Monthly Archives: April 2014

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Marketing 2.0: How and Why You Measure Results

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Marketing is an essential function of every business.   Smart organization leaders understand that continually reaching out to current and potential customers,  with objectives to create loyalty and trust in the company,  its products and its services and building a brand,  are integral to sustaining a healthy enterprise.  Like all business initiatives,  marketing objectives and strategies must be periodically evaluated,  to monitor and measure results and determine how to adjust and optimize the program if results do not meet expectations.  Choose your marketing activities based on your knowledge of customer behavior.

The measurement of marketing results can be broken down according to a method recommended by Joseph Raymond Roy,  a marketing consultant based in Meredith, NH,  who gives us the acronym DATA:

1. Defining,  identify the result your marketing will promote (increasing the number of potential customers)

2. Assessing,  measure the dollar value of your marketing program (look at the number of customers and gross revenue)

3. Tracking,  determine if customers came to your business as a result of your marketing activities (ask new customers how they found you, or all customers in a survey)

4. Adjusting,  if it is obvious,  do more of what produces the desired result and less of what does not produce results.  In other words,  optimize your marketing activities.

Begin the measurement by calculating the amount of money invested in your marketing activities.  Obviously there is also time involved,  which should be taken into account,  but  it is usually difficult to attach an appropriate dollar figure to one’s time.  How much is the time you spend networking worth?  What is the time spent on social media worth,  or producing your monthly newsletter?

You may develop good relationships with potential referral sources,  but it may take 5 months or 5 years to receive a referral.  Speaking engagements and webinars  are easier to evaluate.  A well-respected venue always has value,  whether or not you receive referral business or meet a future client,  because the very act adds value to your curriculum vitae.  Calculate ROI by deducting the value of resources spent on marketing activities from revenues generated by customers who have come to you as a result of marketing activities.

Tracking  (i.e., forward tracking),  the process of building an identifying mechanism into each marketing activity before it is launched,  so that you can measure the results derived.  If you present a webinar,   the registration of participants,  which includes an email address for each listener,  is a most accurate tracking mechanism.  Responding to a product offer with a special code is another excellent tracking device.   The marketer will be able to identify which customer was not only impacted by a certain activity,  but also will know if that person eventually does business with the company.

There are various types of tracking methods,   including Point-of-sale tracking,  conducted when new customers arrive by asking them how they heard about you.  You will also use point-of-sale tracking when you tally up the sales results associated with the purpose of your marketing program,  be it bigger ticket items,  referrals,  or other customer actions.   Reverse tracking  is the process of going through your customer list and documenting how current customers became your customers.

If you write a blog or newsletter,  measure your reach by counting the number of subscribers,  email forwards and followers.  Point-of-sale tracking  will let you know if demonstration of your knowledge and expertise brings customers into the door.

The ROI of PR should be measured in at least two ways:  first,  through Media impressions,  in which the marketer counts how many media outlets wrote a story or made a radio or television announcement in response to a press release that was sent (a follow-up phone call will likely boost the response rate).   Second,  through Content analysis one can evaluate the accuracy of what was broadcast as a result of the press release and the prominence of item placements in the chosen media outlets.

Online data analytics systems  will track all visits to your website,  customized to your needs.  How many potential customers abandon your website and how many follow-up with inquiries or engage by clicking on your newsletter or blog? What is the impact of your social media outlets on your marketing objectives? Here is how you’ll know.

The ultimate marketing metric is the percentage of your customer base that result from marketing activities,  or Marketing Originated Customers.

It may take a service provider 6 – 12 months to have results to measure.  Obtaining a contract from a new or returning client is a longer sales cycle than selling ice cream cones.  Metrics make it possible to know which marketing activities yield the best results and that knowledge will give you the opportunity to optimize your marketing efforts.  You will do more of what works,  perhaps launching an advertising campaign during a particular season or increasing your participation in certain business or professional groups.  Other activities may be diminished or dropped altogether.  Gross sales will give a dollar value ROI to your marketing program when compared to the pre-marketing program value.

Marketing metrics ensure that you receive a solid ROI on your marketing activities.  Appropriately chosen and implemented marketing activities that are tracked and optimized will always pay for themselves.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

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Marketing 2.0 : How and Why You Do It

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All those with a product or service to sell must institute a marketing program that promotes those products and services to target customers.  Marketing programs consist of strategies and activities that derive from promotional objectives you would like to achieve for your products,  services,  or the company overall.  Advertising;  writing a blog, newsletter, or book;  speaking at business associations;  teaching a subject that showcases your expertise;  making an in-kind donation to a local charity event;  presenting a webinar;  nominating yourself for (and winning!) a business award;  writing a press release to announce to local media that you are presenting a webinar,  have won a business award or published a book;  networking to meet new colleagues or reconnect and build relationships; and presence on social media are examples of activities that carry out your marketing strategies and have the potential to ensure the achievement of marketing objectives.

For most,  the goal of marketing is to increase sales  (that is, revenue)  by increasing awareness and trust in the company and its products and services and in that way increasing the number of its potential customers.  Marketing is a way to fill the sales pipeline,  as is prospecting for potential customers  (wear your sales hat when prospecting,  although prospecting is not quite selling in the same way that marketing is not exactly selling).  Generally,  marketing strategies are created to produce one or more of these results:

1. Awareness,  so that target customer groups will learn of the existence of your company and its products and services.

2. Perception,  so that target customer groups will think of your company and its offerings in a certain way.  This is the core of brand development; trust and confidence are the primary attributes that you must persuade customers to associate with your company and its products and services.  Depending on your business,  other attributes you may want to attach to the brand are luxury,  practicality,  innovativation or quirkiness.  Reputation management and crisis PR are under this heading.

3. Behavior,  so that target customers will be persuaded to take action.  Your objectives may include attracting new customers;  encouraging repeat business from existing customers;  encouraging sales of higher-ticket items or premium services;  or stimulating referrals by persuading customers to recommend your products and services to others.

Because time and money are limited resources for business ventures large and small,  it is a big advantage to know which of your marketing activities works and if possible,  to also know which activities are effective for certain customers.  Further, it is essential to know how many customers come to your business as a result of marketing activities.

To measure the return on investment ROI of your marketing program,  one must venture into the realm of marketing metrics,  from data analytics to Big Data.  Next week,  we will look at simple yet revealing marketing metrics that will evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing and guide your future marketing activities.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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Avoiding Exploitation: How Much Free Advice?

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You’ve seen this movie before.  You are excited by an invitation to visit the office of a promising prospect.  There is a great discussion about the business and where your services would fit.  Serious questions are asked and,  anxious to demonstrate your understanding of the your  (almost)  clients’ needs,   you supply straightforward and practical answers.  The prospect seems impressed with your business acumen;  the energy in the room feels good;  you can visualize your first day on the job.  At the meeting’s end,  there is talk of bringing you in to specify the details of a working relationship.

A week slips by and then two.  Your email or phone call is either unanswered,  or the answer you receive is that your prospect is unable to move forward at this time.  Can you call back next month? Ten days into the new month you call and realize,  with much regret,  that the trail has gone cold.  Who you thought would become a new client was just an imposter,  who robbed the stagecoach of your expertise and disappeared.

That scenario is repeated more than one would think at for-profit and not-for-profit institutions alike.  The fact is,  unless a consulting professional works at Bain,  McKinsey,  or some other big consulting group,   rip-off artists may conspire to defraud you of actionable business information without paying you a dime.  I’ve been invited to two or three interviews where in hindsight I came to realize that the  “prospect”  was merely fishing for free ideas that would resolve a dilemma that would be handled in-house.

Certain salaried predators find it very clever to pretend that there is a nice project available,  call in a few Freelance consultants and pepper us with questions that we answer because we neither eat nor pay the rent or mortgage unless we obtain clients.   The schemers take copious notes and laugh as we walk out of the door,  filled with false hope and visions of paid-off credit cards.

The business press occasionally takes this subject on and presents an article that provides strategies that Freelancers might use to protect ourselves,  but I have little faith in the proposed remedies.  Reading them,  I’ve seen almost nothing that I would expect to work in real-time.  The prospective client asks questions about a project.  How do you avoid providing answers and demonstrating your ability to do the job? Giving a wonderful sales presentation only means there will be better quality information to steal from you.  Recommendations to find out who will be in the meeting and searching for common ground that will allow you to connect on a personal level with at least one person on the team  (oh, you grow roses, too?)  means nothing to someone whose agenda is to exploit.  Knowing when to try to close the deal means nothing because there is nothing to close,  except the door in your face.

There are few effective solutions for this troubling occurrence.  To date,  the best I’ve read was contributed by Grant Cardone,  sales guru and best-selling author of Sell to Survive  (2008)  and Sell or Be Sold  (2012): “I would like to work with you on this issue and I have a few ideas on how we might proceed,  but at this time I don’t know your company well enough to give you answers that either of us could trust to be correct”.

The beauty of this response is that it’s true and it can most likely stop the ” client ” from continuing to press for free consulting advice.  Brazen types may threaten to snatch the  “opportunity”  away from you but if that does occur,  take it as a clear sign that there never was an intention to hire you or anyone else.  Graciously and immediately end the meeting.  If by some miracle the client is real,  your statement will be respected and taken as a sign of integrity.  Your candor might even win you the contract.

Good luck and Happy Easter,

Kim

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Pictures Spice Your Presentations

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When it comes to Power Point presentations,  a good picture really is worth 1,000 words.  The importance of the images that accompany your presentation is not to be underestimated.  Images help tell your story by highlighting key concepts that complement your topic and helping to maintain audience attention.   Additionally,  a good structure is elemental to your presentation.  The architecture of the talk aids audience understanding and has the added benefit of leading you from point to point,  helping you remember what you want to say.

Construct your talk

Your presentation is shaped by what you must communicate and achieve.  You may be asked to inspire a group to support a particular cause and call to action.  When in a sales process,  your job is to persuade the prospective client of the value of your product or service.  Storytelling is appropriate in both scenarios.  Your story will help the audience connect to you and the goal you aim to achieve and portray you as authentic and trustworthy.  The story will fit within your presentation and both will have a beginning,  middle and end and will be easy to follow and concise.

Motivational talks fit easily into a Past – Present – Future  structure,  which is ideal for allowing the speaker to first provide the history of the situation,  then describe the current state of affairs and finally culminate with a rally of enthusiasm and support for the call to action that will bring about the preferred future  (outcome).  A Compare – Contrast  structure works well for sales presentations,  as it allows the speaker to communicate the advantages of the products or services as compared to competitors’.   A Cause – Effect  structure is useful in either scenario,  as it allows the speaker to describe the underlying logic of his/her position.

Speak,  do not read

Text-heavy slides cause audience members to instinctively read the text and tune out the speaker,  a detriment to the talk.  Master presenter Steve Jobs was famous for the one word slide.  It is a daring act.  I tried it once,  found it effective and I will do it again.  In order to make the tactic work,  rehearse the talk and rehearse some more,  until you know your material cold.  Too much text on the slides,  even bullet points,  draws attention away from you,  the star of the show.   Yet a few well-chosen words serve to focus audience attention and draw them into the subject.  Think large font and few words.Success Starts Here Freeway Style Desert Landscape

Quality images complement your talk

Images used in your presentation should complement your topic and be of good quality.  There are websites that have thousands of free images available for upload.  The free images used here are from MorgueFile  http://morguefile.com.  Attractive images help to maintain audience interest and illustrate relevant themes.

 

 

Charts and graphs

Charts,  graphs and diagrams are an excellent way to illustrate statistical and financial data and demonstrate trends that occur over a period of time.   A colorful bar graph,  pie chart or flow chart helps the audience grasp information that may otherwise seem too complex.  A visual interpretation can be very helpful and,  as noted above,  help to maintain audience interest as it facilitates comprehension.

8-03-2Start with an eye-opener

Grab audience attention when you open the presentation with an unexpected fact that speaks to their priorities,  values or concerns and advances your purpose.  The speaker must quickly lead the audience to focus on the topic because time is finite.   You may want to open your talk with a one-word slide  (it worked for me).  Build the rest of your presentation to answer and address that fact,  following your chosen structure.

People attending a Congress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End with an ask

At the conclusion of your presentation,  give a brief summary to tie together your main points and help the audience remember what is important.   Next,  make your call to action and ask the audience to do something.  In a motivational talk,  you may ask the audience to support a certain strategy or vote in a certain way.   In a sales presentation,  you will ask the prospective client to hire you or purchase your product or service and to do so now,  rather than later.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThanks for reading,

Kim

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12 Sample Customer Survey Questions

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In numerous posts over the years,  I’ve recommended that you conduct customer service surveys to guide your decision-making as you refresh your brand,  update your business model,  promote client retention,  stimulate referrals or initiate any other changes in your business practices.  Customer surveys can unearth all sorts of interesting and actionable data.  A dozen well-written questions can  give revealing insights into what drives the need for your services,  what persuades decision-makers to choose you instead of a competitor and customer expectations that may not be immediately apparent.  Surveys help you learn how your operation stacks up against the competition and can identify business strengths and weaknesses.

To give you inspiration,  I hereby provide a few sample questions.  Send your customer survey along with the final invoice of a project.  Include it on your website,  Facebook, Google + or LinkedIn page.  Announce it on your Twitter feed.

  1. What service did (the company) provide for you?
  2. What factors made you decide to hire (the company) for this project?
  3. Do you feel that your project contact/manager acted in your best interests and your organization’s?
  4. How closely did (the company) adhere to the agreed-upon project timeline?
  5. Do you feel that your project contact/manager responded to your requests for information and other inquiries in a timely fashion?
  6. Considering the value of this project to your organization,  how do you feel about the amount paid as compared to the value received?
  7. If you feel that you received poor value,  please describe the problem (s).  How do you feel about the process of providing resolution?
  8. Would you be willing to invite (the company) to work with you on another project?
  9. Are there additional services that you wish (the company) would provide?
  10. How often do you typically hire outside project-specific workers?
  11. Based on the experience of working with (the company) would you be willing to recommend to a friend or colleague?
  12. Do you have any suggestions for improving the services provided,  or related administrative matters?

Thank you for your feedback. Your honest opinions are sincerely appreciated.

A big part of growing a successful business is through referrals and repeat business.  Clients only return to you or recommend your services when they are extremely satisfied with your performance and have a high degree of confidence in your operation.  Your clients possess a wealth of information that may not only give you the opportunity to bring solutions to their problems and increase your revenues as a result,  but may also give you ideas about how you might attract new business.  The only way to access this information is to ask your clients and listen to their answers.

Thanks for reading,

Kim