Ideal Marketing Company Blog

Build credibility

By having articles published in trade magazines, being regularly quoted in articles or interviewed on radio, you can be quickly seen as a leading figure in your area or industry. This is almost impossible to achieve in any way other than by spending time on PR. Handled correctly you can quickly become an ‘expert’ in your own specialist area.

Be remembered for the right reasons

By planning a careful PR campaign, you can make sure that your company is seen to be innovative, thoughtful, caring or whatever else you want it to be. This long term, big picture PR must be based on truth otherwise it will almost certainly backfire, so be careful what claims you make for your business.

Make people ‘seek you out’ rather than feel sold to

In an age when we feel sold to all the time, people like to receive expert opinion. If you are some kind of expert in your specialist area, you can make regular and legitimate comments on ongoing issues. Contributing articles, creating surveys or even producing your own tips booklets or CDs all help to position you as a go-to expert within your field.

Some of the advantages of PR

It helps you to stand out from the crowd. If you are operating in a crowded market, PR can help you build a brand for minimal cost. Much of Virgin’s branding was a result of PR stunts built around Richard Branson. EasyJet also used every trick to pull off PR events and created a very high level of awareness by commenting on government policy, rival airlines and making the most of its flamboyant MD.

Pleased to say that I’ve been asked to run a marketing seminar at the WalkersStadium this October (October 1st).  I did a talk last year, so it’s nice to asked back. Here are full details of the event

 

Beating the downturn means turning up your networking.

With the current downturn in the economy and businesses fearing a possible recession, it is more important than ever to be networking with prospects and customers. 

 

Visibility is the key

 Research has shown that 91 per cent of decision-makers find exhibitions an ‘extremely useful source of purchasing information’. This statistic speaks volumes about the potential opportunities that exhibitions and business conferences can offer. In the wake of the credit crunch, many businesses will be thinking about tightening their belts, re-assessing costs and bottom line expenditure. But cutting back primary tactical activity such as marketing will ultimately be detrimental to a business.

These budgets are often one of the first to be cut during hard times, but are actually key to ensuring a steady pipeline of business leads.  Businesses cannot rely on existing customers alone and must continue to create opportunities to network with prospects face to face and remain visible in front of a target audience. Being visible at trade shows and exhibitions is an excellent way to achieve this. According to Research, 80 per cent of trade shows exhibition visitors are personally involved in buying the products or services on offer. This just shows what a captive audience exhibitions provide and how hot leads really can be generated from having a presence at these kinds of events.

 

Build long-term relationships

Attending these events also gives visitors the chance to meet new people and build up a network of contacts. With the explosion in social networking sites and online business communities, many organisations are taking to the web in order to conduct their business networking.

However, when it comes to building effective and long-tem business relationships, there is no substitute for meeting people in person and networking face to face. During slower trading periods, meeting prospects is essential.

Conferences, exhibitions and trade shows present an ideal opportunity for networking and meeting new people in your industry sector and new markets. Networking is not just a one way street, either, events provide an excellent platform for selling products and services, they enable businesses to meet potential suppliers and contacts, whether these will save an organisation costs, compared to current partners or just share ideas and information that can help take a new perspective on a company.

There is no doubt that face to face networking is an essential business tool that can also help provide inspiration motivation and ideas to drive business forward.

 

One step ahead

In today’s ever more competitive marketplace, businesses need to stay ahead of their competitors. Business exhibitions and conferences are an important part of the marketing mix, that shouldn’t be forgotten about, but rather combined with other techniques to make an effective marketing strategy.

Check out the top tips below on how to get the most out of a business show:

 

Getting the best out of an exhibition

Objectives – work out what you want to achieve at the exhibition and put a plan in place for all actions that need to be completed before the event. This should include all deadlines for getting the stand designed and all information across to the organisers.

Preparation – this is vital if you’re exhibiting at an event. Follow the show guide carefully when you receive it. Don’t forget you will need to let the organisers know about what you need on your stand (e.g. lighting, electricity).

 

Prepare your messages – make sure you know what your key messages are for the event and what your business wants to communicate to prospects. All messages should be consistent across your stand, company literature and how staff are communicating verbally with prospects.

 

Stand preparation – produce company literature and any documents that will be handed out on the stand. Also make sure that demonstration products are fully working and ready to be showcased.

 

Contact customers and prospects in the run up to the show to let them know you’ll be there. 83 per cent of the most successful companies at a range of exhibitions were the ones that mailed their prospects and customers before the show.

 

Maximise your presence with other marketing techniques. Use direct mail, e-newsletters and PR to raise your profile ahead of the event. Check the event website to find out who the media partners are. These publications will normally run features and articles about the event.  

 

Know who’s manning the stand – have a rota in place so that there is always someone on the stand and be sure to factor in breaks.

 

It sounds obvious, but take plenty of business cards. Events are all about networking, so talk to as many people as possible and make sure you give them a business card.

 

Remember that the event doesn’t end when you’ve left the venue. Make sure that you follow up with all the leads you’ve generated and the people you spoke to. This will ensure that you remain visible with prospects and increases chance of converting your leads into a deal.

 

Network at the Leicester Business Event on 1^st October at Walkers Stadium.

 

Visit www.leicesterbusinessevents.co.uk   email info@hi2events.co.uk   or Tel Elaine Vandelli Event Director on 07802 492348

 

The headline

You cannot sell to people if you haven’t got their attention. The headline is there solely to catch people’s attention. Newspapers use headlines to communicate what they stand for and the type of stories that you will find inside. The headlines actually sell the papers: once you have bought the paper, each story headline sells each individual story.

If you don’t have a clear benefit driven headline at the start of your letter you can wave goodbye to about half of your readers, so spend time getting it right. It has to appeal to your perfect customer so think up a series of headlines that sum up what the letter is about. Create at least 10, but you may write as many as 100 before you find one that perfectly sums up what you want to say.

The offer

What do you want to say? Why are you contacting these people in the first place? You should always have a reason for writing to people. Is it something new that they can have? Is it a special offer or a reduced price, a new item in stock for a limited time? Whatever it is, the offer is probably the most important area. If you get the offer right then you are off to the best start.

Make your offer as eye catching and imaginative possible. Make it time sensitive and difficult to say no to. Make it believable and above all make it easy to understand. To assess this, show your letter to a stranger: they should be able to say what you are telling them about in about 5 records if you are to have a chance of winning over people with your direct mail letter.

Direct mail vs. e-mail

Traditional direct mail letters are quick compared to other marketing media but slow against e-mail. With direct mail, you can include more material and more details. You have a physical presence in their home /office. You can send your message out to named people or a job title. It is more expensive to send out than e-mail, but can be used to start the marketing process.

With e-mail, a cold list tends to elicit a poor response so it is more worthwhile sent to opt in people. It is very fast to send out and free or very low cost but response rates are generally far lower as people get inundated with e-mails every day. For every letter you receive, you are likely to get around 20 e-mails. In order to make an impact with e-mail, it’s best to make it look as much like a ‘normal’ e-mail as you can.

Why direct mail works

Direct mail or e-mail communications work best when you are able to identify a specific, real and current problem – and then suggest a solution to it. By communicating with somebody directly – from you to them – you are able to write to them as an individual and make a compelling case for an answer to a problem they face. If your argument grabs their attention and then talks to them in their language about their problem, you have a much higher chance of getting a response from the prospect.

When it doesn’t work is when it becomes junk mail: a bland letter sent to anybody who will read it and that talks only about what you do, paying no heed to the problems of the person you are contacting.

Keeping focus in your letter

Whichever approach you use, it is important to remember that the communication is not about you or your company. It is about how you can help the person receiving the letter. How you can save them time or money or assist them in some way. Explain to them how you can help them in their specific situation and you will have a letter that is read. Tell them all about how wonderful your company is and you are quickly heading for the bin.

In addition, it is very important to focus on one central message. You can add in other advantages later in the letter or in the sales pitch, but initially your letter should be focused on one specific area.

When to use direct mail

Direct mail is great for launching something new to targeted groups of people. If you are launching a new finance product aimed at small companies which you have identified as having cash flow problems, then direct mail is perfect. It allows you to write to the appropriate person within an organisation, at the right time and be very specific with the information that you tell them.

For e-mail, it is best used as an opt in service. That means you give people who visit your site the opportunity to ‘opt in’ to receive updates and information about what you have to offer. Cold e-mail campaigns are far less effective that these warmer ‘opted in’ prospects.

 

 

I’ve just completed the latest of the new monthly webinars I’m running through the Marketing Mentor Programme.  this one was on direct mail and it reminded me of just how powerful & effective a way it is of marketing.  Just one direct mail letter can transform the fortunes of a company for the better.  But this won’t come about by chance.  We need to understand the rules and test our mailing until it works properly.  And frankly, even following the rules doesn’t mean success, but will make it far more likely. By applying the rules and testing the results the right letter (or series) will come about for you. Â