Great software alternatives that are for free

Software can be pretty expensive. Especially for small businesses or associations that need a number of different licenses this can be a problem.
However, for many applications you use every day, there are great alternatives that are even for free. Here are some of the main software alternatives for Windows:

Office suite (word processing, spreadsheet, presentations)

• OpenOffice
  Software package that is comparable to Microsoft Office. Contains a word-processing program (like Word), a spreadsheet program (like Excel), presentation program (such as Power Point) and others.
  www.openoffice.org
• Google Docs
  Similar to Microsoft Office, but it is used online in the browser. A Google account is required. The created files are stored online and can be opened from anywhere (Cloud Computing).
  Very useful, but not a real alternative to OpenOffice or Microsoft Office.
  https://docs.google.com

Creating and editing PDF files

• PDFCreator
  Creating PDFs and other files (such as PNG, JPG, BMP, PCX, TIF, PS, EPS). The tool is controlled by the print function.
  www.pdfforge.org
  www.chip.de/downloads/PDFCreator_13009777.html
• FreePDF Ghostscript
  Create PDF documents.
  Both software packages must be installed. The configuration is done automatically.
  http://freepdfxp.de/xpDownload.html
• Free PDF to Word Doc Converter
  Converts PDF files into Word files.
  www.hellopdf.com

Playing DVDs, videos and audio files

• VLC media player
  Plays almost any audio and video formats.
  www.videolan.org
• Kantaris Media Player
  Plays DVDs, videos and audio files. Version 0.6.6 works with Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7.
  www.kantaris.org

Email (instead of Outlook or Outlook Express)

• Thunderbird
  Offers great expansion possibilities (with so-called add-ons https://addons.mozilla.org) and therefore offers everything Outlook has to offer.
  http://www.mozillamessaging.com/de/thunderbird/
• Gmail
  Online-mail program with more than 7 GB of memory. Provides labels and grouping of emails into conversations.
  www.mail.google.com

Internet Browsing

• Mozilla Firefox
  Very popular browser that can be extended easily with a variety of add-ons (https://addons.mozilla.org/en/firefox).
  www.mozilla.com
• Opera browser
  Good performance, but cannot be extended.
  www.opera.com
• Google Chrome
  Very stable and incredibly fast, but sends your data to Google.
  www.google.com/chrome
• Safari
  The Mac browser is also available in a version for Windows. However, the browser offers no advantages over other browsers.
  www.apple.com/safari

Programs for burning CDs and DVDs

• CDBurnerXP
  Burns CDs, DVDs (including double layer and rewritable), Blu-Ray and HD DVDs. Reliable and not overloaded with extra features.
  http://cdburnerxp.se
• ImgBurn
  Burns DVDs, CDs, Blu-Ray and HD DVDs, and supports popular image formats.
  www.imgburn.com

Image optimization

• GIMP
  With this software you can edit photos, create images, convert several files at once, use layers, fonts and effects. GIMP is developed by a large community.
  www.gimp.org
• Picasa
  For organizing and archiving photos, but also for image editing.
  http://picasa.google.de

Anti-virus software
The free anti-virus programs protect against viruses and some also against spyware, but they do not protect against phishing attacks nor do they check your emails for viruses.

• Avast!
  www.avast.com
• AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
  http://free.avg.com
• Avira
  www.free-av.com

Mind Mapping

• Free Mind
  Open-source software that is constantly evolving.
  http://freemind.sourceforge.net
• XMind
  Easy to use mind mapping software.
  www.xmind.net
• Master Mind
  If the functions are not sufficient for your needs, you can purchase another version.
  www.mindmeister.com

How to differentiate yourself from competitors - why it is important to have a USP

If customers buy your product or service depends on how you position it on the market and how many alternatives there are. Your customers should actually be able to perceive your product or service. That means, you have to do something outstanding, for example be better than the competition or offer additional services to your customers.

Even if your competition is big, you can carve out one or more features of your product or service in a way that you have a USP (unique selling proposition) over your competition. This means you can set your business apart from other businesses.

For an apartment complex in a U.S. city it can be hard to find a USP. 'Sedgefield Apartment Homes' in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, was successful in doing so. They decided to address Latin American customers ('Se Habla Español' - 'We speak Spanish') and also offer an additional service to families with kids and teenagers ('Free After School Program & Teen Center'). However, with 'Free Rent' you can hardly attract anyone as most apartments offer 'free rent'. Also, this statement is not entirely correct, as only the first month's rent is free.


Unique selling propositions (USPs) can be the following:

• An innovative concept, such as the combination of a product with a service
• Innovative product features that were not existent before
• Extraordinary quality
• A long lifetime
• Extremely low price
• Extraordinary price-performance ratio
• An accelerated process (for example with services)
• Extensive service that goes beyond what competitors offer
• Special size
• The usage of environmentally sustainable material or the usage of environmentally sustainable processes

How to make money with the World Cup 2010 - adjusting your marketing on major events

Every four years, there are some smart companies that are able to sell a lot of World Cup merchandise and products related to the World Cup for a lot of money - all with a good marketing strategy. These include not only companies in South Africa that earn their money with the many tourists who come into the country. Football fan articles are available (almost) everywhere worldwide and are purchased by customers worldwide.

According to the CEO of Intersport International, Franz Julen turnover from the World Cup in June and July was about 30 to 40 percent of the annual football sales - depending on the country and when the team is eliminated from the World Cup.

Products that are hot during the World Cup 2010 are jerseys, footballs and flags for the car. Also the flag that is attached on the mirrors of the car is enjoying great popularity in Germany this year. Annoying, but quite a sales hit - not only in Germany - are the Vuvuzelas. Those horns that make viewers think of a huge swarm of bees in the stadium.
Of course there are numerous other memorabilia, such as Hawaiian chains, fan hats, sweatbands, headbands, makeup, car magnets with the flag of a country, key rings, key chains, glasses, bags, stickers, cups, glasses - everything goes with the color of the country.

But you cannot only make money with these mentioned products. Even products that have to do with the host country South Africa are hot. Thus, supermarkets offer more wines from South Africa and also South African food during the World Cup.

As a company you should not only get the maximum revenue from the 2010 World Cup, but to also offer the best service to your customers - regarding football. Public transportation in Germany is a good example here: Hamburg's subway reports the scores of games during the World Cup on the display board and the German railway announces the scores on their trains. For non-football fans, this may seem trivial or even annoying. However, any football fans will welcome this service.
Other companies rely more on online services for football fans, such as animated World Cup calendars, projections etc.

Next time, think of mass events like the World Cup in advance, so you can offer special services to your customers, in order to differentiate from your competition.

New brands for the Football World Cup - Is Chakalaka really African?

For the 2010 FIFA World Cup, companies invent new special brands worldwide. A well-known German discounter also produced a new product range called "Taste of Afrika". What seems strange here is the mix of German and English. Why "Afrika" instead of "Africa"? Why not translate the expression "Taste of Africa" into German?

Under the brand "Taste of Afrika" a lot of products that have not a lot to do with Africa are offered, such as fruit gums (at least in the form of various African animals), coffee mousse (with African coffee), noodles (with African spices) or cocoa biscuits (with animal prints). Normal products are spiced up with something "African".

Many companies changed their products in time for the World Cup. There are now Marshmallows called "World Cup Stars" in black and white or chocolate cake that looks like a soccer ball - also in black and white. Also very popular is the so-called soccer burger, a hamburger with the shape of a soccer ball (with pentagons).

The most popular product during the World Cup seems to be "Chakalaka". Chakalaka is originally from South Africa - it presumably has its origin in the townships of the city of Johannesburg. It is a spicy vegetable relish (usually with tomatoes, carrots, peppers, chili, beans, cabbage, garlic, pepper, curry, ginger and cilantro), served with bread, stews, curries and pap. German sauce manufacturers put in varying ingredients. Often, Chakalaka is added to existing products and a new World Cup product is created (e.g. peanuts with Chakalaka, Chakalaka BBQ sauce, Chakalaka dip sauce).

For companies it may be worthwhile to produce special products for special events. Clever marketing also means not exaggerating the variety of products.
Companies should also assess whether the event is large enough and a special production is worth it.

Tutorial: How to develop your marketing plan

When starting a business, you need a marketing plan in order to know which target groups to attend to, how to plan your marketing campaigns, how to set up your budget and control it.

Before your start to develop your marketing plan, you should ask yourself the following questions:

• Which product/service are you selling?
• Who is your target audience that will buy your product/service?
• What need does the above market have for your product or service?
• Which information on your product/service do you want to communicate to your target audience?
• What is the best way to get into contact with your target audience (for example TV, radio, newspaper, social media)? – When answering this question you should not forget about your budget?

Your marketing plan should be set up like this:

1. Executive summary
(this information you can either take from your business plan or write anew)
>> The questions who, what, when, where and how should be answered in regard to the marketing goals and strategies.
>> This part can be answered easily at the end, after the marketing analysis has been done.

• Description of the company
• Mission statement
• Products/services
• Financial feasibility

2. Analysis of the industry
>> Here you should go into the industry, competitors, suppliers, regulatory environment, customers, as well as the role of the company within the industry.

• SWOT-analysis: analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.
  http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/marketing_management/SWOT.htm
• Porter’s 5 forces analysis: Here you should analyze competitors, future competitors, potential substitutes for your product/services, suppliers on the market and customers
  http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/marketing_management/marketing_strategy.htm
• Mission/vision of the product/service
• Objectives
• Competitive environment
• Situation analysis
• Competitor analysis

3. Products and the corresponding target audience
>> Describe each product/service

• Demographics of the target audience: income, interests,activities, way of life, other geographic descriptions, psychological mindsets, political affiliations, family situation, age, taste
• Market trends and social trends through which customers are being influenced-
• The needs and wants of your target audience and corresponding benefits received from products

4. Marketing strategy

• Overall marketing objectives
• Mission statement
• Product's positioning relative to competitors and in the eyes of target customers
• General strategies you will use to reach objectives and fulfill the mission statement
• Product's marketing mix, including specific marketing programs.
• "Four P's":
  - Product (any related changes, improvements and issues)
  - Pricing strategy for each product
  11 different pricing strategies: http://www.websitemarketingplan.com/techniques/pricing2.htm
  - Distribution channels (how the product gets to customers and consumers)
  - Promotional activities: Public Relations, internet marketing and advertising, offline advertising, viral marketing and other marketing programs

5. Measurements
>> Build success metrics into each marketing program, including intermediate measures, and how you will use them to monitor progress and adjust execution when applicable.



6. Prognosis and financial analysis

• Size of the target audience
• Size of the market shares
• (monthly) growth forecast
• Profit und loss statement (with sales units and dollar forecasts, cost of goods marketing budgets, fixed overhead and variable expense projections, other expenses, profit margins)
• Breakeven analysis (units and dollars needed to make a profit for each marketing program or new or changed product)
• "What-if" scenarios (sensitivity analyses) showing what happens if forecasts and profit margins are lower or higher than expected

Effective online marketing

Online or Internet marketing is becoming increasingly important - not just for online businesses, but also to any other companies.

To run effective online marketing, you should note the following:

• Spend a lot of time on the Internet and try to learn as much as you can about online marketing.
• Take part in debates in Internet forums and state your website. This will help you to get search engine traffic to your website.
• Try to find out how your customers find you - through acquaintances, Google search, by chance?
• Define your target audience and align your website, as well as your complete marketing.
• Your website should be different from their competitors' websites. Do not bore your clients with information, photos or products they have seen everywhere else.
• Your website should contain useful information for your customers - about your company, your products, your services. Offer tips or newsletters to your customers so that they will come back to your website from time to time.
• Your website should show clarity. The navigation should be clear - you should give up using different levels.
• If you sell products through your website you should have a secure order page.
• To ensure that your website is found by search engines, you should have so called "back links"- links from other websites to your website.
• Try to find out which new opportunities there are in online marketing and how to use them.
• Hold on. Do not give up too quickly. It takes time until you are able to see results of your online marketing.

Differentiate your business from others

Think about what makes your business different? Why do clients come to YOU? What do you offer your clients that they cannot get anywhere else?

One possibility in order to find out is to apply a strength-weakness profile of your business. Here, you will list, compare and grade all strengths and weaknesses the business has, as well as the most important competitors. In doing so you can grade different factors such as the range of articles, product qualities, production, market share, location, services, expenses, profitability, quality of managers, staff turnover, research and development, distribution, supply with resources and energy, as well as the marketing concept.
For each feature you assign a grade for your business, as well as a grade for your competitors (such as your strongest competitor).
With this strength-weakness profile you will have the possibility to find out where you competitive position is.

A unique selling proposition, such as a 24/hour telephone service can help you to improve your competitive position. It can also bring you new clients, who will use your services instead of those of your competitors. Therefore, look closely on which possibilities you have to reach a unique selling proposition.