The Golden Key to Success is in Your Hands, But You Ignore It!
Basic Marketing Dope
Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics thats true with anything by the way. Here are some tools that are brilliantly simple and with them you really wont have to sweat the small stuff.Hot Dope #1) The more that your potential customers see your name in front of them, the more likely they are to call your number (and not someone elses) when they need the services you offer.Many marketing efforts go unrewarded, not because they were off target but simply because they werent given enough of an opportunity to work. Showing your TV commercial one time, running an ad in the newspaper once, or doing one mailing of postcards may not be enough to grab and keep the audiences attention.Get your name out there, do it on a regular basis and people will remember you when they need someone in your line of business. Actually, this particular Hot Dope cannot be stressed enough and failure to adhere to it is the #1 reason new businesses fail.You should also know that taking the time to really see which pieces will generate the response you want will pay off. Dont just totally give up when a response is low persistence is vital.Hot dope # 2) Measure your Return On Investment (ROI) in terms of actual MONEY not response rate. An advertising vehicle is working when the MONEY that it brings in has more value than the MONEY and time that is spent on the marketing.Dont fall into the trap of becoming discouraged by a small number of callers responding to a large number of pieces. If you spend several hundred dollars to be in the view of a few thousand possible leads, it may only take a few customers responding for you to make enough of a profit for this type of marketing to be valuable. The usefulness of any vehicle can only be determined after the amount of income generated by the promotion has been calculated. If you spend 1/5 of what you generate or generate 5 times what you spend, your campaign was successful.Hot dope #3) It is much easier to "sell" a prospect once you get them to call or come in to your store. In 2-Step Marketing, step 1 is to get them interested; step 2 is having them speak to a representative to get all the details and get closed by that representative.Your design must be eye catching and informative, but dont try to close the sale by explaining all of the details in one piece of advertising. The details of a business transaction often take many more words to explain than the main concept of what is being sold. For example, if your company offers great prices depending on the quantity purchased, there is no need to list the prices for every quantity that you sell. Simply give examples of two or three different quantities and state somewhere in the advertisement that other discounts are available for other quantities. This will prompt them to call to get the rest of the details once you have gotten their interest.Marketing can be as simple as 1-2-3 when you know the basics. By no means have I given you all the basics here, but by learning and implementing these 3 marketing fundamentals, you are already on your way to marketing success!
The Benefits Of Renting A Trade Show Display
Trade shows can be a great way to win new business, make new contacts and unveil new products to the marketplace. Exhibiting at a trade show means you are going to need to a trade show display to attract attention and showcase your company and products. The benefits of renting a trade show display, instead of purchasing one, can be numerous for small businesses or start-ups attending their first trade show and large businesses looking to increase interest at their next show. Below are some of the reasons why renting a trade show display is a good idea.ConvenienceThe convenience that renting a trade show booth provides, as opposed to buying one, can be one of the most important factors in ones decision to rent. Renting a booth for your first few trade shows will allow you to get a feel for these shows and how much money you may be able to make by attending them. You dont want to make a big investment in a trade show display only to find out that the trade show scene is not for you. Using a rental gives you the impact of having a customized trade show display and the convenience of not having to commit to a specific format.FlexibilityRenting a trade show display also offers flexibility. Renting allows you to customize your display for every trade show that you attend. If you used a format that you did not care for, then for the next trade show choose a different format the only thing you need to do is purchase the graphic panels for the new trade show display configuration.Display rental also gives you the opportunity to experiment with the size of your trade show booth without worrying about making a big investment in a booth that may not suit your needs from one trade show to the next. You can also try out the different types of displays available, such as a pop-up displays, to see which one is easiest for you to set up and break down. Basically, renting allows you to experiment with many different aspects of your trade show display, so that you can get a feel of what is right for you. Maybe, once you know what you want, you will then want to buy a trade show display of your own or maybe you will enjoy the flexibility of renting so much that you will continue with that option. Either way, renting, instead of making a big initial investment, will allow you to know for sure where your preferences lie.Additional OptionsRenting a trade show display may be the way to go if you are looking to augment your current trade show format. With add-ons such as literature racks and banner stands, a trade show booth can offer more visuals than just what is on the display itself. If you have a large booth space and you want to manage traffic or provide additional information, renting a display is a good choice. This can help you expand your trade show booth to create a larger, more dynamic selling environment. Plus, if you are rolling-out a new product and you dont want to redo your main display you can feature the product on a rental display.Cost-Effectiveness If you are promoting a small business or start-up, then renting may be the best option for you since you may only attend a few shows a year. If you were to buy, the investment you would make would largely eat into whatever profits you earn for the year from the few shows that you do attend. Until you attend trade shows on a more regular basis, renting a trade show booth may be the most cost-effective way to go.Considering all of these great benefits, it is easy to see why one would want to rent a trade show display, rather than purchasing one themselves. Whether you are an individual, small business, or a large company, renting a trade show display can offer you advantages that you would not otherwise have with your own display.
IT Marketing: Mailing to Your Current Customer Database
Doing a mailing to your current customer database is a really great place to start. In this article, you'll learn why this IT marketing strategy can be so effective. Your Customers Already Know YouDoing an IT marketing mailing to your current customers is a great place to start because, for one thing, you already own the list. But even more importantly, they already know, like, and trust you. And that's one of the biggest obstacles to overcome when you're doing any kind of direct marketing like this.IT Marketing: What to pitch? If you feel comfortable talking with business owners and business managers about providing virus protection, firewalls, passwords, data backup, and power protection, you have a good opportunity to tie in the IT audit concept and data protection. Offer a heavily discounted IT audit package. Let's say that it's regularly $400, but as a special now through the expiration date, it's $299. You might consider putting an extra bonus in there, like an entry-level battery backup unit, or surge protector, or your prized system inventory worksheet template, or a CD or DVD from the last data protection seminar you gave. As part of your IT marketing strategy, give away something you think will have that little bit of an extra pull. IT Marketing: Keep track of your resultsIf you see that you get five percent inquiries and half of those inquiries ultimately end up taking the audit, this gives you a good baseline to measure and compare other lists and the responses you get from similar mailings.You're going to have a much more receptive audience with your existing customers than anyone else through your IT marketing efforts. If you're doing any kind of outbound telemarketing, even if they're not customers you've done a lot of work for, at least these people know you and they hopefully like you and trust you.Help Your Customers Utilize What They Already Have Look to your existing customer relationships to find out additional ways that you can help them better use what they already own. There is an excellent chance that they've bought a lot of things that are collecting dust. If they are using them, they may be only scratching the surface of their usefulness. IT Marketing: Cementing RelationshipsThese are not only great opportunities for you to help them get more out of what they already own, it's also a great opportunity for you to pick up a lot of good, incremental service revenue. And it's also a great way for you to cement the long-term loyalty and relationships that are really important for any computer consulting business.The Bottom Line on IT Marketing Using your existing clients for IT marketing is a great first step. You can either introduce new products or services or help them better utilize technology they already have. Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consultants Secrets. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}
Saab Cars: Born From Jets
The latest marketing campaign from Saab cars traces the automakers origins back to the days to when the company was formed from a Swedish aircraft maker. One ad mentions that 16 aircraft engineers designed the first cars, which were based heavily on aerodynamic aircraft design. Apparently, the born from jets slogan is meant to convey to the public that the same quality that goes into building jets goes into building their cars. What isnt mentioned is that the company that built its first automobiles in 1949 is now part of General Motors, the largest automaker in the world. The Saab jet division is separate, still owned by the Swedes. Are the ads misleading? Perhaps, or maybe Saab is attempting to distance itself from General Motors and to stand on its own four wheels. Lets take a look at Saab then and at Saab now.After observing several ads about Saab, I decided to conduct a little research into the company. What I learned is a fascinating account of how a small, Nordic nation turned out not just one, but two high quality car lines. The other company is, of course, Volvo. This is simply amazing in that even today the country numbers just over nine million citizens; truly Swedish engineering is as advanced as any country on the face of the earth.Saab, itself, got started in 1937 just before the outbreak of the Second World War when reconnaissance aircraft were built for the Swedish Air Force. After the war, the aircraft maker kept pace with the emerging military jet industry and developed sophisticated aircraft including fighter jets which also became part of the NATO fleet. On the air carrier side of the house, high performing Saab regional jets found a market in the US and throughout the world. In 1949, the first Saab 92 rolled off of the assembly line, beginning a lengthy history of producing high quality and uniquely engineered cars. Indeed, the original Saabs incorporated an aerodynamic design to lessen wind drag, resulting in higher fuel economy for drivers. This concept was then carried over to all subsequent "Saab cars" ; to this day not too many vehicles on the road can match the 92s or modern day Saab cars low coefficient of drag. Beyond making economical cars, Saab much like Volvo began to produce cars that were truly safe and innovative. Technological advances brought about self repairing bumpers; side impact door beams; self cleaning headlamps; turbo charged engines; cabin air filters; and other design features that were later copied and picked up by auto manufacturers the world over.With the growing and expanding global economy, Saab during the 1980s began to find itself hard pressed to keep up with the changing demands of a new world market In order to successfully compete long term, new models would have to be developed and new markets explored. Ultimately, the decision was made in 1990 to spin off the automobile unit from the parent company and into a separate entity that was quickly bought out by investors including General Motors who secured 50% of the business. Today, Saab has expanded its line up to include its first ever SUV and all car models have received regular and well needed updates. Critics worry about GMs growing influence indeed, the 9-7X SUV borrows heavily off of GM technology and if the company can truly maintain some semblance of independence. Some fear that the division will go the way of Saturn and become fully incorporated into the GM fold, while others wonder if the division can provide enough of a distinction to strong European brands including Volvo, BMW, and Mercedes to attract new customers.For what it is worth, Saabs born from jets heritage may be the strong reminder needed to keep the line distinct and viable. Lets hope that the motto is more than just a marketing ploy.
POSTCARD PRINTING QUOTES
So you have decided that you want to have postcards as your business promotional tool and right now you must probably be wondering just how much it will cost you. You need postcard printing quotes. The postcard printing quotes will provide you with an overview of just how much your printing project will cost. The postcard printing quotes will also help you in deciding whether to go on and send your project to one of the postcard printing providers or not. The usual canvassing for postcard printing quotes requires one to visit every local print shop there is in the area or calling each and every one of the listed local printers. That is one tiring task, if you ask me. But thanks to the internet canvassing has become an easy and convenient task. Goodbye to traveling and drooling phone calls and hello to easy clicking on the mouse. The internet provides for a vast number of postcard printing quotes online which is enough to provide an individual with all the printing quotations he or she needs. Aside from that, postcard printing quotes online have an easy to follow guidelines and rules that even an individual with miniscule knowledge on the internet can handle the requesting procedure without any difficulties. The quote requested may be receive usually within an hour or lesser however for printing quotes that requires variations in prices a 24 hour processing time may be required. Postcard printing quotes online is practically all about saving time and finding the right printing quotations that would work best for any amount of budget. Likewise, printing quotes online also facilitates for the smooth forwarding of print jobs without the unnecessary hassles. Customers are able to compare printing quotes of different online printing providers all at the same time by simply displaying the web sites of these providers. There are also no additional printing costs involved in online printing unlike those print jobs from local print shops. Likewise, the prices of online printing services are also more affordable compared to the prices offered by local print shops. Online printing has also a much faster turnaround time since most of the printing providers make use of only the latest in printing technology and therefore does not require any expensive setting up cost that usually goes with conventional printing. In the long run having print projects sent to an online provider would be more profitable and practical on the part of business owners.