Larson's sales & marketing blog

What makes a successful marketing attack for a trade show?

There are 3 components to effective trade show marketing, pre-show, at-show and post-show. Without the post-show follow-up, the marketing strategy is not complete and often the sale is not made. So Follow-up might just be the most crucial part of the trade show marketing equation. True trade show success is not measured by the number of catalogs handed out or the number of business cards collected, it's the sales generated from the leads gathered at the show that make your participation in the show successful or not.

Pre-show: Send a pre-tradeshow mailer to all perspective clients know who, what and where of the show. You should be able to get the preregistered list from the show manager and either mail or email them. Then have someone make a phone call to personally invite them to your booth and set up a person appointment and demo. Decide if you will handle the leads in house or outsource to a telemarketing firm.  

At-show:Decide what you consider to be a qualified lead and have your staff accept business cards from future clients that meet all of your criteria. You need to be quick in the qualification process and not linger with people who are not potential clients. Get in and get out. It is not beneficial to accept 10,000 business cards and have only 45 of them turn into leads. You only have so much time and money for follow up. Have a info packet ready to go for immediately mailing out for hot prospects and list them as a priority lead on your calling list.  

Post show: Take the most qualified buyers that attended the tradeshow and add them to a telemarketing call list. Clean up your calling list. A clean list is crucial to a cost-effective telemarketing program. All prospects should be contacted within 1-2 weeks of the tradeshow. Companies need to move promptly and efficiently while the prospect's memory is fresh. Call the high potential prospects 1^st but then go back and fall the rest. There could be some sleepers in your list that did not seem like it on the show floor.

Follow-up is the key for a successful telemarketing program. The time, effort and work involved from start to finish with a tradeshow is a total waste if the final stage is not done. Handling of requests for additional information will show potential clients you value their time and provide quality customer service. 

Finally Close those sales. When it is all over, evaluate your success. Did you meet your goals? Were you able to reach the right prospects? What can I do next time to change my return? Brainstorm for next year while everything is fresh in your mind.

If you need help in the marketing coordination of your next tradeshow, contact us for more information 847-991-1294 or howard@larsonassociastes.ws

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account
acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make teleprospection for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 10 hours a week. Maybe you should add teleprospecting into your marketing mix call today and find out.

Tags: telemarketing · teleprospecting · trade · show · market

What will Your Business Save?

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is set to reduce First-Class Mail prices on Sunday, April 10, 2016. Yes, you read that right: the rate change is a reduction for the first time in nearly a century! Regardless of the type of mail or sort levels, you will realize average savings of over 4%.

Why now? The reduction comes with the expiration of legislation that imposed an exigent surcharge for mailing products and services for two years. The goal was to help the USPS manage financial challenges mainly due to the recession and declining First-Class mail volumes. The 4.3% exigent surcharge is set to be reversed after the USPS collects additional funds totaling .6 billion. They are expected to hit this threshold by April 10, 2016.

How the Rate Reductions Stack Up

FIRST-CLASS MAIL

·        Stamp price decreases to 47 cents

·        ~4.2% decrease for all First-Class

STANDARD MAIL

·        ~4.2% decrease for all Standard Mail

PACKAGE SERVICES

·        ~4.2% decrease for all Package Services

·        Retain %content%.001 IMb barcode discount for BPM Flats

FULL SERVICE

·        Full services IMb incentives remain in place

SPECIAL SERVICES

·        ~4.2% decrease for Special Services

Note: The cost of sending Certified Mail with Return Receipt will now be .47 (compared to .74) for a one ounce letter. Consider checking 2-3 day rates with your private carriers to see if they are less money. Or, switch to Electronic Return Receipt which saves .35 each.

Tags: direct · mail · postal · rates · USPS · Postal · service

If getting your web site found organically is important taking a quick look at the basic principles of SEO is always good. .   If you have read me at all you know my adversion to PFC (pay for click). So just how important it is to create your site according to the specifications of the search engines, after I say VERY. . .  

MOBILE RESPONSIVENESS
A survey conducted way back in 2013 showed that at least 87 percent of Internet users accessed the Web through a mobile device, and that was in 13. You know it has to be even more now with better data packages out there, Heck even I do some mobile web searches now and you know if I do, almost anyone who can, is. I would say mobile should be a priority of yours to ensure that your site allows users on any devices to have access. Not doing so, (soon) will cost you in your website rankings on Google but you did not hear ME say that.

DOMAIN NAME EXTENSION
With the increased impact of local SEO, emerging brands may want to consider adding a local extension like .chicago to show how local you are. It is not going to be as good as getting your Google plus account set up ( https://plus.google.com/+LarsonAssociatesPalatine ) and any SEO bump is still up for debate, but it does show your immediate area you’re serious about working local and that should be worth a few brownie points.

DESCRIPTIVE PAGE NAME
The name of a site should be as descriptive as possible. While exact match domains tend to be cheap or spammy sounding (such as bestratemotel.com), the name should have a connection to the brand or the product’s name. The previously mentioned local domain name extensions can help brands achieve this goal when their ".com" is taken.

SITE SPEED
Website visitors expect a site to load quickly and so do the search engines. You might want to consider using Google Page Speed to check for loading issues, as well as current Web design trends that can strip down a site to its most basic elements. Sometime times less is more in terms or getting higher and seen more

PAGE ACCESS
How many clicks does it take to reach the page a person wants to go to on your website? If someone has perform multi-clicks to get to the page they are looking for, there is a good chance they will leave and never come back. Put page links where users can see them and hit them.

SITE CONTENT
This is not quite the function of the website designer, but the content that is being posted can have a huge effect on its SEO ranking. You need compelling content that also utilizes key works you want people to be using to find you in an organic search.

SITE PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography does matter and I am not talking just about the look of the shot. Take for example a site for a photographer. If the photographs used on the site are too large and are slowing the site’s speed down or even stalling it out you had better make some changes, like fast.

Larson Notes & Satire:  If you don’t know where your web site is sitting you might want to get an Alexa Traffic Ranking. I have been tracking my site for years and find it more of a game to tweak it up and make little changes to see what happens. Side note my site went up 101272 in the USA. Words, meta tags (yes you heard me) links, content it all counts and all works together.

So for the answer to your SEO problems call Larson & Associates at 847-991-1294 or email me at howard@larsonassociates.ws .  One call is all it takes to start getting up higher on the rankings

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account
acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates
https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make teleprospection for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 10 hours a week. Maybe you should add teleprospecting into your marketing mix call today and find out.

Tags: SEO · Search · Engine · Optimization · Key · words · keywor

 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Larson & Associates Receives 2016 Best of Palatine Award

Palatine Award Program Honors the Achievement

PALATINE March 4, 2016 -- Larson & Associates has been selected for the 2016 Best of Palatine Award in the Merchandising & Marketing Consultants category by the Palatine Award Program.

Each year, the Palatine Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Palatine area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2016 Palatine Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Palatine Award Program and data provided by third parties.
About Palatine Award Program.

The Palatine Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Palatine area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Palatine Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.

Tags: Larson · Associates · 2016 · Best · Palatine · Award

How to expand your business? You have more ways than you might realize. Here is a quick checklist for you to plan out your expansion. Think of your existing markets, your customers, your produces and services and your distribution channels and try to generate new alternatives for your business in these approaches.

A. Teleprospecting.
B. Hire a new salesperson
C. Sell more of your existing products and services to existing customers
D. Develop new products for existing customers.
E. Open up new markets for existing products and services.
F. Penetrate new markets with new products and services.
G. Create new uses for existing products.
H, Segment existing markets by customer types
I. Change your markets perception of your products and services.
J. Change your approach to your existing market.
K. Develop new channels and outlets for existing products and services.
L. Reposition existing products and services.
M. Fragmenting existing products, services clients and markets
N. Creating add-ons to existing products and services.
O. Developing “downstream” sales and aftermarkets.
P. Introducing products as add-ons to products and services.
Q. Bringing new technology to existing products and services.
R. Create entrepreneurs to sell existing products and services.
S. Selling technology as well as products and services.
T. Sell “piggyback” products and services with other products and services.
U. Enter into alliances with other companies whose products, services, markets, clients, distribution channels and outlets complements yours.
V. Buy into markets, products, services, know-how and clients.
W. Offering a wider variety of products and brands
X. Target new pricing niches within your markets as well as specific pieces of your competitors businesses.
Y. Go to group meetings you have never been to before.
Z. Become an industry expert in your unique area or business.

Larson Notes & Satire:  Start here and then do some more brainstorming. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

If you need really help sign up for our “Pick My Brain Consulting”
http://www.larsonassociates.ws/Pick_My_Brain

When you need to talk to someone about growing your business do you know who to turn to about those hard problems? Larson & Associates gives you a way to tap into a vast resource of knowledge build upon years of experience, some good, and some bad so you can navigate the vast ocean of business life.

For the answer to your sales and lead generation problems call Larson & Associates at 847-991-1294 or email me at howard@larsonassociates.ws .  One call is all it takes.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-1294
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://www.facebook.com/LarsonAndAssociatesFans
http://www.linkedin.com/in/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

Tags: Teleprospecting · Telemarketing · Telesales · Outboun