Tricks of the Trade Show

While trade shows can be leveraged as important venues for lead generation, product launches and one-on-one interaction with customers, prospects and the media, trade show ROI is not always obvious.

With the winter/spring trade show season upon us, consider these tips on critical aspects of successful trade show planning and execution as you detail and implement your trade event strategy to maximize bottom line impact:

Choose the right trade show. Is your company attending certain trade shows because “we always have”? Do not always assume the biggest or best attended show is the one to participate in. Rather, choose the venue best aligned with your product or service and which will draw the greatest number of targeted prospects for you.

Why are you attending? Have clear show attendance goals and develop tactics supporting your trade show objectives. There are many possible reasons why a company may choose to participate in a trade show including:

·        Generating sales and leads from attendees in your target audience(s)

·        Launching a new product or announcing an industry innovation

·        Seeking strategic alliances with other vendors

·        Performing competitive intelligence

Trade show budget tips. Trade shows can require a significant investment, but savvy businesses leverage a number of strategies to minimize costs:

·        Take advantage of discounted dates for ordering booth materials. For some shows this is almost one-half the cost compared to ordering on the “regular” deadline.

·        Rent items for your booth, such as furniture, instead of purchasing them. Furniture can be heavy, increasing the overall cost of shipping.

·        Ship to the show warehouse instead of direct to the show site, which adds
special and absolutely unnecessary material and handling costs from the show services company.

Don’t forget the trade media. Major trade shows draw a large pool of media representatives from industry publications, providing the opportunity to build face-to-face media relationships that can result in editorial coverage. Obtain a list of media attending from the show organizer and contact them about scheduling appointments with editorial representatives at the show.

Make them an offer. Obtain a list of registered attendees and send a pre-show invitation to your booth. Offer a relevant giveaway premium at your booth, but predicate the receipt of it upon first viewing a demo or filling out a lead form.

Make an important announcement. If you have important news to release or a new product/service to launch, a tradeshow is a high-visibility venue to break the news, offering your company a stronger angle for attracting the attention of attendees and the media.

Train exhibit booth staff. To maximize your tradeshow presence, every employee working the booth should have a clear understanding of key sales and marketing messages, and the goals for event attendance.

Turn leads into sales. Offer to send marketing materials to an interested prospect’s office to lighten his/her load of materials carried around at the show or the airport. As a practical matter, confirming their receipt once the prospect is back in the office gives you a legitimate reason to follow up, and follow up and follow up. Otherwise, all the work at the show is a wash. One call doesn’t cut it. Be persistent!

Jeff Barnhart

President & CEO

jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com

The Complex World of Healthcare Marketing

There are many different companies in the healthcare marketplace: pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, medical practices, device manufacturers, dental practices, mental health facilities and radiology companies among others—each with its own unique set of messages and goals. Knowing how to market these various companies is a challenge and an experienced marketing partner is needed to successfully navigate the market. What can CMA do for your healthcare company?

First, it is important to note that healthcare marketing is very complex and not “one size fits all.” It is important to help each company find the right mix to reach their target audience. CMA measures these efforts so as to leverage each firm’s unique products or services with a strategic eye for market research and other essential preliminary steps that will help healthcare companies secure more customers and grow a positive reputation.

Here are some other key ways CMA can help healthcare clients achieve marketing goals:

Define your market.

Pinpoint your core market through audits and market research.

Develop a strategic plan.

Create a plan that incorporates the vision and goals of your business or practice, and how to achieve them. CMA’s Marketecture^TM process has helped create a strategic blueprint for many healthcare companies over our 24 year history.

Create a budget.

Lay out what you want to accomplish and create a budget that best optimizes your dollars.

Implement your plan.

Roll out a program that is unique and specific to your company’s goals.

Manage your program.

CMA account executives revisit your plan frequently to help keep it on track.

With stiff competition in all fields of medicine, it is important to promote your brand in such a way to capitalize on your strengths and communicate your expertise to your markets in as many ways as possible. This is an ongoing challenge and one that requires a certain amount of sophistication and market savvy. Many companies have entire in-house staffs that handle all their marketing and communications needs while others seek outside help. 

CMA has developed specialized marketing expertise and industry knowledge over the years to implement strategic branding and marketing programs for clients ranging from healthcare manufacturing to healthcare providers and service businesses. When you are thinking of healthcare marketing, think of CMA. Give us a call to see what our strategic marketing team can do for you.

Jeffrey Barnhart

President and CEO

jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com

Media Planning Demystified

So, you’ve decided you want to advertise but still want to maximize your budget to get the most exposure for your dollar. Media planning, especially across several different types of media, can seem intimidating to those not familiar with the process. Our account managers shed some light on the often complex and time-consuming world of media planning and offered these four tips.

Know Your Target Audience - Before you start planning, it’s extremely important to narrow down who you would like to reach and any goals you would like to achieve through your media placements. Once you have your audience and objectives in mind, it’s much easier to select placement times, media and frequency.

Budget Your Planning Time and Media Investment - It’s easy to underestimate the cost of ad placements and the time it takes to schedule them when you are new to media planning. Be sure to start planning your schedule well in advance to really research the appropriate channels, especially when dealing with TV. Some may be more expensive than you expected, so give yourself the time to evaluate all opportunities to maximize your budget.

Relationships are Key - Building relationships with the vendors of each medium can mean the difference between a successful media plan and a misuse of your budget. Working with an agency who has already built these strong relationships can guarantee you will be privy to more in-depth opportunities for your advertisements. Teaming with an agency that understands, and can even help you establish goals, means they will source the best possible placements customized for you.

Measure the Results - Determining if your media planning has paid off is paramount. Don’t forget to ask new clients how they heard about your company. This can be done through a survey, or more informally if you prefer. Also, you can determine if any adjustments should be made. Measuring direct ROI can be difficult unless there is a specific call to action related to the ad campaign. General advertising builds brand awareness and is a long term marketing strategy.

If you’re ready to take the advertising challenge, give us a call. Our account managers will optimize your time and money to raise awareness among the right target audiences.

Erin Higgins
Director of Marketing Services
ehiggins@cmasolutions.com

Revisiting Your Brand

As we approach the end of 2010, it is important for business owners to revisit their company’s brand identity. Does your brand still represent your company’s mission and goals? Does it continue to effectively showcase your company’s products and services? Does it appeal to your target audience? Once you’ve determined how your brand measures up, it is important to evaluate whether your company’s marketing pieces reflect this direction. Consider these tips for evaluating your brand.

Strategy. When revisiting your brand, it is important to take the time to meet with the decision makers in your company to evaluate your company’s strategic direction and if it still holds true. Through CMA’s Marketecture™ process, we take clients through a strategic planning session to determine an appropriate direction for branding and marketing their company.

Logo. As your logo is an important element to your company’s brand identity, make sure to evaluate whether it continues to standout in the minds of current and prospective clients. Does your logo format, color and design represent your company and speak to your target audience? You ultimately want to ensure your brand is identifiable throughout your targeted market.

Sales brochure. Your company sales brochure is consistently utilized by your team during the sales process. Make sure you determine whether it effectively showcases your company and its products and services, as this is a main tool in helping to bring in new business. Also, evaluate whether the information in your brochure clearly explains to your target audience why they should select your company’s products and services to fulfill their needs.

Need help re-establishing your brand? Give us a call today.

Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com

Marketing Must Haves

Regardless of size or even budget, there are key marketing items that every business, big or small, needs. Below are the basic marketing items that can help build your company’s brand.

The Essentials

Strategy. Throwing marketing against the wall to see what sticks wastes both time and money. The rest of the marketing essentials fall into place once you have a strategy set.



Logo. A professional logo for print and online usage as well as black and white executions are the building blocks of your company’s brand identity.



Website. When prospective clients are looking for a product or service, their first step is usually Google. A well-designed and easy to navigate website can be developed on any budget.



E-blast template. More communication is done via e-mail than ever before. Make sure your company is not left behind with the typewriter and design a template that incorporates your logo and branding.



Business cards. An old school favorite that still has impact, this is truly an essential marketing item for in-person networking that shouldn’t be left to a fly-by-night printer/designer.



As with any list, there are going to be many of you who feel I missed an “obvious” essential (leave your thoughts in the comments section).

Marketing is a sum of its pieces and what is essential to one company might be an extra to another. CMA works with all of our clients to put together a customized marketing strategy for their unique needs.

Are you ready to put together your “essential” marketing pieces? Give us a call.

Jeffrey E. Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com

Keeping Things Fresh

It’s August and the summer is still in full swing, but that doesn’t mean you should stop thinking about ways to continuously keep your marketing efforts fresh. Now is the time to evaluate your company’s marketing vehicles, as they are the drivers for increasing your visibility in the marketplace and bringing in new customers. Consider looking at the following areas of your business, so that come September, you can put your best marketing foot forward.

Key messages. Examine your company’s key messages and make sure they continue to accurately represent your company’s brand and products and services. If this has changed, bring together an executive team to determine what has changed and how these need to be altered to help move the company forward. Many CMA clients have taken advantage of our strategic marketing process called Marketecture(TM), which helps companies focus on outside forces that may be affecting your customer base as well as determine key message alterations to communicate better.

An example of a recent logo update for Homasote, the 101 year old manufacturer of building and industrial packaging products made from 98 percent recycled materials, which was the result of a Marketecture session:



Website. Your company’s website is the main information source for your target audience and the destination for all things associated with your business. Do you have current case studies showcasing your products and services? Are there up-to-date testimonials from clients? Does your newsroom reflect all current media placements and press releases? Evaluate how current the information is on your website with an experienced marketing team that can help add any items that will enhance the visitor’s experience, including social media “widgets” and other new media tools.

An example of a website redesign that helped strengthen a client's brand with rotating images and a cleaner design:



Sales materials. Determine if your sales materials truly showcase your company’s products and services. These materials aid your team in the overall sales process and help your company stand out from the competition. A seasoned team like CMA can help you stay current and creative while still making sure your information and visual imagery accurately showcase your products and services’ capabilities.

An example of a suite of sales materials designed for ESI Lighting, a manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting technologies:



Need help keeping your company’s marketing efforts fresh? Send us an email today.

Erin Higgins
Director of Marketing Services
ehiggins@cmasolutions.com