If you participate in industry Expos – here’s a way of preventing it from being a waste of time

Many businesses like to participate in Expos which of course can be a great idea because it creates
opportunities to meet with people from specific industries.

It’s interesting to note that studies show most exhibitors fail to achieve anywhere near the sales levels that the opportunity of exhibiting provides because most exhibitors don’t have the techniques in place to capitalise on opportunities that the events provide.

Here’s where problems often lie:

• Many exhibitors simply hand out a brochure – and maybe obtain the names of a few people who are really hot to use their services – if their luck is in. The problem with simply handing out brochures is that within a few days most brochures will have been forgotten and only the occasional few will have been acted upon. This is an extremely poor sales process as the exhibitor has lost control and lost contact with potential customers.
• Some exhibitors rely on other means for following up – business card raffles or obtaining the list of visitors who attended the exhibition from the expo organiser. This of course simply gives the names of attendees to the event and does nothing to qualify people as being prospects for your services

Here’s a far better process…

Have a printed report at the Expo. When you’re chatting with people, tell them you produce a regular newsletter or report about new products, services and tips – and if it’s of interest, you would be delighted to put them on your mailing list.

If they’re good prospects they’ll be happy to receive it. If they say “no thanks” – you’ve just qualified them as non
prospects.

The great thing about this process is you now have their names and addresses for sending your newsletter so you can maintain your presence, you can differentiate yourself from your competitors, you can build the perception that you’re your industry sector’s authority and you can follow them up some time with a phone call to further ascertain their interest.

It’s a system that works brilliantly – try it some time. You’ll be surprised at how many good leads you will obtain and how by maintaining your presence through the Report – you’re not forgotten. The result, more people will become clients.

Contact us
For any enquiries you can speak to us from anywhere within Australia for the price of a local call on 1300 557 660 or via email: info@mediasupportservices.com.au

Here’s a way to improve your advertising performance

Has it ever occurred to you that the key part of a newspaper story is the headline. I’m sure you would agree it’s the part of the story that sucks you in. As a result of the headline you decide to read the story or not read it.

So if that’s the case why aren’t most advertisers aware of this?

The more you look you’ll find advertisements either with no headings or headings that mean absolutely nothing.

I was browsing through an edition of  West Australian Business News, a publication carrying businesss to business advertising and here’s a few of the advertisement headlines…

• The name of a restaurant followed by a statement ‘set menu at $45’. Wow that really grabs you as an absolute must doesn’t it?
• ‘Your local team just got better’. Self flattery gets you nowhere.
• ‘Our clients know we will deliver’
• ‘If you have to ask the price please turn the page’
• ‘We’ve changed the copier ‘Break-Fix’ paradigm’
• ‘A complete workforce management system’
• ‘Buy on advice not price’
• ‘Production – Solid polymetallic resource inventory and new mine now in production’

Do any of those have a hope of grabbing your attention so you would bother to read the content?

Thinking that West Australian Business News just happens to be unlucky with its selection of advertisers here’s some samples from the magazine ‘Australian Manufacturing Technology’.

• ‘More than just the right tool – the ultimate solution. That’s Beyond Blast. That’s Different Thinking’…What the heck?
• ‘Hands off’
• ST-30 Turning Centre’
• ‘Big Daishowa’
• ‘Pure Technology X class’
• ‘Mag Vise Magnetic Workholding’
• ‘Performance Unequalled’
• ‘Win with Widia’
• ‘Clearly the best PVC doors’
• ‘Purgon: Are you special?’
• 7 advertisement simply had their company names as the heading
  The sad fact is that everyone is copying what’s not working.

If you want an advertisement to work you have to get people to read it and the only way you’ll get people to read your advertisement is to adopt the same principals as the newspaper editor does – create a headline that grabs them.

I’m talking about a headline that says more than ‘Win with Widia’ or the name of the restaurant.

If the headline doesn’t say something like the following you’re simply wasting your money…

• ‘Miners!: Here’s how you can increase your production output’
• ‘Here’s how you can reduce your tax’
• ‘Introducing a new technique for…..’
• ‘Save on machine maintenance!’
• ‘Do you need to cut aluminium? This aerospace technology will improve your accuracy’

The purpose of a headline is to tempt people into reading what comes next.
A totally nebulous heading that says ‘Hands off’ or toots the company horn like ‘Clearly the best PVC doors’ simply rubs people up the wrong way and there’s no way they’ll read what follows.

Sean D’Souza (www.psychtactics.com) makes the point in an interesting report on headlines that question based headlines attract even greater interest.

For instance: ‘Would you like to save time and costs on machine maintenance?’.

Even better than a basic question based headline is a question based headline that directly relates to a problem that the reader has for instance the following:
‘Miners: Are production costs causing you concern? Here’s how to increase your output’.
Or :
‘Are you struggling to get ahead in your small business?’
‘Is your marketing strategy missing a vital link?’
‘Is you computer’s lack of speed driving you crazy?’

Contact us
For any enquiries you can speak to us from anywhere within Australia for the price of a local call on 1300 557 660 or via email: info@mediasupportservices.com.au

Thoughts on the gloom in the real estate industry

With senior writer, Peter Marinovich  In the last week of June a colleague told me that in the past week or two he’d  noticed SOLD stickers starting to appear on some long-standing FOR SALE signs in a couple of near-city southern suburbs. A day later Perth’s real estate industry was sent into a tizz by BIS Shrapnel’s prediction that median prices would climb by almost 20% over the three years to mid 2014. There was a degree of support for this view from RP Data research director Tim Lawless who was reported as saying that while he did not expect any growth over the next six months, from next year the timing would be right for price increases of up to 9 % per year. Three industry commentators disagreed finding BIS Shrapnel’s view to be too optimistic. However, what was most significant about this little spat was that for the first time in many months we saw dissention among real estate specialists on the future course of the market. Ask yourself, when last did you see an optimistic opinion on property in a newspaper anywhere in Australia? Are a few SOLD stickers or differences in the opinions of experts the first signs of a hesitant but significant change in the real estate market? Only time will tell. However, a few recent announcements have given some cause for hope. Recently the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported that the number of home loans approved in Australia in April rose 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted 47,347. This was well above market expectations. We all know by now that factors such as the health of the economy, continued population growth, the low jobless rate and further growth in the resources sector are having little effect on buyers determined to sit on their hands, pay off debt and save.

The problem is that one missing ingredient ,– confidence. The lack of confidence may well be due to the fact that there doesn’t seem to be much airing given to the bright notes. For example, are you aware of the following… Recently there was an important pointer to a possible improvement in consumer sentiment with ABS figures showing that consumer spending grew at its quickest pace in almost two years in April. Retail sales rose 1.1% to $20.74 billion in April, from $20.51bn billion in March.  The May release of the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment showed a small increase in the number of people who said the time was right to buy a dwelling. One area often cited as among the major reasons for the lack of interest in property is interest rates. Few will disagree that statements by the Reserve Bank on possible future interest rate rises do put a damper on confidence and the demand for property. However, it’s interesting that Westpac recently cut its fixed term interest rates. It may be a short term competitive strategy, but experience shows that banks don’t cut their fixed rates if they expect the RBA to push up its cash rate in the near future. Could that mean Westpac thinks  interest rates have peaked? E: journo1@mediasupportservices.com.au W: www.mediasupportservices.com.au

How not to waste money and time in creating a website

By David Cross
Senior Internet Consultant to Agora, Inc based in Baltimore, USA

So many companies waste a ridiculous amount of time, effort and money in having certain photographs included in their websites, not realising what is really important in website development.

In a major study, the Nielsen Norman Group ran a battery of website usability studies using eye-tracking technology.

While the subjects were engaged in various tasks, hidden infrared cameras monitored their eye movements to see what they looked at and where their gaze was fixed.

From the data, the researchers drew “heat maps” showing the parts of each Web page looked at the most.

In every case, statistically significant patterns emerged to reveal the following:

• Banners and ads are ignored. People almost never pay attention to anything that looks like an advertisement, whether or not it actually is one.
• Images are ignored. Images receive similar scant attention fixations, with the exception of faces and “cleavage and other ‘private’ body parts.”

• Text is universally “interesting.” What all the study participants fixated on was plain text or written content.

Website design does matter… but probably less than you think. And a lot less than your website designer thinks (or would like to bill you for).

Almost all the websites and e-mail promotions that took Agora Inc., to its first $100 million in online sales were about as un-designed as you could imagine.
They were mainly all text and headlines.

In fact, Agora’s websites looked – and still look very similar to the longer direct-mail sales letters you receive in the mail.

According to many Web designers, these sites shouldn’t work any more than a bumblebee should be able to fly (because it breaks every rule of aerodynamics). But fly it does.

It is important for Web site designers to realise that people are looking for information, facts, or advice. And they want a website that gets that job done.

Recognise the power of words. If you’re considering placing a photo or other graphic on your site, ask yourself whether, instead, there is a way to express what you’re trying to communicate with words.

Research and experience bears out that this will probably produce a better result.

What Does Matter?

Most website critiques focus on the look and feel of the site, its visual design and layout. But what matters primarily for most websites and to most people is text.
For this, there are a number of guidelines you can adopt:

• Make it easy to skim-read your web pages. Online, people skim-read and scan for information. So break up your Web content with logical headings and subheadings. Use bullet points to break up paragraphs, and use bold type to make important words stand out.
• The first two paragraphs on any Web page should state the most important information in an easy-to-grasp way. If a site visitor reads those two paragraphs, there’s a better chance they’ll continue reading the rest of the page.

• Begin with useful information. Beginning page titles, headings, subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words will help your site visitors as they skim-read. People generally notice the first words of any block of text more than the later words. Make it simple for people to find what they need.

Creating content-rich rather than image-heavy websites is still unfashionable. Many designers still treat the Web with graphical embellishments – which often end up being largely ignored.

The design should support the content rather than overwhelm it. When it comes to your website, content is king.

Search engines love it – and your site visitors will too.

NB: Please note this article is not suggesting real estate agency web sites should not run photographs of properties for sale. However, the points regarding design etc are worth considering.

 

“Laws of Marketing”: interesting relationship to the marketing of a real estate agency

By Howard Wilcockson

‘Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door’ is a saying in marketing that’s been around for eons. But is it true?

Could you in reality be a late arrival in a marketplace with a great product or service and proceed to take up the biggest share of the market?

I was browsing an oldie but goodie, marketing book, “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” by Al Ries and Jack Trout recently, when a couple of chapters hit me as being applicable to the marketing of real estate services.

The authors were saying that many people fall for the fallacy of believing the basic issue in marketing is to convince prospects that you have a better product or service.

How many times do you see real estate agency promotional material doing its darnedest to promote this?

“Award winning sales person” – “No 1 lister  in the universe” – “better communication systems” etc etc.

Ries and Trout claim the basic issue in marketing is to create a category you can be first in as it’s better to get into prospect’s minds as the first rather than to try convincing them you have a better product.

They say the leading brand in any category is almost always the first brand into the minds of prospects.  The first brand in people’s minds nearly always takes the major market share: for instance Hertz in rent a cars, IBM in main frame computers, Coca Cola in cola, Gillette in safety razors and so on.

Regardless of reality, people perceive the first product or service that enters their awareness as being superior.

A further point made is that if a competitor is well recognised as the leader in an industry then it can be better for the late comer to drill down within the industry and become the first in a sub category.

For instance an agency could become an area’s first specialist on beach side property or property over a certain price mark etc.

What is interesting is that you can have a whole lot of players in a locality battling for market share yet none properly enter people’s awareness to be positioned in their minds as the leader.

Relating the fact that people perceive the first service that properly enters their awareness as being superior, it’s probably no co-incidence that some 64% of home sellers are believed to list with the first agency that they have meaningful contact with.

In the case of real estate agents within a long established locality, it would be near impossible to be recognised as the first in the area because people are coming and going all the time. The task of course is to become the first to meaningfully gain entry into people’s awareness.

And that is exactly what Ries and Trout say.

They go on to say that being the first in the prospect’s mind is everything in marketing. Being first in the marketplace is important only to the extent that it allows you to get in the mind first.

They cite the example of Remington Rand being first with mainframe computers but thanks to a massive marketing effort, IBM got into people’s minds first and consequently won the battle.

And this is where Property Market Reports can be so useful.

A frequently produced publication with articles covering what people are interested in which of course is how  their property values are moving and the demand for property in the area – can gain awareness, differentiate the agency from its competition and demonstrate that it is the authority on the area.

Contact us
For any enquiries you can speak to us from anywhere within Australia for the price of a local call on 1300 557 660 or via email: howard@mediasupportservices.com.au or vist our website: www.mediasupportservices.com.au

The vital statistics of 2011! Are you aware of them?

Here’s some information about the year 2011 you’ll be fascinated to know.

As you’re no doubt aware 2011, is the start of a new decade, but how aware are you of the fact that 2011 is a mathematically loaded year?

No doubt you noticed the interesting figures of 1/1/11 in January, and you’ll be looking forward to 11/11/11.

Of course you were excited at the moment of 10 seconds past 10 minutes past 10 o’clock on the 10th of October 2010 weren’t you? (10/10/10/10/2010).

But even more interesting, for mathematicians – did you know that 2011 is also the first prime number year since the year 2003?

The definition of a prime number (in case you were snoozing during maths class) is a number that can be divided evenly only by 1 or itself.

 

The number 2011, it turns out, is the sum of 11 consecutive prime numbers: 2011 = 157 + 163 + 167 + 173 + 179 + 181 + 191 + 193 + 197 + 199 + 211.

That’s exciting news if you’re into prime numbers or have a fetish for 11.

If you’re not, you’re the victim of an exercise we’ve been playing at – how to get people to read something they would usually ignore.

Would you have read this article if the headline had been: ’2011 – a number for maths buffs?

The importance of headlines.

It’s one of the most ignored features in advertising – take a look at your next newspaper or magazine and see how most of the ads stack up. Many will lack the most important part of an advertisement.

When an agency is up to its ‘a’ in chasing sellers and buyers there’s very little time left for serious marketing…

 The consequence of being forever in ‘sales mode’ is that most agents become locked into the process of chasing sales rather than stepping back from the fray, putting a marketing hat on and thinking about what they can put in place that over time can make their selling process easier.

 

There are some agencies that have achieved this with considerable success.

They’re positioned in the minds of the home owners within their agency’s draw area as being the experts on the area – the authority – with the result they take the lion’s share of the listings, leaving just a few listings for their competitors to scrabble over.

Real Estate is remarkably easy for them.

People call them to have an appraisal.

Their opinion on the property price is considered as having greater credibility.

They frequently charge more for their service and have remarkably little haggling over their selling fees.

How do they do it?

It’s all related to what marketers term as ‘positioning’.

Some people call it ‘branding’ which is somewhat of a misnomer in relation to real estate because the process is more akin to what in long winded marketing terminology is called: ta da!….

 

‘The Progressive Ascension

of Community Awareness’!

 

What is this?

How does it apply to real estate?

Ideally a marketing program should achieve the following:

• Develop an awareness of the agency within the community
• Differentiate the agency from its competitors
• Build a perception in people’s minds that the agency is the area expert (positioning)
• Build a preference in people’s minds that if they were to sell they’d prefer to use the services of your agency – and refer others to you.
• Win their listing when they do decide to sell.

The big challenge is how to achieve this…

One of the interesting aspects of most real estate agencies is their lack of prominence in their community

One of the strange anomalies in most communities is that despite real estate agencies having a vital role through handling the most important transactions that people make in their entire lives, a real estate agent’s social standing is not anywhere near where it should be.

Stock brokers who also sell an asset – but a less important one in the lives of most people, are by contrast regarded as ‘elite professionals’.

It is interesting to consider that if most real estate agents were to shut shop it would be regarded by most in the community as of little consequence, yet if the local newsagent closed shop, it would be close to a tragedy!

The key reason for real estate agencies seeming to be relatively inconsequential is that most real estate agents only figure in people’s lives when they arrive in the area and years later when they’re ready to quit the area and sell their home. In effect they’re out of sight – out of mind.

 

What would it be like:

• If your agency had a level of prominence so all home owners in the area were aware of you?
• If they regarded you as being a significant part of their lives and of the community?
• If they regarded you as being different to other agents in the area?
• If they regarded you as being the expert – the authority on local property matters?
• If they appreciated you for your contribution?

 

It is possible for a real estate agency to have a greater level of significance – IF it links its promotions to the key thing that most people are most sensitive to after the health and well being of themselves and their family.

 

It’s their personal wealth!

 

The key to gaining prominence and stature that a real estate agency should have is to become associated in people’s minds with their personal wealth.

The way to becoming associated in people’s minds with their personal wealth is to become the source of information about their most important asset – their home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That means providing people with a steady stream of information about how their:

• Local property values are moving
• What the demand is like for local property
• Whether there’s anything arising that’s likely to influence local property values
• Examples of how other people have fared when they’ve sold their property or invested locally.

The route to providing this information is through a regular Property Market Report.

The interesting aspect about Property Market Reports is that when they’re created correctly, they’re one of the few forms of real estate marketing that people actually welcome!

You’re no longer sending junk mail!

A properly designed and written

 

Property Market Report not only creates and maintains awareness of your agency – keeping you uppermost in the minds of local residents, but it can enhance the professional status in which residents perceive you.

They’re one of the few forms of marketing that can actually enhance your image – in effect ‘positioning’ – or building a perception in people’s minds that your agency is the expert on the area.

 

 

Interesting to note:

According to detail marketing research a well created Property Market Report can achieve a far higher level of readership and response than almost any other form of media – when they’re created correctly.

When produced correctly, Property Market Reports have a distinct advantage over other means of promotion because they do not have the automatic inbuilt resistance to them that many examples of advertising and other promotional material have.

A study by International marketing consultant, PDI Global found… 81% of printed newsletters are read by more than one person. On average, each publication gets passed along to at least one other person, greatly leveraging its reach. They found that the actual cost per contact works out to be less than advertising, direct mail, expos or sales calls.

And most importantly: According to studies 64% of people who sell their homes, list with the first agent they have a meaningful conversation with. If your Property Market Report simply has the effect of putting you among the first agents to be called your chances of increasing your market share of business increases dramatically.

Media Support Services specialises in creating Property Market Reports for real estate agencies.

We provide professional writing and design services for either print or electronic format.

For printed newsletters we organise the printing, using our bulk print purchasing power to ensure excellent prices.

The service is personalised – we interview you – write the text and create a publication exclusively for you.

This service is only provided to one agency in a locality.

A choice of types of Property Market Reports:

A 4 page A4 four colour publication with all pages written specifically for you

A 4 page A4 four colour publication which has the outer pages written specifically for you while the inner pages have generic real estate articles

A 2 page A4 four colour publication or 4 page A5 four colour publication – all pages written specifically for you.

You have a guarantee!

In producing Property Market Reports we provide a guarantee that you’ll be proud to distribute your publication through your locality.

If you were not, we would cease production: and not proceed any further until changes were made that would have you pleased to have it as a representation of your agency – or we would cease production altogether and you wouldn’t be asked to pay a penny for any of the work done to that date.

In all honesty we can not promise you an instant response to your Property Market Report.

We can however, guarantee that over time if it is distributed properly -

it will have an impact in building the image of your agency,

it will have an impact in differentiating you from other agencies

it will have an impact in building a perception of your expertise.

And with that, must come more business!

 

 

The true facts about the use of Newsletters in Real Estate Agency Marketing

If ever there was a subject that seems to be attracting a great deal of confusion it is the use of newsletters in the marketing of real estate agencies.

As a result of the internet, and the fact that many prominent internet marketers are using newsletters as a marketing tool, newsletters have become increasingly fashionable. The problem is that many people and organisations are approaching them in a half cocked fashion not understanding what their purpose is and what type of content they should be carrying for them to work.

The purpose of this Report is to explain:

•  The pros and cons of electronic and printed newsletters and how they have evolved into having different roles within agency marketing
• What’s required to make a newsletter a worthwhile expenditure
• What should never go into a newsletter yet what so many ‘PR / writing services’ fall into the trap of writing about
•  The type of content that’s absolutely essential if you’re going to make a newsletter work

This Report goes beyond the comparing of two forms of newsletters and explains why in the promotion of a real estate agency you should strive to elevate your position in the marketplace.

If you can increase what we call your ‘credibility ranking’ you can become THE go-to agency in your niche market.

This way you not only get MORE prospective sellers coming to you… but you will also find you’re able to get far
more referrals.

Download the PDF version of this report

The traditional role of a newsletter

The use of newsletters has been in vogue for at least
100 years, initially being linked to catalogues.

They came into far greater prominence in the 1990s with the increased awareness of the Lifetime Value potential of a customer and accordingly, the development of Customer Relationship Management.

This emanated from the realisation that there were actually three different levels of people in relationship to a business:

•  The List of Strangers: People who the business had never met but because of demographics, socio-graphics or some other factor these people could be described as potential prospects for the
  business
•  The List of Prospects: People who had indicated an interest in becoming a customer – possibly by obtaining a quote, making an enquiry, asking for an appraisal.
•  The List of Customers: People who had already bought and might purchase again.

It was realised that the latter group in particular, could become the best customers of all if they were treated a little differently and the business showed a continuing interest in them. Furthermore, they are used as a means of maintaining contact with prospects – maintaining their interest up to the point of purchase.

Research conducted by Saatchi & Saatchi, one the world’s leading advertising and marketing agencies in the 1990s found that in most industry sectors, in the region of 74% of purchasers indicated in surveys they were pleased with the service of a business and would repurchase there again.

Yet, some years later when the opportunity to repurchase arose, just 11% actually do repurchase from the initial supplier. The reason for the low repurchasing was that the customers believed the business had lost interest in them.

After a lot of experimentation, the researchers found that the simplest method of maintaining contact with past customers and maintaining presence of mind was via a newsletter.

A newsletter not only helped to maintain presence but it was found that when created correctly the business could become a client’s trusted advisor.

In the world of motor vehicle dealerships this simple tool was found to:

• increase the amount of service work used by customers;
• increase after sales purchasing;
• increase customer referrals
• increase repeat purchasing
• shorten the distance between the initial purchase and repeat purchase

The reasons for these results would take too long to go into now but the outcome made newsletters immensely popular for a wide range of businesses, particularly those where the purchase
size was sufficient to warrant the cost of publishing.

The initial concept, was that the publications should contain interesting information, tips and advice with just a small amount of sales offerings.

As the medium became increasingly fashionable many became little more than sales brochures and there were many disappointments. Just as there are many examples of advertising failing to perform because it is poorly executed, so many businesses that leapt into the use of newsletters had similar results because they failed to understand the type of content a newsletter has to carry to be effective.

However, the businesses that paid attention to content continued to have great success with them – and do so to this day.

Some long established businesses have been using them for many years and can claim a circulation for their newsletters of tens of thousands.

Download the PDF version of this report

Survey proves interest level

As a matter of interest a survey conducted in 2006 by world renowned market researchers, Standard & Poors found of 4,000 people receiving a printed newsletter written to specifically to target the interests of investors:

• 92% of recipients read at least some issues of the newsletters received;
  83% read most or some articles with
  84% of these finding the information useful;
• A whopping 72% saved articles for future use; 74% visited the provider’s website;
• 60% passed on an article to a friend and 40% called for more information.

As a marketing person you need to think about these figures. Compared to other forms of marketing media they can
achieve huge levels of reader interest!

The only way to get attention and
make yourself stand out is to take
on the role of a trusted advisor

But where do newsletters fit within the realms of a Real Estate agency?

Newsletters were initially used by real estate agents to keep in touch with past customers and property management clients.

A number of franchise companies introduced printed versions, distributed to all homes within an agency’s draw area with the purpose of raising the awareness of the agency.

Unfortunately 90% of them were totally generic publications and very often they were written by a writer employed by the franchisor who had very little or in most cases absolutely no experience in the world of selling real estate. The consequence of this was that in some instances they were ridiculous, in some cases an embarrassment and in most cases simply irrelevant to the homeowner with the result they were simply bin fodder.

In our opinion there’s five prime reasons for having a newsletter and unless they’re produced with some level of strategy in mind, you’re better off saving your time and money by not having one. Producing something not thought out, is in our opinion worse than not having one.

The prime reasons for having a newsletter:

1.  To help improve the listing conversion rate of the sales team
2.  To increase the percentage (market share) of listings the agency achieves within the agency’s draw area by building the agency’s credibility rating to being regarded as the ‘area expert’
3. To educate prospective sellersso there’s fewer problems with unrealistic pricing and less vulnerability to competitor’s overpricing
4. To maintain contact with prospective buyers
5. To maintain contact/ educate property management clients

Your Competition
If you don’t position yourself as an expert,
there are plenty of other people who are
more than willing to.

Continue reading…

Expos and Field Days: Here’s how to enhance your chances of better results

Field Days and Exhibitions – they’re expensive and they require a fair degree of organising to set up and have the stand manned for a few days.

 Many businesses find them difficult to justify in terms of return on investment but they can be an excellent means of promoting a business, when done well.

One of the most useful tools to helping Expo and Field Day participation work is a newsletter.  Here’s how….

There’s usually several reasons for participating in an Expo or Field Day:

1. For maintaining contact with clients

Expos and Field Days are great for renewing contact with existing clients.

It’s best not to take a chance that your clients will be there but to tell them you’re attending, what you’ll be displaying at your stand and invite them to call because you’d enjoy catching up with them.

If you’re participating simply to maintain contact, a newsletter is ideal for encouraging your clients to visit you. It’s better than a letter or invitation because it gives you far more space to tell people what you’ll have at your stand and show pictures of new products to build interest.

2. For obtaining leads of potential new clients to create sales

If you’re hoping to obtain leads for future sales, the best avenue to gold is to obtain the names of the people who show an interest in your products/service so they can be followed up after the event.

Essentially you can  

• Merely hand out a brochure and hope that the people who took one will be sufficiently pro-active to follow you up and a sale will happen that way.

Or   

• you can create a way whereby people will be happy to give you their names.

Most exhibitors merely hand out a brochure – and maybe obtain the names of 1 or 2 people really hot to buy – if their luck is in. The reality is that within a few weeks most brochures will have been forgotten and most exhibitors will be left wondering if the dollar results can really justify the effort and cost of participation.

Studies show that most exhibitors fail to achieve anywhere near the sales levels that the opportunity of exhibiting provides – mainly because they have very few mechanisms in place to build the relationship with the prospect. In fact, because of this, exhibitions and field days are rated as one of the most expensive means of making contact.

And this is where a newsletter comes in.

A newsletter is an excellent way of being pro-active in collecting qualified leads at an Expo:

With a newsletter it’s so simple to qualify people and get their names for follow–up. All you do with people who show interest in your products/services, is to offer to keep them updated with your newsletter. 

You give them a copy of your newsletter, explaining it’s part of your service to keep people informed on developments, new releases, and that it gives regular tips and advice on how to maximise efficiencies. 

You then ask them if they’d like to be on your mailing list to receive it.

You would be amazed at how many people are happy to sign up to be kept informed. Because it’s free and non-threatening there’s rarely reluctance to give details.

And if the person says “no thanks – I wouldn’t be interested” – great – you’ve just qualified them as a ‘non-prospect’. You don’t want to waste time and money in communicating with ‘non-prospects’.

It’s so simple. You will be amazed at what an excellent tool a newsletter can be to ensuring your expo participation is far more profitable!

What next?

Now that your newsletter has helped you to get the names of people who are interested enough in your product or service to be on your mailing list you can keep in touch with them via further newsletters – and maybe you could simply follow up with a phone call to see if they’re ready to buy.

Some prospects will be ready to buy – most will need a longer nurturing time. – and here’s something you might find interesting…

Research has found:

• Most enquirers don’t buy immediately but they do buy eventually - 
  if contact is maintained.
• An in-depth study of 40,000 inquiries generated by a variety of different promotional activities found 6 months after inquiring; just 23% of the subjects had bought the product or service, from the promoter or a competitor. An additional 67% indicated they still intended to buy, and 47% bought in a year or more.

The research demonstrates just how important it is to have ongoing contact.

One of the world’s great marketing legends, Jay Abraham says that in today’s marketing there’s a far greater need for ‘relationship marketing’ to show you’re keen to help and advise people.

He says: “Despite people having greater choice in today’s markets they’re actually feeling less secure, less trusting, less independent, more bombarded,more wary of being ripped-off and more hesitant about making decisions for themselves and this means… They want to be looked after – almost nurtured without being sold to. 

And… The more you get into the heads of your target audience through giving them what they need, the easier it becomes to get their business”. 

And that again is the role of  your newsletter!

By providing useful, interesting information on your products and services – developed in the right manner – you can not only increase your visibility after the Expo with your prospects but educate them further, build goodwill and encourage them to make contact with you.

A survey by Standard & Poors of 4,000 people receiving newsletters written to specifically target the interests of a particular demographic found the following:

• 92% of recipients read at least some issues of the newsletters received;
• 83% read most or some articles with 84% of these finding the information useful;
• A whopping 72% saved articles for future use; 74% visited the provider’s website;
• 60% passed on an article to a friend and 40% called for more information.

As a marketing person you need to think about these figures.  Compared to other forms of marketing media newsletters achieve huge levels of reader interest!

They can be the key to making your Expo or Field Day participation far more profitable.

Contact us
For any enquiries you can speak to us from anywhere within Australia for the price of a local call on 1300 557 660 or via email: info@mediasupportservices.com.au

25 Key Benefits using Customer Relationship Newsletters

25 Key Benefits that your business will gain when you use Customer Relationship Newsletters in your marketing mix…

1. Newsletters are the ideal media for a business operator wanting to enhance business value: To shore up its good-will value a business needs to cement relationships with customers, minimise cost of sale in a period prior to being sold and demonstrate the strength of its customer loyalties.

2. Newsletters are the most effective, most attractive way of getting a message to current and prospective clients because they can achieve higher levels of ‘reach’ and ‘target penetration’ without dollar wastage through audience spill-over into other market sectors.

3. Newsletters can be used to provide additional information about your business, your products and your services that existing clients may not be aware of.

4. Newsletters can be made to be relevant and timely to particular client needs, reminding your clients that you are aware and concerned for their interests.

5. They’re a dignified, subtle way to promote your business with a remarkable level of hidden power.

6. They present a professional, winning image to current and potential clients.

7. They can ‘position’ you and your company as the experts on the subject – because you’re the one recognised as the source of information.

8. A newsletter can be the one tool that ‘differentiates’ you from the opposition. This can be particularly useful where  people regard you and your competitors as being much the same – eg real estate, financial advisors and many other service providers.

9. The tips and advice given in your newsletter displays your willingness to serve the client.

10. You can reward and give recognition to clients by featuring stories about them.

11. Your newsletter displays your permanence, reliability and consistency.

12. You can maintain ‘piece of mind’ without shouting at your customers through ‘raucous advertising’.

13. You can give your clients a feeling of exclusivity and status. “We receive a special newsletter – offering advice, tips, special offers, previews to new model releases or sales from our service provider. Does yours do the same?”

14. They’re a great way to introduce new staff, services and products.

15. They’re not canned and impersonal like junk mail.

16. They can educate both your employees and your clients in a non-threatening way.

17. They can be a welcome hand-out at meetings and seminars

18.  You can demonstrate expertise within a company by featuring an employee’s skills and special qualifications.

19. You can engender a surprising level of good-will and a feeling of  ’recipricocity’ by giving people useful, interesting information.

20. You can use case studies to illustrate the use of your  products/services. This provides prospective clients with a demonstration, a story and a testimonial all in one.

21. You can conduct competitions – give aways –  test trial-offers to a particular group without making them general knowledge.

22. You can separate your information dissemination to particular market segments  – eg by simply sending newsletters with different front pages to different market sectors.

23. You can enhance your chances of gaining add-on sales by discussing additional products or services that offer particular advantages.

24.  Your newsletter can engender a feeling of friendship between you  and your clients so enhancing customer loyalty.

25. Your newsletter will show your customers that you care for them –  you recognise them and you value them. These are the aspects  that customers want from their service providers and rarely receive.

Turn ‘expenditure’ into ‘investment’

Most business operators tend to forget that in attaining customers they’ve invested a serious amount of dollars in getting them.

They seriously waste this expenditure if they fail to appreciate that customers have a lifetime value and they’re left to slip away.

If your customers have the potential for buying from you again, then they should be treated as potential ‘lifetime customers‘….and though you may not retain every one, you enhance your chances of getting their repeat business through maintaining contact with a well crafted customer relationship newsletter.

Research conducted by international marketing experts Saatchi & Saatchi and Dartnell & Co found that customers want to be cared for – they want to belong.

“Customers actually crave relationships. They want to be recognised, appreciated and they want to be loyal!”

So why don’t you let them?

Contact us
For any enquiries you can speak to us from anywhere within Australia for the price of a local call on 1300 557 660 or via email: info@mediasupportservices.com.au or vist our website: www.mediasupportservices.com.au