Marketing Matters Blog

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Category Archives: Advertising

Basics of Advertising in the Consumer Electronic Industry

At Marketing Matters, we believe it’s very important for a company to have a mix of different tactics within a communication strategy. No one tool can provide every solution. One very important segment of any company’s communication mix should be advertising. Admittedly, some advertising can seem very costly, but if you pick the right audience and give your message in the right way, it can show the effectiveness of your product/service and pay dividends in the long run. If you’re just considering advertising for the first time or simply want tips on how to do it better, I’ve provided a foundation to get you on your way.

Time and Financial Budgeting
As trite as it may sound, planning to plan is important. Even if you’re busy with other activities, it’s important to take time to plan your yearly communication strategy. Nearly all publications in the industry issue media kits as early as October. Start by taking time to assess what each medium is covering, as well as when. This will give you a great foundation for media planning, and can also be helpful in figuring out your public relations strategies.

There are many different tactics in financial budgeting. For example, a company can take a percentage of gross sales (maybe 5% for smaller companies). Some companies may just figure out what media they want to purchase and that becomes their budget. Another simple method companies use is to simply spend whatever is left once expenses are paid. Whatever method you choose, make sure that you’re spending enough money marketing your product. Many companies cut back marketing spending when times are tough; this is actually the opposite of what they should be doing.

Know Your Audience
If you’re just starting out, it’s obviously important to know whom exactly you’ll be targeting. Whether it’s performing formal market research in the form of surveys or informal market research in the form of conversations with your customers, most established companies already know who buys their products.

By pairing your target audiences with the right media channel you will begin to see real effects. Although most of the media in consumer and custom electronics industry offer the same news, features and editorial content, the demographics of their readership and how they communicate with them, sets them apart from each other.

Although very general, here is a short list of sample uses for media.

1)      Looking for leads, try sponsoring a webinar.

2)      If engaging with your target audience is important, try social media adverting.

3)      If building an email list is difficult and time consuming, consider renting one.

4)      If you want to show what sets you apart from your competitor, traditional advertising (like print) is a good idea.

When to Hire a Media Manager
Effectively planning and executing a media plan can take a lot of time and skill. You need to consider outside help if your company is lacking either. This is especially a problem now as many companies have downsized, putting a lot of strain on their employees as the company begins to grow again. If your staff is working at maximum capacity and you don’t have the resources to bring on additional employees, consider a freelancer or agency. Likewise, agencies combine the experience of multiple people, which can further ensure your success.

Whomever you choose, it’s important to have someone who is experienced and well-versed in the workings of your industry. Generally, someone who is highly skilled will work faster and better, and the more connections the media planner has, the better success your advertising will have. Additionally, those connections can sometimes lead to better advertising rates.

As mentioned, advertising is just one of the different tools you can use, and it can be very beneficial to create a synergy out of combining different components to your communications mix. Just visualize the impact of potential customers receiving a mailer, getting an email from you the following week, and opening his or her favorite publication and seeing an ad you placed and/or an article about you. That’s staying top of mind.

Kyle E. Glass is the Public Relations and Marketing Manager at Marketing Matters (http://www.marketingmatters.net), a communications and design firm specializing in technology, consumer and custom electronics, audio-video and related industries.

Generating Sales Leads in the Custom Installation Industry

By Kyle E. Glass

In this industry (as in most industries), it’s all about being profitable. One of the biggest parts of making money is finding the right person to sell it to. Generating sales leads is an on-going process, and at times can be a bit frustrating if you’re not marketing your business right.

Below I cover ideas that will generate sales leads if done correctly, and I’ve provided some tips to help you on your way. If you have enough customers and you don’t need any more, consider not reading this. Your time would be better spent playing with your children or reading up on how to build a better snowman. On the other hand, if you want more sales leads, read on.

Relationship Marketing
One of the most important things you can do is to keep up consistent communication with your clients and interested audiences. Although there are many ways to do this, one tactic I’m surprised I don’t see more often is E-newsletters. They are relatively inexpensive to produce, and if done well, you can build a base of clientele and potential customers that are interested in reading more about your offerings. The key to this is being informative and engaging.

If you don’t know where to start, begin with collecting your own information. Although it may take awhile to amass a list large enough to be beneficial, it will pay off in the long run. If you don’t want to wait, consider renting a mail list from some of the trade publications. Nearly all of them have a loyal following, and you can build your list significantly by asking folks to “opt in” to your E-newsletter. Offering the right premium with opting in will increase the response significantly.

Print Advertising
Print advertising is a very effective tool in keeping the brand of your company in front of your audiences. When done well, it can also be a very useful tool in collecting sales leads.

Focus on what the product or service does and how it can help. Specifically, put the benefits in the headline. Don’t use a lot of text, but make sure to point out what makes your product or service better than your competitors.
Finally, make sure there’s a call to action, and saying something like “You can save 25% off your first order by mentioning this ad” will increase your response rate dramatically and help the return on your advertising investment.

The Internet
Internet is so prevalent in our society that most of your potential customers will turn to the Internet before any other medium. Not only do you have to be there, but you have to be findable. This makes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and other Internet marketing strategies critically important.

There is simply no getting around the fact that social media is one of the most effective activities in generating sales leads. It is the best place to listen and interact with people who are specifically interested in your product. If you don’t have a social media campaign, start one immediately. It doesn’t take a lot of time or money to create, and not a lot of either to maintain.

My school of thought is that no one tool is right for every situation, but these will be the right tools for the lot of you, and using these tips as the foundation for a larger marketing plan can set you on the right path. Good luck out there, and keep us in mind if you ever need some help.

Kyle E. Glass is the Public Relations and Marketing Manager at Marketing Matters (http://www.marketingmatters.net), a communications and design firm specializing in technology, consumer and custom electronics, audio-video and related industries.

Tips on How to Launch a New Product

This is always an exciting time of year here at Marketing Matters. Our team is amping up for CEDIA Expo 2010, the industry’s largest custom electronics trade show. Catalogs, booth design, email blasts, promo goods, ads, shipping and receiving, press releases, etc.—you name it, we’re doing it. (Special props to Kyle Glass, our Public Relations/Marketing Manager a.k.a our Marketing Leatherman, for keeping A LOT of these projects on track).

One thing I’m pretty fired up about for this year’s show is new product launches from quite a few of our clients. If you are all familiar with the custom electronics industry, you know there are a ton of “me too” products out there, so I’m always jazzed whenever we get to help a client introduce something that’s never been seen or done—which is certainly the case for our clients this year.

But as I mentioned, there are a lot of folks making the same widget out and with all things equal, what makes some more successful than others. I would argue that it’s the way they launched their product. We see so many companies spend the time and resources to develop their new, revolutionary, innovative, state-of-the-art, ground-breaking, unique (did I get them all?) widget, and then just expect their customers to just run and snatch them up. After pouring their heart and soul into a project, these companies often feel their product is the best the industry has to offer—and it may be—but if not properly marketed, their customers will never see the benefit.

To help you successfully launch that widget, I’ve put together a few ideas as part of a coordinated marketing/communications strategy.

Website/Microsite

OK, so this isn’t really “marketing insight” here, but we all know the importance the web plays in influencing a customer’s buying decision—and if you don’t, then you probably shouldn’t be handling your companies marketing strategies. Make sure your new product has its own unique landing page on your company’s website (e.g. www.marketingmatters.net/awesomeproduct). Do your SEO research and figure out how your customers search for a product such as yours and incorporate that HEAVILY into your product’s page.

Advertise

A great strategy for building pre-launch buzz about your new widget is a well-coordinated teaser campaign. Develop a simple, yet intriguing, ad campaign to spark your customer’s curiosity. Be sure to communicate a launch date so folks know when its coming.

Remember that advertising isn’t a one-and-done tactic. After your initial launch, continue to push your ads (now, obviously, featuring your new widget).

Be sure to include the unique landing page for your new product on all of your ads. By driving everything back to that page, you’ll get a great understanding of 1) how your customer’s find you and 2) what drives them to purchase your product.

Public Relations

Arguably one of the most valuable and most cost-effective ways of getting the word out about your product is through public relations.

While many may argue that the press release is dead, there is still value in a well-written press release that describes your product and what it provides your customers. First of all, when posted to your website, it gives you yet another source of SEO, and we all love SEO.

For additional SEO bang, you can also post your press release to many of the free press release hosting sites or even utilize one of the wire services which will distribute your release to thousands of press outlets.

To get the best results from your public relations efforts, you need to do your research. Find out what media outlets your customers turn to for information and then find out which person at that outlet covers news about products such as yours. Then develop a custom “pitch” for your product, being sure to communicate why its important to readers/viewers/listeners of that specific outlet to know that your widget is now available. DO NOT, and I can’t stress that enough, send your pitch to everyone on the staff of said media outlet and DO NOT send a pitch that isn’t relevant to that outlet (i.e. if you designed a new loudspeaker, the folks at weonlycovertvs.com don’t care…at all). Want to get your company blacklisted from a media outlet? Ignore that last sentence.

Product Reviews

Following up the members of the press who have expressed interest in your widget, ask them if they would like to demo or review the product. Nothing will give your product better credibility better than a third-party endorsement from a trusted source. You may also want to consider offering a few of your customers products to review. I would recommend keeping your list of solicited reviews to a minimum. If you’ve got a great product, chances are you’ll get a great review. However, with more reviews comes more chances for someone to find something terribly wrong with your product.

Launching a new product is both an exciting and nerve-racking experience. You invested so much into the research and design your widget so you owe it to you and your company to follow through when it comes to marketing it properly.

If you need some tips or advice on a new product launch, please feel free to shoot me an email at scott@marketingmatters.net or find me on Twitter at @cscottmoody.