Archive for Marketing Savvy
Tradeshow Marketing for the Entrepreneur
Posted by: | CommentsOver this past weekend I participated in a 2-day tradeshow event at our local expo center. It was a small event with about 100 vendors.
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll recall that I was very sick this past week. And Yes, I still went. I had already agreed to the space and I wasn’t about to lose the opportunity. As an entrepreneur, sometimes you have to do what you have to do: suck it up and smile.
Here’s me at the entrance to the show, with a smile on my face. 
Let’s start with this thought: What is one of the cornerstones of any business? Well, Customers, of course. How do we get customers? We prospect, we generate leads, and them we deliver information and value to those leads in exchange for (hopefully) making a sale. Pretty basic.
The trouble starts with how we generate those leads. There are all kinds of marketing tactics out there: yellow page ads, print and radio ads, direct mail, pay-per-click ads, etc. As marketers we can get pretty creative. I want to submit to you that there isn’t much better marketing than face to face marketing. We do this by participating in networking events and Chamber of Commerce meetings, etc.
I want to remind you not to forget about the Tradeshow or Community Fair, especially the smaller niche shows. If you’re a big company or have every worked for one, you may have been exposed to those gigantic industry trade shows where folks exhibit to end user prospects and the booths are elaborate and may even have booth babes and grand scale SWAG (Stuff-We-All-Get). That’s intimidating.
Therefore, a small company may not consider it an option. I want you to do the opposite and consider them. I started doing tradeshows back in the early ’90′s. I’ll never forget 1993 when from January – March we did one small event/tradeshow a weekend. Yes, that’s a lot of weekend time and we were tired but we collected hundreds of leads to prospect from, didn’t have to do any more marketing that year, and ended up making a ton of money while having happy customers.
This past weekend was a family/kid related event. Of the approximately 100 vendors there, most were independent small businesses or entrepreneurs with a niche in kid or family products. We had your network marketing company participants such as Tupperware, PartyLite and Scentsy. There was the purse maker, the photographer, the Edward Jones Rep, the Country Insurance Agent. All kinds of folks where there.
If the type of person you consider to be your client would go to the show, you should consider being there. One woman told me that she thought the $595/fee was a lot to pay. I disagree. If you have warm leads of people that you’ve spoken with face to face and you make anything over your $595 investment plus any costs, you’re ahead of the game. And if you don’t, then you’re out some time and I suggest you go back to sales school.
Think out of the box. If you’re an insurance agent, it still makes sense for you to go to the Home and Garden show. People who buy plants and new windows need insurance, right? Again, be creative.
I directly spoke and made a connection with a few hundred people this weekend and ended up with 75 solid leads to prospect from of folks who want to know more about my wares. It was definitely worth the personal contact and it makes a huge difference when following up. The upside: I’ll have those names in my database to market until they make a purchase or indicate they truly aren’t interested.
I’ll be happy to share with you some of my tips on a simple and cost effective booth set up and strategy.
Until then – happy prospecting.
P.S. I appreciate your feedback and look forward to your comments. For more information about my services or to find out how we can partner together call me at 503-780-3203 or email me at vanessa@vanessaduplessie.com.
Efficiency:The Value of Working With A Freelancer or Outside Agent
Posted by: | CommentsI am the type of person that multitasks well on most days and loves to jump into new projects. Sometimes I get my hands into too many things at once and find myself in the realm of overwhelm. Sound Familiar?
Lately, there have been a lot of little projects that have been part of the bigger picture of growing my businesses. While I know I am perfectly capable of handling the tasks at hand I have found that there are times when it pays to pay for help. After all, time is money!
I know I can tackle new things and I enjoy it. It might take me double the time to complete a project that I could hire someone for a reasonable fee to finish faster and probably better but I could do it.
For example, in the process of incorprating my new company I could just as easily have gone to the Secretary of State’s website, downloaded all of the forms, (after figuring out which ones I needed) completed them, submitted them, processed payments and additional documents, etc. You get the idea. Not a difficult project but definitely a time consuming one. After all, I’d want to make sure I completed everything properly because you don’t want to mess up on stuff like this. You with me still? So, here’s what I did.
I went and hired one of the online incorporation service companies that I talked about in a previous post. I spent my few hundred dollars and within about 20 minutes I was on my way. Within about 3 days, my new corporation was formed and I had spent 20 minutes instead of X hours. I saved myself hours of work and probably some headache by being willing to spend a little bit of money to have a professional take care of things. After all, they do this in their sleep, right?
Another example is an upcoming 30 second video for one of my websites. I have friends who do videos all the time for their business.
I have no doubt I could figure it out in short order, ok, a few hours at least, but I have the skills to get it done and am willing to try. While I was thinking about this, something popped onto my radar screen.
Sure enough, one of my contacts just launced a video service that helps entrepreneurs. For $30 he will create a 30 second video for Independent folks which can be displayed on websites or YouTube. Just what I needed! (BTW, He does have other offerings as well for longer pieces). I didn’t have to think long about my choice: Pay $30 or spend hours figuring things out? I decided to pay $30 and use my time for other tasks at hand.
As entrepreneurs our budget is often times linked to our own bank accounts – which can mean our ability to eat, pay rent, or put gas in the car. I am not advocating going out and blowing your rent money all in one full swoop on some new marketing thing or on hiring someone to do what you can and are willing to do. By all means, if it means food on the table or having someone else fill out forms for you – put food on the table and then spend your time filling out the forms after dinner.
What I’m talking about is looking around for opportunities that will help you grow your business through efficiency. You can budget for these items or sometimes take a leap when a good deal passes into your sphere. Like my video choice.
As the president, the accounting department, HR, and the janitor we run the risk of burning out before our success actually hits. Don’t give up. Keep your chin up and look for ways to leverage your time.
After all, there are only 24 hours in the day – and our bodies really do need sleep!
Carpe Diem!
When to Issue a Press Release for Your Business
Posted by: | CommentsI spent some time this week working with some folks on plans to issue a press release. At the same time I was getting ready to send out a release for one of my own businesses/projects. Over the years I have learned from some of the best and I currently have some great PR partners that I work with when I need help. That let me to think about this post and to start talking about Press Releases.
Aside from the details in the release of Who, What, Where, When, Why or what’s the Wow – timing of a release is important. (We can talk about structure in another post)
Many releases get sent out too early and don’t attract any attention. Others get sent out too late and receive the same effect because it is old news. If you have an event coming up, it is key to undertstand the news cycles in your area. For example, is the cutoff for Sunday’s business section Tuesday of that week? Make sure to send your release in plenty of time. And it helps to put a plan together of a release schedule if multiple press releases make sense for your business.
If timing isn’t as critical to a specific day, you have a little more leeway. Writing and distributing the press release is only one piece of the puzzle. Building relationships with your media and press folks is the other. The more they get to know who you are and understand your business, the more they will listen. If they get that you only send a release when something is important or pertinent they’ll pay more attention. Releases should be newsworthy. There’s nothing worse that news releases that are full of fluff.
Announcements can be made around the following topics:
1) A new partnership with another company
2) A new location or a move
3) New management taking over
4) A new product being launched
5) An owner takes a new community role
6) Any winnings of awards or competitions
You get the idea – something that you want the world to know that will draw a little or a lot of attention your way.
Never written a press release? There are a lot of free resources that can help with the process. Drop me a line and I’ll point you in the right direction.
