Define Marketing Deadlines
December 14, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
Your special event takes time to present. You and your staff spend hours on details
and coordinate with numerous vendors in the process. All is for naught if you get caught in the squeeze of unforeseen deadlines.
One client planned a formal open house to show new offices after a move earlier in the year. for a postcard invitation for its open house. Construction delays ran longer than expected and the Thanksgiving holiday added a time warp to the schedule. The beautiful postcard had to be tabled. An email invitation (adaptation from the postcard) gave participants less than a week’s notice about the event.
Another local organization announced an annual open house prominently on the cover of its printed newsletter. Problem: the newsletter landed in mailboxes two days AFTER the event.
Annual events sneak up on you. Avoid surprises with these tips:
- Plan your event - calendar it well in advance
- Use different channels for cross-promotion (newsletter, postcard, email, board of directors notice)
- Back-date event deadlines to include time for designing and printing
- Add time for approvals
- Plus - add an extra week or two for deadline safety
- Update mailing lists to include change-of-address notices
- Use zip-plus-four addresses for better efficiency/attention from the post office
No magic formula exists. If you want response, get the word out as many ways as possible, as far in advance as you can.
Plan. Timing issues affect the success or failure as well as the internal stress of your efforts. Eliminate as much drama as possible with well-in-advance planning.
What can I do to improve business in this economy?
February 18, 2009 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
My recommendation is to focus and simplify. Think of a maximum of four “channels” or pillars or ways to categorize your efforts.
I use four as an example because there are four directions, four corners in a square, four legs to a chair. So pick your four marketing channels.
For service professionals, I suggest:
PR – Public Relations especially, the vital Online Media Room
Direct Print – Publishing for your audience
Digital Word of Mouth or, Social Media and the Web
Event Marketing or Networking – Connecting with customers on and off-line.
Within each channel there are numerous tactics. Again, concentrate on developing three or four that appeal to your personality. Develop and expand a small group of tactics. Rather than trying a dozen different things, get good at a few.
Do one marketing thing every day. Consider these examples:
Public Relations
- Set up an online media room
- Implement a systematized public relations plan
- Write a news release
- Contact local newspapers and magazines with a news release
- Add an event from your company to one of the many media calendars
- Investigate appearing on talk shows or morning show segments on radio or tv
- Set up a digital media kit
- Feature client success stories on your website
Direct Print
- Build a mailing list and develop a postcard or direct mail campaign
- Offer a special report, tip sheet or white paper to your prospects and customers
- Publish articles online
- Write a column in an industry newsletter or in your own
- Use e-notices to let your best customers know about new shipments, specials, etc.
- Use direct mail letters to communicate with customers and prospects
- Produce a catalog of your offerings
- Develop and post a benefits list
Digital Word of Mouth – the Web
- Plan text campaigns, especially if your target is younger and mobile
- Update your website
- Respond to email quickly
- Use social media in conjunction with other advertising channels
- Launch a company blog
- Add an executive blog to a company one
- Develop a company page for Facebook
- Use Ad Sense to boost your website traffic
Event Marketing or Networking
- Network easily, frequently and tirelessly
- Always have business cards with you – use them as mini brochures
- Try C-commerce – that’s customer care
- Talk with customers; engage in a dialogue with qualified prospects; find out what they want from you
- Ask your customers for referrals. Be quick to offer referrals
- Smile more. People prefer to do business with positive, upbeat people
- Participate – get seen being involved in your community
- Answer your phone faster
- Form an alliance with nearby businesses – promote them and ask for their support in return
- Be easy to do business with
Note: These options can work for any business. Choose a few and with a consistency you’ll see results.
In fact, with little effort, I’m sure you can add to this list. Most importantly, let me know how this system works for you!
Marketing 2008: A Three-pronged Strategy
December 6, 2007 by Mary Ellen · Leave a Comment
“How’s your 2008 marketing shaping up?” As a small business marketing consultant, the question comes naturally. The variety of answers amazes me. Surprisingly, with fewer than 30 days left in the year, some people have given 2008 marketing little thought. Others have pages of ideas and no action items.
I’m most intrigued with the simple statements. For example, Holly Hitzemann, an eco-conscious toy manufacturer, told me that Perennial Toys expects to use four marketing channels in 2008:
- Trade shows and special events
- Public relations
- Direct response programs
- Internet
Do I think Perennial’s strategy will succeed? Yes. Unlike the majority of small business owners, Holly has pared her plan to essentials, refusing to be sucked into the conundrum of complexity. The four tactics that she outlined work well together. Direct response cards go out after every trade show; stories about the product lines are pitched to specific reporters at targeted publications. A year- long calendar of event opportunities is a virtual public relations feast in the making. Her web site serves as a primary sales vehicle and is updated regularly.
The point is that Holly has developed specificity. In addition to working only four major tactics, she has also developed three themes that Perennial expects to leverage as guides for marketing activities:
- Environment – alliance partners as well as the products themselves represent the eco-conscious aspect of Perennial’s toys. The mission of the organization connects children to earth’s habitat. Further, a portion of every product sale goes to Defenders of Wildlife as well as Amigos Bravos, a river restoration organization in New Mexico.
- Community – instead of a shotgun approach which assumes that everyone is a prospect, Perennial will match community involvement with appropriate targets. Think children’s wards in hospitals.
- Products – the river otter coloring book, due for release next week, has already sold more than 1000 pre-order copies as a result of targeted pre-publicity.
Every action for the coming year will be evaluated against the three-prong strategy. Can you present a marketing plan equally simple?
