sounded like nothing else on the road, and even Elvis Presley and Steve McQueen longed to ride one.The Harley-Davidson Motor Company has had its ups and downs, and at times, the downs seemed as if they would end in bankruptcy. In the sixties, Honda, Kawasaki, and Yamaha invaded the American market, and when sales at Harley-Davidson dropped drastically due to decreasing quality and increasing competition, the company began to look for buyers and was finally sold. However, the new owners of Harley Davidson knew little about how to restore profitability. The quality became so bad that dealers had to place cardboard under bikes in the showroom to absorb the oil leaking.Daniel Gross, in Forbes Greatest Business Stories of all Times, recounts how in 1981, with the aid of Citibank, a team of former Harley-Davidson executives began negotiations to reacquire the company and rescue it from bankruptcy. Among these executives was William Davidson, the grandson of the founder Arthur Davidson. In a classic leveraged buyout, they pooled $1 million in equity and borrowed $80 million from a consortium of banks lead by Citibank.Harley’s rescue team of loyal executives knew that the Japanese motorbike manufacturers were far ahead in regard to quality management, and they made a bold decision to tour a nearby Honda plant. Paradoxically, the Japanese had learned Total Quality Management from the Americans, Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran. The new business concept outlined by these two pioneers was a new management approach that, interestingly enough, had been rejected by American manufacturers. As a result, they offered this approach to Japanese manufactures that were eager to learn and implement it. Therefore, soon after their tour of the Honda plant, the Harley Davidson Motor Company decided to put into practice this originally rejected approach.After implementing just-in-time inventory (JIT) and employee involvement, costs at Harley had dropped significantly; this meant that the company only needed to sell 35,000 bikes instead of 53,000 in order to break even. Their lobbying at Washington also helped, and import tariffs were raised temporarily from 4 to 40 percent on Japanese bikes. This extra breathing space was something that the U.S. motorbike company desperately needed for its recovery.The combination of visiting a Japanese motorbike manufacturing plant and lobbying in Washington for import tariffs was a daring move on behalf of Harley’s executives in their attempt to bring back profitability and growth to the company. Another important strategic move was the company’s unique marketing and branding campaigns. Studies showed that about 75 % of Harley customers made repeat purchases, and executives quickly recognized a pattern that refocused the company’s overall strategy. Simply put, they needed to find a way to appeal to the extraordinary loyalty of customers, which they found in creating a community that valued the experience of riding a Harley more than the product itself.The sponsorship of a “Harley Owners’ Group” has been one of the most creative and innovative strategies that has helped create the experience of this product. Without realizing it, Harley executives had pioneered a new paradigm that would be increasingly embraced by other industries in their quest to increase profitability by converting their product into an experience. The company started to organize rallies to strengthen the relationship between its members, dealers, and employees, while also promoting the Harley experience to potential customers. The Harley Owners’ Groups became immensely popular; it allowed motorcycle owners to feel as if they belonged to one big family. In 1987, there were 73,000 registered members, and Harley now boasts to have no less than 450,000 members.In 1983, the company launched a marketing campaign called SuperRide, which authorized over 600 dealerships to invite people to test-drive Harleys. Over 40,000 potential new customers accepted the invitation, and from then on, many customers were not just buying a motorcycle when they bought a Harley; instead, they were buying “the Harley Experience.”Harley-Davidson offered its customers a free one-year membership to a local riding group, motorcycle publications, private receptions at motorcycle events, insurance, emergency roadside service, rental arrangements on vacation, and a host of other member benefits. Branding the experience, not just the product, has allowed the company to expand how it captures value, including a line of clothing, a parts and accessories business, and Harley-Davidson Visa card.If you were to scan the list of companies that delivered the greatest returns on investment during the 1990s, you would discover Harley-Davidson. Only a few companies have been successful in inventing entirely new business models, or profoundly reinventing existing ones. Harley-Davidson went from supplying motorcycles to antisocial raiders to selling a lifestyle to the aging bad boy wannabes caught in their midlife crises. Traditionally, Harley-Davidson bike owners came from the working and middle classes, but as quality and prices of the bad-boy-bikes rose, and with energetic marketing, the company soon attracted a different class of buyers–currently one third of Harley buyers are professionals or managers, and 60% are college graduates. The new customer segments of Harley are the Rolex Riders or the Rich Urban Bikers. Hell’s Angels do not run in the same group anymore. Now there are groups of accountants, lawyers and doctors. Women also account for a significant portion of the new riders, and there are women-only riders clubs spreading all over the globe.The future looks bright for the U.S. motorbike company. According to The Economist, overall U.S. sales increased over 20% in 2000, and more than 650,000 new motorcycles were sold in the U.S. in the same year, up from 539,000 the year before. Bike buyers spent an estimated $5.45 billion on new bikes in 2000.Stay alert and get it early. The new branding paradigm is to sell a lifestyle, a personality and it is also about appealing to emotions of your customers. Increasingly, it will be more and more about creating an experience around the product. Brand managers and executives will need a new set of lenses. The rules have changed as well as the opportunities to maximize profitability and create value in the process. Nonetheless, the majority of companies continue to follow traditional ad campaigns and they seem to ignore the fact that the media has fragmented into hundreds of cable channels, thousands of magazine titles and millions of Internet pages.Consumers are no longer sitting ducks for commercials; they are looking for new experiences. Whether it is the bad-boy-aura of the Harley riding experience, the exquisite coffee experience in Starbucks cafés, or the active participation in Net communities, more and more companies will need to follow these early new branding pioneers. They will need to look into the dynamics of their relationships with customers and the nature of their interaction. They will need to ask themselves some serious “out-of-the-box” questions if they want to move with the shifting value that is the result of constantly changing market conditions.Branding has changed and so have marketing and advertising campaigns. New variability, heterogeneity where there was once homogeneity, newly emerging stratifications of wealth, new preferences, and new life styles are all characteristics of the 21st century customer that are here to stay. We better get used to it, at lease until the next paradigm is discovered. Remember, the companies that are creating new wealth are not just getting better; they are becoming different–mind-bogglingly different!Bibliography:Barker, Joel. Paradigms. Harper Business, 1993.Bedbury, Scott. A New Brand World: Eight Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st Century, Viking Press, 2002.Gross, Daniel: Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time, John Wiley & Sons, 1997.Hamel, Gary. “Innovation Now,” in Fast Company
(http://www.fastcompany.com/online/65/innovation.html), December 2002Kotter, John P., Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press, 1996, pp. 4 – 14.Teerlink, Rich, and Ozley, Lee: More Than a Motorcycle: The Leadership Journey at Harley-Davidson, Harvard Business School Press, 2000.
Young, James Webb. Technique for Producing Ideas, McGraw-Hill, p. 14.