The two big German cities, Cologne and Dusseldorf, have selected “Meetropolis” as the name for jointly advertising as appealing locations for meetings and congresses on an international scale.

The new marketing cooperation was initiated by the Convention Bureau Dusseldorf and the Cologne Convention Bureau.

From Traveldailynews.com:

Initiating the new marketing cooperation “Meetropolis” Cologne and Dusseldorf now intend to leverage their benefits on an ever broader base while still emphasising their individual strenghts. This is also the brief for the conception of advertising materials and the joint presentation at trade fairs.

To Josef Sommer, CEO of KolnTourismus GmbH, of which the Cologne Convention Bureau forms part as an independent competence centre, the two cities with their new marketing alliance create a win-win situation for all parties involved: “Not only our two cities Cologne and Dusseldorf profit from the shared advertising image but also interested congress and event planners. Under the new brand you will find from now on all relevant data on our metropolitan region from a single source. This reveals our operational excellence at a glance.”

Hilmar Guckert, CEO of Dusseldorf Congress Veranstaltungs-GmbH, that runs the convention bureau Dusseldorf in cooperation with Dusseldorf Marketing & Tourismus GmbH, is also convinced of the long-term success of the “Meetropolis” Cooperation: “Both Cologne and Dusseldorf hold an enormous potential for organising large-scale congresses and meetings. Both cities combine high economic power and excellent infrastructure with a charming flair and impressive diversity. Thanks to the new marketing cooperation we can leverage our benefits even better competing with international destinations and canvass and bring more and other important events to our region.”

The first official “appearance” of the two Convention Bureaus will take place at the International Meeting Exhibition IMEX, Frankfurt from 25 to 27 May 2010.

An industry group has recently disclosed that using skilled marketers could accelerate growth of modern day businesses and both small as well as big businesses now understand the need of their importance in attaining long-term expansion.

It was remarked by Ray Jones, head of communications and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, that businesses get “good value” from their marketing dollars with the help of a search engine optimization company or online PR agency.

From Clickthrough-marketing.com:

Ray Jones, head of communications and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, said that working with a search engine optimisation company or online PR agency can help to ensure that businesses get “good value” from their marketing spend.

“In both small and large businesses the key role that marketing plays in terms of stimulating growth is fully recognised these days,” he added.

Mr Jones’s comments come after the latest Monster Employment Index showed that online recruitment activity in the marketing, PR and media sector rose by 12 per cent, indicating that spending on advertising and promotion is on the rise.

According to figures from IPG’s Magna, UK advertising revenues are expected to grow by three per cent this year.

It added that the value of the country’s media economy is expected to top £11.3 billion in 2010.

This news is expected to offer some respite to businesses that have been troubled by the waves of recession in the recent past.

If you have never heard of the concept of “honest marketing” or think it does not work in today’s cutthroat business world, you need to think twice.

Let us start the journey of this blog by having a frank discussion. Have you ever come across and know a small yet successful business that gave or is still giving stiff competition to a big business? (This business can be related to any product or service and may include your nearest grocery store or a small brick and mortar company.)

If the answer is a yes – which it surely would be – then find out how things were effectively managed by this business despite lacking the big power of money or advertising. You will find that honest marketing was what contributed greatly to this success saga and this is what most businesses fail to understand.

The point to be conveyed is that it is always better and recommended for a business to accept its weakness rather than luring customers by making false claims and losing them all in the long run besides brining a bad name to business ethics and professionalism.

Tips for Honest Marketing:

If the product or service has a shortcoming, a business should be frank to admit the same. It is best to work on the weaknesses and inform the customers that things are expected to be better in a specific time frame and informing them when things have been sorted. Furthermore, it is best to put down all business terms and conditions in a font size that is easily readable rather than luring customers by concealing what should have been said and saying what should not have been said.

In short, honest marketing is the thin line of difference between a successful and unsuccessful business in the long run.

In bygone days, a small business used to succumb to the infrastructure of the big businesses while promoting its products and services. But, this is not the case any more as online business marketing now provides a level-playing field to all the participants (small as well as big businesses). This clearly means that a small business is able to make necessary moves to ensure that its prospects are realized on a continuing basis just like a big business.

Let us have a close look at some of the advantages offered by online business marketing to get a clear and complete insight on the usefulness of web.

Since the Internet never sleeps and can reach local, nationwide and global audience in no time, it becomes easy for a small business to promote its existence and offerings to the general public and other interested parties such as vendors and investors etc.

A website is like an extended shop or outlet for a business that never gets closed. It stays attentive to the critical business needs and objectives to ensure that the business is able to achieve its predefined objectives without any deviations.

Since the web offers uninterrupted and seamless solutions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year, a business availing its services is protected against any internal complacencies and inefficiencies.