Let the Show Begin...

The stage is set, the lights drawn low, the atmosphere heavy with anticipation, a hush falls across the crowd as the audience waits with baited breath, poised for the magic to happen…

18 Proven Marketing Strategies

How many times have we witnessed the perfect, almost magical execution of a marketing campaign? A campaign that ties in every idea and brand concept, that not only reaches its target audience but grabs the attention of the multitudes, grows, goes viral and becomes synonymous with the very product itself. This seemingly seamless waltz of idea and ideals of performance and perfection brought together with an effortless wave of the wand?
 
Unfortunately, there is no magical spell or wizard’s incantation for a successful marketing strategy that works in the real world.

Yet, there are formulas, keys, recipes if you will that can put you on the path to successful marketing and make your success seem almost magical.

The single key concept of marketing is connecting your business’ value, (what you have) to the right customer base (those who want what you have). In itself a simple concept, black and white, right?
 
Well, not exactly, just as there are literally hundreds of shades of grey between black and white, so too are there a multitude of shades between having what you got and your customers getting what you have. We begin by setting the stage.
There are five basic questions to begin laying the groundwork;

1. What are the demographic profiles of your customer base?
2. Where do your customers work, reside and relax?
3. Where do they go and how do your customers use their internet?
4. How do they search for and find the products in your niche?
5. Who do they turn to and who do they trust when forming connections with your product or brand?

Depending on how you can answer these questions will determine which marketing strategies will work for you and those that will not.

You will find that over half of the following options may prove to provide a viable return on your investment of time and talent. Indeed, three or four may have enough initial merit to justify a trial run of a month or so. At least one may have the potential to skyrocket your growth over the next four quarters!
Yet, your unique business demands a unique marketing approach, what you will find is that no one single option alone will make the magic happen. Despite what you may have heard, not everyone uses Facebook!

While there is no easy solution or magic wand that will revolutionize your business overnight, there are steps to take. What are they? How do you implement them? I literally have no clue what will work for you and your unique ideas, because I do not know you, I do not know your business, I do not know your customers and I haven’t heard your dreams…YET!

Success is earned, it is hard work well done and while there may be no magic to achieve this success there are methods, key concepts or ‘ingredients’ that you can use and combine to reinvent and reinvigorate your marketing strategies. To grow your business. To grow your brand. To Succeed.

So Let's Begin…

1: Advertise on Facebook: Two million small to medium-sized businesses advertise on Facebook; it’s an inexpensive and effective way to market to virtually any audience that uses Facebook.
 
2: Instagram post: With over 90 million photos and videos being shared by 28% adult internet users makes this a valuable marketing venue. There are a variety of ways to make the post work for you.
 
3: Claim your Google Business listing: Ranking your Google My Business (GMB) listing is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business. In fact, if you run a local business targeting local clients, I might just say it is THE most powerful strategy available to you.
 
4: Invest In content marketing: 18% of marketers say that content marketing has the greatest commercial impact on their business of any channel in 2016.
Content marketing is not easy, however, and requires every element to be done right:
Quality content
Relevant topics
Optimized for SEO
Optimized for readers
Consistent content creation & promotion
 
5: Grow your organic social reach: Using social media for business is really a non-negotiable. 67% of consumers use social media for customer support, and 33% prefer using social media instead of the telephone. If people can’t find your business via social media, they will look for your competitors who ARE present on preferred social channels. The real question isn’t whether you should have active social media accounts, its how much time and resources you should be investing in growing your social audiences. For some businesses, it makes sense to invest heavily in organic social media growth.
 
6: Build an email marketing funnel: Email marketing is the cornerstone of digital marketing. Most of the people who visit your site will not buy from you immediately. Capturing contact info for additional marketing and “lead nurturing” is the best way to sell in 2016, and email remains the highest converting channel for interacting with leads.
Benefits of email marketing include:
Low cost
Global Reach
Easy to automate
Easy to segment
Immediate communication
Easy to set up and run
Easy to track and optimize

7: Post On YouTube: YouTube marketing comes down to picking a few key areas where you feel you can deliver true thought leadership, entertainment, or some kind of value, and then mass producing content that falls within those areas. As soon as you start thinking this way, you’ll find it much easier to come up with good content that falls in line with your larger strategy.
 
7: Host a webinar: A webinar is essentially a seminar that takes place online. It can be in the form of a presentation, demonstration or discussion. Webinars are often used as lead magnets for email marketing and the right topic can drive a large batch of new subscribers to your list. It can also be used to build credibility with your current subscribers.
 
8: Offer a free consultation: When it comes to professional services, people want access to expertise. If you have done a good job of positioning yourself as an expert or authority in your niche, promoting a free consultation is a great way to generate new leads. If you have a good interpersonal sales process in place, it also sets you up to close a large percentage of leads.
 
9:  Incentivize employees to refer new clients: Referrals are one of the best ways to find new customers, and who better suited to obtain referrals than your current staff? Your employees know your product or service. They know your customer base. Some of them will take initiative without financial motivation, but most won’t, and those you bring in new business should be encouraged to repeat the process with financial or otherwise meaningful reward. Offer incentives to your staff members who refer new clients. It doesn’t necessarily have to be monetary.
A sleep-in day: staff gets to sleep in late for a certain period of time.
Membership to publications (of their choice).
Vouchers for massages, movie nights, restaurants.
 
10: Advertise in trade magazines or niche print media: While much of the world has moved online, print media still exists, and in some niches, it still thrives. As recently as 2014, retail consumers cited printed materials as the chief sources of information behind their purchasing decisions. Print media is rarely effective as a solo marketing strategy. It is best used in conjunction with online marketing strategies, with the two channels arranged to complement each other and create an engaging experience for potential buyers.
 
11: Write a column: If you are a decent writer, sharing your expertise in the form of weekly or monthly write-ups can do wonders for your brand. This isn’t usually a situation where you get paid, but it’s also not a situation where you have to pay. These columns give you the opportunity to make consistent contact with an audience, building an actual relationship with the publication’s readers. That audience then begins to think of you when they think of experts in your field.
 
 
12: Join a local business Chamber or group: Joining local business groups will give you the opportunity to meet up with other like-minded people who already share some common ground with you: owning a business. While a lot of more general entrepreneur groups exist, there might also be some niche-specific groups and meetups in your area. These groups are a great opportunity to bounce ideas off other smart people, share referrals, find talent, and identify new opportunities. They are also a major catalyst in expanding your network around the city in which you live. Connections tend to multiply, and if your group takes networking seriously, you can leverage your seemingly minor connections into many significant ones.
 
My personal ones are GOA Regional Business Association, Gone 3, Freedom I, One More Customer and MasterMind Business Networking. Want more information give me a call.
 
13: Partner with other businesses: Teamwork is always more effective than singular effort, and combining resources with another business can help you do things you could never accomplish on your own. It’s typically best to target companies in your local area, even if your clientele isn’t local. Your goal is to work out a complementary arrangement that provides mutual benefit for both businesses.
 
14: Launch a direct mail campaign: Like print media, direct mail marketing is not dead. As online channels become more and more saturated with content, fewer companies look to direct mail, and that means opportunity for you. Like with any marketing strategy, success comes down to targeted creativity. You can’t just spam people and expect a return on your investment. Just like you need to compel people to click your blog post headline, you need to compel mail recipients to open your letter or read your postcard.
 
15: Speak at events: In terms of branding and establishing yourself as an authority, few things are more impactful than being a speaker at popular events in your niche. While invitations to speak at larger events are often extended as a result of accomplishments or visible influence, you can also work your way into these opportunities by becoming a talented speaker and delivering great talks at smaller events. Or you can simply use it as another marketing channel, by speaking at some of these types of events:
Local clubs – think Rotary, Lion’s, Kiwanis’s
Chamber of Commerce.
Business networking groups.
Specific interest clubs (photography, hiking, sewing, etc.)
Browse local events on Eventbrite.com and Meetup.com.
Schools.
Churches.
Check events in your local newspaper and magazines.
Big companies and their employees.
Be prepared, and treat every event like a big deal.
 
I am not very fond of 15 & 16 but they are ways to market yourself that work for some companies. I would use them at your own risk and discretion.
 
16: Use Google Ad words: There are more than 40,000 search queries on Google every second. No other advertising method has the potential to get your business before that many pairs of eyes. Costly but an idea.
 
17: Run a coupon deal: Whether you sell a product or offer a service, you can use coupon deal sites like Group on to quickly promote your business. But be careful you might only pick up bargain hunting customers and not repeat business.
 
18: Teleprospecting: You need to follow up or have someone (like Larson & Associates) make a follow-up phone call. If you don't do a follow up don't do the marketing. It more times than not will be a waste of time and a waste of money.

Tags: Target · Marketing

Tags: Direct · Mail · Email · Marketing · Landing · Page · Telema

What if your marketing could be 70% More Effective?

Call it whatever you want: Multi-channel, Cross-Platform  Omni-Marketing: your marketing strategy needs to rely on both digital and traditional platforms online and offline to reach customers across multiple channels in various ways for the way they want to be contacted. Traditional forms of marketing such as print, trade magazines, direct mail, PR, radio, television commercials, and billboards if used together with digital marketing like email, social media, websites, blogs, YouTube, Pinterest starts to create a major spike in name recognition. Not surprisingly, cross-channel integration where online and some traditional forms like direct mail are linked together with the use of tracking software or bar code technology a telephone campaign and follow-up becomes 70% more effective.

I have 6 Tips for a Better Strategy

First you need to know your target audience. Who are they? What niche is it? Where are they? What channels work best for your business model? What are the channels your target nitch uses more than others? For example, an ad campaign for bath bombs might do well with a television advertisement or direct mail coupon. Events and musical concerts will get more ROI with social, emails and YouTube.

Second focus on the customer experience. Your marketing strategy should present information clearly and directly. Multi-channel digital campaigns should cater to not just convenience but also for after-sale 2^nd sale service, dependability, and responsibility—all qualities customers place value on. Consistency across all platforms is the key to talking about this success.

Third measure your results. After or even during any multi-channel campaign, review data to see which channels are working and how they are performing and which could use more improvement. And ask yourself why and are there other channels we should have or could have used? This will help allocate resources, time, and money more efficiently for the next wave or next attack.

Forth timing is everything. Constantly update your touch points. A successful strategy is well-timed and relevant. You might want to update your web page and send out emails the day before a big event. A drip campaign strategy allows you to space out information to generate interest and thus customers. Cross-channel integration brings your marketing strategies both online and off line together in a seamless flow. Incorporate a Twitter feed, use hash tags, incorporate bar codes in your direct mail, link your Facebook business page with your emails, generate printable coupons from your website or social business pages for in-store use. The more ways you can connect your customers to your brand, the better.

Fifth learn to change your strategies and platforms as needed. Don’t get too comfortable. What works one week may not work next week, so keep up to date on the latest marketing trends. And remember to track everything you can to know what works, where it is working and how it is working.

Sixth follow-up follow-up follow-up. Everything needs to be followed up on. You need to reach out and call someone. Yes the telephone. If you don’t make the reach out and make “that call” just save your money. The prospect is not going to call you 99.9% of the time. You have got to have a follow-up. Make that call or have me make it for you and your odds of a sale go up at least 10 to 20%

So now you only have to ask yourself:

Do I have the time?
Do I have the knowledge?
Do I have the connections?
Do I have the recourses?

If not we are here for you.

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: Lead · Gen · Generation · Cold · Calling · Teleprosp

What Kind Of  Multi-Channel Marketing Attack Should You Have?

In a time where content and information is expected to be available 24/7, prospects and customers want to interact with businesses in ways that works for them and their lifestyle, not yours. The fact is: using one, single channel is not enough.         

Why is multi-channel marketing an effective strategy?

There are 5 reasons why I see companies using this approach:

•    Build a brand experience – Prospects are on multiple channels – and to gain name familiarity you need to leverage each channel to connect with them or at least have them interact with your brand. By using a multi-channel attack you are allowing prospects to choose where, when, and how they want to engage with you.

•    Drive consistent in your message that keeps prospects informed – With multiple channels, you can ensure that your prospects are making informed decisions each time they interact with your brand through a consistent message across a variety of touch points.

•    Keep your prospects in control – “No one likes being sold but everyone likes to buy?” The choice to interact with your brand where it’s most convenient to the prospect puts them in the driver seat and begin the buying journey. It takes 7 to 9 contacts with a prospect before they buy and they see or hear only 1 out of 3 so that is 27 messages to get you to sales heaven. Multi-channel marketing makes it convenient for your prospects to learn about your company and gives them the right information on their favorite channels at their time.

•    Personalize your efforts for each prospect – What works best for one person may not work with the next. If you go single channel, your message will only impact a small part of your potential market. By using multiple channels of attack you reach people at different digital touch points.

•    Fine tune your marketing strategy by measuring each touch point –You need to have an understanding of how to leverage channels in the context of each prospect or customer. This ideal process requires you to be able to target the right people at the right time – delivering the right message and most value with an integrated, multi-channel approach. Then you to measure what works and what doesn’t work to refine this strategy. 

So you may be wondering what you can do right now to implement this type of strategy? According to a 2015 study by Econsultancy and Adobe, only 14% of marketers said they were running coordinated marketing campaigns across multichannel.

To help address this challenge, I’ve highlighted three simple ways I’ve seen Radius customers engage their prospects across multiple channels.

3 examples of multi-channel marketing

It’s important to note here that these are just a few simple examples used by other leading businesses to leverage multi-channel marketing. While this is by no means a definitive list of campaign ideas, the goal here is to inspire you to rethink marketing strategy with multi-channel driving the change:

1) Combine digital with email into telemarketing

Our customers have seen an increase in appointments when they launch a social campaign in combination to an email before anyone starts making calls. Here’s an example – You’re a window cleaner and its winter the weather is bad, snow & sleet are blowing all over the place making windows dirtier than normal, no one really wants to go out and clean them, so try running a campaign to a Facebook custom audience promoting your company. Then, start an email campaign, have your reps follow up on that same list with phone calls. This not only gives your business multiple hits to your target, but the digital ads, the email and the phone help warm up the prospects for your sales team. Prospects tend to be more receptive to speak with companies that they are already familiar with. 7 times familiar.

2) Leverage Direct Mail with email campaign and a telemarketing call

There are multiple creative ways to integrate these 3 channels. One example is to monitor how prospects are hitting your digital ads by hits and then customize email campaigns based on level of engagement on different posts. Target the email to the areas that have the greatest interest to your target. Chances are, what is the greatest interest to the majority of your nitch is of interest to all your nitch. If someone is engaging with multiple ads on multiple platforms an email that offers a clear call to action that is opened and then followed up on will drive sales higher faster.

3) Bring all together

The strategy I have the most success with is when customers let me take and use all their channels that are available together in one seamless integrated single message effort. In fact multi-channel strategies generated up to 24% higher conversion rates. This should include leveraging social to build awareness, email and direct mail to drive sales, and then the all important follow up phone call to bring prospects deep into the sales process and the actual sale itself.

Wrapping up

It’s no longer enough for marketers to be using one, single marketing channel – you need to match the buyer’s journey, with the way they like to be approached and target prospects across multiple channels. The more broadly you get your message out, the easier it will be for prospects to know who you are, what you do, and why they can benefit from your product or service.

Experiment with your available channels, use historical data to guide your testing and try to find the optimal mix of channels that gets you in front of the right prospects at the right time in the right way, and don’t forget the telemarketing follow up call or you will waist 95% or your effort.

Larson Notes & Satire: 

It is hard work getting new clients. So I have to ask you why are you sitting back and only using 1 or 2 tools you could be working with when you have a complete tool box right at your fingertips (or keyboard)? People what to, need to, will make you talk to them like they want to weather you like it or not so you had better just start liking it.

 

Getting good sales results is a hard, process. If your sales are stalled out we have ways that can make it happen for you that are cost effective and will give you results!

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 telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

 

Tags: Multichannel · Marketing · Sales · funnel · Lead · Gen

For most companies that sell a product or service, Trade Show participation is a necessary part of the marketing mix. Big and small, there is a lot of work and preparation for success at and with a Trade Show and all the expense that goes along with these events can be rather significant regardless of the size. The big association shows you are looking at upwards of $10,000 and the small Chamber shows are “only” around $500.00 if you can use last year’s banners.

Data indicates that 73% of marketers state that "gaining qualified leads" is the key success metric for these events. I might ask what about actually sale contracts signed at the show? Yet, 60% of these marketers aren't pleased with the actual ROI achieved from the considerable expense of these shows. Are you? Seriously are you

Additionally, Ruth P. Stevens, author of Trade Show and Event Marketing, Plan, Promote and Profit; stated the following, "don't spend one penny on a trade show unless you have a lead management process in place!"

Think back to the last show you participated in. If you are like most companies, and I'll bet you are, your company representatives are standing around in the booth waiting for prospects to wander into your booth or worse yet looking down at their cell phones. If you are the lucky few, your team members are actually attempting to start a conversation with attendees (as they walk down the isle), to find out if they buy what you sell and if so, are able generate enough interest that they join you in your booth to learn more.

Sound familiar?

If you aren't pleased with your Trade Show & Event Marketing results, there is an approach that is proven to be more effective. In fact, I'll go as far to say it could be a game changer for your company and will help transform Trade Show participation into one of your top performing, revenue producing marketing activities.

So what's this approach to Trade Show success?

To begin with, it's an actual program that incorporates all three of the critical phases for Trade Show success:

• Pre Show Marketing
• Show Time Marketing
• Post Show Marketing
  
  

The program creates multiple levels of engagement with targeted attendees and past participants. It creates an opportunity for the target audience to learn valuable information about your company and services prior to the show, as well as at the show.

An effective Trade Show Marketing Program targets several levels of attendees based on your needs. For example, some companies target the following groups:

• Attendees
• Non-attendees
• Customers
• Other exhibitors (Why? They might just may need your product or service)

The list will vary by event, but you don't want to ignore your customers at these events and engaging them for meetings at the show is an important aspect of the Trade Show opportunity. In fact, customer meetings at the show are scheduled to better understand what else you can do to help them achieve success. These meetings are always fun and productive and lead to new business opportunities as well.

Pre Show Marketing

The key to success with the Trade Show & Event Marketing Program is the multi-channel, drip-marketing program that connects with potential and actual attendees to the show.

The program identifies the attendee's interest areas, gathers marketing intelligence and missing contact information, and provides an opportunity to schedule meetings in the booth for specific presentation and technology discussions.

Companies leveraging this approach have actual scheduled meetings throughout the day for both customers and prospects. Successful organizations, regularly achieve 90+% completion for all scheduled meetings during the show. What this means for your company is no more standing around waiting for prospects to find you!

Show Time Marketing

The next key phase of the program is the Show Time engagement activities. Each day a series of emails, texts and social media engagement go out to all show participants reminding them of the activities taking place in your booth for the day.

It might be hourly solution overview presentations, or a special presentation by a guest speaker, or a VIP party that you are alerting everyone to and providing them with a reason to show up in your booth should they not already have a scheduled meeting.

Ten to Fifteen minutes before any special presentations, text messages are sent out to attendees reminding them of an important, upcoming opportunity in your booth.

Post Show Marketing

Once the show is over, the next important phase kicks in, Post Show Marketing. During this phase, every attendee, booth visitor, completed appointment and customer receives a follow-up email letting them know it's not to late to learn more about your company and solution.

Special show offers are extended to the recipient, as well as an opportunity to learn more by downloading valuable content about your customer success, solutions and special programs.

This step provides another opportunity to engage attendees that may not have visited your booth. It also creates additional opportunities with attendees you may have spoken to but really didn't move the visit to an opportunity stage.

Finally, this program offers comprehensive tracking and measurement on all critical marketing KPI's for the program. Imagine having a complete picture of the number of visits, working opportunities and next steps for all attendees in your show data -base.

Additionally, you will be able to identify which channels delivered the highest conversion results, as well as the show activities that achieved that helped drive engagement.

Another wonderful aspect of the program is the ability to send all of the collected data directly into your CRM. This helps insure that the right follow-up will take place as well as a having the captured data exactly where you want it to be for future use.

At the end of the day, it's all about the ROI and actual revenue creation as a result of participating in the event. That's the best part!

Companies leveraging this approach are achieving exceptional revenue results and in many cases, this marketing activity has become one of their top lead sources for new revenue creation.

If you are looking for improved results for your Trade Show & Event Marketing, this Three Phase Program is exactly what is needed.

Larson Notes & Satire: The hard work of getting new clients will not stop there. Getting good sales results is a hard, process. We have ways to make it happen for you. There is no one size fits all. You are unique 

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: trade · show · teleprospecting · email · mail · marketing