Monthly Archives: December 2007

How Can I Market Our Moving Services?

Publicity, Services

I was recently approached to develop a marketing strategy to utilize our recent accolade as the #1 mover in the country. However, this is the tenth year in which we have received this rating so our current target list has ‘heard it all before’ with little or no action on their part. We have narrowed down our target audience to focus on individuals and families selling ‘prime’ real estate $1M upwards. How can I approach this audience and the Realtors and brokers linked to these individuals? My research indicates that this group is extremely wary of providing referrals to their clients with the possibility of disaster move resulting.

###

How about teaming up with Realtors and offer them a way to take care of the buyer/seller: moving is included in the price of the move, and the move is 100% guaranteed.

If you’re as good as you say, then roll in the cost of (a third-party) mover’s insurance.

People are generally wary of people they don’t trust. To build trust, you need testimonials, independent testing (do you get data after the move to find their level of satisfaction and measure it against the amount you moved?), and extraordinary stories (very tricky things to move, expensive, fragile, high-profile people, etc.).

What Is A Good Title For An Estate Planning Seminar?

Names + Taglines

We have been asked to do a workshop for our local Chamber of Commerce. We do estate planning seminars all the time but for this specific event, I need a catchy title. Some of the topics include: how to avoid probate & save money, how to eliminate or substantially reduce estate taxes, how to protect your assets from creditors, how to protect the interest of your children after your death, and why join tenancy is not a good idea.

###

Death & Taxes
Avoiding the Grim Reaper (The IRS)
Money Today. Gone Tomorrow.
Money After Death – Who’s Problem?

How Can I Sell My Marketing Services To Restaurants?

Services,

I’m trying to build my base of restaurant marketing directors for my small design business. my strengths are event invite design, signage, check presenters, web sites. Thus far I’ve found some success doing it via networking, but would like to expand further without cold calling. Which is most/least effective, if you are or have been in this position, or are familiar with the industry?

###

I would strongly suggest that you do a little research on each restaurant before contacting them: Who is in charge of marketing? What is their contact information? Do they work with any marketing firms outsider their organization? What are their needs in the next year? What is their presentation style (humorous isn’t always the best approach)?

You mentioned you don’t want to cold-call. However, your emails, direct mails, etc. are all basically “shot-in-the-dark” approaches. You can’t sell your services to someone if you don’t know what (or if) they need. You need to develop a relationship with restaurants to find out more. Ask for referrals from one marketing director to another (for those that you’ve already worked with).

You’ll also clearly need to identify what makes you unique/special compared to other designers. I would further suggest that you (as a minimum) update your website to provide a page just for the restaurant marketing directors.

How Can I Market My Commercial B2B Loans?

eMarketing, Services,

Our company works with banks to underwrite commercial real estate loans for their borrowers. The majority of our marketing efforts are integrated with our sales team — who works diligently to build and keep relationship with our client banks. From a marketing standpoint, we communicate with clients through a monthly newsletter, DM, collateral, etc. I recently heard from a few clients – who apparently are not reading our newsletters — that they didn’t know about the most recent developments in our company. What are some fresh, successful, and cost effective marketing mediums for staying in front of our clients so we can maintain/grow our company presence and remain top of mind?

###

When you have something of note – host a luncheon for your bankers.

If they aren’t reading your newsletters – find out why. Is it the content? Format? Appearance? If you move to e-newsletters (which will probably save you money and allow you to send out “flash” notices), you could easily suffer the same problem – your marketing gets ignored or labeled as spam.

What is your competition doing? You don’t want to necessarily copy them, but you do want to make sure you’re not missing something obvious. To find out, take a banker to lunch and find out what’s the best way to get their attention, when, etc.

How Can I Give An Effective Presentation?

Starting Out

In my experience, the most important thing is to focus on what you want the attendees to walk away with. That drives the format and content of your presentation.

Don’t worry too much about peppy & interesting – make the presentation memorable because the attendees “get” what you’re saying. Everyone has a preferred learning method: auditory, visual, tactile, etc. Make sure that your examples use different methods to illustrate your points.

If there are presentations before/after yours, account for the potential lack of energy in the room.

Don’t fill the room with your words. Fill the room with stories that illustrate your key points. People remember stories. Find stories that are relevant, with details, and some surprises.

Tell people what you’re going to talk about. Talk about it. Tell them what you talked about.

To get group participation (especially from a tired/shy group), first ask a question that requires a hand-raise for a yes (“How many of you … “). Then ask for a yes/no answer from the group. Finally, ask an open-ended question.

Don’t use Powerpoint. If you do, use a huge font and a max of 3 bullet points per slide. You can always hand out summaries afterwards. You want people focused on you, not your slides/handouts.

How Can I Attract Holiday Interest To My Mall?

Publicity

I represent a major mall. Each year we get the usual media coverage on what’s hot, what’s not, holiday gift ideas, etc. We are wanting to do something different that will attract the media’s attention and be fun for shoppers, too. If we can tie into a media partner, all the better. I’m looking for some creative ideas that will generate extra media coverage. Your thoughts?

###

Do a holiday pet adoption. In San Francisco, Macy’s does an elaborate window display for adoptable animals (in conjunction with the SPCA). It generates a lot of foot traffic and media attention (not to mention some great adoptions).

Who Can Help Create A Personal Direct Mail Campaign?

eMarketing, ,

The other day I received a postcard in the mail that was clever. The postcard was personalized with my name front and back. It pointed me to a URL which also included my name: myname.company.net. When I followed the URL the landing page greeted me with my name as well. This was I imagine done with a single technology that generates the postcard and the web site address and populated the page with my name.

###

The personalized postcard was produced using variable data printing (VDP). A number of companies also package VDP with direct marketing (as you saw). Here are some leads:

http://www.vdpcomplete.com
http://www.easypurl.com
http://variabledataprinting.printpelican.com/

How Much Should I Budget For Online Marketing?

eMarketing, Starting Out,

I’m not interested in knowing how much to allocate towards online marketing, but how much to allocate between online marketing activities? Banner ads vs keywords vs content development, etc. Is there anything about online marketing activities that would make this analysis any different that were I doing it for off line activities?

###

Online, you have a much easier time measuring ROI.

There’s no simple answer to your question – each business is different. My suggestion is to try everything and measure the results. Make sure that you’re also split testing your ads to find the best combination of text, color, text size, etc.

As for how much money – it’s based on how much a new customer is worth to you (think lifetime relationship, not just the initial purchase). Then balance that with the cost to “acquire” that customer.

What Are Good Activities For A Horse Stable Open House?

Publicity, Services

I have a horse riding stable where I give lessons to all levels of riders. I want to host an open house to draw in more young children who want to learn to ride. I plan to offer door prizes such as riding lessons and trail rides. I also plan to have free horse rides, balloons and hot dogs. I am looking for any more ideas you may have for activities to offer at the open house or for ways to promote it.

###

Once you get the kids there, so long as there isn’t a negative experience, it doesn’t matter much what your activities are. The key is that they should all be 100% fun & safe. You want everyone to feel like they can trust you and the horses.

To get people to the horses, you need to go where the kids (and their parents) are. If you’re doing this during the summertime, then co-market with day camps (offer to give them a % of the sign up, or pay a flat fee to allow you access to their e/mailing list, or hand out flyers at the end of the day, etc.). During the year, you’d approach local schools.

For more guerrilla-like approaches, team up with an ice-cream truck. Ride a horse in front of the truck in the neighborhood. Hand out flyers, etc.