11 Web Site Strategies to Grow Your Professional Service Firm

To retain clients and customers, and to grow their practices, trust is a key factor for Web sites of professional service firms.

 

May 17, 2013

If you want to grow your professional-service firm, don’t ignore your most-visible marketing vehicle – your Web site.

Differentiate your firm with compelling thought-leadership and trust.

Here’s how:

1. Don’t be complacent on quality. Assess your strategies in providing cutting-edge content. Then, develop goals and implement an action plan to attract and keep readers.

2. Demonstrate stability with a consistent style. Convey an authoritative, but consistent, thoughtful approach with the same content traits.

3. Your substantive content should be the right quantity. Contrary to the advice you’ll often see on the Internet about brevity, your articles should be thoughtful enough to pique interest of your readers. Quantity includes frequency considerations. Use the right proportion in frequency vs. value.

4. Use rich media and other tools.Demonstrate that you’re a contemporary firm with an interesting site. That means professional-looking videos, white papers, e-books and graphics.

5. Don’t be ostentatious. You need to convey credibility and expertise in your bios and “about us” page. Be accurate but human and humble about it. Avoid an academic or technical tone. Third-person descriptions help in this regard.

6. Use state-of-the-art search engine optimization (SEO). Make it easy for prospects and clients to find you with the right keywords and use of social media.

7. Be organized in your use of relevant links. Make it easy for your users. Link your content to other relevant content.

8. Use the right tools for better branding. That means a slogan and knowing the best characteristics for a standout logo and a favicon. (A favicon is briefly explained among the eight best practices in small business marketing.)

9. Hire the right talent to enhance your site. If you don’t have the necessary online skill sets, hire the right right marketers for traditional and experiential expertise.

 10. Use the right calls to action. Ensure that your content makes it easy for readers to see how your services meet their needs, and prompts them to contact you. Don’t overlook the capabilities available via Web site priming. 

11. Continue to analyze your site’s effectiveness. It’s a never-ending process. If your site is losing visitors, use best practices to fix the trend.

From the Coach’s Corner, additional resource links:

• Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation
• What Successful Marketers Know About Lead Generation
• 6 Tips to Increase the Quality, Quantity of Your Client Referrals

“The Internet is the most important single development in the history of human communication since the invention of call waiting.”

-Dave Barry

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

How Twitter Levels the Playing Field for Small Cap Companies

 

Good news for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who are known to kvetch that that their companies fall below the radar screen of Wall Street analysts and the media. It’s widely known that mainstream media coverage seems to favor large companies over small ones.

It’s a valid concern. (Disclosure: Every weekday, this portal’s stocks page features video reports about analyst moves on Wall Street from a myriad of New York media sources. There are relatively few news-video reports on small cap stocks.)

You see, news organizations pay much more attention to high-visibility companies because they attract bigger audiences. But an academic study shows that Twitter can help such small cap companies gain market liquidity.

Entitled “Dissemination, Direct-Access Information Technology and Information Asymmetry,” it was authored by Elizabeth Blankespoor at Stanford University, and Gregory S. Miller and Hal D. White at the University of Michigan.

They suspected that Twitter and other technologies were changing the old rules, according to a press release. For the first time, companies could communicate with investors directly and instantly.

Ironic findings

As a practical matter, corporate investor-relations departments are pouring money into Twitter and other “push” technologies without completely knowing how well they work.

On a more theoretical level, the findings further undermine a key assumption about how markets work.

The traditional assumption has been that markets instantly assimilate every new scrap of information as soon as it becomes public. If a company announces its latest earnings over the PR Newswire, for example, the traditional view is that the information reaches everybody in the market immediately.

Many analysts had already found that the real world was messier than that. In the real world, investors get much of their information from the news media – the Wall Street Journal, news services such as Bloomberg, and television networks such as CNBC.

Twitter as a favorite tool

Twitter is hardly the only direct-access technology in use. Many companies also reach investors through mass email alerts, RSS feeds, and Facebook. But for many investor-relations departments, Twitter has become the social networking tool of choice.

To measure Twitter’s impact, the researchers studied one particular form of corporate tweet: those that contain links to a company’s full original announcement.

The researchers compiled tweet data from 2007 through September 2009 for 102 information technology companies (on the theory that IT firms were likely to be early Twitter adopters). They then correlated the tweet activity with trading data about the liquidity of each company’s stock.

Specifically, they looked at the spread between bid and ask prices, or the difference between prices offered by buyers and sellers. Narrow spreads mean that a stock is more liquid and easier to trade, often because investors are more confident about what they know.

High-visibility companies with lots of shareholders usually have narrower spreads than lesser-known companies, an indicator of the “information asymmetry” that plagues the lesser-known companies.

Detective work

The researchers had to identify the twitter “handles” for each of the companies, round up all their tweets, and then weed out those that didn’t link back to press releases and other blog posts.

They also tabulated how many times people actually clicked on the tweet’s hyperlink. Once they had all that, they correlated the tweets with trading data immediately before and after each news announcement.

For the record, the average company in the study had 28,318 followers over the period (Twitter was still in its infancy). Companies sent an average of 46.9 tweets with links per month, and each link was clicked an average of 141 times.

Bid-ask spreads

What the researchers found was that bid-ask spreads narrowed significantly for lesser-known companies when they tweeted about their news. Bigger companies that already enjoyed visibility didn’t see any impact.

In other words, tweeting helped level the information playing field at least a bit.

The study’s authors also looked at whether Twitter had a particular effect on smaller investors, who don’t have as much money for information collection as institutional traders. In theory, Twitter might boost their activity.

But the data doesn’t show that. Tweeting didn’t seem to have any meaningful impact on the share of trading in small lots.

Conclusion

The big takeaway, says researcher Blankespoor, is that Twitter and other “direct access information technologies” can help reduce the information disadvantage of small companies. It isn’t just the message that’s important. It’s how widely you can disseminate it.

Agreed, however, note when marketing financial information, there are reasons to be careful in choosing a medium.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are PR tips:

• Inspiration from Raymond Loewy for the Best Business PR
• Strategic Press Releases Will Help You Beat Your Competition
• Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation 

A market analyst is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today. 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Marketing – Insights for Attracting Millennial Customers

 

Marketers from fast food to cars are struggling to understand an important demographic – 59 million young adults, aged 23 to 36, according to a published report. Other observers believe there are 80 million millennials, but in a slightly narrower age group.

Either way, companies are obsessed with targeting millennials for good reasons.

They include:

1. To create opportunities for immediate sales in a large demographic
2. Attracting customers – when they’re young and starting families –for a shot at their lifetime repeat business
3. Centers of influence – they’re persuasive with their younger relatives, and their older family members who don’t understand technology

In this digital age, innovative millennials have a new philosophy. They know this is an era in which they can get rich easier with ideas compared to their parents or grandparents. Why? Traditional obstacles to success are gone. That includes accessing capital.

Technologies for millennials have become commercially viable more quickly in the 21st century compared to the experiences of baby boomers in past decades.

Savvy real estate salespeople know that millennials want their own homes, but with certain caveats –houses that can be customized to fit their lifestyles. (See Tips for Real Estate Marketing Success – to Mature, Millennial Buyers).

Fast Food

“McDonald’s Has a Millennial Problem,” according to Maureen Morrison in her article at Adage.com. Adage is a must-read for marketing professionals.

She explained that the fast food giant is aware that it fails to “it doesn’t even rank among the demographic’s top 10 restaurant chains.” That’s why the hamburger chain is worried about its image and has unveiled its menu item called “McWrap.”

The McWrap is McDonald’s answer to Subway – a chain that McDonald’s ostensibly fears more than any other. McDonald’s thinks a bigger menu with options to customize a meal will cannibalize sales from Subway. (Remember the millennials’ real-estate preferences?)

“Millennials are indeed going to burger chains, but they are going less often,” wrote Ms. Morrison. “The hamburger category, which includes McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King, still receives 29 percent of all millennials’ quick-service visits…”

She also writes that since 2007, hamburger chains are 16 percent less popular with millennials.

“The means of reaching millennials might be higher-quality products and lots of choice,” explained Ms. Morrison.

She also indicated millennials are concerned about social responsibility and healthy lifestyles.

“Gatorade outperforms with people under 24, with 57 percent grabbing the sports drink at least once a month,” added Ms. Morrison.

For the restaurant sector in targeted millennials, she gave five recommendations:

• Fresh and organic food
• Variety and customizable products
• Social change
• Products with sustainability in environmental farming practices
• Social-savvy brands

Cars

In their purchases of new cars, there are new trends in millennials’ preferences:

• Japanese vehicles aren’t as popular
• Detroit cars are increasingly favored
• Two South Korean cars, Hyundai and Kia, are appealing

The trends are evident in data published by two research firms: R.L. Polk and Edmunds.com.

In 2012, millennials bought 36.8 percent of new vehicles from Detroit manufacturers – Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. That’s a higher percentage than before.

Since 2008, Honda, Nissan and Toyota sales to millennials dropped from 50.6 percent to 42.9 percent. Detroit’s improved, fuel-efficient small cars are part of the reasons. (Does quality and fuel-efficient ring a bell?)

The other reason for the sales decreases in Japanese cars – young car buyers have also been drawn to Hyundai and Kia. Ten percent of young buyers switched to the South Korean brands.

One factor: Both Hyundai and Kia have been extending credit to millennials who are just getting started in their careers.

In conclusion, it’s important to learn how to profit from these emerging human behaviors. Use these insights into millennials to help you to change with the times and to generate new sales.

From the Coach’s Corner, related articles:

• Checklist for Branding, Selling Your Biz as Green
• SEO vs. Blogging: Which Is Best for Your Marketing Budget?
• Tips To Get Top Results From Your Marketing Plan
• What are the Secrets for Success in Advertising? Creating 5 Perceptions

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Want to Start an E-mail Marketing Campaign? 6 Tips for Small Business

 

There’s a reason why many companies launch e-mail campaigns. They realize sufficient returns on their investments.

So, it’s a popular topic here at The Biz Coach. I’ve written about the latest trends in e-mail marketing, and why e-mail marketing goes better with social media.

If you’re just getting started, it’s best to keep it simple. In other words, take baby steps until you’re no longer a novice.

But to get off to a great start, here six pointers:

1. Pick the right vendor. The best e-mail vendors are efficient. They provide excellent support, backup, response time, and analytical results data. The support is especially critical if you’re just getting started. You’ll need some hand-holding. So do your due diligence to make sure your vendor is qualified to meet your needs.

2. Use a targeted mailing list. For the best return on your investment, don’t use a shot gun approach. Use a list that best meets your demographic criteria for buying preferences and receptivity to your campaign.

3. Personalize your approach. That includes salutation and using a compelling subject line for your target audience. Timing is, of course, important to enhance your odds for success.

4. Use strategic creative or content. Unless you have a really creative copy writer, avoid the cutesy approach. Show the recipient value. Don’t give any reason for the person to unsubscribe from your list.

5. Use best practices. Miscellaneous tips: People are accustomed to blue links. Use them. Research your wording to avoid spam filters. Include your social media share buttons. And sure your copy is crisp without any typos.

6. Use your campaign as a learning experience – recap the results. You’ll want to know how effective your campaign was. Key information will include the click-through rates, sharing rates, and conversion rates. Then, determine your return on investment – divide your revenue by the number of people on your list. Don’t fail to follow up on your prospects.

Good luck!

From the Coach’s Corner, see:

• 8 Tips for Cold Calling By E-mail and Telephone
• 5 Free Tools to Operate, Market Your Business

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

-Peter Drucker

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Web Site ‘Priming’ – 6 Tips That Will Help You Succeed

 

If you want to increase your odds for Internet success, you might consider priming your Web site. Priming is a method to motivate users to make decisions when they visit your site. I gather the term was coined by the inventor of a testing tool that enables Web-site owners to obtain reactions to their sites.

Writing in Website Magazine –  Paul Veugen, the CEO and founder of Usabilla – indicates site priming provides users with “direct and indirect cues online that can unconsciously nudge them into making different decisions down the line.”

“The next time you visit the supermarket and see a product from an ad, these positive memories are triggered and they leave you with a positive attitude towards the product,” Mr. Veugen writes.

“If you need to choose between a hundred different types of yogurt brands, you are most likely going to go for the one that gives you a positive feeling,” he adds.

“Priming does not work by forcing a decision upon your customers, but you can use it as a means to effectively support their decisions,” he explains.

His six suggested primes:

1. Colors Colors have different meanings and can be used to prime emotions. You can color your background or only specific elements like buttons or content areas, for example. Be aware of your target group and their understanding of colors and the emotions they elicit.

2. Text Text can also be used as a prime, of course. Include the exact wording of your menu items in your content and build a nice story around them, for example. Then when customers look around your site, the primed menu item will lead their thoughts back to your story — which makes elements of the story accessible.

3. Metaphors Use metaphors that refer to information to help your customers make a decision. For example, imagine you try to sell vacation trips. You could use the metaphor of a shell to trigger positive emotions like sun, beach, palm trees, ocean, waves, relaxation, etc.

4. Images Use pictures to prime your customers. These pictures can either be in the background or a central element of your webpage. You can prime emotions that come with the purchase of your product or you can prime a desirable action that requires the purchase of your product, for example. Both times, you trigger memories that might only be distantly related to your product, as a way to guide your customers’ decisions.

5. Video Use videos to prime a whole process of actions. Showing the sign-up process with the different steps involved will make it easier for your customers to sign up, for example. Different memories related to a sign-up process will be accessible that help to make the right choice. Besides, when your customers see the sign up button, the process of signing up will be more accessible to them than it would be without the prime.

6. Audio Include audio on your website to prime any action you want your customers to engage in. Make sure that you don’t tell your customers what to do, but rather give them the idea that they figured it out themselves.

“The emotional perception and elements that refer to emotions are important primes when it comes to the perception of your site,” Mr. Veugen explains. “And for the rest, be creative! Anything that activates information in the minds of your customers can be used as prime.”

He writes priming and subliminal messages aren’t synonymous. “The two are related, but subliminal messaging includes ‘hidden’ primes and is considered by many to be an unethical marketing practice,” he asserts. “Besides, not much research can be found to prove that subliminal messaging really works.

“…Priming includes visual or at least sensible primes that can be identified, such as pictures or odors. These primes should be context-sensitive and part of your website design.”

To see more about Mr. Veugen and his offerings: www.usabilla.com.

From the Coach’s Corner, suggested reading:

• Tips, Plus Why it’s Never Too Early to Plan for Q4 E-commerce
• How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit
• SEO: Strategic Primer for a No.1 Rated Blog
• 11 Sales Strategies to Outsell Your Big Competitors

“In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want.”

-Alice MacDougall

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

The Link between a Simple Logo and Branding Success

 

Some of the world’s most-successful companies have simple logos. That’s the conclusion from a study by a UK logo-design company, Small Business Logos. It conducted the 2012 study that lists the top-10 logos in different sectors from technology to shoes.

“Creating a strong, memorable logo can really enhance the success of your business,” said Lucy Smith, marketing and eCommerce director for Small Business Logos. She was quoted in Computer Business Review (CBR) in “Your business logo will make or break you.”

In surveying business owners, the study covered sectors from technology to retailing. It was designed to help UK businesspeople to realize the value in selecting a logo for branding success.

Certainly, the study is applicable in the U.S. I also think a simple logo as a favicon is important for use in a search engine presentation (for a brief explanation about favicons, see the eight best practices in small business marketing).

After all, for profits, size doesn’t matter but image and professionalism count.

“We’ve taken a close look at what made our top ten to help businesses make informed choices when it comes to their own branding,” CBR quoted Ms. Smith. “Simplicity and the ability to reproduce in a range of different sizes, media and on products, is key.”

Along with an explanation of each, here are the study’s top-10 logos:

1. Apple: Clean, modern and extremely easy to reproduce
2. BBC: Simple, memorable and works well on TV, online and in-print
3. Nike: Suggestive of movement, ideal for a sports brand, and works well on the side of a trainer
4. Amazon: Embodying the company’s philosophy: everything from A to Z, delivered with a smile
5. Google: Strong primary colours, enhanced by ‘Google doodles’
6. London Underground: The capital’s most instantly recognised logo, the shape recalling the tube’s tunnels
7. UPS: Brown is symbolic of parcel paper, with the shield suggesting security
8. American Express: Squares and block lettering indicate strength and trust
9. Sky: A versatile logo that supports brand extension: SkyNews, SkyHD, SkyMovies, etc.
10. HSBC: The only logo in the top 10 to use a very traditional serif font, more commonly associated with business and finance, suggesting authority

From the Coach’s Corner, consider this article: Checklist to Build Your Brand on a Budget.

“What”s a brand? A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect.”

- Al Ries

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry. 

 

10 Best Marketing Tips for Growth Even on a Tight Budget

 

Like many businesses small or large in this soft economy, you’re probably looking for a competitive edge on a tight budget. 

Ignore the hype. Don’t take shortcuts. It isn’t easy to create luck. 

A strong Web presence is helpful, but by itself, it doesn’t create or sustain revenue. Make it a goal to create a trusted brand with high visibility on all fronts. 

Here are 10 best marketing tips: 

1. Partner with others for strategic alliance success. And develop centers of influence – people who can refer business to you, such as members of business associations or Rotary clubs.
2. Become active in the groups and get face time by serving on boards and volunteering your time. Speak before your member peers at every opportunity. If you’re inexperienced in public speaking, here’s how to get more opportunities as a guest speaker and how to obtain the most profit from speaking opportunities.
3. To build trust and loyal customers, look for opportunities to align with a charity. Whenever possible, use cause-related marketing. Why? Cause-related marketing can increase sales by double digits.
4.  Capitalize on your customers’ environmental concerns by branding and selling your biz as green.
5. If you have good writing skills, go to your local media outlets and offer to write articles of interest to their readers. If you need more tips, here are the five best practices in thought-leadership Web publishing and 25 best practices for better business writing. Negotiate a link from your writing to your Web site. Links from authoritative media sites with a good page ranking will boost your site’s prominence.
6. Do you need PR, but don’t have a budget? Here’s how to leverage the news media.
7. Launch a blog on your Web site. For popularity, be sure to implement search engine optimization for a No.1 rated blog.
8. Prospect and make cost-effective sales contacts. Here are eight tips for cold calling by e-mail and telephone.
9. Review your online presence and use best practices to optimize your brand and manage your Web reputation.
10. Use Linked, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook – and the key steps to make your social media work. 

Oh, and a word about good will – stay on the high road. Don’t give away your power by speaking ill of your competitors in your marketing.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are more resources:

• Checklist: 19 Quick Marketing Tips for New Entrepreneurs
• Overview: Marketing Plan Essentials for Best Results
• Understanding the Marriage of Technology and Human Behavior
• 11 Sales Strategies to Outsell Your Big Competitors

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

-Robert Collier

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

RIM Provides 9 Lessons in Best Turnaround Strategies

 

Updated – Nov. 5, 2012

RIM, Research in Motion, needs more than just advertising and marketing strategies. Companies – from big to small – can learn business turnaround lessons from RIM’s predicament. RIM has failed to respond to marketplace changes.

Rim has been losing market share in the private and public sectors.

Despite installing a new CEO, Thorsten Heins, and hiring a vaunted crisis management firm, Sitrick and Company, RIM’s comeback attempt got off to a poor start.

Analysts, investors and customers were troubled by the headline: “New RIM CEO says drastic change not needed.”

Numerous published reports quoted Mr. Heins: “I don’t think that there is some drastic change needed. We are evolving … but this is not a seismic change.”

To the contrary, my sense is that drastic changes are needed – externally and internally. Unless the company can upgrade its products, solve its product delays, and fix its reputation, the company will go under unless it’s sold. (Note: To be clear, I’m a long-time Blackberry user.)

Yes, RIM has marketing challenges. But as any savvy salesperson knows, it’s difficult to sell a product that’s considered inferior to competitors. Apple’s iPhone and iPad, and Google’s Android operating system have taken market share from RIM, which is why the once-proud company has also lost market value.

RIM’s demise provides these turnaround lessons:

1. Understand first things first. It’s important to move current product inventory, but simultaneously make long-term product development a priority. The company needs effective decisions. There are nine dos and don’ts for best decision-making. RIM will earn praise if it can unveil a strategic plan to publicize successful development of software for its Blackberry 10. So strategically plan and implement management strategies for a successful turnaround.
2. Develop a strategic marketing plan and align it with sales. Notably, RIM is looking for a new marketing director. Hopefully, innovation will result. Consider tips to get strong marketing plan results, and the 14 reasons why major marketing campaigns fail. And for profits, don’t forget to align marketing with sales.
3. Attract visionary product-creation relationships. It’s important to stay atop marketplace volatility. Hire or partner with visionary innovators. RIM lost ground because it didn’t have enough developer support, which opened the door for competitors. Think about nine key questions before you form a partnership and here the nine steps for strategic alliance success.
4. Create an iconic product. Innovation is key to be a Ninja innovator. In RIM’s case, the company should create excitement by intensifying its research and development for a blockbuster smartphone – bigger screen, 4G, and better camera.
5. In view of the economy, remember Henry Ford’s success. A salient reason Mr. Ford was successful: He manufactured an everyday car – the Model A – a car the average American could afford. Think 1930s for business success. Consumer attitudes are changing. RIM used to own the corporate market and didn’t create a consumer niche. It needs regain corporate market share and its own version of the Model A for the digital phone age.
6. Restructure the team. If Mr. Heins really believes drastic change isn’t necessary, he better wake up quickly and reverse course. He should make certain he employs a lot of thought leaders who serve as devils’ advocates. RIM needs to earn marketplace confidence by exploring and communicating all its strategic options. Unfortunately, it appears RIM needs to take the six steps to implement a cultural change for profits.
7. Operate profitably. Develop a laser focus on profitability. Understand in any economy, what drives your profit. Here are 10 basic tips — leadership for business profit.
8. Continue to focus and promote security. Daily, the media is filled with headlines about identity theft and security. Blackberry is known for its security, but the message has been diluted. Android is successful despite its security weaknesses. After all, who profits from Android’s security issues? Not users.
9. Manage your reputation. The key is to create positive images. But RIM is suffering in reputation management.  Here are the best practices to optimize your brand and manage your Web reputation. It’s also vital to know how to leverage the news media for publicity, and to implement PR  crisis management tips.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are developing trends and solutions for manufacturing success.

“The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.”

– Peter F. Drucker

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Understanding the Marriage of Technology and Human Behavior for Profits

 

Whether you’re selling products, services or both – your marketing/sales future depends on whether you’re up-to-date on technology. That’s because it’s so intertwined with human behavior.

An interesting article in Ad Age was a relevant reminder.

Entitled, “CMOs Explain Why They’re Flocking to Vegas for CES,” in January 2012, the article explained why thousands of advertising and marketing professionals consider the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a must-attend event.

The obvious conclusion: CES is vital for their job security. On a macro level, marketers attend CES to stay abreast of technology and the resulting human behavior – how people connect with brands. They understand the importance of profiting from emerging human behaviors.

Not to criticize, but that’s why it’s so puzzling that Microsoft ended its 15-year association with CES as the anchor sponsor. Yes, I understand the reasons given by Microsoft. But when you own a franchise, you don’t give it away. You’ll never recoup it. And CES is the go-to tech event at the start of every year. Like soft drinks and Coke, Microsoft needs to be synonymous with new technology.

Further, it’s a chance to meet face-to-face with thousands of influential people and to stay abreast of technology. And as each year passes with new evolving technology, CES becomes more important.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are marketing resource links to keep up with your competitors –

• How Small Businesses Can Capitalize on Cyber Strategies for Profit
• Why B2B Marketers Like Content Marketing – Study
• Best Practices to Optimize Your Brand, Manage Your Web Reputation

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

-Thomas A. Edison

 

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

 

Tips To Get Top Results From Your Marketing Plan

 

Why do seemingly great marketing plans fail to yield the desired results?

Well, one reason: Such plans don’t turn the ideas into reality because they’re not action-oriented. What counts is the scheduled specific footwork, and then tracking the results.

There’s a second reason, quality of execution, but more on that later.

Four action-oriented keys to success

Action key No. 1: Develop specific action items for each key piece of your plan with specific target dates to take action. In other words, if 12 big customers will largely solve your revenue issues, set a goal for each monthly interval. For example, write: “We will get one major client each month.”

Action key No. 2: List specific footwork to achieve your monthly goal of one new client. For example, write: “To get a major new client each month, we’ll have to look for new opportunities to network with our existing Centers of Influence and to create new Centers of Influence.”

If you belong to your local chamber of commerce or Rotary Club, ask your friendly chamber peers or Rotarians for two referrals: “What are the names of two people with your qualities who might need our product?” Then, while dropping the name of your friend, make the contact.

Consider other ways to enlarge your prospect list, and write something like this: “We will also get a list of business leads via…”

Action key No. 3: Benchmark your action items that can lead to the desired results. For example, write: “From our list of prospects, we will meet with three new prospects each week.”

It’s a numbers game, but rest assured referrals are usually the strongest leads – especially, if you use the right networking strategies.

So don’t worry about the results. Focus on taking steps. The results will take care of themselves.

Action key No. 4: Define your list of specific actions to meet your targets. For example, write: “I will telephone or visit 15 prospects a day asking for an appointment.”

Focus on making the contacts, but again, don’t worry about which doors will open. It might be a lost art, but here’s how and why to use cold-calling for higher sales. Here are eight tips for cold calling by e-mail and telephone.

Quality of execution

Despite all the hype about the benefits of social media, face time works best. If you have good branding, elevator pitch, and use the right sales steps, you will be successful.

Here’s more:

Branding: Here’s a checklist to build your brand on a budget.

Elevator pitch: Here are the top 11 tips for a great elevator pitch.

Sales Steps: Here are the seven steps to higher sales.

You might also want to review the eight best practices in small business marketing.

From the Coach’s Corner, here are two advertising resource links:

• What are the Secrets for Success from Advertising?
• Checklist for Branding, Selling Your Biz as Green

“A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.”

-Brian Tracy

  

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is also a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.

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