Business Strategies Implemented Internationally Research Paper - 1

Business Strategies Implemented Internationally - Research Paper Example How should you organize the business outside of the U.S.? Marketing department handles the sales operation in an international market. Setup of the export department that is in direct contact with the CEO. Setup of independent franchisees or subsidiaries whereby each franchise functions individually and is in direct contact with the CEO (Hodgetts & Rugman, 1995). Should you set-up reasonably independent companies, subsidiaries, in each foreign market? Yes, setting up subsidiaries in each of the international markets is one of the best ways to manage business outside the local market. The franchises are run according to the demands of that country. This is called as the multi-domestic strategy. Another similar strategy; known as international strategy, in this concept certain departments of the international franchise are still maintained by the parent company (Aswathappa, 2008). In order to exercise control over each of the subsidiary, it is important that the companies know which of the strategies it is going to implement and their relevant advantages and disadvantages. A subsidiary board of director will manage the various subsidiaries and their work and hence in this way it is easy to maintain the reputation and decrease the chances of risk in reputation. It is better not to impose a strict brand image and it is also important that all the subsidiaries be linked with the help of the internet or any other software that might be available

Mental representation Essay Example for Free

Mental representation Essay Memory is defined as the process of storing and retreiving information. There are three major memory processes namely encoding, storing and retreival. During encoding, information is placed or stored in the memory by a mental representation. The information is being input to the mind for further retenetion. After being encoded the information or stimuli is now being stored. It is now placed in a permamnent mental state for later recall. The brain needs to process first as to what type of memory it has gathered before putting it to storage. This is where the idea of memory types emerge. Sensory memory is the initial step in memory which involves a process that hold visual and auditory information in its raw form for a very brief period of time. Examples of these are iconic (visual) and echoic (audio) memory. Thesetypes of memories are being stored for about a quarter of a second or more. Sensory memory prevent s the brain from being overwhelmed from too many incoming stimuli because anything that you do not attend or respond to will vanish in a matter of seconds. Rather than that, it also gives us decision time, stability, playback and recognition. After this process, the brain now determines whether to keep this memory for goof or not. Now it depends on which type of memory, either be long term or short term memory to which these informations can be retreived. This process is also called as the output of information from the memory system. From where this memory is retreived, now thats the big question. There are two types of memory retenetion namely short term memory and long term memory. Short term memory is also called the working memory that can hold only a limited amount of information and will remain up to 30 seconds (Cherry, 2010). It can hold an average of 7 items for a short period of time for approximately 20-30 seconds. However, despite its limited capacity and duartion, it can possibly increase through â€Å"chunking†. Short term memory can help us be attentive on a certain stimuli since it excludes other uncessesary ones. It can also improves ones retention of information since the is rehearsed in the mind over and over. Long term memory, however, is the type of memory that can store almost unlimited amounts of information for a long period of time (Cherry, 2010). There are two types of long term memory, first of which has another subdivision. Declarative memory involves memory of facts or evets. It can either be episodic or semantic. Episodic memory are knowledge of specific events, personal experiences or activities (such as naming or describing a favorite bar, songs, movies) while semantic memory involves knowledge of facts, concepts or words, definitions and language rules. Another type of long term memory is procedural which tackles about skills, habits, and things learned from classical conditioning. There are instances in which some people tend to forget. What may be the reasons for this? Forgetting is defined as the inability to retreive, recall or organize information that was stored or still stored in long term memory (Copeland, 2006). Most forgetting occurs because information in working memory was never transferred to long term memory. It can also occur because we lost our access to information that is in long term memory. One proposed theory to this was the repression theory. According to Sigmund Freud, informatio that is theatening to our self is automatically driven away into our consciousness from which we cannot retreive. It is one of his many proposed defense mechanisms. Another theory is the interference theory. It is defined as the inhibition of recall of certain information by the presence of other information in memory (Copeland, 2006). There are two types of interference: (1) retroactive and, (2) proactive. Retroactive interference is the decrease inability to recall previosuly learned information caused by learing new information while proactive is the exact opposite, defined as the decrease ability to learn new information caused by interference from existing information. In order to avoid these, psychologists suggests a number of ways to improve retention and to aid learning. One can increase their study time in order to store more memory. It will also be useful to distribute practice in order not ot mix up things. Speed reading is also advisable. Though speed reading can lead to poorer comprehension and retention of materials, it can also be useful if the materials are needed only for a short period of time. Arousal is also a factor to be considered. This means the stimulation of thoughts and conditioning of the mind. Sleep is an important factor to consider since sleep deprivation has a great effect in learning. References Cherry, Kendra. (2010). Memory: An Overview of Memory Retreived from http://www. psychology. about. com/ Copeland, David E. , Radvansky, Gabriel A. (2006). Memory retrieval and interference: working memory issues. Retreived from http://www. sciencedirect. com/ Defense mechanisms. (2010). Retreived from http://www. changingminds. org/

Theory Of Varied Consume Choice Behavior And Its Importance :: essays research papers

Theory Of Varied Consume Choice Behavior and Its Importance For decades, scholars and practitioners have been frustrated by the very limited capacity of either psychological or marketing models to predict individual choices on particular occasions. This paper discusses a theory which explains the degree to which the extant models omit important influences that produce varied individual choice behaviour. The focus of this paper is on the sequences of product purchases. Discretionary actions and activities are also covered. THE THEORETICAL AND APPLIED RELEVANCE OF VARIED BEHAVIOUR The assumption that consumers make rational, utility-maximizing choices has played an important role in economic thought. As long as preferences remain unchanged, the consumer is expected to choose the most preferred of the available products. Thoughts about consumers' behaviour towards substitutes hold a similar position. If a consumer's preference for the most preferred alternative product declines or the product is currently unavailable, the consumer is expected to choose a close substitute. From the firm's strategic point of view, this means that the marketer of a secondary brand should make its brand similar to the most popular brand. Careful consideration of the preceding description of consumer choice behaviour and the firm's selection of a strategy immediately leads one to question the general applicability of these assumption / thought. Although consumers often display stable preferences, sound choice behaviour seldom remains constant. Instead, consumers frequently change their choices of products or brands. Furthermore, the choices made on different occasions often involve two very different products or brands. In summary, changing, varied behaviour is the rule. Managers often avoid the use of simple "me-too" brands, recognizing that consumers are seeking more than simple substitutes. This tendency is seen directly in a number of product categories in which successful products are seldom replaced with highly similar products. Instead, a degree of product newness is viewed as being essential to maintain consumer interest. The theory of consumer choice behaviour that is presented in this paper is designed to explain the typical degree of variability that consumers exhibit in a series of related choices. Should this theory more accurately describe individual choices, than the meaning and predictive power of many models must be questioned. For example, the results from all preference-based mapping methods, such as MDPREF (Carroll, 1972) and the Schonemann-Wang (1972) models, should be interpreted with great care. In these cases, the analyst must resist jumping to the conclusion that the choice objects that appear close to each other have similar characteristics. All simple attribute-based choice models, such as the widely used conjoint method, must also be interpreted carefully. Here one must resist the assumption that the set of most preferred items will necessarily have

Oedipus Tyrannus through Freuds eyes Essay

Oedipus Tyrannus is deemed as Sophocles’s magnum opus and is undoubtedly the most famous of all Greek tragedies. Aristotle went to the extent of calling it a perfect play. It was first performed in around 425 b. c. , only just after a plague that had wreaked havoc on Athens, Oedipus Tyrannus was set in Thebes, a city which was also facing the same catastrophe. King Oedipus was informed by the Creon, the brother of Oedipus’s wife, Jocasta that the city will remain a sufferer unless and until the slayer of the previous king is convicted. Oedipus promised to discover the killer’s identity and to prosecute him. Ignorant of the fact that he himself was the murderer, Oedipus unremittingly trailed the truth until he found his own guiltiness and blinded himself so he might never catch the sight of his father in the afterworld. A Freudian analysis of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (the King) would point out that Oedipus truly had an incestuous nature. This was exposed not only by Oedipus’ marriage to his own mother, by whom he had children, but also by his unreasonable preference for his daughters, Antigone and Ismene. While the attention he showed to his daughters was profound and braced with sexuality, he dismissed his sons as creatures who are able to look after themselves. Although he was unconsciously attracted to his daughters, he also had this fear in his mind that his daughters would become pariah and will be unable to marry. Freud thought that all the men since birth harbor not a natural repugnance to incest, but the contrary which is an instinctive sexual attraction to the mother. He says, â€Å"[The experiences of psychoanalysis] have taught . . that the first sexual impulses of the young are regularly of an incestuous nature† (Totem and Taboo, p. 160). He also emphasized that each male anchorage undecided feelings towards their fathers. â€Å"But surely I must fear my mother’s bed? † (Oedipus Tyrannus, line 576) When Oedipus throws this question to his wife Jocasta, he is totally oblivious of the profundity of his words. The Messenger has just informed him about the murder of King Polybos of Corinth, Oedipus’ supposed father. Now free in his mind from the intimidation of Apollo’s foretell that he would kill his father, Oedipus here desires to validate with his wife that, as his hypothetical mother (the queen of Corinth) is still living, he must still look into that for fear that he sleep with her, as the oracle also foretold. But his words touch a more primary issue: Why is the forecast that he will sleep with his mother so horribly threatening and vile? Oedipus is actually calmed and contented about the natural death of his supposed father Polybos, as in his mind this frees him from the concern that he will someday kill his father. Freud had suggested an interesting explanation of the source of the taboos against incest and parent murder. In the primitive civilization, people lived in groups dominated by the most powerful male, the father, who hold a sexual monopoly over the group. When each of his sons grew to an age where he would challenge the father’s supremacy in order to get a part of the action, so to challenge, the fathers forced them to leave the group. After so many sons had been so treated like this, they resolute to cooperate in order to remove from power their father and get hold of the females, their mothers, for themselves. With their collective strength, they killed the fathers. In civilized society, Freud observed, proscription against such crimes go unsaid, but this is not evidence that we no longer harbor such wishes. The conscience of mankind which now appears as an inherited mental force was acquired in connection with the Oedipus complex. However, from Sophocles’ text, it would seem that Oedipus does everything in his power to avert these two crimes. Freud too examines the play from this vantage point although, under the novel concept of unconscious motivation, moral condemnation gives way. Freud’s perspective added another dimension to previous simplistic disputes as to whether an action was freely willed, and thus subject to moral injunction, or determined by fate. Freudian intentionality implied that there were actions which, though not intended (consciously), nevertheless were compulsive enactments of inner latent wishes (Hamilton 1993, p. 209).

Reseach Report

Internal Communication in [pic] Improving the internal communication within the Eurest division in Holland Casino Utrecht Student:Saskia Roose Studentnr. : 20022355 Supervisor: Mr. B. Van der Sluijs Date:June 2009 The Hague School of European Studies Executive Summary A recent employees satisfaction audit, showed that the employees of Eurest in Holland Casino Utrecht were very dissatisfied about ‘communication’. Though, when I asked them they could not describe the exact problem and if I would ask what needed to change for them in order to improve the communication they did not know.The goal of this thesis is to improve and optimize the internal communication for Compass in Holland Casino Utrecht by finding out what the needs of the employees are in regard to the internal communication. The central question is: ‘How can the internal communication of Compass Group in Holland Casino Utrecht be improved in order to fulfill the needs and expectations of its employees? ’ Research methods that are used are desk research, a group discussion with employees, interviews with floor managers and supervisors and an internal ommunication survey. The research starts with evaluating the current internal communication situation. Views on the situation from both employees as management are taken into consideration. The communication survey is used to provide insight on the needs and expectations from the employees concerning the internal communication. At the end recommendations on improving the current communication means is given and a new communication structure is composed. Conclusions from the research are: The currently used communication means are not sufficient for providing information to all employees – More attention needs to be paid to the bottom-up communication (meetings and performance reviews) – Communication between the management team needs to be improved – Employees need more types of information Table of contents Introduction 1 Motive to do the research 1 Research goal 1 Central question 2 Sub questions 2 Justification of research methods 2 Organization of thesis 3 1. Theory 4 1. 1 Internal communication 4 1. 2 Functions 4 1. 3 Types of information 5 1. 4 Communication flows 5 1. 5 Communication means 6 . Company profile 8 2. 1 Compass Group 8 2. 2 Eurest in Holland Casino Utrecht 8 2. 3 Organizational Structure 9 2. 4 Employees 9 2. 5 Leadership Style10 2. 6 Organizational culture10 2. 7 Problem11 3. Internal Communication Situation Analyses13 3. 1 Internal Communication13 3. 2 Interviews Floor Managers and Supervisors16 3. 2. 1 Floor managers16 3. 2. 2 Supervisors17 3. 3 Audit results18 3. 3. 1 Overall satisfaction18 3. 3. 2 Information need18 3. 3. 3 Communication means19 3. 3. 4 Meetings21 3. 3. 5 Performance reviews22 3. 3. 6 Contact with manager22 4. Conclusions23 5. Recommendations27 List of References32 Appendices33Introduction â€Å"The single biggest problem in communication is t he illusion that it has taken place. † George Bernard Shaw Motive to do the research Next to my study at HEBO, I have been working as a waitress for Compass Group in Holland Casino Utrecht for more than 4 years. After the latest employee satisfaction survey (appendix X) concluded that one of the things my colleagues were most dissatisfied about was ‘communication’, I was curious to find out what was wrong. I often had heard complaints about not getting information, but when I asked specifically what they thought the problem was, nobody really had an answer.I decided that this was a good subject to do my thesis about. Why were the employees so dissatisfied with the internal communication and what could be done about it? I asked the location manager if they had an internal communication plan, which they had not. I explained to him that I had to write a communication plan to finish my studies at HEBO. As I referred to the bad score communication made on the last empl oyee satisfaction research and the signals that I had picked up from my co-workers, he agreed that it would be a good idea to make an analyses of the communication structure.Research goal The goal of this thesis is to find out what the bottlenecks in the communications flows are in order to improve and optimize the internal communication for Eurest in Holland Casino Utrecht, to provide a clear view on the effectiveness of the communication means that are being used and to find out what the needs of the employees are in regard to the internal communication. With my recommendations I hope to contribute to a positive change in the internal communication, so that the employees feel better informed and will be more involved in the organization.Central question ‘How can the internal communication of Compass Group in Holland Casino Utrecht be improved in order to fulfill the needs and expectations of its employees? ’ Sub questions †¢ What is the current internal communica tion situation? †¢ Which communication means are being used and how effective are they? †¢ What are the bottlenecks in the current internal communication? †¢ What is the information need of the employees? †¢ How would the employees like to receive information? †¢ How can the current communication means be made more effective? What can be done to improve the internal communication structure within the Eurest department in Holland Casino Utrecht? Justification of research methods To find an answer to the central question, I used several research methods: a literature study, desk research, a group discussion, interviews and a survey. Next to that working in the casino myself already gave me a good view on the situation. Informal talks with my colleagues were also a great source of information, they gave me insight in the perspective of the employees as well as the management team.The literature study is based upon several books and articles that provided inform ation about the importance of internal communication in organizations. As there was no internal communication plan present, I wanted to stress the importance of internal communication, its functions and goals. The theory illustrates what kind of information employees need in an organization and which means can be used to distribute this information and apply this to the situation in the Compass department in Holland Casino Utrecht.Subsequently desk research uncovered the current internal communication structure and the communication and deliberation means which are being used. A group discussion helped me to get a better insight on how the employees viewed the problem. With a small group of employees I discussed their information need and effectiveness of the current communication with the management. I asked the where they thought lied the problem and what should change to improve the effectiveness of the communication? The interviews with the floor managers and supervisors had the same purpose: providing insight on how the management looked at the problem.Did they even think there was a problem and what was going wrong if there was? I asked the same questions to both groups, employees and managers, so I could easily find similarities and differences. The results of the discussion group and interviews with floor managers and supervisors were the basis of questionnaire which all employees could fill in. Transcripts of the discussion group and interviews can be found in appendices I – VII. To conduct the survey I made a questionnaire. It contains mainly closed questions with the opportunity to give comments. It consisted of five different parts: General information – Information need – Communication means (written communication means) – Deliberation forms (verbal communication means) – Personal information As employees do not use a computer at work, it was more effective to let them fill in the questionnaire by hand. The quest ionnaire can be found in appendix VIII. 36 of the 55 employees returned the survey. This brings the response of the questionnaire to over 65%. Unfortunately, a great number of employees did not want to fill in yet another questionnaire or were just too busy with their work.The results of the survey can be found in appendix IX. Organization of thesis The first chapter provides a theoretical framework for finding an answer to the central question. In the second chapter the company is introduced and a more in-depth description of the problem is given. The third chapter gives an overview of the current internal communication situation, based on desk research and interviews with the floor managers and supervisors followed by the results of the communication survey. The fourth chapter contains the conclusions, followed by recommendations in chapter 5. 1.Theory To obtain an answer to the central question of this thesis it is important to understand what internal communication is. In this c hapter the importance of internal communication and its functions are explained. Subsequently a description is given of the types of information employees need to be able to function in an organization. After that an overview of the components (communication flows and means) that are necessary to ensure effective communication are described at the end of the chapter. 1. 1 Internal communication Koeleman (2008) describes internal communication as: the intentional production of messages that can be received and interpreted. This process takes place within an organization in an informational and relational context that shapes the significance of messages? Internal communication is vital if an organization is to function properly: cooperation assumes exchange of information; motivation is an important factor to achieve quality and can be improved by communication; processes of change cannot do without communicative support. (Vos & Schoemacher, 2001, p. 81) To ensure effective internal c ommunications it is important to have a clear, concise and consistent communication structure.The internal communication structure is the whole of deliberation forms, channels (flows) and (digital) means that are available within an organization along which information exchange and dialogue can take place. (Koeleman,2008, p. 5) 1. 2 Functions Internal communication has 4 main functions. Koeleman (2008) describes them as: 1. ) to facilitate work processes (task information): information about what to do and how to do it; 2. ) to motivate and create commitment amongst employees; 3. ) to aim the organization and to intensify the identification (policy information): information about the joint goals and course of the organization. 4. to optimize the use of knowledge available in the organization (knowledge management): the creation of a work environment where everyone is stimulated to handle and share knowledge; (p. 19) 1. 3 Types of information To be able to function within an organiza tion, employees need certain types of information. It is important to make the distinction between different types of information. Task information is all the information that supports the primary process in the organization. Employees need to cooperate in order to perform their work properly. For example work instructions, working procedures, problems with machines or materials etc. Policy information is information about policies and organization, in which direction is the company going and why? For example a new mission of the organization, reorganization, new projects etc. ; Management information is information about the progress the company is making. For example results, figures and customer satisfaction etc. ; Social information is Information about the social policy and personnel information. For example house rules, new and leaving employees, information about pensions etc. (Reijnders, 2006, p. 126) 1. 4 Communication flows All the information that is send out in an organi zation flows in different directions.Figure 1. gives o good overview (Koeleman, 2008, p. 26) Vertical communication is communication between superiors and employees from different hierarchical levels. This can be top-down, from superior to employee, as well as bottom-up, from employee to superior. Horizontal communication is communication between people that work on the same level in the organization, like meetings or discussions. Diagonal communication takes place between employees who work on a different level and on a different department. Line communication is the communication along the hierarchical lines in the organization.The upper management provides the middle management information that they need to pass on to the operational staff. With parallel communication information can directly be send to all employees from a central point in the organization, so that everyone receives the same information. Meetings or internal magazines are means that can be used with parallel com munication. Formal communication is communication through the formal communication network, This could be a meeting or a memo, but it always contains official information. Informal communication is the social contact that employees have outside the formal network.Informal communication cannot be controlled, but is an important part of the total communication. 1. 5 Communication means Organizations can use various communication means to send information to members of the organization. Choosing the right instrument to transport messages is important to achieve the objectives that have been set. Usually, organizations use a combination of communication instruments, so that a communication mix exits. We can distinguish three categories of internal communication instruments: 1. ) Verbal ( group discussion, conversation, performance review, staff meeting, kick-off meeting, brainstorm session) 2. Written ( newsletter, memo, internal magazine, notice board, poster, year report) 3. ) Digital & audiovisual ( intranet, e-mail, weblogs, podcasts) Personal (verbal) communication is the most effective form of communication. (Koeleman,2008, p. 26) It gives the people involved the opportunity to give direct feedback to what the other person is saying. Employees frequently prefer personal over non personal information. Even though as effective personal communication might be, organizations often choose written and digital communication means (non personal communication) to get information to their personnel.The advantages are that a larger group of people can be reached in the same time and that the information can be read again. It is cheaper and it takes less time than personal information, but there is no space to give feedback and the sender can never be certain if everyone really received and read the information. 2. Company profile In this chapter, a brief description of the parent company is given. Subsequently the Eurest division is presented and more in-depth descript ion of the communication problem is given. 2. 1 Compass GroupCompass Group is a world(wide) market leader that provides food and a range of support services for over 5 million customers every day. In the Netherlands Compass Group is known by the brand names Eurest and Medirest. Both are specialized in foodservices. Eurest provides food and catering services to a wide range of companies from schools to prisons and from theme parks to big events. Medirest offers her services to companies in the social service sector (http://www. compass-group. nl/over-ons/). 2. 2 Eurest in Holland Casino Utrecht Eurest provides their service to three of the fourteen establishments of Holland Casino.They focus on all the food and beverage activities within these casino’s. One of the establishments is Holland Casino Utrecht where Eurest set up their own vision and values. Eurest Horeca / Holland Casino Utrecht’s vision: ‘To exceed the expectations of the guests of the casino with our products and services, every day again. ’ This mission is propagated by the values the location manager has set up: †¢ Teamwork †¢ Observing procedures †¢ Fun †¢ Eye for detail †¢ Transparency †¢ Integrity The management team added: †¢ Keep your promise †¢ Mention the positive, not only the negative †¢ Openness †¢ Understanding †¢ Acceptance Commerciality 2. 3 Organizational Structure [pic] Fig. 2. Organizational chart 2. 4 Employees The Eurest division in Holland Casino Utrecht currently employs over 80 employees. This includes the kitchen and waiting staff and the employees from the company restaurant. The chef (kitchen manager) is the manager of the kitchen, the dishwashing and the company restaurant. Furthermore, five floor managers have their own unit which they are responsible for. These units are the bars inside the casino. All together there are seven bars in the casino. Every unit has a supervisor, who is respon sible for the functioning of the unit.This thesis will further only discuss the internal communication between the waiting staff and the management team because this group indicates to have the most problems concerning communication. 2. 5 Leadership Style The management style is best described as a persuading style, which is characterized by a lot of support and control (Vos & Schoemacher, 2001, p. 93). Floor managers focus on the performance of tasks, but are also very human orientated. Every floor manager, as well as the location manager, uses the leadership style ‘management by walking around ’ (Vos & Schoemacher, 2001, p. 94).By walking around on the work floor they keep in contact with the employees. It gives them a clear view on what is happening inside the casino and it gives the employees the opportunity to give feedback or ask questions. 2. 6 Organizational culture Erik Rijnders (2008) describes organizational culture as follows: ‘Organizational culture i s comprised of the norms and values of an organization, the way that the members of the organization interact with each other, with assignments and tasks, with their superiors and subordinates, with external developments and with developments in time’ (p. 7). Eurest employees are bound to strict rules and regulations in respect of working procedures, handling money and interaction with casino guests. The casino expects great service for its guests. Therefore observing procedures, eye for detail and commerciality are some of the most important values of Eurest. An interesting part of the culture is that though the employees work for Eurest, they seem to have more affinity with Holland Casino. If you would ask employees where they work, almost everyone will say ‘at Holland Casino’ instead of ‘at Compass Group’.Even though working procedures are very formal, the interaction between co-workers and floor managers is very informal. Eurest observes an open communication culture where everyone can speak their mind. As seen in the values of the organization, openness is encouraged and employees will address a colleague or floor manager when a problem occurs. 2. 7 Problem In the last employee satisfaction survey ‘communication’ scored below average. It was one of the points that the employees were the most discontented about. Some remarks that were made by employees: – ‘Communication for part timers needs to be improved.When you cannot attend the briefing, because you start at a different time, you miss out on important information’ – ‘Employees do not feel taken serious’ – ‘I feel badly informed’ – ‘I don’t get feedback to my questions’ The employee satisfaction survey can be found in appendix X. In personal conversations with employees I asked them they thought what was wrong with the communication. Some of the answers were: – â⠂¬ËœManagers do not listen. ’ – ‘If I ask a question, I never get an answer. ’ – ‘If I cannot attend the briefing, I do not get the information’ – ‘They never tell me anything around here’These statements show that there are problems in the internal communication. One of the difficulties in the casino is that because the casino is open from 12 in the afternoon until 3 in the morning, employees and managers work in shifts that start on different times during the day. Because of the different shifts, it frequently happens that employees and/or floor managers do not see each other for a few days, which obstructs the communication. An often heard complaint is that floor managers forget to give feedback on questions and that employees do not feel taken serious.They feel unmotivated and uncommitted, which this results in a high turnover. Another problem is that information does not reach every employee. When employees are not present at the briefing they miss out on the information that is provided and memo’s are often not read. Employees declare that they frequently do not know about new information. The management team also seems to have a problem in their communication. One of the conclusions from the satisfaction survey is that the management team itself is not well informed. Managers send out different and confusing messages as not every manager is up to date.What is making it difficult for the management team is that there is no communication plan and there are no objectives. Furthermore there has never been any research done after the effectiveness of the communication means that are currently in use or to the information need of the employees. So far four main communication bottlenecks can be identified: – There is no internal communication policy – Shift work makes communication difficult – Information does not get through to all employees – Management team itself has trouble with communication 3. Internal Communication Situation AnalysesThis chapter will discuss the current internal communication in the Eurest department in Holland Casino Utrecht. First the communication system and the means that are used will be illustrated. After that the floor managers and supervisors perspectives will be discussed in reference to the interviews. Subsequently, the results from the internal communication audit will be given. 3. 1 Internal Communication Because Eurest is only a small division of Compass Group it does not have its own communication department. The management team arranges all communication to the employees itself.There is no communication policy, but a mix of tools is used to send information. If you want the internal communication to function well, you need to have a clear basic structure. Employees and managers have to be familiar with the channels and methods of this basic structure. The basic package is used to send out different types of information that employees need. It has to be suitable for top-down-, bottom-up-, horizontal and diagonal communication (Koeleman, 2008, p. 95). To analyze the basic internal communication structure I used a media/content matrix (fig. ) (Koeleman, 2008, p 97). This matrix gives a clear overview of the communication means that are used, the type of information that is send, the sender of the message and the frequency. The data in the matrix are based on desk research, interviews with floor managers and the answers of the discussion meeting. The briefing and memo’s are the most important communication instruments. In the briefing floor managers provide mainly task information for the night or day ahead, but policy and social information is also given during these briefings.Briefings are moments when there is personal contact with the floor manager (top-down) and for employees there is the opportunity to ask questions or make comments (bottom-up). The problem with the briefing is that during the day employees start at different shifts, but only the employees that start at 12:00h and 19:00h can attend the briefings. Briefing reports were used before to give employees that start at other times the possibility to read the briefing information. Though the management has stopped handing out these reports because they thought the employees were not interested.In addition there were problems with the distribution of the reports to the units as employees frequently forgot to take them with them to their unit. Unfortunately now a large part of the employees misses important information. Memo’s are used to send out policy and social information. Sometimes they are used to provide task information as well. There are several places that are used by the management to place a memo. In most cases a memo is put on the folder in every unit. Supervisors also use the folder to place memo’s about specific information about the unit that is ot relevant to members of other units. Other places are the pigeon holes of the employees and the notice board in the kitchen. A problem with memo’s is that employees are often not aware that there is a new memo. Holland Casino Utrecht and Compass both publish internal magazines every two and three months. Though in personal conversations with employees and even floor managers, I found that the Compass magazine (‘Dienblad’) is thrown away without reading it because the information is not relevant to the Eurest employees in the casino. Om de Tafel’ (Internal magazine HC Utrecht) is being read, but as it is primarily made for casino employees, it contains more information about the casino than about Eurest. Meetings should be held four times a year. They create involvement and are important to motivate employees. Meetings are the only moments that the unit teams are complete and problems can be discussed with the whole team. Unfortunately, not every unit meets four time s a year. It is remarkable that in these times Eurest uses only one digital communication means, e-mail, and that it is only used to send work schedules to the employees.Furthermore I noticed that there are no parallel communication means. This means that there is no way of directly sending information to all employees. Management is dependent on spreading information by memo’s and briefings, which do not reach all employees. 3. 2 Interviews Floor Managers and Supervisors To get a complete view and to hear about the managements point of view on the situation I conducted interviews with the floor managers and two of the deputy managers. Not only the communication between management and employees was discussed, but also the communication between the management team itself. . 2. 1 Floor managers Floor managers admit they are not aware of the information need of the employees. They feel they provide information, but notice that a lot of information does not get through to all emp loyees. They claim that different work schedules and shifts work against effective communication, but also think that employees are sometimes just not interested in new information. Another point that comes back in almost every interview are the briefings. The floor managers are aware that the information that is given in the briefing, is only available for the employees that start on that time.They point out that the briefings do not have a fixed format. Most of the briefing information is task information about the day before and the night or day ahead. But the briefings are also used to provide information about casino activities for guests, policy and social information and important information about changes in working procedures. This information is frequently not repeated in following briefings during the week and briefing reports are not handed out because of the lack of interest from employees. The result is that important information is missed by a large group of the emplo yees.The contact between the employees and floor managers is perceived as good by all floor managers. They all frequently walk around on the work floor, which gives them the opportunity talk with employees and to discuss problems or ask questions and vice versa. In spite of the good contact between management and employees, the floor managers acknowledge that questions from employees frequently remain unanswered. Another problem that comes up in every interview are the communication problems between the management team.Because of the different shifts the floor managers team is seldom complete. The management team meets once a month, but these meetings are not structured and are often used as an outlet, which makes it difficult to come to agreements and make decisions. Most of the communication takes place by e-mail and daily reports. Due to the lack of joint deliberation, floor managers take actions without informing their other colleagues, which causes frequent miscommunication. Tw o floor managers point out that there is a lack of control.Control from the floor managers and supervisors on employees and work procedures, but also the lack of control and coaching from the location manager on the management team. Results are that without control or evaluation moments new rules or procedures lose vigor and the situation turns back to how it was before. ‘Maintenance’ and ‘making it important’ are often heard terms, but are rarely observed. The floor managers indicate that they have a very work load. Not only do they have to make new policy, they also have to implement, carry out, control and evaluate it.Without well structured communication it is difficult to inform the whole team about changes and as there is always someone who cannot attend the discussion it is difficult to get support from the whole team. Because of this every floor manager seems to have his or her own objectives that are important to them, which causes confusion amongs t the employees. They all agree that they miss someone at the back office that makes and supervises the policy, so they can focus on operational tasks. 3. 2. 2 SupervisorsBoth supervisors indicate that the employees do not get enough information. Supervisors receive information by e-mail, but as normal employees do not have a casino e-mail account they do not get this information. The communication means that are currently being used are working sufficiently, but especially in case of the briefings there should be done more to distribute the information to every unit. One of the supervisors points out that there is no communication means that reaches all employees in the same time.They claim that the contact between the management and employees is going well. Though both floor managers and supervisors should be pay more attention to answering questions. It now frequently happens that someone forgets to get back on a question. In this way needed information gets stuck somewhere along the hierarchical line. To the question of what should change to improve communication they point out that the management should show more discipline in communication towards the employees. Furthermore communication between the supervisors has to be improved.At the moment there is no team spirit or mutual support. As there are several new supervisors the team has to be rebuilt. In this process they need more coaching from the floor managers. 3. 3 Audit results As the survey was divided in different parts, I will separately discuss the outcome of each subject. 3. 3. 1 Overall satisfaction I started the survey with questions about the overall satisfaction with the communication. A previous employee satisfaction survey from Sjors Vreeswijk showed that communication was one of the points employees were most dissatisfied about.Based on the answers given in the discussion group, I asked questions about the information provision. It drew my attention that 58,3% of the employees is satisfie d with the information they get about their daily tasks and 50% knows where to find the information they need, but over 40% of the employees indicated that they do not always receive the information they need to perform their tasks. Over 36% of the employees are not always up to date about new information and only 22,2% claims they are. Furthermore the figures show a lack of information about Holland Casino and Compass. 8,9% of the respondents did not think they receive enough information about the two organizations, while both companies distribute internal magazines every three months. Positive is that the majority of the respondents feels that there is an open communication culture and that their opinion is being heard. 3. 3. 2 Information need In the interviews with the floor managers, I found that it was not clear to them what the information need of the employees was. The type of information that is send most is task information.I made a list providing topics of all types of in formation that could or could not be relevant to the employees and asked how important it was for the employees to receive information about these topics. The information that is considered very important to the employees are customer satisfaction results (63,9%) and professional knowledge about food beverages (55,6%). This is not surprising as these topics are dealt with every day and customer satisfaction are the results of the employees’ work. Information about training or education possibilities (47,2%) and new colleagues are also considered very important.It is remarkable that 25% of the employees finds information about Compass Group important and an equal 25% finds it unimportant. 33% does not have an opinion about it. Also in their opinion about the importance of information about results from Compass group the employees are divided: 30,6% finds it important information, 30,6% does not find it important or unimportant and 25% finds it unimportant information. Informat ion about the vision and goals (44,4%) and about the results of Eurest in Holland Casino Utrecht (47,2%) are considered as important information that employees would like to receive. 3. 3. 3 Communication meansTo establish the effectiveness of the current written communication means, I asked the employees whether it was important to them to attend the briefings. 36,1% agreed very much with this statement and 44,4% also agreed that the briefings were important. 41,7% thinks that the briefings provide sufficient information for them. Over 40% (11,1 + 36,1%) agrees that the information given in the briefing is important to carry out their daily tasks. It caught my attention that almost 40% does not read the briefing report when they cannot attend the briefing, but over 50% indicates that they read it when it is present.I asked some employees how these numbers were possible. The answer was that the briefing reports often were not handed out by the floor managers or that colleagues who d id attend the briefing did not bring it with them to their units. The numbers show that employees think that the internal magazines do not provide relevant information for them. Only 5,6% agrees that the Compass magazine has relevant information against 19,4% for the Holland Casino magazine. 36,1% even totally disagrees with the presence of relevant information in the Compass magazine.Even though 61% of the employees agrees that memo’s provide sufficient information, 36,1% does not. The motivation that employees give to their negative answer shows that employees often do not get to read new memo’s. Some do not know where to find them and some give as a reason that they just do not know that there is a new memo. Another important question is how employees would like to receive information. I asked them what would be the most effective communication means for receiving information about certain subjects. Because the ommunication means that are currently used are limited, I added communication means that could be good alternatives. In the next figure you can see the most chosen communication means per information topic. I highlighted the briefing and memo in red, the internal magazine and newsletter green, e-mail is blue and presentation is orange. | | |3. Welk communicatiemiddel zou voor jou het meest effectief werken m. b. t. het verkrijgen van informatie over de volgende | |onderwerpen? |Informatie over†¦ Communicatiemiddel % | |Dagelijkse werkzaamheden |Briefing |86. 1% | | |Memo |30. 6% | |Nieuw beleid, procedures en regels |Memo |66. 7% | | |Briefing |63. % | | |E-mail |33. 3% | |Compass Group |Personeelsblad |38. 1% | | |Nieuwsbrief |36. 1% | |Resultaten van het bedrijf (Compass) |Personeelsblad |38. 9% | | |Nieuwsbrief |36. % | |Resultaten van ons bedrijfsonderdeel (Compass in HC Utrecht) |Nieuwsbrief |44. 4% | | |Presentatie |38. 9% | |Visie en doelstellingen Compass |Presentatie |52. 8% | | |Nieuwsbrief |27. 8% | |Vakkennis m. b. t. dranken en gerechten | | | |Workshop/Cursus |86. 1% | |Klanttevredenheid (Mysterie visits) |Memo |66. 7% | | |Briefing |47. 2% | |HACCP Checks |Memo |61. % | | |Briefing |36. 1% | |Acties en activiteiten in het casino |Briefing |50. 0% | | |Memo |50. 0% | | |E-mail |41. 7% | | |Nieuwsbrief |36. % | |Holland Casino Utrecht |Personeelsblad |47. 2% | | |Nieuwsbrief |33. 3% | |Resultaten van het Holland Casino |Personeelsblad |47. 2% | | |Nieuwsbrief |30. 6% | | |Presentatie |27. % | |Opleidingsmogelijkheden |E-mail |47. 2% | | |Memo |38. 9% | | |Nieuwsbrief |36. 1% | |Nieuwe collega’s |Briefing |86. 1% | |Persoonlijke info zoals verjaardagen, geboortes etc. |Personeelsblad |47. % | | |Nieuwsbrief |36. 1% | | |E-mail |50. 0% | | |Memo |44. 4% | |Vacatures |Nieuwsbrief |38. 9% | In figure 4 you can see that employees prefer to receive information that is of direct influence on their day to day activities, in briefings or in a memo.Also information about customer satisfaction and cleaning checks is preferred to be received in a memo or in the briefing. The largest part of the employees would like to obtain information about Compass Group and Holland Casino (results and other information) in a newsletter or an internal magazine. Though they would like to see the results of the Eurest department and the vision and goals in a presentation. It was surprising to me that the employees did not seem to be very interested in using new communication means.E-mail is mentioned as a communication means in four of the given topics, concerning new policies, procedures and rules, activities in the casino, training possibilities and vacancies. The newsletter is also a communication means that is not currently used, but would be the means of choice on several topics. 3. 3. 4 Meetings Meetings are an important part of internal communication. It gives employees the possibility to discuss problems they encountered during their work and it increases cooperation and involvement i n the organization.Especially in the Eurest teams, it is one of the few moments a year that the teams are fully complete and are able to have discussions with the whole team present. It is not surprising that 77,7% of the employees thinks that regular meetings are important. In the Eurest department in HC Utrecht, four meetings a year are the standard, though the frequency tends to differ from this standard. Only 13,9% of the employees indicates that their team has four meetings a year. Over 60% of the employees meets less than four times a year. 63,9% of the employees feels that their unit does not meet enough (fig. 5). [pic] 3. 3. 5 Performance reviewsEmployees from Eurest get a performance review once year. 44% of the questioned employees replied that this was true. Though the many replies on whether the employees were satisfied with their performance reviews, shows that there are some points for improvement. Most of the respondents that replied they never had a performance revie w are part-time employees that work for Eurest for over a year and full-timers who work for the organization for less than a year. The 25 percent of the employees that claim they do not get a performance review every year are mainly full-timers who have been working for Eurest for over a year.This tells me management has to better hold track who has to have a performance review. These personal contact moments with the manager that gives an employee motivation to improve their work and the opportunity to ask questions about their personal development. Temporary employees do not get their performance reviews from Eurest, but from the employment agency they work for. 3. 3. 6 Contact with manager 52,8% of the respondents claims to be satisfied with the support their manager gives them. Though frequent heard complaints are that the manager is often not present on the work floor or just not available.In addition to this, questions frequently remain unanswered, which causes discontent amon gst the employees. 4. Conclusions In this chapter I will draw conclusions from the desk research, interviews with the floor managers and audit results in combination with the theory described in chapter 1. Subsequently I will give recommendations which will be realistic and feasible, so that they can be integrated in the organization. 1. Information provision Do the different media provide sufficient information?When we look at the media/content matrix on page 15 we can conclude that most of the communication means are used to send task information. The internal magazines also provide other types of information, but the employees indicate that the specific information about Compass Group and Holland Casino does not apply to them. The briefings and memo’s also provide policy and social information. The problem with the briefings is that not every employee can attend the briefings and the information cannot be found somewhere else. Briefing reports are a solution to informing t he employees who cannot attend the briefing.Employees indicate they read the briefing reports when they are present, but because the reports are often not distributed employees do not get the opportunity to read them. Memo’s are read, but still a large group of employees indicates that they are often not aware of any new memo’s. The bottom line is that too many employees do not get the information they need because of failing communication means. Furthermore, the information that is offered is not enough. In the survey employees indicate that they receive enough task information, but they find it important to receive policy and management information as well.These types of information are often not provided or in many cases, not received. 2. Communication flows Are there enough communication means to assure communication flows in different directions (top-down, bottom-up, horizontal and diagonal)? Within the Eurest department communication flows mostly along the hierar chical lines. The management team and deputy managers provide information to the staff using several communication means. For top-down communication briefings and memo’s are used. Problems with these means is discussed above. Furthermore two internal magazines also provide information.Nevertheless employees indicate that the information given is these magazines is not relevant to them and that they would like to receive information that is tailored to their situation. The means for bottom-up communication are meetings and performance reviews. Every unit should have meetings four times a year. Unfortunately the survey revealed that most units meet less than determined. By being able to discuss and solve problems with the whole team increases motivation and involvement in the team. Furthermore it gives the team the opportunity to address the floor manager and deputy managers on issues that are playing within the team.Performance reviews are another more personal means of bottom -up communication which gives an employee the opportunity to discuss their progress with their floor manager. Again employees indicate that they do not have a performance review every year. Floor managers should be better aware of this. Another positive way of enabling bottom-up communication is management by walking around. The floor manager on duty, as well as the operational manager when he’s present, regularly walks around the casino to assess the situation on the work floor and talk with employees.This gives employees the opportunity to directly address the floor manager when they have any questions or problems. A point of improvement is that frequently questions remain unanswered. Due to the different work shifts it frequently happens that the floor managers in question does not see the employee for several days, especially with part time workers, and forgets to give an answer. Horizontal and diagonal communication mainly takes place through e-mail (management team) and in personal conversations and phone calls on the work floor. Furthermore, it is remarkable that almost no parallel communication means are being used.Parallel communication increases commitment to the organization and strengthens the organizational culture. These means are especially handful to reach the full staff when sending out important information. Eurest currently does not have a means to reach everyone in the organization in the same time and no central point where employees can look up information. The only digital communication means that is used is e-mail. This is used only for top-down communication to send work schedules to the employees. There are no staff meetings or kick offs where additional information is given to the entire staff. . Management communications The management team currently meets once a month. This is not enough. Because of the different work shifts, the whole team is seldom complete. Horizontal communication between the team flows mainly by e-mail and daily reports. Meetings are not structured and used as an outlet rather as an opportunity to discuss important issues in the organization. Because there are not enough opportunities to meet with the whole team, there is too much miscommunication between the management team, which causes confusion amongst the employees.From the interviews with the floor managers and supervisors I can further conclude that there is no unity in the team. Again, more frequent and structured management meetings could be the solution to solve this. As currently floor managers take action without consulting the entire team small groups of one to three managers start a project, but as there is no support or control from their colleagues, these projects often are not realized in the end. Important terms are ? maintenance? and ? making it important?. To maintain a certain policy or to make something important, you need the support of the whole management team.For an organization that is running almost 24/ 7 it is important to keep communicating if you want everyone to be informed. As one of the supervisors said in his interview: ‘It is important to keep communicating at all times, even when you think it is not important enough. ’ The same counts for the supervisors team. They also say that there is no unity in the team and they as well have meetings only once a month. The supervisors would like to see more coaching from the floor managers as new supervisors are often left to fend for themselves. . Needs and expectations employees Results of the communication survey show that though employees know where to find information, they do not always receive the information that is necessary to perform their work. More than one third of the employees claims not to be up to date about new information. This number is too high! The employees are most interested in receiving information about customer satisfaction, professional knowledge about food and beverages, training and educati onal possibilities and actions and activities in the casino.What is remarkable is that they receive information about Compass Group and Holland Casino, but they claim to not receive enough information. When I asked some of the employees about it, they claimed that the information that these magazines provide is not tailored to their situation. The management team mainly provides task information, but from the survey results I can conclude that there is a high need for policy, management and social information as well. In regard to choosing communication means to provide the information, memo’s and briefings are still popular especially for providing task information.Though for company results about Compass Group, their own Eurest department and Holland Casino employees prefer to receive the information in an internal magazine or news letter. E-mail is also mentioned to be effective for receiving certain types of information. As these are communication means that are currently not being used, it is sensible to look at the possibility of introducing these media to the communication structure. Meetings are considered very important, but should take place more often. In the matter of performance reviews, management has to be better aware of which employees did not had a review yet.Especially part-time employees claim not to have a performance review each year. 5. Recommendations The following recommendations give an answer to the central question: ‘How can the internal communication of Compass Group in Holland Casino Utrecht be improved in order to fulfill the needs and expectations of its employees? ’ In making these recommendations I looked at the results of the communication audit, theory and findings throughout my research. I will start by discussing how to make the current communication means more effective. Subsequently I will introduce two new communication means.To give an overview of the new, recommended communication structure I made a new media/content matrix which includes the people who have to take responsibility for the communication means. 1. Briefings The problem with the briefings is that not all employees are able to attend the briefing and miss out on the information that is given. Briefing reports are a good way of providing this information to the employees that could not be there. Employees indicate that they read the reports when they are present, but currently they are often not distributed to every unit.The management should reinforce the use of the briefing reports and make sure they are distributed to every unit at the end of the briefing. Like this, employees have the opportunity to read the reports and keep up to date with new information. 2. Memo’s As memo’s are the only written means that the management team uses to send other types of information besides task information, it is critical that the memo’s reach all employees. Currently employees often are not aware of new memo’s and miss out on the information that is given.Memo’s can be found on the folder of every unit or in the pigeon holes of the employees, these places are easily looked over or forgotten as new memo’s are not in clear sight. I would recommend to put the memo’s in a central and more visible place. As employees spend most of their work hours on the units, it would recommendable to hang up notice boards at every unit on a clear and visible place. The notice boards can be used to put up memo’s, briefing reports and other information that is relevant to the unit. The supervisor of the bar should be made responsible to keep the notice board up to date. . Meetings Every unit should have four meetings a year. Though from the survey results I can conclude that this is not the case. Employees feel that the meetings are very important, but they do not meet enough. Well structured and frequent meetings increases involvement of the employees. Four meetings a year is the rule. The floor manager and supervisor of the units are responsible for organizing the meetings and should maintain this number of meetings a year. 4. Performance reviews Performance reviews are held once a year.The reviews are a point of motivation for the employees as they give feedback to how they work. Some employees indicate that they do not receive a performance review every year. These employees are mainly full-timers who work for Eurest less than a year and part-timers. Floor managers should me better aware of who already had an performance review and who still has to get one. 5. News letter A news letter is currently a communication means that is not being used. Though in the communication survey comes forward that employees would like to receive certain information in an internal magazine or news letter.Two internal magazines already exist, but Eurest employees claim that they do not provide relevant information. They would like to receive information about Compass, Holland Casino and their own Eurest department in a format that is tailored to their situation and information need. As internal magazines take a lot of time and money, two things that the managers at Eurest do not have, a news letter would be the better option. The news letter should contain: – information about Compass Group that is relevant to the employees – results of the Eurest department in HC Utrecht information about upcoming actions and activities in the Casino – information about upcoming workshops and trainings – social information, such as new and leaving colleagues, vacancies and birthdays I also suggest to send the newsletter by e-mail. In this way employees can read the information at home. All the recommendations made above are based on providing information. If you want employees to have a better understanding of why things happen and why certain decisions have to be made a presentation or kick off are two ways of providing this information. 6. Kick off and presentationsA kick off can be a way of communicating when changes in the organization occur. Presentations can be used to present the annual returns and information about the mission and goals of the coming year. Both communication means are currently not used by the management team. Employees indicate that they would like to receive information about these topics. If the management team wants to create better understanding, I recommend to use a kick off or presentation more often. Like this, the employees receive management and policy information in a personal way that also gives the opportunity to give feedback and ask questions.The location manager should be responsible for kick offs and presentations. 7. Training and workshops Workshops and trainings are motivating for employees to learn new things, on top of that management shows support by offering employees this extra training. Professional knowledge about food and beverages and customer satisfa ction are considered as very important topics by the employees. It increases their knowledge and supports employees in carrying out their work. Currently there are a few trainings and workshops each year.Some can be followed by all employees and some are specifically for the employees of the restaurant, who need more in-depth knowledge to be able to advise their guests. As employees indicate that these are very important topics to them, I would advise to plan a several workshops each year. 8. Contact management The contact between management and employees is perceived as good on both sides. Because of the management by walking around, managers have frequent personal contact with employees. A point of improvement is giving feedback to questions.It is too often forgotten to get back to an employee, which causes the feeling of not being taken serious. Questions should be answered the same day. When this is not possible the question can be answered by e-mail as well. 9. Management commu nication Better communication within the management team can only be reached when there is an opportunity to actually communicate. For an organization that operates almost 24/7 a day it is crucial for the management to have frequent communication moments with the whole team. The management team currently meets once a month.When meeting only once a month there is too much to discuss and meetings are often closed without making decisions on anything. As a result the meetings are not structured and used as an outlet. It is recommendable to have weekly meetings to improve communication between the management team. It is necessary to keep each other up to date about new developments, improve cooperation between the managers and to have better control and insight on what the members of the team are working on. The meetings have to have a clear structure with fixed items on the agenda that are discussed every week.In this way it should be possible to discuss problems and come to agreements that are supported by the entire team. Weekly meetings will also provide the opportunity to discuss progress on new projects and schedule controls on certain procedures. The overall communication between the management team can benefit from meeting weekly instead of once a month. 10. New communication structure Currently the briefings and memo’s are used to send out task, policy and social information that is important to all employees. As stated before, these communication means do not reach the whole group and important information is missed.In the recommendations above, I made suggestions about how to improve the current communication means and how to make the internal communication more effective as whole. To give a clear overview of the newly recommended communication structure I made a new media /content matrix (fig. 6). This matrix gives a clear view on which communication means will be used to send out which type of information, who will be the sender/responsible for the use of the means and how frequent the means will be offered to the employees.It contains a basic structure with communication means that will provide the largest part of the internal communication. The additional structure contains the media that provide extra information. List of References Compass Group Web site: http://www. compass-group. nl/over-ons/ Eschauzier, L. , (2007) HET ligt aan DE (interne) communicatie. Retrieved Januari 13, 2009, from the Reply to All Web site: http://www. replytoall. nl/corporate-communicatie/het-ligt-aan-de-interne-communicatie/ Hopkins, L. , (2006) What is internal Communication?Retrieved January 13, 2009, from the Better Communication Results Web site: http://leehopkins. net/2006/07/06/what-is-internal-communication/ Koeleman, H. , (2008) Interne communicatie als managementinstrumen. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer McNamara, C. , (n. d) Basics in Internal Organizational Communications. Retrieved January 12, 2009, from the Free Management Library Web site: http://www. managementhelp. org/mrktng/org_cmm. htm Olsthoorn, A. C. J. M, & Velden, J. H, van der, (2007) Elementaire Communicatie, Strategie – Beleid – Uitvoering. Utrecht/Zutphen: ThiemeMeulenhoff Reijnders, E. (2006) Basisboek Interne Communicatie, Aanpak en achtergronden. Assen: Van Gorcum Vos, M. , & Schoemaker, H. , (2001) Integrated Communication, Concern, Internal and Marketing Communication. Utrecht: Lemma Publishers Vos, M. & Otte, J. & Lindes, P. , (2003) Setting up a Strategic Communication Plan. Utrecht: Lemma Publishers Vreeswijk, S. (2008) Verslag Medewerkerstevredenheidsonderzoek 2008. Utrecht List of Appendices Appendix IInterview J. Polman Appendix IIInterview A. Zinser Appendix IIIInterview J. Rietsnijder Appendix IVInterview H. Kleeftstra Appendix VInterview M. van der Kaaij

Amazon River Basin Countries

Amazon River Basin Countries The Amazon River is the second longest river (it is just shorter than the Nile River in Egypt) in the world and it has the largest watershed or drainage basin as well as the most tributaries of any river in the world. For reference, a watershed is defined as the area of land that releases its water into a river. This entire area is often referred to as the Amazon Basin. The Amazon River begins with streams in the Andes Mountains in Peru and flows into the Atlantic Ocean about 4,000 miles (6,437 km) away.The Amazon River and its watershed encompass an area of 2,720,000 square miles (7,050,000 sq km). This area includes the largest tropical rainforest in the world - the Amazon Rainforest. In addition parts of the Amazon Basin also include grassland and savannah landscapes. As a result, this area is some of the least developed and most biodiverse in the world. Countries Included in the Amazon River Basin The Amazon River flows through three countries and its basin includes three more. The following is a list of these six countries that are part of the Amazon  River region arranged by their area. For reference, their capitals and populations have also been included. Brazil Area: 3,287,612 square miles (8,514,877 sq km)Capital: BrasiliaPopulation: 198,739,269 (July 2010 estimate) Peru Area: 496,225 square miles (1,285,216 sq km)Capital: LimaPopulation: 29,546,963 (July 2010 estimate) Colombia Area: 439,737 square miles (1,138,914 sq km)Capital: BogotaPopulation: 43,677,372 (July 2010 estimate) Bolivia Area: 424,164 square miles (1,098,581 sq km)Capital: La PazPopulation: 9,775,246 (July 2010 estimate) Venezuela Area: 352,144 square miles (912,050 sq km)Capital: CaracasPopulation: 26,814,843 (July 2010 estimate) Ecuador Area: 109,483 square miles (283,561 sq km)Capital: QuitoPopulation: 14,573,101 (July 2010 estimate) Amazon Rain Forest Over half the world rainforest is located in the Amazon Rain Forest which is also called Amazonia. The majority of the Amazon River Basin is within the Amazon Rain Forest. An estimated 16,000 species live in the Amazon. Although the Amazon Rain Forest is huge and is incredibly biodiverse its soil was not suitable for farming. For years researchers assumed that the forest must have been sparsely populated by humans because the soil could not support the agriculture needed for large populations. However, recent studies have shown the forest was much more densely populated than previously believed. Terra Preta The discovery of a type of soil known a terra preta has been found in the Amazon River Basin. This soil is the product of ancient jungle foresty. The dark soil is actually a fertilizer made from mixing charcoal, manure and bone. The charcoal is primarily what gives the soil its characteristic black color. While this ancient soil can be found in several countries in the Amazon River Basin its primarily found in Brazil. This isnt surprising as Brazil is the largest country in South America. Its so large it actually touches all but two other countries in South America.

Statistics on ACT Math Strategies for Mean, Medium, Mode

Statistics on ACT Math Strategies for Mean, Medium, Mode SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Statistics questions on the ACT are often simpler than the statistics questions you have seen in class. Most all of the statistics questions on the ACT boil down to finding or manipulating means, medians, and modes of a set of numbers. If you are already familiar with these terms, you will have a good head-start on these types of problems. But even if you aren't familiar with these terms, most of ACT stats questions require that you understand and apply just a few key concepts (all of which we will go through in this guide). This will be your complete guide to ACT means, medians, and modes- what they mean, how you'll see them on the test, and how to solve even the most complicated of ACT statistics questions. What is a Mean, Median, or Mode? Before we look at how to solve these kinds of problems, let's define our terms: A mean is the statistical average of a group of numbers. In order to find the mean, we must add up the sum of the numbers in our set and then divide that sum by the amount of numbers in the set. (Note: on the ACT, the question will almost always use the word "average" instead of "mean.") What is the average speed of six runners if their race times were, in seconds: 85, 67, 88, 75, 91, and 80? To find the average (mean), we must find the sum of all the numbers and then divide that number by the total amount, which in this case is 6. $(85 + 67 + 88 + 75 + 91 + 80)/6$ $486/6$ $81$ The mean (average) race time is 81 seconds. The median is the number directly in the middle of a set of numbers, after they have been arranged in numerical order. (Note: the number will be halfway into the set, but is NOT necessarily the mid-value between the largest and smallest number.) For example, take a set of numbers {14, 15, 23, 37, 213}, the median would be 23, as it is in the middle of the set. This is true, despite the fact that 23 is NOT halfway between 14 and 213. If your set has an even amount of numbers, then you must take the mean (average) of both the numbers in the middle. Find the median value of the set of numbers {10, 2, 34, 47, 17, 8}. First, arrange the numbers in order from least to greatest. 2, 8, 10, 17, 34, 47 We have an even number of terms in our set, so we must take the average of the two middle terms. $(10 + 17)/2$ $27/2$ $13.5$ Our median is 13.5 The mode is the number or numbers in a set that repeat(s) most frequently. In the set of numbers {4, 6, 6, 4, 3, 6, 12}, our mode is 6. Even though the number 4 occurred twice, the number 6 occurred three times and is thus our most frequently appearing number. If each number in your set occurs only once, there is no mode. In the set of numbers {3, 11, 7, 23, 19}, there is no mode, since no number repeats. If multiple numbers in a set repeat the same number of times, your set will have more than one mode. In the set {4, 11, 11, 11, 13, 21, 23, 23, 23, 43, 43, 43}, we have three modes- 11, 23, and 43. All three numbers occur exactly three times and no other numbers occur more frequently, which means that we have multiple modes. The more you get used to statistics questions, the more quickly you'll be able to spot your answers. Typical Mean, Median, and Mode Questions Mean, median, and mode questions are fairly simple once you get the hang of how they work. Because these types of questions will appear 1 to 2 times on the test, you will see them in a variety of different forms. But always keep in mind that, no matter how unusual they look, mean, median, and mode questions will always break down to the concepts we outlined above in their definitions. For mean questions, there will be two types- weighted and unweighted averages. Unweighted averages are by far the most common, but you'll need to know how to tackle both. Unweighted Average Unweighted average questions are solved exactly how we found our means above. We simply find the sum of our set and divide this number by the amount of numbers in the set. The monthly fees for single rooms at 5 colleges are $\$ 370$, $\$ 310$, $\$ 340$ 380$, and $\$ 310$, respectively. What is the mean of these monthly fees? F. $\$ 310$G. $\$ 340$H. $\$ 342$J. $\$ 350$K. $\$ 380$ We must find the sum of our terms and divide by the amount of terms (in this case 5). $(370 + 310 + 380 + 340 + 310)/5$ $1710/5$ $342$ We have found our mean. Our final answer is H, 342. Weighted Average A weighted average, on the other hand, puts more emphasis on (gives more "weight" to) some numbers more than others. When this is the case, you must multiply each number in the set by its weight and then add their sums and divide as normal. Let us look at this process in action: In Karen's math class, the final class grade is determined by a combination of quizzes, homework, and test scores. Quizzes make up 30% of the final grade, homework accounts for 25% of the final grade, and test scores account for 45% of the final grade. Each assignment/test has a potential score of 100 points. Karen received a 92 and an 83 on her two quizzes, scores of 100 on her three homework assignments, and test scores of 78, 89, and 98. What is Karen's final grade in the class? First, we must find the average of each type of assignment as normal and then multiply that average by the weight allotted to the assignment. So, to find the number of total points she earns from her quizzes, we would say: $(92 + 83)/2$ $175/2$ $87.5$ She earned an average of 87.5 on her quizzes, but now we must multiply it by the percentage allotted to the quiz scores in terms of her overall grade (the weight). $(87.5)(0.3)$ $26.25$ Her quiz score will contribute 26.25 points towards her overall score. Now let us do the same for her homework. $(100 + 100 + 100)/3$ $300/3$ $100$ The homework is weighted as 25% of the grade, so we must multiply the average by its weight. $(100)(0.25)$ $25$ And again for her test scores. $(78 + 89 + 98)/3$ $265/3$ $88.33$ And again, we must multiply this average by the allotted weight. $(88.33)(0.45)$ $39.75$ Now, simply add them all together to find her final score. $26.25 + 25 + 39.75$ $91$ Karen's final grade in the class will be a 91. Now that we've seen our different types of mean questions, let's look at the other types of statistics questions on the ACT. Most all the statistics questions you'll see on the ACT will be on means/averages, but a few will involve medians. These are generally straightforward, so long as you understand how to find your median. What is the median of the following 7 scores? 42, 67, 33, 79, 33, 79, 21 A. 42B. 52C. 54.5D. 56E. 79 First, let us, as always, put our numbers in ascending order. 21, 33, 33, 42, 67, 79, 89 Since we have a set of 7 numbers, there is a number exactly in the middle of our set. Now that we've put them in order, we can see that the middle number is 42. Our final answer is A, 42. And lastly, mode questions very rarely show up on the ACT. You should still know what a "mode" means in case you do see a mode question on the test, but odds are you'll only be asked to find means and/or medians. Though the questions may appear different, just remember that they are all variations on the same few concepts. How to Solve Mean, Median, and Mode Questions Since you will see these questions multiple time on any given test, it can be easy to rush through them and/or underestimate them. But as you go through your test, remember to keep these ACT math tips in mind: #1: Always (always!) pay attention to exactly what the question is asking You will be asked to find means/averages the majority of the time, so it can become second nature to immediately start finding a mean when you come across an m-word in a math problem. It may seem obvious right now, but the pulse of a ticking clock and the adrenaline in your veins during the test-taking process can make it so that you misread the words in a math question, and try to find the mean instead of the median (or even vice versa). The test makers know how easy it is for people to make these kinds of errors and will provide bait answers to tempt anyone who makes a mistake. Always double-check that you are answering precisely the right question before you start solving the problem (and especially before bubbling in your answer!). #2: Write It Out Take the time to rearrange your set of numbers in order when dealing with medians and modes, and make sure you write out your equations when dealing with means. It can be tempting to solve problems like these in your head, but a single misplaced digit will give you a wrong answer. In order to avoid losing points to careless errors, always take a moment to write out your problem. It will not take as long as you think it will to reorganize your values and it will almost always lead you (quickly) to the right answer. #3: Use PIA/PIN When Necessary If you find yourself stuck on a problem and have some extra time to spare, don't hesitate to use your fallback strategies of plugging in answers or plugging in numbers where applicable. Always keep in mind that it will often take you a little longer to solve a problem using these techniques, but doing so will almost always lead you to the right answer. Practice and technique are required to master any skill, be it statistics questions or silly walks. Test Your Knowledge And now, let's put your knowledge of statistics to the test against real ACT math problems. 1. Tom has taken 5 of the 8 equally weighted tests in his U.S. History class this semester, and he has an average score of exactly 78.0 points. How many points does he need to earn on the 6th test to bring his average score up to exactly 80.0 points? A. 90B. 88C. 82D. 80E. 79 2. 3. What is the difference between the mean and the median of the set {3, 8, 10, 15}? A. 0B. 1C. 4D. 9E. 12 4. To increase the mean of 4 numbers by 2, how much would the sum of the 4 numbers have to increase? F. 2G. 4H. 6J. 8K. 16 Answers: A, B, A, J Answer Explanations: 1. In order to find out how much we need to increase our sum, we first need to find our original sum. Let us represent the original sum with the variable $x$ and use our mean equation to find it. $x/5 = 78$ $x = 390$ Let us use this original sum for our new mean equation with the set of 6 terms. We will represent the missing value with $y$ and set our equation to the needed 80 points. $(390 + y)/6 = 80$ $390 + y = 480$ $y = 90$ We have found the amount necessary to increase our sum in order to get an average of 90 with 6 terms. Our final answer is A, 90. 2. We are told that there are 43 soccer games, so we must find the percentage of each match and multiply this figure by the number of goals per match. For instance, there are 4 matches in which there were 0 goals. Which would give us: $(0)(4/43)$ $(0)(0.093)$ $0$ Now, we need to do the same for all the matches and add them together. $0 + (10/43)(1) + (5/43)(2) + (9/43)(3) + (7/43)(4) + (5/43)(5) + (1/43)(6) + (2/43)(7)$ $0.2325 + 0.2326 + 0.6279 + 0.6512 + 0.5814 + 0.1395 + 0.3256$ $2.79$ Finally, we need to round this number to the nearest 0.1, as we were told to. $2.8$ Our final answer is B, 2.8. 3. The numbers in our set are already in numerical order, so we do not need to rearrange them. Let us find our median: We have two numbers in the middle of our set, because there are an even amount of numbers in our set. This means we must take the average of the two middle numbers. $(8 + 10)/2$ $18/2$ $9$ Now let us also find our mean: $(3 + 8 + 10 + 15)/4$ $36/4$ $9$ We can see that the mean and the median are equal, so the difference between the two is 0. Our final answer is A, 0. 4. We have two different ways to solve this question- using algebra and using PIN. Let's look at both methods. Method 1: Algebra Let us represent both the sum and the mean by the variables $x$ and $y$, respectively in our mean equation. $x/4 = y$ $x = 4y$ Now, let's look at how this changes when we add 2 to to our mean. $x/4 = y + 2$ $x = 4(y + 2)$ $x = 4y + 8$ We can see that we need to add 8 to our previous mean of $4y$. Our final answer is J, 8. Method 2: PIN We could also use plugging in numbers in this case. So let us pick four numbers and find their mean. Let's just say our four numbers are: 3, 4, 6, and 10. (Why those numbers? Why not!) (3 + 4 + 7 + 10)/4 $24/4$ $6$ Now, we want to increase our mean by 2, which would make it: $6 + 2 = 8$ Which means that now we have: $(24 + x)/4 = 8$ $24 + x = 32$ $x = 8$ We can see that we need to add 8 to our sum in order to increase our mean by 2. Our final answer is again J, 8. (Or boy or other gender). Either way, go you! The raptors are proud. The Take Aways Once you know your way around the techniques of finding your means, medians, and modes, you will be able to tackle most any ACT question on the topic. All ACT statistics questions are simply variations on the same theme, so knowing your foundations is essential. As we saw above, there are often multiple ways to solve these types of problems, so don't hesitate to use PIA or PIN if you have the time to spare and if you feel uncomfortable with the algebra. Otherwise, always make absolutely sure you are answering the proper question and don't take for granted that these questions are simple (a careless error will still lose you precious points!). What's Next? You've tackled all there is to know about ACT stats questions and now you're hungry for more ACT math guides...right? Right! Well, lucky for you, we've got guides on all the ACT math topics you could ask for. Need to brush up on your formulas? How about your trigonometry? In the mood to tackle ratios (or set up your own ratios to figure out how many seconds there are in a year)? Browse through our ACT math tab to find what you're looking for. Think you might need a tutor? Look to our guides to find the best ACT tutor for you (and your budget). Running out of time on ACT math? Check out our guide on how to maximize your time (and your points!) before the clock runs out. Looking to get a perfect score? No matter your current level, we've got guides on what to do if you scored lower than you wanted as well as how to get a perfect 36. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Math lesson, you'll love our program. Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Mobile Marketing Strategy How to Build One the Smart Way - CoSchedule

Mobile Marketing Strategy How to Build One the Smart Way How is your mobile marketing strategy doing? If you can’t answer this question, it’s time to change that. Data shows that marketing is going mobile more and more by the day. In fact, there’s a good chance you’re reading this on a mobile device right now. Let’s take a look at some numbers: Mobile accounts for 65%  of the time people spend consuming media 59% of smartphone owners  expect websites to be mobile-optimized 68% of companies  are investing in mobile marketing These are a just a few stats, but together, they tell one compelling story: it’s past time for all of us to pay attention to mobile. Understanding the importance of mobile marketing isn’t enough on its own. You also need to build an actionable strategy to provide users with a great mobile experience across all your content. That’s where this post comes in. Read on to learn: How to understand the way your audience uses their mobile device. How to optimize your brand’s overall mobile presence. How to measure the impact of your efforts. Mobile Marketing Strategy: How to Build One the Smart WayDownload Your Free Mobile Marketing Strategy Pitch Deck Template + Infographic Doing mobile marketing right requires cross-team collaboration  and leadership buy-in. To help state your case, use this free Mobile Marketing Pitch Template. It’s pre-built with important statistics you can use to build the business case for investing in mobile marketing. It also includes fill-in-the-blanks sections to tailor your proposed strategies, tactics, and recommendations to your own situation. Plus, we’ve also included a free Mobile Marketing Infographic packed with stats and curated research. With these resources and the information in this post, you’ll have everything you need to educate your team and implement a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy. Why Should You Care About Mobile Marketing Strategy? According to Hitwise, nearly 60% of searches come from mobile devices. That’s an enormous number. For marketers, that means your content needs to be optimized for mobile experiences. If it isn’t, you could risk missing opportunities to convert more website visitors into customers. This number is an average compiled from data across 11 different industries. Even at the low end of the graph, 39% is still a significant amount of searches. There’s one thing this data makes abundantly clear: you need to develop a mobile marketing strategy. Like so many things in the marketing world, this is easier said than done. However, with the right approach, you can make sure you’re not missing out on as much as 72% of your total potential audience through organic search. If you’re ready to build your own mobile content strategy, keep reading. We’re about to dig into: Develop a strategy for mobile marketing Optimize content for users on the go Plan and execute your strategy with Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to it. Ready to build your #mobile #marketing strategy?Developing a Mobile Content Strategy Plan your work. Then, work your plan. We say this all the time at . If you’re going to succeed, you need to know what you’ll do, before you sit down to get it done. Preparing a mobile marketing strategy is no exception. It isn’t enough to ask your developers to build you a responsive website and then call it a day (although responsive design is important). You need to put real thought into how you’ll reach mobile audiences, and what your online presence really looks like to those users. Recommended Reading: The Complete 14-Step Content Strategy That Will Boost Your Results By 434% Understanding How Your Audience Uses Mobile Devices Knowing where your audience uses their phone or tablet can help inform how you reach them. For example, people traveling to a new city will likely look for restaurants, hotels, and events near their destination. A farmer might browse their social media while riding in the tractor (no, seriously). An office worker could catch up on industry news with their iPad while lounging on the couch. Each of these people has a different purpose for being on their device. Accordingly, they have different expectations, too. If you know how they’re likely to find you, then you can be better prepared to provide them with the right content, at the right time. Here’s how you can gain this insight. Run A Survey Ask, and you shall receive. Run a simple poll with Polldaddy  or Survey Monkey  and ask people how they use their device. Here are three simple questions your survey can include: Which types of mobile devices do you use? [Phones, tablets, etc.] Where do you access content with your phone or tablet? [At work, at home, while traveling, etc.] What types of content do you consume on your mobile device? [News, entertainment, video, blog posts, social media, etc.] The data you get from your own audience will guide you in the right direction. Recommended Listening: How to Boost Your Results With Original Research With Andy Crestodina From Orbit Media Studios Use Google Analytics Google Analytics can give you some idea how your audience is using their mobile devices, too. Log into your account. Then, click Audience, and drill into the Mobile drop-down: Next, click onto Overview. Here, you can get a breakdown of how many of your website visitors are on mobile or tablet. Under devices, you can also see which specific phones or tablets people are using to find you: Next, click on Users Flow. Then, click All Users, and scroll down to and click Mobile Traffic. Once you’ve done this, click Apply. You’ll then see something like this: Now, you can see where mobile users land on your site, and where they go next from there. This can help you determine which pages and content are most interesting to your mobile audience. NOTE: Google Analytics separates Mobile (as in mobile phones) and Tablet traffic. If you’d like to see your user flow from tablets, repeat the previous steps, but scroll down to the bottom of the All Users window, and find Tablet Traffic: Optimizing Content for Mobile Devices When you’re ready to execute your mobile marketing strategy, you’ll need to be prepared to optimize your content specifically for mobile users. Writing for Mobile Devices Phone screens are relatively small. Even larger phablet-type phones are small compared to the PC you’re probably writing your content on. That means you’ll need to write in a way that’s easily readable on a smaller screen. Here’s how. Use Bullet Points: Bulleted text is easily scannable. If you have information that can be condensed down to list form, bullet it out. Write Short, Punchy Headlines: This is a matter of space. Shorter headlines fit better on smaller screens. If you can keep them down to six or seven words, they’ll be more likely to hook the attention of someone scrolling by. Longer headlines may get cut off the screen, and therefore be less appealing to click. Here’s an example of a well-optimized headline for mobile: And here’s an example that could be condensed: In this example, the headline is shortened and legible on the graphic, which is easier to read on a mobile device. It might not be possible to optimize every headline you write this way. However, it’s worth keeping this in mind as you and your team are crafting content. Use Clear Section Headings: Make use of H2 and H3 headings. If possible, avoid using anything H4 or smaller, since it can create a cluttered visual appearance with too much visual hierarchy going on. If you’re using WordPress, here’s where you’ll find your header controls: Keep Paragraphs Brief: Giant walls of text are a pain to read on phones. Keep your sentences under 25 words and paragraphs two or three sentences each. You can exercise a small amount of leeway on this  but do so sparingly. Here’s an example of a piece with crisp, concise paragraphs: And here’s another that’s decidedly more difficult to read: Front Load Email Subject Lines: Email subject lines get cut off at a shorter length on mobile than they do on desktop. So, place your most attention-grabbing copy at the beginning of your subject line. If you’d like to preview what your subject line might look like, use our Headline Analyzer. Enter your subject line: Then scroll down to here: You’ll now have an idea how your subject line will appear. Recommended Reading: This is the Way to Write Email Subject Lines That Get More Clicks Optimize Your Visual Content For Mobile Well-optimized can make or break your mobile experience, too. Follow this advice to keep your mobile presence finely tuned. Use Optimal Image File Sizes: Upload images to your site or blog at the exact size you want them to appear. Otherwise, your CMS will be forced to resize them as your pages load. This will cause them to load slower, and potentially cause users to bounce and visit a different site. If you have a high number of large images on your site (and you’re using WordPress), there may be a quick fix solution here for you. WP Smush  is a WordPress plugin that can detect and compress large image file sizes on your site, and bring them down to a more reasonable size: Make Text Legible On Small Screens: Ensure your fonts are large enough to be readable on a phone. Use your best judgment. If you can read something, odds are your audience can’t either. Here’s an example of an image that’s clearly readable on a phone: Technical Website + Blog Considerations Beyond your actual content creation, your blog and website need to be built with mobile in mind. Here are some ways to ensure both are easy to use on phones and tablets. Use A Responsive Site Design (Or Have a Separate Mobile Site): There is some debate out there over when to use responsive design versus having a separate mobile site. In either case, it’s important to have a site that looks good and works well on phones and tablets. If you’re a marketer, this is something you likely don’t have much control over. It’s also something your development team should understand. However, if this is a pain point or roadblock, discuss with your developers. Here are some talking points you can drop: 80% of all internet users have a mobile phone. Why leave money on the table? Mobile users have different expectations than desktop users. If your site doesn’t cater to them, they’ll leave (and buy from someone else). Google favors websites that offer a strong mobile experience. The more you can tie the conversation back to how it helps make money, the more likely you are to be successful here. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool: How can you know whether your site is truly mobile-friendly? Use this free tool from Google. Type in your URL: And get your analysis in moments: Mobile Search Engine Optimization Considerations The way people search, and the things they search for, might be different when they’re on the go (versus when they’re on their laptop or home computer). Keep these things in mind while you’re working on search engine optimization. Optimize For Voice Search: People using their phones are often in busy places and might not stop to type in a search query. Things people on the go typically search for include words like â€Å"how†, â€Å"what,† or â€Å"where.† For example, â€Å"How do I get to the nearest coffee shop?,† or â€Å"Where is the Museum of Modern Art?† So, how do you find which terms someone might be using to find businesses like yours? Start by doing thorough keyword research as you normally would. Next, consider targeting terms incorporating strings of conversational language around your core keywords. Here’s an example: Typical Keyword: Brunch new york city Voice-Optimized Keyword: where is the best brunch in new york city? For a more in-depth guide on optimizing for voice search, read this post from Neil Patel. Recommended Reading: Create the Right Pages to Attract Mobile Searches: In order to show up in local searches, it helps to have the right pages on your site. These could include: Location pages (for brick and mortar stores). You want people to find where you are after all, right? Posts pertaining to local topics. Remember when we mentioned optimizing keyword research for local search? Create content around those keywords. For example, if people search for "best coffee shops minneapolis," a coffee shop could create a post like, "What Makes Our Coffee Shop the Best in Minneapolis?" Your hours and contact information. This is basic stuff, but you’d be surprised how many websites miss details like this. Recommended Reading: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594% Implement Location Data In Your Sitemap: If you have a physical location, local SEO should be a top priority for your business. One way to improve your appearance in local searches (which are often mobile searches, too) is to add location data using schema.org markup. This video from Simon Hayer walks through this process step-by-step: For a more detailed guide on implementing schema.org microdata, Kissmetrics did a fantastic job here. Plus, for a complete list of Local Business schemas, the schema.org site has those here. This is a technical task that should be handled by a developer. The benefit for doing so is to make your search results more useful. You can things like: Location Contact Information Opening Hours Price Range Review Ratings Upcoming Events And more. These types of things can improve click-through rates on search results by making them more appealing. Here’s an example from a search for upcoming events: If I’m looking for something to do in my city, this search result gives me a preview into upcoming events before I’ve even clicked a link. It also takes up more space on the search results page. And if I’m in a hurry or on the go, guess which search result people in this situation are going to tap? It’s the one that’s most noticeable and most useful in that moment. Be the company that provides those kinds of results. Mobile Email Marketing Considerations According to Salesforce, 79% of marketers say email marketing drives ROI. Plus, according to research from Kahuna cited on Email Monday, 86% of emails are opened on a mobile device. That means there’s a lot of opportunity to capitalize on mobile email marketing. Know The Numbers: If you believe what works for desktop should work for mobile when it comes to email, consider these statistics: Mobile accounts for 54% of all email opens  (versus 16% on desktop). 70% of users delete emails that don’t work well on their phones. As more people use their phones for email, you’ll need to make sure your emails look and read well on mobile devices. This leads into our next point. Use Mobile-Responsive Email Designs: If you use designed email templates, make sure they’re mobile-responsive (or at least easy to view on smartphones). Here at , we use Campaign Monitor for our email newsletters. This platform makes it easy to preview how emails will appear on phones: If you use a similar service (such as MailChimp, AWeber, Constant Contact, or another provider), building mobile-optimized templates should be similarly easy. However, if you use custom-built email templates, talk to your developer about making them more email-friendly. They’re likely busy people, though, so be prepared to make a case for why it’s important. Here are some talking points you can use to begin your discussion: â€Å"Improving the mobile-friendliness of our emails is important for users and bottom line, since research shows 70% of people will delete an email  that doesn’t look good on mobile.† â€Å"Email drives [INSERT ROI PERCENTAGE] for us, and a better email experience could increase that even further.† â€Å"Our current email [INSERT METRIC] is at [INSERT PERCENTAGE]. However, we know from research findings that 79% of users read email on their phones. We think a better mobile experience could improve our email marketing performance significantly.† With some numbers to support your claims, it’ll be easier to explain why you need better mobile email design (if yours is currently struggling). TIP: Be prepared to hear that if your emails are underperforming, it could be because your email content is at fault. Compare your desktop vs. mobile email performance to pull numbers showing this isn't the case (assuming it's not actually the case). If desktop email performance is strong but mobile isn't, then you have a starting point to begin investigating whether mobile-friendly design could help. Mobile Social Media Marketing Considerations It feels obvious to say so, but social media is huge on mobile. However, you might be surprised by just how huge. According to Marketing Land, a full 80% of social media activity happens on a mobile device. Here are some tips for making the most mobile for social media marketing. Develop An Event Hashtag Strategy: People want to share their thoughts when they’re at events. So, if you’re hosting an event, develop a unique hashtag. You can bet attendees on their phones will make use of it. Consider Pinterest (If You’re Not There Already): According to Mobile Marketing Watch, â€Å"Pinterest is the most mobile social network and 64% of its referred traffic comes from either smartphones or tablet devices.† If capturing the attention of mobile audiences is a priority, then consider creating a Pinterest profile, if your business hasn’t already. Make Social Sharing Buttons Easily Accessible: Again, this is something you’ll need to work out with your developers and designers (if you’re not using an out-of-the-box website or blog theme). If you want people to share your content on mobile, then it needs to be easy to do without thinking about it too hard. Don’t Ignore Instagram: Think your brand can’t benefit from being on Instagram? Think again, especially if you’re targeting teens or young adults. According to WordStream (citing the Pew Research Center), 32% of teens consider Instagram  to be â€Å"the most important social network.† Recommended Reading: How to Use Hashtags Effectively Without Being Annoying The Ultimate Guide on How to Use Instagram For Business The Ultimate Guide to Marketing With Pinterest What is the Best Placement for Social Media Buttons? Mobile Advertising: Are Marketers Missing Opportunities? People spend a lot of time on their phones. You probably didn’t need us to tell you that. However, did you know U.S. consumers spend an estimated 87 hours a month browsing on their smartphones, according to Smart Insights? That is a staggering amount of time. It might also make you question how you spend your own time a little bit. One thing it should absolutely make you question, though, is how much you’re spending on mobile advertising. According to the same report from Smart Insights, while mobile users spend 24% of their time consuming media on their phone, mobile only accounts for 8% of advertising spending. Take a look at this chart: Of course, competitiveness for ad space could differ depending on your industry. One thing that’s clear, though, is there’s opportunity out there for those willing to go after it. If you’re ready to dive deeper into mobile advertising, Single Grain has you covered with this guide. Could mobile advertising be a missed opportunity for your organization?Measuring Mobile Marketing Performance Once you’ve started optimizing your content strategy for mobile, you’ll want to measure how you’re doing. Fortunately, you can get a lot of insight out of Google Analytics. Visit your account and click Mobile in the left-hand navigation. Under Overview, you’ll see high-level data for your site’s mobile performance: You’ll notice you can also see desktop and tablet stats in the same place. This makes it easy to see how your mobile marketing is performing relative to other types of devices. Next, click on Acquisition and drill into All Traffic: Then, click Channels, and All Users: Next, scroll down to Mobile Traffic and click Apply: Now, you’ll be able to see your mobile marketing performance broken down by channel. You’ll also be able to compare mobile stats to your overall performance per channel: Which Data Should I Be Concerned With? There’s a lot of data you can pay attention to here. However, which data points are the most useful for measuring mobile marketing performance? Let’s look at a few basic metrics. Traffic: Are people finding your site? If they’re not, something could be off with your mobile presence. Since you’re reading this post though, you’ll have no problems crushing it, right? Mobile Landing Pages: In addition to mobile traffic, also pay attention to where mobile visitors are landing. To find this information in Google Analytics, drill down through Behavior Site Content Landing Pages: Then, make sure you have Mobile Traffic selected (if you haven’t already). If you’d like to look at just mobile landing pages, be sure to deselect All Users: Now, scope out your top mobile pages: Now, there are a couple things to note here: Where is your mobile traffic going?  Are there pages optimized for mobile that aren’t getting traffic? Or, is there anything else that jumps out as a surprise? Which pages are performing best on mobile?  Which pages are converting best? Which are driving the most traffic? It may be worth creating more content that’s similar. Conversion Rate: Ultimately, this is what all your efforts are about. In general, conversion rates are typically lower on mobile than on desktop. Take a look at this graphic from Smart Insights  laying out 2016 ecommerce conversion rates: While your mileage may vary, don’t be too alarmed if mobile conversions are lower than desktop. Bounce Rate: If people are quick to leave your site, something could be turning them away. However, keep in mind that mobile bounce rates may be a little bit higher than your desktop or tablet bounce rate. According to Rocket Fuel, â€Å"Mobile users are more likely to bounce across the board, so it should reasonably follow that any website with a large, growing percentage of mobile traffic will see a higher bounce rate.† Depending on your site, your mobile bounce rate could be â€Å"10% to 20% higher† than desktop. If your mobile bounce rate is considerably higher than desktop though, your mobile site could be turning visitors away. This could be a sign to talk with your development team. Source: gorocketfuel.com/the-rocket-blog/whats-the-average-bounce-rate-in-google-analytics/ NOTE: If your bounce rate appears close to zero, but you know you’re attracting traffic, your Google Analytics account may be incorrectly configured. Going Beyond Google Analytics: Tools And Guides If you’re ready to step up your mobile marketing measurement, you may require more powerful tools than Google Analytics. Here are some tools and guides to get you started: Tracking Conversions With Kissmetrics: KissMetrics  is  powerful platform is great for tracking all kinds of metrics on a granular level. Follow this guide  to use it to track mobile conversions. Measuring Mobile Ad Campaigns With Mixpanel: If you have a mobile app, Mixpanel can help you track how people are using it. Follow this guide  to get started. Which #metrics matter most for #mobile #marketing?Mobile App: Schedule Social Posts on the Go Before we end this post, let’s talk about our new social scheduling mobile app. With it, you can post to your business or client’s social accounts no matter where you’re at. Given the always-on nature of social media marketing, this is helpful for maintaining the social component of your overall mobile marketing strategy. Here’s what you can do: Schedule social messages on the fly. Add social messages to your content calendar at any time. Whether you’re at a conference or on your commute, you can always be prepared to post. Stay in the loop away from your desk. No WiFi? No problem. You can now know exactly what social posts you have scheduled, no matter where you’re at. Avoid panic attacks. Triple-check, pause, or update any social post, anywhere. Stay social. Social media doesn’t always give you much time to react. Make sure you’re ready with the right response when a trending topic or real-time situation arises. Learn more about how it works here: [INSERT URL]