节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-06-13
难易度:High
关键字:DIY [do it yourself], level off, advertising, feedback
Today is all about Do It Yourself Marketing, DIY.
And it may not be as hard as you think.
Ben is talking with his Uncle Bob about how his... the growth of his business
seems to have leveled off.
And he and his wife Sandy are thinking about doing some marketing research.
Uncle Bob thinks that this might be a little bit expensive and a little bit
time-consuming.
Well, we are going to learn some more about what Ben has to say in the next
reading for today.
(Music).
DIY Marketing.
I suppose it would be if we hired a marketing firm to do the work.
But these days marketing research has never been easier.
Do tell!
Well, the Internet has really changed marketing in a lot of ways - especially
for small businesses.
How has it done that?
I guess the main thing is that the Internet makes it easier to find and connect
with potential customers.
We don't want to pay for advertising that nobody reads.
The Internet also makes it easier to communicate about your business and collect
feedback.
So you're planning to do all of your marketing by yourselves?
That's right.
And, honestly, it isn't as strange as it might sound.
(Music).
All right.
So if you want to do some marketing research, it might be kind of expensive.
Well, that's what Uncle Bob thought before.
Let's continue this conversation.
At the beginning of this section, Ben says:
I suppose it would be if we hired a marketing firm to do the work.
But these days marketing research has never been easier.
So of course there are companies out there, organizations or firms that can help
you or assist your company in doing something like marketing.
But now it has never been easier to do this on your own.
That's right.
And that's a great phrase: if something has never been easier.
Let's take a look at that: to never been something... or never be something.
You might say: Oh, my health has never been better.
I've been eating right and exercising, and I feel great.
It's never been better.
And because my health has never been better, I've never been happier.
So you could also say "have." I have never been happier.
Or I've lost a lot of weight; I've never been skinnier.
So you can use this phrase in many ways.
You might say: I've never been more excited about something than I am now, that
I am about my new job.
That's right.
Well, Uncle Bob has the next line, and it's very short: Do tell!
So if you say "Do tell," what does that mean, Gabe?
Well, that means you want the other person to explain a little more about what
they're talking about.
It's very simple to say.
You can practice it.
Try using it today in conversation.
If someone is talking to you about something, you want to know more about it,
say: Do tell.
Do explain.
That's right.
So tell me more, Ben, with your next line.
Well, the Internet has really changed marketing in a lot of ways, especially for
small businesses.
And it's true.
The Internet really has changed the way that we see the world, and it's made a
lot of things very convenient.
And talking about small businesses here, so Uncle Bob asks: How has it done
that?
Well, I guess the main thing is that the Internet makes it easier to find and
connect with potential customers.
OK, so that's the main thing.
All right.
There are many ways that the Internet helps.
But you can connect with potential customers much more easily.
He continues: We don't want to pay for advertising that nobody reads.
I think that sounds like a very good idea.
You don't really want to pay for something if no one's going to use it.
And here we're talking about advertising.
And advertising is also from our Word Bank today.
What exactly is advertising, Gabe?
Well, advertising is getting people interested in what you're trying to sell, or
getting people interested in your product.
That is advertising.
And of course, this falls under the category of marketing.
So if you're at university, and you love the idea of being creative and creating
advertisements,
then you could study marketing and also learn how to do some good advertising at
the same time.
That's right.
So if you want to let people know what you're doing, you can advertise it.
It's not just about a business advertising.
Maybe you are holding a special event.
There's a concert going on.
You need to do some advertising so that people will know when it is and where it
is.
That's right.
And so of course you could pay for other people to help you advertise.
But that could cost a lot of money.
All right.
Let's continue seeing what Ben says.
The Internet also makes it easier to communicate about your business and collect
feedback.
So we're talking all about the pros of the Internet here, especially regarding
your small business.
Let's take a look at this Word Bank word.
It is "feedback." Carolyn, what is feedback?
Well, feedback is information that you get back.
So maybe you are trying to figure out the best decision to make, you want to get
some feedback.
Ask other people what they think and what their ideas are about the situation.
All right.
So you might get some positive feedback.
Everyone loves positive feedback.
You did something, you want to know how other people reacted.
You get positive feedback.
You could also get some negative feedback.
But I think both positive and negative feedback is important because you need to
know how you can keep improving.
That's right.
Well, Uncle Bob continues in his next line.
So you're planning to do all of your marketing by yourselves?
That's right.
And, honestly, it isn't as strange as it might sound.
All right.
So it looks like Ben and Sandy Johnson are going to do a lot of marketing by
themselves.
Honestly, what does Ben say here?
It isn't as strange as it might sound.
So perhaps Uncle Bob is very surprised by the idea of doing your own marketing,
but it's really not that strange.
It's not that strange.
Maybe these young kids, Ben and Sandy, have a great idea that Uncle Bob hadn't
thought about yet.
Well, it's time for us to learn something new with Michelle in the Language Lab.
(Chinese).
And now let's get back to our lesson.
Well, we've been learning about Ben and Sandy and their business, and how
they're going to do some marketing by themselves.
And of course when you're doing marketing, you want to have feedback from
customers and other people.
Well, I wonder how you would collect feedback from people.
Carolyn, what's a good way to do that?
Well, one way to do that and the Internet makes it very easy is to just have a
survey.
Maybe you give a presentation, you want to know what people thought of it.
And you just send out a survey in their e-mail, and have them fill it out and
e-mail it back to you.
OK. You could do it with a survey.
Something else I think about is maybe using something like Facebook or another
social network like that.
You can simply ask a question about something and get some feedback.
The Internet makes a lot of things convenient and more easy... or easier these
days.
Well, it's time for us to say goodbye for now.
But we do hope to see you next time to learn more about Do It Yourself Marketing
here on Studio Classroom.
See youthen.