Effective Marketing Solutions Start with Better Questions

Can a few new customers provide a good ROI for your annual marketing budget? Do your marketing executions, whether they’re websites, advertisements, social media or trade show materials directly generate responses that lead to profitable sales? Here’s a better question: How do you develop communications that reveal value in your brand that people want to pay for?

For every reasonable question that can be asked, there’s a reasonable or correct way to answer it. Marketing is such a multidimensional business function that so often, companies miss out on entire market segments because nobody asked the right questions. How else could your products be useful or who else could benefit from your services? Where are the best places to reach your target audience? Is your brand or message present in those places? What about your email database and CRM…? Okay, enough questions for now but you get the idea!

The right kinds of questions get you thinking along specific lines of reasoning and creative problem solving. That’s why asking questions is good for your marketing strategy. Note here that we’re talking about the right kind of questions. We’ve all heard the saying, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question” and that’s probably true. However, there are such things as irrelevant or misdirected questions when it comes to your business growth.

Let’s look at what separates a good question from a not-so-good one. A misdirected marketing question will usually begin with an assumption and may sound something like this:

“When prospects actually meet with us they’re convinced and we can easily close them. We’re just not getting in front of enough people. How can we get our message out there so more prospects will meet with us?” This questions assumes that competition is weak and marketing messages can do the job of sales prospecting. Better prospecting habits by the sales team may be the real challenge. Training your salespeople in better prospecting and data collection could potentially yield much better results than a new ad campaign. 

In terms of how marketing can help in this scenario, the better question may be:

“How can our marketing and sales teams collaborate better so that a content marketing campaign will inform more prospects of what we can do for them?” The solution for this commonly expressed business issue often lies in better internal cooperation, data collection and strategy rather than simply “getting our message out there.”

One of the takeaways we’d like to leave you with is this. If you decide to work with a marketing consultant, pay close attention to the questions they ask you and welcome those questions. Be forthright and complete with you answers. The two of you may unlock the ideal solution to help grow your business. The truth is, it may or may not involve increasing your marketing budget. You’ll find the right answers only when you or someone else starts asking the right questions.

Got a question, call us at 603-505-8951 or contact us www.2difore.com! 

Boost your business in 2016 with a strategic marketing plan!

Strategic planning should be done on an occasional, not frequent basis. If you’re revising your marketing plan every month or quarter, your business probably isn’t moving in the right direction. A strategic plan is a high level guide for tactical executions that are implemented regularly.

Most companies try to set aside strategic planning time each year and a few of them actually get to it. A strategic marketing plan is an operational business resource that should be designed or reviewed annually by most companies.

The holidays are the ideal time to get your marketing plans together and be ready to have a great year in 2016. Even if you’re one who likes to take time off to enjoy everything the holidays have to offer, just be sure to get that strategic marketing plan ready to begin implementing by the middle of January so you’ll have the full year to see it through. And that right there is the key! “…to see it through.” Without a plan to keep your marketing executions scheduled and implemented, they just won’t happen, or you’ll be back to good old (in reality bad old) reactionary style ad hoc marketing.

What makes up a successful marketing plan?

Do you want to grow in 2016? By how much, and what’s your plan to achieve that goal? If you have a plan set in place that is budgeted for both money and management/staff time, you’ll likely be amazed at how much your business can grow over the course of a year!

For a marketing plan to work, it must reach your target market through multiple channels with consistent messages relevant to your consumers/clients. Enough research should be conducted to gain a thorough understanding of the target audience’s priorities as well as the competition’s strengths and weaknesses. Then a marketing plan can be composed to include:

• ·       SWOT Analysis/Market Research Findings
• ·       Mission, Vision & Values
• ·       Positioning
• ·       Advertising Strategy
• ·       Social Strategy
• ·       Sales Strategy
• ·       Budget Allocation
• ·       Creative Development
• ·       Media Planning
• ·       Marketing Calendars
• ·       Creative Executions
• ·       Training

Not every company will need to include every component listed above in its strategic marketing plan, but we do recommend most or all of them for companies that want to grow to the next level. Of .

course, every organization’s marketing plan will be structured differently to meet that company’s specific objectives. We are always happy to help guide you through the maze of so many options for promoting your products and services today. Feel free to contact 2DiFore Marketing Solutions for a free marketing consultation at 603-505-8951

Yes, we do know each other!

Why belonging to an association can be good for business-Dianne D. Beaton, CGA, CAPS

What’s more effective, a solicitation email from an unknown business or one from a fellow Trade Association member? Are you more likely to accept a cold call from a stranger or a call from someone with whom you already have a working or social relationship? The answer is obvious, but there are many good reasons to join trade associations aside from gaining new customers. They include relationships with industry leaders, education on leading trends and technologies, worthwhile volunteering opportunities, honing professional skills, networking and peer support.

The opportunities to join trade and business associations abound. However, many companies miss out on these opportunities by failing to join the right organizations that would help support their businesses. Some of the business owners we talk with are rightfully concerned about the commitment in time and money as well as the perceived pitfalls of being away from their business while doing association work. They can’t calculate the ROI or clearly envision the benefits of membership. Some who have been former trade association members say they didn’t get much out of it. When asked what they put into it, the answer is usually, “not much.” So what is association membership really all about?

Membership means you’re willing to make a commitment, specifically, commitment in an area of mutual interest to your business prospects. Furthermore, this commitment is best demonstrated by serving your association on committees, working at events and in administrative roles. Rolling up your sleeves with fellow members forms social and working bonds with people your business may be in a position to serve. Those bonds are fortified by the loyalty that stems from working relationships and they result in business referrals.

There are two major strategies to joining trade associations: 1) to support, promote and learn from your own industry, and 2) to connect with prospective customers in a vertical market that your business specializes in serving. This is often called an association membership whereby your firm isn’t really part of the industry other than as a provider of business services. It’s a good idea to execute both of these strategies simultaneously to maximize the benefits derived from working with fellow professionals in a mutually supportive way.

Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, recently published in their Small Business Center Blog, a list - 5 Ways That Joining a Trade Association Can Help You Boost Business. We excerpt and edit the five below:

1. Tap into knowledge. Odds are that someone, somewhere, in the industry has already discovered the solution to a vexing problem in your particular niche. Workshops, meet-and-greets, newsletters, blogs, and forums create opportunities to share those best practices and fresh ideas.

2. Enhance your reputation. Trade associations sort out bad apples through self-regulation, which bolsters the reputations of all their members. Professional organizations often award credentials and certifications, too, which can help to build consumer confidence in your products or services.

3. Make personal connections. Note that some small-business owners choose to join a group whose members are decision-makers in their target markets vs. their peers. For example, a social media professional may get ideas and best practices by participating in a marketing association but generate new business by hobnobbing with members of an automotive trade group.

4. Increase your purchasing power. Trade associations often arrange for members to receive discounts on certain products and services. These perks may include the option to enroll in group health insurance. For example, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts began enrolling its members in a group-purchasing cooperative for health insurance in February 2012. The program offers some 4,000 small businesses a half-dozen health plans that are far less expensive than what they’ve been paying on their own.

5. Gain political clout and expertise. Trade associations bring competitors together, turning one small voice into a persuasive, collective shout! This can be particularly helpful when independent businesses need to mobilize quickly, such as when facing proposed political initiatives that threaten the industry.

Similarly, Forbes offers a great piece on four benefits of association membership highlighted here:

·       Education: Educational topics can include trends, best practices, new techniques, etc. Some associations will even provide training programs and materials for employees.

·       Research: Many associations conduct market research and analysis on their specific industries. White papers and research reports can offer great insights and have helped me stay ahead of others.

·       Advocacy: When you become a member, you have an organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the needs of your industry. Having a dedicated team to lobby and advocate on your behalf is powerful.

·       Networking: You can learn from others in your industry and could even create alliances or partnerships. Associations also offer a bridge to communicate with competitors in a collaborative environment.

2DiFore Marketing Solutions has been a strong supporting “active” member of the National Association of Home Builders, Greater Manchester/Nashua Home Builders & Remodelers Association and the New Hampshire Home Builders Association for many years. We’ve also been active members of several chambers of commerce. The value of the relationships we’ve gained through our memberships is priceless. The quality and stories behind these relationships would take several more blog articles or even a book to adequately describe.

Dianne D. Beaton serves as the NAHB National Associate Chairman which is a Junior Office position within the NAHB Federation. She was recently recognized as the 2014 NAHB Associate Member of the Year at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas.

The Growing Influence of Boutique Agencies

What images or feelings come to mind when you hear the word “boutique?” Small yet elegant? Cozy and intimate? Specialty and unique? According to Dictionary.com, boutique is defined as:

1) A small shop or a small specialty department within a larger store, especially one that sells fashionable clothes and accessories or a special selection of other merchandise.

2) Any small, exclusive business offering customized service.

In marketing we hear a lot about “boutique agencies” these days. The staff is small and is composed of high caliber talent. A boutique agency will often call in freelance talent they would consider ideal for the work at hand. These talented small teams are often engaged to augment the work of a brand’s “agency of record” and in some cases they may actually replace the larger agency.

Boutique marketing shops endeavor to provide a concierge style of client experience while offering highly effective specialty services. Boutique agencies rarely have more than 5 or 10 full time staff and many only have 2 or 3. Whatever the size of the boutique, a large amount of value comes from the owner’s business network.

Typically, she has been an advertising and marketing professional in larger organizations over the years and has developed valuable contacts in creative as well as digital and broadcast production services. She understands business from both the client and agency sides of the table because she’s sat in both chairs.

According to the mainstream notion, a boutique agency usually specializes in the creative aspects of advertising. In the past they have tended to offer only those services that have to do with the creation of advertisements. Today, however, the term "boutique agency" #boutiqueagency is used in a few different ways. Business executives tend to view such agencies as small companies that represent a limited client list and offer highly personalized service. Most boutiques don’t focus on market research and studying demographics. Their work tends to be creative in nature and clients approach them when seeking specialized insights.

A boutique agency tends to keep its client list short, and it can be very selective about the types of jobs it accepts. Agency principals are respected as strategists as well as artists and creators. They strive to develop highly individualized print, web and video campaign concepts along with message creation and copywriting. Companies seeking to revitalize their brands and stand out creatively may choose to tap the talent pool of the boutique agency community.

This niche business model has grown from the necessity of “the new normal” – the economic conditions that have stifled growth and permanently eliminated many corporate jobs. Highly talented and skilled people have, in record numbers, discovered they can put their ambition and talent to work in a newly frugal marketplace that welcomes smallness, simplicity, low overhead, nimbleness, cost effectiveness and independence.

2DiFore Marketing Solutions fits the contemporary definition of boutique agency to a tee! If you want to take your best creative swing to grab your customers’ attention, go with the pro. It makes sound executive sense to work with a small, specialized team that understands every aspect of the course. The competition may be fierce but the club pro always knows the best approach to the green. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn!

Does your business need a blog?

We all know that having an internet presence is an important part of your marketing strategy. For many businesses this includes having a blog. But for some, they wonder – is a blog really going to help me reach my customers? Is it worth the effort?

The short answer to that is YES. The longer answer follows; 

Times have changed and as a company, you can now reach more people on the internet (using a smaller marketing budget) than ever before. One way to do this is with a blog BUT (and that “but” is in capital letters for a reason) you have to make sure that each and every blog post gives value to your customer.

Sometimes the value is in a hint or a trick that will save them time. It may be advice about using your or a competitor’s service – a sort of “be careful of” post. And sometimes, it might mean that you provide your clients with entertainment in the form of a joke or photo.

A blog is NOT about how you spent your day or what *you* think about anything (unless those musings add value.) Readers don’t want to hear about boring things. They want to have a reason to go to your site.

And much like the baseball field in the movie “Field of Dreams”, if you build a value-packed and entertaining blog, your customers will come – again and again.

So what does an effective blog look like?

• A good blog has a schedule. It’s published 2, 3 or even 5 times a week, you decide the schedule and then you stick to it.
• People are for the most part visual, make sure that your blog has graphics, pictures, and that each of your posts has a visual that fits with the writing.
• Let’s talk about time, no one has enough of it. An effective blog post is short – between 400 -600 words, if you go any longer than that, you run the risk of losing your audience.

A blog post, unlike traditional journalism, should have a voice. People want to know that a real person is writing the information, so feel free to add some of your own voice (style) to the posts. People read differently on the internet, they tend to scan vertically instead of reading horizontally, as they would in a book. Take advantage of this by using techniques like:

• ·        Shorter paragraphs
• ·        Shorter sentences
• ·        Bulleted lists
• ·        Bold text

See what I did there?

A blog post is not a newspaper article. Journalists are tough to write for newspapers by including the Who, What, When, Where, and How in the first paragraph. Blog posts are written to lead the reader to the most important idea which is usually located at the end.

Sometimes it’s a punch line, or a call-to-action, or even a “moral to the story.”

The point is to make your post be of ultimate value to your audience. Once they see that you are credible, reliable (in your schedule, format, and topics), and that you have sometime worthy to say, trust me, your audience will start coming out of that corn field that is the internet to start playing on your ball field.

Need help? Contact us at info@2difore.com and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Manta & Google+

Don't Forget Your Friends!!!

It’s easy when talking about a marketing campaign to think “big and sexy.” You want to get people’s attention and you definitely want to make a splash.

This is all well and good however; many companies make the mistake of forgetting about their existing customers when they design their marketing plans.  You know - the loyal guys who came back again and again to consistently buy your product or services.

It’s easy to take existing customers for granted. After all, they’re a captive audience, right?  They’re not going to go anywhere soon, or at least you hope so. But here’s the thing – your existing clientele is also a gold mine of feedback and goodwill that you can use when trying to attract future customers.

Your current loyal customers are the ones who will loudly speak your praises, if – given the chance.

And that’s where a lot of marketing plans go wrong. They don’t account for catering to (and let’s face it, if you want to cater to anyone, it’s to the people who are loyal to your brand) those who already support your brand. So how do you balance your marketing strategy so that you attract new clients, as well as support and acknowledge your existing clients?

Newsletters – I’m not talking about a boring newsletter that, for all intents and purposes, is just self-promotional verbiage.  I ‘m talking about a newsletter that gives your existing customers extra value. Do you have tips to share? A new way a product is being used? Let them know the inside information of your company, let them feel like insiders.

A forum where customers can communicate – sure you might get a few complaints but those complaints can then be quickly addressed. More likely, you’ll find customers who are banding together in solidarity over your product or services. You might even be able to use some of their comments as valuable testimonials in your other marketing. And of course, when two or more start singing the praises of a product, others are going to take notice.

Solicit input from your customers – everyone likes to know that they’ve been listened to. Send out surveys, create polls, and make it easy for your customer to contact you and send feedback. Once you’ve collected that information then do something with it. Make sure that your customers know you are hearing what it is they have to say, institute changes due to the comments, alter a policy, or acknowledge a success.

Reward your customers – if they’ve spoken highly about your product, thank your customers publically. If they’ve referred another customer to your business, hand out a reward. Offer special deals to those who have purchased from you in the past. People like to know that they are doing a good job and a gift or reward from a company they know and trust can make a huge impression.

Want to know more about 2DiFore Marketing Solutions...visit us at 2difore.com today!

Do it well or just don’t do it! 

The classic “make or buy decision” has its roots in manufacturing and is one of the most common of important business decisions companies make all the time. As manufacturing firms encounter new or expanded opportunities, the question often becomes how to fulfill the need profitably. Do we invest precious capital in new equipment to make additional products ourselves or do we partner with another manufacturer from whom we can buy those parts cheap and continue to sell finished products at a good profit? “Make or buy” applies to all kinds of business services in our daily management march. Marketing leads that procession.

A business owner can spend time doing all kinds of business functions to save labor and service costs. Before delivering any billable products to customers, he may be struggling through the learning curves of Wordpress CMS and Constant Contact email design templates. He may get overload shock from the fire hose delivery of industry chatter online, not understanding the point of it all.

So, Mr. Entrepreneur, what do you want to do with your day?  Work toward becoming the leader in your industry or teach yourself through trial and error how to be a great marketing communicator? We have another question to add perspective. Let’s say you rarely or never play golf. If you had to represent your company with a player in a high profile charity golf tournament, would you send a scratch golfer from your team or go for the glory yourself, risking the embarrassment of player disqualification?

The problem with Do-it-Yourself Marketing can be likened to this scenario: While you’re hacking divots all over the fairways of marketplace, your competition is hitting sweet spots and setting up the birdie putts of better products and fortified relationships. While you’re practicing marketing executions (probably poorly), your competitor is out playing golf with your customer. He’s telling the customer all about product upgrades and service efficiencies while his expertly managed marketing program is delivering new leads to his sales team. One of those new leads happens to be another long term customer of yours.

Whether it’s for legal services, taxation, HR staffing, training or marketing, doing it yourself means going it alone and that can be dangerous. Lacking the support of caring professionals with the proper training and tools to address your challenges can put you at a major disadvantage. On the other hand, having an savvy expert marketing consultant working on your behalf ensures that a consistent quality message is being communicated to the right audiences at the right times. This helps you focus on your core business and enables you to better meet the needs of your customers – the product/service needs as well as the need to maintain good relationships.

The reason most business owners ultimately call 2DiFore Marketing Solutions is because word of mouth referrals dry up for whatever reason. They need more qualified leads to come in. They often say “Once we sit down with the customer and have a conversation, we almost always win their business!”  So, that’s your job – to work with customers and keep winning new business. Our job as marketing consultants is to help convince those prospective customers they need to talk with you so you’ll get to have more of those winning conversations and keep growing.