Advertising and Marketing Issues

Archive for June, 2011

The Power Of Asking Questions: 7 Strategies To Discovering What Your Prospects Really Need

Make no mistake you’re in a rough spot. Exhibiting is a competitive environment. You’re vying for attendee’s attention against companies that are larger betterfunded with newer exhibits and cooler ideas than you’ve got.

What this means is that anything you can do to differentiate yourself from the crowd is a “Very Good Thing.” Being different gives you an edge over the masses. On the other hand being different invariably costs money.

Or maybe not. You can differentiate yourself effectively by embracing the ‘power of questions.’ Having a team that can ask the right people the right questions at the right time is the single most cost effective thing you can do to guarantee fantastic show results.

Very few people know how to ask effective powerful questions and quite frankly those who do tend not to wind up working the show floor. Luckily asking great questions is a skill that can be taught to those who don’t already have it. If you’re like me and weren’t born with that great skill here are seven strategies your team can start using today to make themselves better exhibitors:

Strategy 1: Listen

The best questions begin in silence. Train your people to embrace the 80/20 rule they should be listening 80 of the time. Listening is more than not talking. It’s an opportunity to focus on the information the visitor is providing. The data they’re sharing is invaluable and helps frame more appropriate questions throughout the conversation. For sales people in particular listening is a real challenge. Yet if they conquer and embrace this skill they could easily boost their performance in flash!

Strategy 2: Determine Identities Quickly

One of the first questions your team should ask is some variation of “Who are you and what do you do?” Never ever rely on badges. People can easily swap them. This is probably the most commonly used competitive intelligence gathering strategy.

You want to determine identity quickly for a number of reasons but the primary one is this: Knowing who you’re talking to allows you to deliver information in the most appropriate fashion: a buyer for a powerful chain is a very different attendee than an intern at a friendly competitor!

Strategy 3: Ask Open Ended Questions

The first question you ask a booth visitor should never be one that they can answer with a simple “Yes” or “No.” This is an easy way to give them permission to end the conversation quickly. Known as “closed questions “Yes” or “No” answers don’t usually help you to understand your visitor’s needs. The better alternative is to focus on questions that invite attendees to tell you more about themselves their challenges or their particular situations their stories. These include questions such as:

What are you doing about X?
How do you handle X?
When do you need X?

Strategy 4: Follow Up With a Relevant Question

When a visitor spends time telling you their story about a particular situation or challenge your very next question must relate to what they’ve just told you. This then demonstrates that you’re actually listening and care about what they have to say. Failing to do this is likely to damage if not destroy any credibility you may have established throughout the conversation so far.

Since this is such a common mistake exhibitors make it’s well worth having your team practice this skill in preshow roleplaying exercises. Have them work at this until it’s automatic and starts to feels completely natural to them.

Strategy 5: Compliment Them

If you find yourself with a visitor who’s somewhat reluctant to talk about their situation try complimenting them. It’s a subtle yet powerful way to stroke their ego. A simple “I’d really like to know what you think about X” or “What’s your opinion on Y” will often get people talking especially those individuals who love to show off their knowledge. I’m sure you know the type! Remember that everyone likes to be valued and recognized.

Be careful with this. You always want to appear genuine without seeming to fawn over your visitors.

Strategy 6: Get Off Topic

Exhibiting is not just about making those immediate sales. There’s far more that goes on with your booth visitor. Building longlasting profitable relationships is key! To do this effectively you may need to take the conversation ‘offtopic.’ Don’t be afraid to use questions to do this. Ask questions that allow you to get to know the visitor better. This can be as simple as “Where are you from?” Look to visual cues clothing jewelry pin etc. anything that allows you to go further conversationally and further reinforce the relationship. It’s only when you start asking

Strategy 7: Go After Low Lying Fruit

Visitors often indicate often unconsciously what they want to talk about. If they mention a subject repeatedly or devote considerable time in one particular area that’s a pretty good clue to let you know that this topic is important to them. Yet many times either exhibitors don’t hear what’s being said because they’re tuned into their own mind or they might ‘shy away’ from a topic because it’s sensitive or something they just don’t know about. They might avoid the latter not to show their ignorance.

Speaking from experience that’s not a good solid plan of action. What’s it says to the visitor is that “you’re just not interested” in them or their situation. It takes courage to ‘grab the bull by the horns’ and frame questions directly around that topic inviting visitors to elaborate further.

For example “You seem to have concerns about our widget’s durability. Could you tell me what’s troubling you?” Addressing these concerns head on is the best way to build a prospect’s confidence in your products and services.

Asking questions is only half the battle. The other half of the equation concerns what you do with the answers they give you. If your team asks great questions listens to the answers and then responds with the standard boilerplate onesizefitsall answer you’ve accomplished nothing.

Instead answers must be customized on the spot responsive not only to the client’s needs but also to the tone and timing of the conversation.

Brief your people on the need to take things further than just the familiar and often boring sales pitch. Keeping the focus on relationship building and the lifetime value of the customer helps make this easier and takes a lot of pressure off of your team. It’s far easier to concentrate on having a meaningful valueladen exchange if your team knows this isn’t their only chance at bat. With any luck this is just the beginning. They’ll be asking your customers questions for years to come!

About the writer:  Written by Susan A. Friedmann CSP The Tradeshow Coach Lake Placid NY internationally recognized expert working with companies to increase their profitability at tradeshows. Author: “Riches in Niches: How to Make it BIG in a small Market” and “Meeting Event Planning for Dummies.” http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com

The Other Green Marketing

I recently attended a retail marketing conference to stimulate the idea process reconnect with peers and mingle with retail marketing executives. As in past years it was an interesting conference. Speakers shared experiences and featured thinking and ideas with staying power. There was also considerable time allocated to the hot topic of green marketing.

During my return flight home a surprising revelation popped into in my rejuvenated retail marketing mind: In an increasingly weakening economy there was no talk at all about the other green marketing that is the green in consumers pocketbooks.

A year ago it seemed that everyone was talking about upscale and branded merchandise being added to their offerings. Gasoline prices had yet to affect the upper middleclass customer. The looming credit crisis and housing bubble were masked behind consumer confidence reports.

There was sameness in the messaging of most of the major retailers. But business was good and efforts were directed more to the media area. Were you embracing new media or were you going to be left behind by clinging to the old model? Media was the message.

Now that things have changed dramatically the focus is back on the message. But what message?

Environmental or green issues are certainly timely and important to consumers but value the other green issue is arguably just as relevant to consumers in todays marketplace.

Perhaps you dont consider your brand to be a value brand. If so may we suggest that you revisit your mission statement? In our view every brand should view itself as a value brand with value initiatives and value messaging.

Mercedes is a luxury brand but it is also becomes a value brand with an attractive lease offer. Nordstroms is an upscale retailer that is also a value brand by virtue of exceptional customer service.

Try viewing your marketing communications plan as a balanced investment portfolio. Instead of stocks and bonds this portfolio is one of branding and value messages. The weighting between the two types of messages is adjusted based on market conditions. Current market conditions suggest a weighting that favors heavier value messaging in the mix.

Here are five considerations to keep in mind when crafting value initiatives:

1. A good value initiative is a heart and gut issue. Its less about price and more about empathy and relevance.

2. Your right brain is the right brain. Dont try to think like your customer rather feel like your customer.

3. Concentrate on the cure not the illness. You dont have to remind people how tough it is out there. They are well aware. Theyre living it.

4. Tone of messaging is critical. Be positive and inspirational. Dont save all the warm and emotional cues for your pure brand messaging.

5. Value initiatives are strategic not tactical shortterm fixes. They should be constructed with the same strategic mindset as pure branding initiatives.

Value initiatives that we developed for two of Americas most populist brands McDonalds and WalMart took separate paths. Both were highly successful:

The Happy Meal added value to the McDonalds experience for both parents and children. Instead of parents feeding the children from their meals kids got their own meal provided in an entertaining fun package. Not only did the Happy Meal add value to the dining experience but it added income to the average ticket.

WalMart is known for storewide everyday low prices built on a strong price/trust relationship with customers. During a bad patch in the economy WalMart further strengthened that position by permanently lowering or rolling back prices on hundreds of items. A happy smiley character positively symbolized the initiative that endured way beyond the economic downturn.

Strategic value initiatives unlike temporary sales events endure. And if they remain a permanent part of your overall marketing planning you will be better positioned to weather the inevitable cyclical nature of the economy.

McDonalds WalMart and other retailers who have taken a strategic approach to value and who view their marketing communications as a balanced brand/value portfolio are now reaping the benefits of their longrange thinking.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Rusty Scholtes is executive vice president and managing director of BernsteinRein. His extensive retail marketing and advertising experience includes leading the agencys WalMart account team for 20 years. He is recognized as a significant contributor to WalMarts success and growth from regional chain to the worlds largest retailer.
You may also find articles by Rusty at TalentZoo.com .

The Next Big Thing: Advanced Marketing Analytics

Companies struggle to find out what makes their customers “tick” while budget constraints make finding the best customers and prospects more difficult. Without a way to manage and utilize the collected customers information effectively companies are finding themselves prisoners of their data warehouses and databases since data in and of itself has no value. This is where the advanced marketing analytics turn data into action by targeting the right individual with the right offer or promotion with the right message and analytics has become an integral component of the marketing business.

The New Analytic Paradigm
The idea of developing a model for a campaign or program simply cant work in todays environment. To address this firms have developed few models which provide knowledge about customers likeness to purchase expected churn rate time frame and lifetime value. The mechanism of marketers used in distinguishing advanced information about customers behavior and using this knowledge in all marketing and sales activities is more important. The challenge of providing advanced analytics not only requires a new paradigm but a renewed focus on the infrastructure and platform requirements that can get the modeler out of the business of fixing data issues on the task at hand; creating accurate predictions of customer behavior.

The Application of this Advanced Knowledge
Marketer can better manage the entire marketing lifecycle from planning to measurement with advanced knowledge about customers. After new paradigm a proper platform must be put in place to handle the entire analytical modeling process. All analytical model development scoring accuracy checking performance verification and integration with marketer toolset need full support of campaign measurement adhoc and reporting platforms. the analytical capability and integration must be truly automated saving the modeler over 80 of the time in dealing with data integration and scoring issues and letting the advanced analytic resource focus on providing value by developing analytics that can help support and drive the business.

Best Practices with Advanced Marketing Analytics
Redistribution of contacts from one customer group/segment to another during early marketing planning process of marketing strategy is the most common best practice by using advanced analytics. By adjusting the marketing plans and strategies while early planning process for increase in return on marketing investment by more than 20 with a clear picture of expected results and during execution stage of each program marketers evaluated results against expected results provisioned by the advanced analytical platform and reallocate contacts while programs are in market based on the evaluation results.

By leveraging the advanced analytical platform marketers can now optimize offers on inbound channels like customer service and inbound sales and can provide straightforward recommendations to sales or service representative in call centre or at the retail service desk. Optimum use of advanced analytic platform can create lift of over 25 and can provide justification for the marketing platform with in 45 days. These recommendations are often two to three times more likely to be accepted by the customer as a result of the unique combination of the advanced analytic platform and the timing of the offer for customer initiated conversation.

About the writer:  Pluris maximizes the value of their customer’s direct marketing services expense through a combination of advanced analytical capabilities and an integrated marketing solution. Pluris provides clients with marketing consulting services marketing intelligence and strategy to effectively reallocate their marketing spend and disproportionally invest in customers based on both the current value and long term value of the customer. With Pluris clients can be assured that they are maximizing their marketing investment towards achieving their business strategy and results.