Don’t Let Your Marketing Take a Vacation!

To many companies, putting the brakes on marketing over the summer is the standard operating procedure.  At CMA, we believe this is one of those rules that is meant to be broken.

While it might be true that many clients or prospects will be taking some time off over the summer months, very few companies can tune out from Memorial Day through Labor Day. As your competition is sitting by the pool, consider these strategies for making the most out of the summer months.

Your marketing plan is 12 months not nine.  When you craft your marketing plan, keep in mind the different times of year as well as peak times for your specific industry. Overall, your plan should be a year-round marketing program. There might be peaks and valleys, but you need to stay fairly consistent to get the ROI you are looking for out of your marketing.

Make the summer slowdown work for you.  A lot of businesses experience a bit of a lull during the summer.  This lull can be your chance to break through with your key prospects with well-designed email marketing and/or direct mail campaigns.  You might find that “too busy prospect” has a bit more time to take your call or review your latest brochure during the quiet summer months.

Take advantage of your competition being asleep at the wheel.   With less clutter in the inboxes of your target audience, your message can have greater impact.  Rather than being one of many, enjoy the chance to stand out and be heard.

Remember September is just around the corner.   Any kid will tell you that summer vacation goes by too quick.  Make sure you don’t get too distracted by the summer fun and forget to keep your marketing program moving forward for the fall.  If you get too far behind, you’ll get stuck worrying about whether you should wait to ramp up your marketing until after the holidays!

Looking for cost effective ways to keep your marketing program moving forward this summer? Give me a call.

Erin Higgins

Director of Marketing Services

ehiggins@cmasolutions.com

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

CMA Named Best in Show at 2011 ASTRA Awards

Left to Right: Director of Marketing Services and ASTRA Co-Chair, Erin Higgins; Vice President of Marketing, Christian Horn; PR Manager, Kaitlin Friedmann; President & CEO, Jeff Barnhart; Graphic Designer, Diane Webster; Vice President & Creative Director, Dave Sherwood.

CMA was honored with a total of 17 awards at last night’s ASTRA’s, the New Jersey Communications, Advertising and Marketing Association (NJ CAMA)’s prestigious awards program and ceremony, including Best in Show—the evening’s top honor. CMA Director of Marketing Services, Erin Higgins, co-chaired the successful event and CMA Creative Director, Dave Sherwood, created outstanding artwork to match the event’s theme “Get Discovered, You’re a Star!”

The jury of six judges awarded CMA the award for Best in Show for the company’s signature holiday card. Winning 9 gold awards, 6 silver, 1 bronze and the Best in Show, CMA was the top winner among all other entrants! The agency won awards in various categories including collateral material, web design, public relations and self-promotion. Some CMA client entries won multiple categories—three awards for client Windsor Dermatology’s marketing and PR entries, three for international accounting association JHI, and three for the electrical industry magazine, IMARK Now.

Some of CMA's award-winning work:

Online Marketing Trends in Manufacturing

According to a study by Forrester Research, over 90% of B2B buyers begin a search for any product on the Internet. In the B2B Content Marketing 2010: Manufacturing/Process Industry Report produced with Content Marketing Institute, 84 percent of B2B manufacturing marketers use content marketing. This includes 80% writing articles for the Web, 73% using social media and 48% using video. Imagine what business opportunities you are missing if you do not have an active presence on the Web. This is the new reality of the manufacturing sector. Gone are the days of establishing a website and hoping customers will find you.

Let’s explore ways your marketing partner can help you adapt to this fast paced and demanding media:

Has your market changed?

Even if it hasn’t, the way your customers make buying decisions has. They are looking for more sophistication, more market knowledge and more options, not to mention a good price. Manufacturers must cater to the new ways customers can be enticed into buying from you and not your competitor. Find out what your customers want by conducting an online survey. Determine what you need to turn online prospects into customers.

Developing an online marketing plan

There are a number of steps you need to take in order to formulate a marketing plan for your product or service on the Web: 1) Identify the social media platforms that your audience participates in. 2) Start feeding these markets with relevant content that highlight your unique products or services. 3) Target your potential clients directly through email. 4) Remember that ultimately, everything should drive traffic to your website.

Determine keywords

What are your customers likely to search for? This is not an exact science, but check out what other companies are using and hold a strategy session to come up with as many keywords as you can. Your marketing partner should have a good handle on just the right words to use to get your company the best SEO. You can also test out your words on Google, Bing and Yahoo platforms.

Standard marketing

Besides the Web, you need to continue standard media buys, tradeshow participation, public relations and targeted direct mail. These marketing efforts can still play a big part in your media plan because there is nothing stronger than a brand message.

Yes, the Web is taking more of your time, but it is worth the investment. Web design, SEO, social media, pay per click and video marketing are some of the best marketing tools today. Knowing how to capitalize on them will be the key to creating ROI moving forward.

Looking for a marketing partner with experience in the manufacturing business that can help create a targeted marketing plan for you? Email us today.

Jeffrey Barnhart

President and CEO

jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com

Put Twitter to Work for Your Business

You first opened a company Twitter account because everyone was doing it. You started to tweet because it was fun to try to get a full thought out in 140 characters or less. It probably didn’t take long before the honeymoon was over and tweeting became just one more thing on your to do list.

Before you let that Twitter account go cold, consider these tips for getting the most for your business out of this social media site.

Get Linked Up. Chances are if you are using or thinking of using Twitter, you probably already have a LinkedIn Group, Facebook Page, a blog or all of the above. Programs like TweetDeck integrate all of your social media sites allowing you to post content across multiple sites easily. Not only will this save time, but it will ensure your Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections are all receiving your posts.

Strike the Right Balance. Resist the urge to be overly promotional or "salesy." Your customers know that you are on Twitter to promote your business, but if you treat your account like a 24/7 infomercial, no one will be listening when you have something important to say. Start a conversation with your followers and give them a reason to listen.

Make Friends with the #. You’ve probably seen hashtags peppered through peoples’ tweets. Hashtags are a simple way to connect tweets about a specific topic. They make it easier for users to find tweets on a given subject. So why is this important to you? Twitter users often search hashtags for content from people they aren’t currently following. Using hashtags can be a great way to extend your reach and connect with your current audience in a new way.

Twitter can be a valuable way to communicate with your customers (and prospects) online. While it’s not a panacea, it can play a key role in an integrated branding and awareness campaign.

Still unsure how to get started? We can help!

Kaitlin Friedmann

PR Manager

kfriedmann@cmasolutions.com

CMA Displays its Many Talents to New Clients

CMA has begun launching marketing campaigns for three new clients: PIERS, Commercial Cleaning Corporation and KNF Neuberger.

For PIERS, a global trade intelligence organization, CMA is revamping its online presence through a custom-designed blog called Data in Motion, LinkedIn profile and Facebook page. CMA will additionally be conducting digital marketing for PIERS.

Commercial Cleaning Corporation, which offers maintenance services to both public and private sectors, turned to CMA update its brand including a the development of a comprehensive corporate brochure. After completion of this project, CMA plans to focus its efforts on the company’s website.

CMA is also working with KNF Neuberger, a manufacturer of diaphragm pumps for gases and liquids, supporting the company’s tradeshow sales follow up through digital and print communications.

Win with the One-Two Punch of Branding and Marketing

Branding and marketing are different but synergistic activities. 

Your brand is what prospects and customers say and think about your business. Marketing is what you say about your business, either in face-to-face settings or communicating through various media your target audiences deem credible and informative.

Driving brand and demand. You are in control of your brand and how your customers’ experience it through the products and services you deliver, the way you deliver them, the quality of customer interactions with your products and your employees as well as the value you add to those interactions.

Try it, you’ll like it. Customers are ultimately in control of your marketing success. Based on your ability to identify and communicate your company’s relevance to customers’ needs, challenges and aspirations, marketing drives awareness and trial of your company’s products or services. Successful marketing is about near-term customer action. Successful branding is about long-term customer reaction and retention. 

Marketing: the brand evangelist. To be successful marketing and branding must be symbiotic. For one thing, both need to be consistent. A successful brand results from marketing consistency. The customer comes to expect a brand will display the same qualities and benefits at each touchpoint with the company. As a brand’s evangelist, marketing serves as a constant reinforcement of brand consistency.

It begins with you. Marketing begins with the customer, branding begins at home. Busy as your company may be, introducing a new product or banging on the door of a new market segment is vital. Successful marketing references and supports the brand, while marketing’s more immediate task at hand basks in the brand’s stability.

ROI ASAP. If marketing ROI is about the quarterly profit battle, branding ROI is about the long-term marketing war. Marketing drives awareness, interest, desire and action while burnishing the brand’s ability to inspire customer loyalty, repeat sales and cross selling within a company’s product or service line.

Differentiation makes the difference. In today’s dynamic marketplace where true product/service differentiation is rare and price advantages are elusive, the synergy of branding and marketing is a primary means through which companies can build competitive differentiation by wielding meaningful, relevant and enduring relationships with their customers.

Jeffrey Barnhart

President and CEO

jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com