Only 10 Years to Get to the Start Gate!

It seems hard to believe that it was in 1994 when we saw the first banner ad online that captured and monopolized our eyeballs.  By the late 1990’s, dot-coms flush with venture capital cash, operated with a “money is no object” attitude and the hype knew no end.

When the dot-com crash hit, it seemed that online advertising was a lost cause. Ad blockers killed the banner ads, and spam killed the e-mail campaigns.  Users tuned out, and it seemed that marketers had killed the golden goose.  But a funny thing has happened between then and now.  Not only has online advertising and marketing endured, but it has emerged as an absolutely crucial part of today’s marketing mix.

Online marketing brings new levels of reach, targeting and accountability, and has moved into the mainstream.  Online advertising has become the solution to marketing problems at a level that other media haven’t been able to do.

The numbers back this up as shown by IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers September report that online ad spending in the U.S. totaled $2.37 billion in the second quarter, a 42.7% increase over the same quarter last year.  This shows the seventh consecutive quarter of growth, and the market today is growing at more than 20% per year.

Companies are spending at a level that is really pretty interesting.  Consider Ford Motor Co, Tom Green the advertising manager of its truck division just finished a new season of marketing campaigns.  Mr. Green says, “we gave digital as much thought and attention as any other medium.  Look at the numbers,” he says, “80% of people who buy a Ford vehicle go to our Web site first.  Half of all truck customers use online shopping sites. You’d be crazy as a marketer not to take this medium seriously.”

That much attention and spending is the fact that Internet usage is now firmly in the mainstream and broadband usage has grown by leaps and bounds.

According to Forrester Research, 64% of U.S. households are online, with nearly 20% or 23.1 million homes, using broadband.  Nielsen/NetRatings, which measures individual users rather than households, reported that 51% of July users connected to the Internet by broadband vs. 49% by narrowband, an industry first.

Today the Internet is everywhere and when it’s not, people notice and demand that it be even more available.  Online advertising has matured and it enables marketers to “target” consumers in a fine-tuned fashion creating highly personalized user experience.  It’s as effective in getting across a communications and branding message as any other medium.

Online advertising also allows two-way interaction between advertisers and their targets, providing a “real-time” feedback loop that’s invaluable.  A marketer can establish and maintain a two-way dialogue with a consumer online, and no other form of advertising can do this as effectively.

For large advertisers such as Procter & Gamble Co., online lets them interact with groups of consumers more directly than ever before.  This is demonstrated by being able to engage with a million consumer database on a monthly basis through their Club Olay program.

Online advertising supports an almost endless variety of messaging formats, from banner ads and e-mail messages to more elaborate interactive vehicles and microsites.  It‘s the capability to combine the motion and animated visuals of television with close-up and personal interaction.

The results of online advertising campaigns can be measured precisely, making publishers accountable for the promises they make and marketers accountable to management for the success of their programs.  Yet even though online advertising has asserted its strengths, real-world marketers have made online just another medium in their standard marketing mix.

More than anything, what online provides mainstream advertisers is “another point of contact with the consumer” at various stages of the buying cycle. So where is the evolution of online advertising today?  It’s been a crazy 10 years, but marketers say we’re closer to the “beginning” of learning how to take advantage of this new medium.

Online ads will get better targeted, with new concepts opening up new opportunities to marketers.  We should see online ads becoming richer and more evocative, with animation and streaming video.  If history is a guide, there will be ups and downs and the “hype” meter will spike at highs and lows, but the past has set the stage for future growth.

Marketers are on the cusp of a big trend now, made possible by the familiarity and true use of the internet as an advertising medium.  This is the starting point, where the future growth in online advertising is just beginning to come into view.  Where will you go from here?

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Guaranteed To Increase Sales!

As a Publishing entrepreneur and by doing publicity for my clients, I’ve spent years studying the art of selling.  The techniques that follow aren’t difficult to learn, but they require discipline and practice.

Your most important skill as a business owner is your salesmanship. Having the best product or service means nothing if you can’t get anyone to buy it, so to ensure the success of your business you must develop the ability to generate revenue – “salesman-ship”.

Here is a brief outline of 13 techniques I’ve developed for increasing sales:

1. USE THE PHONE –Absolutely the cheapest, most effective, and efficient way to find customers is by phone. Yes, “cold-calling”.  Write out a script for this before you call, so you don’t sound vague.  Introduce yourself, your company, the purpose of the call, and give a brief “benefit” of your product/service to the client. ”What will you do for his/her business?”  Be brief, to the point, and have 10 possible objections you might get, answered in your script. This way you’re prepared for the customary “brush-off.”  Always try to get a firm commitment to a meeting.  This call is not to “sell” the client, it’s to get a face-to-face meeting to establish credibility – and then to sell him/her. Would you buy from a voice on the phone? No.  You want to see the vendor and listen to his offer.

2. SHOUT IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP – You should always be looking for new customer, and I’ve found that giving seminars, teaching, guest speaking at trade shows and organizations, or writing an article for your trade magazine or business journal establishes you as an “expert” in your field.  People like to buy from experts because it reduces their fear of making a bad decision.  Everyone can overcome their fear of public speaking, so find the method that works best for you and do it.  As a desperate step, join a Toastmaster’s group near you or take a night course at a nearby Adult School.

3. ASK QUESTIONS – Most salespeople think that the first meeting with the prospect is the only chance to make a sale.  WRONG!  Before you go into your “pitch” ask questions, take notes, what are your prospects goals, challenges, etc.  Helping a prospect solve a business problem creates a “win-win” relationship and closes more sales than you think.

4. AVOID “PRODUCT DUMPING” – Telling your prospect all about your product/service before you know their needs is a mistake made by 95% of salespeople.  This is an inefficient selling method and upon reflection, your client will lose faith in you.  I’ve met with clients on several occasions and left them with some advice and good feelings, but no sale and that’s alright.  Because in the future I’m apt to get “word of mouth” referrals from them, which will outweigh what I might have made if I’d simply “sold” them a service that wasn’t an answer to their problem. Remember – nothing adds more to your credibility than a referral from a satisfied prospect.

5. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS – Selling is a numbers game, and you need to learn your “selling ratios.” How many prospecting calls do you need to get a meeting, and how many meetings to get a sale.  This allows you to manage your cash flow by forecasting your sales. It also tells you how many calls are needed to increase your sales revenue.

In next week’s column we’ll continue with the 13 tips which will cover Qualifying Your Prospect and Gaining Trust to name just a few.  Happy selling!

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Guerilla Marketing vs. Big Bucks

Many entrepreneurs market via outreach events, be it trade shows or presenting seminars, and budgets to schmooze clients and impress friends are getting tight.

Now that the economy is back in the spotlight, with gasoline at $2.60+ a gal., big companies announcing layoffs, and prices rising across the board, the time is here to tighten our belts and squeeze that marketing dollar until it squeals.  Believe me the rhetoric that the economy is getting better is just that – political rhetoric, and isn’t coming from the business community in the trenches.  We know better!

Even though lavish budgets are history, the creative entrepreneur can still use events as a marketing tool if he/she rolls up sleeves and goes into “guerilla marketing” mode.  Creativity is the key!  The time for promoting an event and waiting to see who registers within 6 to 8 weeks is past.  The first’s thing to remember, is that no amount of cajoling, marketing, or freebies will compel attendance at your event if it doesn’t offer real value to the attendee.

People expect to be exposed to valuable content, and aren’t attending just for the networking.  With that as a given, let me give you some guerilla marketing tips.

1. Save the expensive advertising you usually do 6 to 8 weeks before the event and use “referrals”.  Many of your pasts attendees are either employees of companies or in business themselves, and have contacts and friends they talk with regularly.  This source is often overlooked, and you’ve got direct access to them.  Send them an invitation as if they were customers, and ask them to pass it on to one or two people they know that might be interested.  You could even make it more enticing by having a form at the door for attendees that asks who referred them, and providing some incentive for the person that referred the most attendees.

2. Don’t overlook clubs, associations or other local groups.  Many not-for-profit groups have charters that state their members will be informed about opportunities that will enhance their membership, career and education.  Put together a promotional kit announcing your event, an agenda, and offering a discount to the group’s members.  You can also offer the association something for free – a full registration, print ad, magazine rack, exhibit space or a sponsoring logo on your Website – whatever is feasible in you line of business.  Don’t miss the opportunity of offering your services as a speaker at some of the group or association meetings, and even bringing some event brochures with you after you have the leader’s approval.

3. Local business – the bookmark brigade.  If your event relies heavily on local participation, then work through the businesses used every day.  A most successful and fun outreach program is to implement a Bookmark Brigade on behalf of the businesses.  These are special announcement bookmarks printed with the name of the event, dates, location, and Website on one side and the local business name on the other.  Make them big and bright, and get a team loaded with bookmarks to visit every business shop, coffee shop, bookstore, grocery stores, newsstands, cleaners, music stores, and libraries all over the area.  Some stores may even let you hang a poster.  Give something to the manager or in-store sales personnel as you do this.  Maybe a free T-shirt, or pass to the event.  The printing bill is bound to run less than half or full-page ads in the relevant weekend newspapers.

4. Your event sponsors and exhibitors are your best allies, as well as a support network of resources for recruiting attendees.  Twenty percent of them will support your event because they can, the rest won’t due to limited resources or conflicting agendas.  Use any of the tools already mentioned with your partners, or trade a contact database of theirs to be used for telemarketing for promoting the sponsor in the telephone blitz.  Offer this database a discounted rate and attribute the discount to the sponsor for their client.  Everyone wins!

5. Offer your sponsors tools like posters or tabletop signs they can post in their lobbies.  Visitors can learn about the event while waiting for their appointments.  This expands your word of mouth, and may even draw additional sponsors.  Of course, you’ve already negotiated an event logo and listing presence on your sponsor’s website – haven’t you?

Some key points to remember in any outreach promotion are to build in a tracking method on each marketing piece, such as unique URLs and/or codes on registration.  Be ready to offer incentives such as discounts or gifts to gain access to clubs or sponsors members, lists or audience.  Lastly, have the appropriate marketing tool kit ready before you start.  It should contain such things as Web banners, email templates, sample sales copy, and special offer announcements packaged for easy access.

In good times or bad, these tips will help any entrepreneur draw more interest in their activity or event.  A good outreach program promotes special relationships with your sponsors, community and attendees better than any other marketing activity can before the event.  Using guerilla marketing tactics in lieu of bucks takes creativity, elbow grease, and luck.

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5 Tips For Identity Theft Protection

This is that time of year when we all start getting those emails that want to purloin our secret codes and passwords.  You know the ones that have subject lines like: “Your Account Is About To Be Closed,” “There’s A Block On Your Account,” “Could You Help Me Claim My Funds,” or my all-time favorite “Congratulations – You’ve Won The UK Lottery.”

This is the time of year when we are all shopping for gifts for family or customers, and the last thing we need is for our bank or credit cards account to be hindered.  That is exactly what these “cyber grifters” are counting on, and unfortunately some of us are tempted to follow the instructions sent to investigate. 

First and foremost, DON’T FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE EMAIL!  If you think there might be a problem, access the account in question as you normally do on your PC and not with the link supplied in the phony email.

I’ve had some very authentic looking email supposedly from banks, that even went so far as to copy the colors of the bank logo and stationery style.  But, don’t fall for the scam.  In fact, don’t even open the email, because many are just set to loose a virus program on your computer by being opened.  Simply forward the suspicious email to the “spoof email” address supplied by your bank, or credit card company.

Nearly 10 million Americans fell prey to identity theft last year, costing businesses and individuals billions of dollars.  Here are some other tips to help you:

1. Understand debit card dangers:  Greater liability than credit cards.  When it comes to fraud, debit cards carry much greater personal liability than credit cards, depending on how quickly you report the loss of the card.  If you fail to report unauthorized use within 60 days of receiving your bank statements, you could lose all the money in the account and be held responsible for the amount of money that has been tapped from your line of credit.
2. Rethink check writing:  That little slip of paper has way too much information. Some experts advise against check writing because it gives away your address, bank account number, signature and license number to complete strangers.  On top of that, there’s no federal legislation to limit your liability for forged checks (each state has its own set of rules).  Experts advise that you look into automating your bill paying.
3. Secure your mail:  Your mailbox is a goldmine of information.  Between bank statement, bills, and all those pre-approved credit card offers, your mailbox is loaded with personal data which identity thieves can use to easily apply for a credit card in your name.  Unless you diligently check your credit report, you may never even know about it.  One way to avoid this is to have your mailbox under lock and key, but most of us in Santa Clarita have our mailboxes at the curb in front of our house and the postman frowns on carrying dozens and dozens of keys around.  The other solution is to have a rented mailbox, or to foil “dumpster-diving” thieves by buying a shredder and destroy documents before discarding.
4. Go virtual:  For shopping online, there are “virtual” card numbers.  These are randomly generated credit card numbers that are disposable and that on-line shoppers use once and throw away.  It’s linked directly to your real credit card account so purchases show up on your monthly bill.  The service is easy to use – and it’s FREE!  All you need to do is register with companies offering the virtual card, and they are MBNA, Discover, and Citigroup.
5. Create an emergency identity kit:  Would you know how to contact your credit card company in an emergency?  Create an emergency kit that contains: your account number, expiration date, issuing company name, and emergency contact number for each card you own.  While you’re at it, make copies of your driver’s license, social security card, birth certificate and passport and store them in a locked box or file cabinet, or a safe deposit box.  I like the safe deposit box best, because this gives you protection in the event of a catastrophe such as fire, earthquake, etc. 

This may all seem like a lot of unnecessary work, but if you’re ever the victim of identity theft – even just once – you’ll realize that it’s well worth the effort.

Many of us forget that were it not for what we carry in our wallets or in our purses, we’re all John and Jane Doe’s if we can’t speak due to injury or are unaccompanied by someone who knows us.  How much less stressful is it to know that in a bank box, no matter where you are, there are items that can verify your identity.  Better to be safe, than sorry!

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Increasing Sales

Here’s the steps to increasing sales:

1. Qualify Your Prospect – Maximizing your time is important, so the faster you can determine if you’ve got a potential customer the better.  Determine who the “Decision Maker” is, do you have a good rapport with him/her, is their a problem you can solve or do they know there’s a problem?  You may have the greatest hammer in the world, but if all this prospect uses is screws – you can’t sell your product.

2. Gain Trust – Price and product benefits are obvious buying factors, but less obvious ones are intuition, impressions, and rapport.  Prospects are just as apt to buy for emotional reasons as practical ones, so you need to show them you are most like them, you’re sincere, you keep your word, and are honest.  If you say you’ll see them on Tuesday, make sure you keep your word.  Don’t make a promise you don’t intend on keeping.

3. Define Your Unique Position – Your product or service provides your customer with a specific benefit or group of benefits.  Make sure it isn’t the same as your competition. Why does your company stand out? Let them know the difference.

4. LISTEN! – Most salespeople are guilty of “overselling”, and often miss the sentence from the prospect that says, “You’re right.   We’ll take it.” Listen to your prospect as he answers open-ended questions, and even listen to his tone and inflections of speech.  Uncover the problem, and then provide the solution and stop talking.

5. Stay Focused – Too many small business owners spend all their time putting out fires instead of making sales.  Spend at least 60% of your time trying to produce revenue.  The sales window of 9am-5pm is small, so plan your selling time accordingly.  Schedule non-sales generating duties outside this time.

6. Polish Your Presentation – Don’t take your sales presentation for granted.  Practice your pitch.  You’ve spent a lot of money perfecting your product or service, take the time to develop a comfortable, confident, effective presentation.

7. Do Your Homework – Research your prospects so that you can ask better questions, show better under-standing of his business, and be more prepared and confident before your meet.

8. Learn From Success – Many entrepreneurs have success in one industry with one type of client, and then don’t focus on getting more of the same type.   If you’ve been successful selling to doctors and publishers, call on other doctors and publishers and refer to the successes you’ve had.  Prospects will trust you more if they know you have previous experience with others in their field.  You also spend less time establishing your credibility with them.

These are just a few of more than 50 or more ways to increase your sales revenue, but they are valuable in helping you to accomplish one very important goal – TO SELL THE MOST PRODUCT OR SERVICE IN THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TIME.  Remember, the only difference between an average baseball player and an All-Star is just one more hit in every 10 at bats.  Step up to the plate and sell, sell,

sell.

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