ITList Information Technology Blog » health http://itlist.com Current IT field related information Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:40:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 What America Wants: Money, Health, or Knowledge? http://itlist.com/what-america-wants-money-health-or-knowledge/ http://itlist.com/what-america-wants-money-health-or-knowledge/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:32:00 +0000 bikram http://itlist.com/what-america-wants-money-health-or-knowledge/ Americans want to be richer more than they want to be wiser, and they want to be thinner more than they want to be younger. Americans have revealed this in a poll conducted by Adweek Media and Harris.

43% of the respondent, across the age group, said that given a chance they will want to be richer than anything else — anything being thinner, smarter, and younger. More than 50% Americans between 18 and 44 years of age favored riches to smartness.

Overall, 21% wants to be thinner, 14% smarter, and 12% said they want to be younger, whereas, 9% did not show any interest in any of them.

On the upside, people between 18 and 34 years of age said they want to be smarter (16%), and respondents between 35 and 44 years of age said they want to be thinner. 19% of 55+ people want to be richer, and 53% between 35 and 54 want to be richer. (See image for complete result).

harris-deisrable-traits-august-2010

The finding is strange in more than one respect. Despite the fetish for remaining young (at least assumed fetish), very few want to be young. And not many Americans want to be smart, which is sad.

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3Cs of Marketing Communication http://itlist.com/3cs-of-marketing-communication/ http://itlist.com/3cs-of-marketing-communication/#comments Sun, 04 Apr 2010 17:15:00 +0000 bikram http://itlist.com/3cs-of-marketing-communication/ Communication, in a nutshell, is the process of transferring information from the sender to the receiver. This definition applies to the field of marketing communication as well. For a communication to be effective, it needs to follow some principles, which I call 3 Cs of communication. In this blog post, I will discuss about these in context of marketing communication.

Content

What is being said is the most important factor in communication. This is the first thing you need to decide. You need to figure out what you want to convey to your audience. Is it the product benefit, or is it brand camaraderie? Before making any attempt to communicate, you should decide what you want to convey.

Concise

No one likes a 1000-page epic, not even you-particularly in the context of marketing message. The longer your message is the slimmer is its chance of making any impact on the receiver. You should not use even a single useless word in your marketing communication. It does not only push the audience away, but it also costs more—after all, every word takes more media space.

Clear

This is paramount. Clarity is very, very important. No matter how concise and clearly defined your content is, if it is not clear, it will not be understood. You need to do a test run of every communication campaign, before releasing it for the entire population. Nothing could be more harmful for your brand then misunderstood message.

Marketing communication is an attempt to inform the brand’s target audience about the feature, attributes, and benefits, etc., of the brand, and the more closer it will be to the 3Cs described above, the better it will be for the overall health of the brand.

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Three Benefits of Writing a List Post http://itlist.com/three-benefits-of-writing-a-list-post/ http://itlist.com/three-benefits-of-writing-a-list-post/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:36:23 +0000 bikram http://itlist.com/?p=2355 Giving a one-post brief pause to our Blog with a Friendly Face series I will talk about a list post here. A list post is a post that contains information arranged vertically using bullet points both numbered and unnumbered. Ask anyone and he will tell you that the writing list post is one of the best things you can do for the overall health of your blog.

Why List post?

  1. 1. List post is scannable: People find it easy to scan through the list post. And ability to scan (or read) a post quickly is one of the major goal of your visitors. There are so many things on the Internet putting demand on their time that they do not afford to go through a heavy post, and that is where a list post steps is.
  2. 2. It works as a great source for reference: An all-encompassing list post is often bookmarked by the reader for future reference. Readers often come back to the bookmarked list post to see the information they seek. This way a list post will build a possibility of repeat-visit in your blog.
  3. It adds up to your resource list: If you have succeeded in creating a timeless list post then you can add the URL of that list post in the resource box so that new users can benefit from that. A good list will provide depth to your resource box, which in itself is a big reason why someone will come to your blog.

These are three core benefit of a list post. How else do you think a list post helps a blog? Tell everyone reading this blog, why you think a list post is necessary. I know everyone can come up with different exciting ideas. Waiting to hear from all of you.

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What is SWOT Analysis? http://itlist.com/what-is-swot-analysis/ http://itlist.com/what-is-swot-analysis/#comments Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:41:24 +0000 bikram http://itlist.com/?p=2131 SWOT analysis is a tool used by marketer to assess the health of the product vis-à-vis the market. This is a very important tool that gives a marketer a complete idea about the product ecosystem. SWOT stands for:

  • S – Strength
  • W – Weakness
  • O – Opportunity
  • T – Threat

Strength and weakness are internal elements, which mean they are inherent to the product or organization. And opportunity and threat are external elements, which mean they are not inbuilt in, but are outside of the product or organization.

Opportunity is presented by the market, whereas, your competitors (both direct and indirect) can be a threat.

Benefit of SWOT analysis

  • It helps you find out the opportunity that you can use to maximize the market penetration of your product or services.
  • It helps you gauge your competition, and tells you what to avoid.
  • It also brings the weakness of your product on the table, which you can eliminative before reaching to the market.
  • SWOT analysis will help you make a better decision.

How to do SWOT Analysis?

Step 1: Find the strengths of your product

Step 2: Find the weaknesses of the product you are offering.

Step 3: Find the need gap (opportunity) in the market, based on the strength of your product.

Step 4: List the potential threats that you might face, if you cash in on the opportunity.

Notes:

  1. 1. Always Use Bullet points to do the SWOT. There is no need to write long descriptive points.
  2. 2. Do not reverse the order. Always start with analyzing S and W elements of SWOT followed by the analysis of O and T elements.

A parting thought

SWOT analysis is just a tool, and how well you use the tool will decide what result you will get from it. It is easy to get biased towards one’s own product and organization, but you should avoid this trap. Stay objective and stay focused when doing a SWOT analysis of your product or organization.

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Relax At Work http://itlist.com/relax-at-work/ http://itlist.com/relax-at-work/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:11:19 +0000 SamElli http://itlist.com/?p=1524 Part of workplace stress is the inability to calm down while you’re under pressure, and just let yourself relax a little bit.  Being too stressed then negatively affects your performance, and you begin to produce work that isn’t up to the standard it could be.  Much the same way that stress affects you negatively in all aspects of life, your body isn’t going to deliver in the best way possible if you are overstressed.  Of course a little bit of stress is a good thing for your health, but too much is always bad, which is why you need to be able to unwind when you’re feeling too stressed out.  Learning to relax quickly and quietly at work is one of those things that everyone needs to learn how to do effectively.

Of course on of the easiest strategies is to take a short break if you’re feeling particularly frustrated.  Take 5-10 minutes to yourself if you’ve been frustrated working on the same problem for a long period of time without making any headway.  This way you can leave the problem, focus on something else for a minute, and you can then reenter the situation with a new perspective.

Another way to keep relaxed is to clear out any unnecessary clutter from your environment, to create a clean and concise work area that makes you feel more productive.  Bogging yourself down with cluttered items just makes you feel more trapped and overwhelmed adding to you stress level.  Which is exactly why adding plants is a good idea, as it will provide you with fresh air and more healthy natural feel to your office area.

Get a comfortable chair, it’s no use having to work for 8-9 hours in a day on an uncomfortable chair.  A comfortable body is a more relaxed body, and the more calm and relaxed that you can be, the better you’re going to feel, and that will translate into your performance.

Finally personalize your workplace.  Find out what you are able to bring in, or hang up around your cubicle, and make sure everything is office appropriate, but still make the area yours.  By letting your personality flow throughout your surroundings your identity remains unique and true to your character, taking away a little more of the corporate world stress.

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