Exhibitions - why bother?
I attended a conference on Monday this week in London and I have to say it was excellent. It was all about innovation in the UK technology industry and I learnt a lot about what this sector feels it needs to continue to thrive. Good marketing, strong partnerships, appropriate finance, effective employment and retention strategies and much more was discussed.
As with most conferences there was an exhibition area running in the networking rooms. I’m a big fan of exhibitions, they can be an effective part of any multilevel marketing mix, but so often they are poorly utilised. If you want top tips for how not to get results / value for money then please follow these guidelines:
1. sit at the back of your stand checking your email,
2. don’t approach and talk to people looking at your stand,
3. don’t collect contact details for following-up after the show,
4. leave your handouts at the office,
5. man the stand with people who clearly aren’t comfortable being there.
If you follow this guide, I guarantee your exhibition stand will be unsuccessful and a waste of your budget. Instead, you could invert all of these points and make a real impact.
What do you think? If you’re going to invest the thousands of pounds it takes to hold an exhibition stand, you might as well get value for money.
Tag:exhibitions multilevel marketing
comments
Open Source Marketing: What Is It And Why Do You Need It
Today’s consumer is nothing like they were twenty years ago. They are much more skeptical, wealthy, better informed and in control. Yet, the advertising industry at large has not changed and is still using tactics similar to those used twenty years ago. This is leaving a huge disconnect between what consumers want and what they are getting. In either case I am sure you are wondering what this has to do with open source marketing… Well let me tell you.
Open source as a movement is designed to allow the majority to design and mold whatever they are interacting with. From software to encyclopedias open source is taking the world by storm. And mainstream consumers are falling for it.
Open source marketing is therefore the process of allowing consumers to interact with the brand, marketing materials, product and service and change its direction. In the past it was war, bombarding the consumer and their senses with constant messages… it was about commanding the market. Now consumers go out of their way to use technology to shelter themselves from old school brand bombardment. Tivo would be a great example. In addition, they are relying more on each other and on communities of like minded people brought together by the internet to make purchase decisions – the rating and review system on amazon.com would be an excellent example.
The bottom line is businesses both small and large had better begin building an open source plan and it incorporate it into their marketing plan, otherwise they may face extinction. Face it, consumers are no longer happy to sit back and be fed a brand and its values. They want access to the brand source and an invitation to co-create. And no matter what size your business, this is possible. If you are Joe’s pizza it could be as simple as inviting in some of your best customers to name and design the new pizza of the month, if you are a B2B service provider it could be allowing them to give their input on your services and then molding the service to their advice, if you are a large multinational corporation it could involve creating an online blog to allow consumer to talk about your latest product and make suggestions which are incorporated into the next production run.
At very least, you had better start asking them what they want and take them seriously. Survey them and utilize the information you get to shape your marketing plan, message, product or service. You must create some type of feedback loop and begin listening to what your customers want because they are certainly willing to tell you. Further you had better put your ear to the ground and begin listening to rumors and whispers in the market, check out the latest blog postings on topics pertaining to your industry. It could be as simple as asking them to submit pictures to be used in the next advertising campaign.
So my advice would be that if you don’t know what open source marketing is you had better learn. Get ready… It’s coming. You had better be prepared and give consumers access to your marketing source code.
|
John Utz is President and Managing Partner of Second Melody, an integrated, full service marketing agency based out of NJ. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Utz |
comments
5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Business with Teleseminars
There are tens of thousands of ways to grow your business, right from hiring a marketing expert to running expensive advertisements in trade publications. But if you are in the early years of your business, more often than not, chances are that unlike the industrial conglomerates who have more than enough spare capital to invest, you may not have that extra cash under your belt to endow towards these interesting but pricey and costly strategies.
The good news is that there is a low-cost solution that can give you amazing returns on investment, in terms of more sales closed and ending up in better relationships with your clients. And this solution comes in the form of teleseminars. When you choose teleseminars to grow your business, you are able to tap into something that even the costliest of consultants can not deliver- a connection with your customers which is not only personal but also intimate.
So, exactly how can teleseminars be used by you to grow your business? Here are 5 easy and effortless ways to harness the power of this technology:
1. Deliver free information to your customers by holding regular, customer-only teleseminar events. If you do not want to speak yourself, then bring in a guest expert. These events will really add value to your services.
2. Hold a paid teleseminar event and charge your customers for attending. Here, of course it goes without saying that your paid events should deliver premium content.
3. Record your teleseminars and reap maximum benefits by using them to attract customers. Offer a recording of one of your free calls as an inducement to sign up for your email newsletter.
4. Put together a series of your paid teleseminars as a single package to sell it as a digitally downloadable product.
5. Finally, use teleseminars to actually sell your products and services. Invite your customers, tell them about your product as well as give them good and meaningful information. Then sell your product at the end of the call, using a time-limited offer to encourage action.
As you will soon find out once you start using them, teleseminars are a great way to exploit the power of technology to bring you into a much closer and warmer relationship with your customers and clients. When customers hear your voice, they feel that they know you and therefore can trust you. And understandably, when your customers know, like and trust you, they will come back to you to do business again and again and again. Once you experience the power of teleseminars you will wonder how on earth did you ever manage to do business without them. So forget about the expensive marketing solutions and grow your business using teleseminars- the latest in business conferencing
|
You can get a detailed overview on conference calling equipment and some characteristics to look for in a good conference call provider in this website http://www.conferencecallaudiovideo.info Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Arindam_Chattopadhyaya |
comments
-
Recent Conversations
-
- Joselyn: I’ve had a Blackberry for two years now and until reading this post didn’t think...
- what-is-a-blog?: I have a good read, thanks for the information and insights you have so provided...
- itot: i have an adsense ads on my blog.so far i received 3 payouts from them.
- Is there any point in Adsense?: Go to the author’s original blog: Is there any point in...
- JR @ Internet Marketing Strategies: I too find Adsense a lame activity, the money is pocket...
- Time Tracker: But seriously though…who DOESN’T hang up the minute they hear the...
- PMD: I strongly believe in keeping my blog up to date it not only keeps the search engines happy,...
- Riley: nice post; short but to the point. In SEO i agree that Content is the King. If content is...
-
Polls
Loading ...
-
Subscribe to this Blog
