Friday, April 30, 2010

Advertising / Marketing / Channel Usage For 2010 / Part 2

Today we are going to look at two sides of the marketing equation; Acquisition & Retention. Each has special needs in the marketing equation and the attack you need to be using.

Acquisition still relies heavily on email and direct mail with Social Media joining in the party. With email marketing hitting 84.6% percent of respondents (I am wondering if this is email marketing or E-Blasts?) and direct mail a strong 2nd at 70.4%. As was the case of last year’s survey Direct Mail was the only non-online channel to crack the top 5, as Social Media (66.4&) beat out SEM (60.3%) and SEO coming in 5th with (59.8%). I am always surprised at the low marks telesales get with only 36.9% but I am a little prejudice about using this channel and view is as the cement that holds the other channels together but then, what do I know. As it stands markets engaged in new client acquisition will employ a very diverse plan of attack looking heavily at digital media which (might) stretch limited dollars out. The big question is (of course) will this blending of channels result in the ROI that they seek or will it just be a year of poor washed over spread too thin results?

2010 vs. 2009 Methods for Customer Acquisition

Advertising on Web Sites
2010 – 55.3%
2009 – 51.3%

Affiliate marketing
2010 – 38.1%
2009 – 33.6%

Direct Mail

2010 – 70.4%
2009 – 68.2%

DR Radio
2010 – 17.1%
2009 – 17.2%

DR Space Advertising

2010 – 33.3%
2009 – 33.8%

DR Television
2010 – 11.9%
2009 – 11.4%

E-Mail
2010 – 84.6%
2009 – 81.8%

Insert Media
2010 – 28.3%
2009 – 26.8%

Mobile Marketing
2010 – 24.0%
2009 – 10.3%

Search Engine Marketing
2010 – 60.3%
2009 – 49.2%

Search Engine Optimization
2010 – 59.8%
2009 – 49.5%

Social Media
2010 – 66.4%
2009 – 45.7%

Telemarketing (outbound)
2010 – 36.9%
2009 – 34.3%

Webcasts
2010 – 33.3%
2009 – 19.4%

For acquisition what are we here at Larson & Associates planning on using?
Telemarketing
Direct Mail
E-Mail
Social Media
Reverse Funnel with our bird dog program

There are long term plans on the book for DR Radio and Search Engine Marketing but those are all pending further study.

Retention needs a little different flow, using a little more email and direct mail with Social Media again popping in at 3rd place with SEM and SEO dropping down on this side of the isle. And telemarketing, well it is still good when you need to booster repeat sales.

2010 vs. 2009 Methods for Customer Acquisition

Advertising on Web Sites
2010 – 34.1%
2009 – 29.0%

Affiliate marketing
2010 – 26.8%
2009 – 18.7%

Direct Mail
2010 – 65.6%
2009 – 64.9%

DR Radio
2010 – 9.1%
2009 – 8.2%

DR Space Advertising
2010 – 19.7%
2009 – 17.7%

DR Television
2010 – 5.5%
2009 – 6.6%

E-Mail
2010 – 88.6%
2009 – 82.5%

Insert Media
2010 – 17.9%
2009 – 15.1%

Mobile Marketing
2010 – 18.9%
2009 – 9.1%

Search Engine Marketing
2010 – 37.4%
2009 – 28.8%

Search Engine Optimization
2010 – 34.3%
2009 – 21.5%

Social Media
2010 – 56.1%
2009 – 34.3%

Telemarketing (outbound)
2010 – 34.8%
2009 – 33.8%

Webcasts

2010 – 28.8%
2009 – 16.4%

For retention what are we here at Larson & Associates planning on using?
Telemarketing
Direct Mail
E-Mail
Social Media
Insert
Reverse Funnel with our bird dog program


* Target Marketing January 18th thru 27th, 396 respondents 42% B2B, 24% B2C, 34% Mixed


Larson Notes & Satire: So how does your plan compare with that of the “pros”? Or are you running by the seat of your pants not really knowing where you are going. If you are it is like the old saying “I’m making excellent time but hopelessly lost”. Then I am going to ask you the 1 million dollar question, “Is it a written plan?” Writing does not mean cast in stone but it does mean it is down there for you to read, review and if necessary make adjustments to.

Note: If you’re reading this blog on a Ning that is “closing” May 4th or after (Bad move on Nings part but it’s their system to do as they will) you can find our little blog @ http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com .

If you want to find out about our Bird Dog program call us at 847-991-0488 and put some money in your pocket or if you are a client actually reduce the cost of your service to the point of ZERO, NOTHING, ZILCHO.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Advertising / Marketing / Channel Usage For 2010

Considering this study was done at the end of last year, beginning of this year it will be interesting to see how the percentages all play out. This is the 4th year of this study done by Target Marketing. Happily 43.5% of marketers plan to keep budgets level with last year’s expenditures and 40% plan no decreases so that is the good news for people and companies like mine.

This year the study tracked 3 different vertical markets B2B, B2C and Mixed. Being in the B2B I am personally more interested in that segment of the study but will be posting different parts as the next few days go by.

So for starters Lets look at Overall Media Marketing Budget projected for 2010 vs. 2009

B2B
13% Decrease
23% Increase
55% Staying the same
9% Not sure

B2C
31% Decrease
22% Increase
42% Staying the same
5% Not sure

Mixed
30% Decrease
23% Increase
40% Staying the same
7% Not sure

This is the year of doing more with less so companies will be looking really hard at the ROI on each and every expenditure. Email tops the list (it is cheap to run a campaign) with 24%, followed by direct mail coming in at 20% and telemarketing taking 3rd place with 11%, with SEO coming in at 4th with. Again since telemarketing and direct mail comprised over 50% of Larson & Associates sales we are again pleased with the forecast.

Part 2 Channel Plans

Advertising on Web Sites
32.9% Increase
5.8% Decrease
37.1% Stay the same
24.2% Do not use

Affiliate Marketing
22.0% Increase
6.1% Decrease
34.5% Stay the same
24.2% Do not use

Direct Mail
31.8% Increase
19.9% Decrease
34.8% Stay the same
13.5% Do not use

DR Radio
4.3% Increase
4.5% Decrease
11.4% Stay the same
79.8% Do not use

E-Mail
68.4% Increase
3.3% Decrease
23.5% Stay the same
4.8% Do not use

Insert Media
10.9% Increase
5.1% Decrease
26.0% Stay the same
58.0% Do not use

Mobile Marketing
19.3% Increase
2.0% Decrease
13.1% Stay the same
65.6% Do not use

Search Engine Marketing

45.2% Increase
4.1% Decrease
30.8% Stay the same
19.9% Do not use

Search Engine Optimization
47.7% Increase
4.0% Decrease
31.1% Stay the same
17.2% Do not use

Telemarketing (outbound)
20.2% Increase
8.6% Decrease
22.5% Stay the same
48.7% Do not use

Webcasts
24.5% Increase
4.5% Decrease
20.5% Stay the same
50.5% Do not use

* Target Marketing January 18th thru 27th, 396 respondents 42% B2B, 24% B2C, 34% Mixed

To note here, the Big 3 of marketing email, direct mail and telemarketing (all of which Larson’s offers) are holding up in usage. Also to take note is that 3 media options have been removed and 2 other categories added those removed being catalogs, (included in direct mail), fax blasts, and podcasts. New this year are affiliate marketing and social media.

Larson Notes & Satire: So there you have the first part of this study of some 396 respondents. Now you can sit back and compare how your company stacks up in comparison and make any adjustments you might think make sense when comparing yourself to the professionals. There again a marketing plan is always a work in process and can and should be changed as the year and economic changes. If you cast your budget in stone you might get stonewalled.

I hope to add to this report tomorrow or at the latest Friday. To note is that Ning is planning on “closing” so of the places you might find our little blog on May 1st. (Bad move on their part but it’s their site to do as they will) so you might want to consider becoming a follower of our official blog located at http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com .

If you need help in any of these areas we can help you, for a fee of course and heck I’ll through in a FREE search engine submission just for the fun of it.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.

Friday, April 23, 2010

SEO/SES Revisited

In the old days, 10 years ago, we would put up a site, list out key works on the home page, pack in Meta tap key words and describing and then submit the site every 15-16 days. Those days and the revenue that they produced are gone. Did they work? Yes back then they did. But times have changed with things such as real time search, on-line pr & blogs and social media networks.

Keyword Use: We use to do all kinds of nasty things back in the 90’s and early 00’s. Things like using key words in every sentence of a home page, laying over clear type of nothing but key words that no one could see except the search spiders, those days and their tricks of the trade are dead as the Search Engines got more sophisticated and the algorithms matured over time. Heck now Google will actually penalize you for doing it. So what can you do instead? Try making your side and content for people not Search Engines, then you can go and use your keywords in areas of your web pages where they belong, like your Header, sub heads, tag lines etc and if these words and ideas are so important list them higher up on your page.

Blog: This is my or one of my favorite, like you could not have guessed. Many marketers still use this tool to drop in links as their main link strategy. Again Google introduced a no-follow link tag to tell its spiders to ignore a line and or devalue the lines in the comments. So how can you combat this? Rather than spamming your links produce a blog of value. Write something that people want to read. And with any luck you can have links from other people heading back to your page. If you can achieve these kind of news source links rather than self imposed linking, the search engine gods will value you, and your blog.

Search Engine Submission: Go on and do a search on all the companies still offering this service. (Putting up my hand I do, I do, I do). If you want to buy it will sell it, but why would you? Those days with the advent of Web 2.0 and twitter, Facebook and Network marketing have changed all that. Google and its ability to not only discover and then index new content is getting so advanced that SES is gone the way of the dinosaur. If you want to get out there and seen make links on the web. It was not so easy back in 1999 but now? Heck, twitter, or any other Social Media site will work, granted some more than others but they all work. I mention Twitter because twitter is literally crawled though by the search engines with the advent of real time search.

MetaTag Optimization: Again back in 1999 meta-tags were essential to getting your page listed and listed high. Heck, some people and companies actually went and put in competitors names in their meta-tag words to get listed in their competitions searches. Google is saying they don’t pay any attention to meta-tag key words. Ok so try using tags in your posts and pages to push up the usability and search ability of your page.

Link Exchanges: Here is was another very popular method to get ranked higher that we used in 1999. We even made web rings to get a serious of companies with a synergy or possibility of working together to link there and with reciprocal links to push up their web sites. The problem is was that we pushed link exchanges to intentionally influence the SE rankings which again Google did, does not like and now they penalize you for doing it. So what can you now do? Some sites offer testimonial links from valued customers and suppliers. Posting in on other peoples blogs forums and groups is another key way to work out this problem

Larson Notes & Satire: The Search Engine Industry like any other business is always changing. You need to be changing with it as do your ideas and (in this case) Web tactics. Stay away from the ideas of 1999, which will get you demoted and get real in your web activity.

If you need help in any of these areas we can help you, for a fee of course and heck I’ll through in a FREE search engine submission just for the fun of it.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Repetition Is The Key

Tuesday I brought out a little study showing how a majority of people are starting to look at 2 or more channels to make a buying decision and 30% are using 3 or more channels to make that purchasing decision.

It’s this due diligence on the part of buyers? Yes. Can you help push the chances on you getting seen in more channels or points of contact that your customers are using to make that critical decision? Yes, you can.

The key word is REPETITION. Yes reputation, getting in front of their faces over and over and over, again and again. Telesales, Direct Mail,Social Media Marketing, Blog, Word of Mouth, WOM, Bird Dog, Referrals, Networking Groups, Web site, SEO, Post Card Mailer, Wave Mailings, Email Blasts, PR, volunteering. All of these can help you communicate more fully with your customer where ever they may roam. And roam they will.

Larson Notes & Satire:
When you want hits you go out and find them. When you want to be seen don’t hide. Marketing and advertising works in the same way. What hits, go to the channels your customers are on and using. What to be found? Go out across the board and put yourself in their preverbal face. Up front and as close as you can. It might require more time that you can devote. It might ask for more money than old “Uncle Howard” has. Yet buy using multiple points of contact you will shorten your buy time-line” and get results faster and with better results, and maybe keep the cash flowing in fast enough.

Need help? Call us, we still answer our phone the only fashioned way, we pick it up and say “Hello, Larson’s, can I help you?”

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

How Many Points Of Contact Are Needed?

How many ways are you reaching out to your customers and prospects? 30% of buyers use 3 or more Points of Contact or Channels to research and get ready to make their final buying decision. In a survey done by ATG here is how they washed out:

22% One Channel
48% Two Channels
24% Three Channels
2% Four Channels
4% More Than Four Channels

Going deeper into this survey we find that mobile is becoming more of a research tool in the 18-34 year old age group in researching products and services. Here is a sample of how often they did a search:

77% Never
3% Daily
5% Weekly
7% Monthly
8% Four to Six times a year

Keep in mind that this survey was done LAST December and that the use of mobile is growing faster than any of us might know.


*Source: ATG: Sample of 1054 respondents 18 years and older in the USA December 2009

Larson Notes & Satire: I have been talking multi channel for years, even before the age of Web 2.0 I was trying to get my clients to use multiple points of contact. Even before the computer age the rule of thumb in advertising was that people need 9 touches to make a purchase and they only see 1 out of 3 so that it took 27 advertisements or mailers prices or faxes or voice messages or emails or TV or radio ads or whatever. Enter stage right and we now have Web 2.0 Social media, blogs. On-line PR, SEO, pay-for-click, banner ads, pop ups etc.

If you needed a professional survey to make you do what you always needed to be doing now you have it.

So what do we use here at Larson & Associates in order of importance? Telesales (we use the same techniques for ourselves we do for our customers), Social Media Marketing (followers, posts forums, groups, etc.), Blog, Word of Mouth (WOM), Bird Dog, Referrals, Networking Groups, Web site, SEO, Post Card Mailer, Wave Mailings, Email Blasts, PR, both traditional and online, Volunteering.

If the last one caught you by surprise well…….

Need help? Call us, we still answer our phone the only fashioned way, we pick it up and say “Hello, Larson’s, how can I help you?”.


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Getting Mail Read

You have it written, designed and printed. Will they open and/or read it?

What are the keys to getting your direct mail read? What can you to do increase your odds?

55% If you are a company they know
51% Personally addressed
50% Interested in your service or product
39% Can clearly see it contains a free sample or voucher
27% Local company
21% You’re their competition
15% Interesting packaging
10% looks fun or humorous
6% Good design
6% Active envelope
3% Color
12% Other

*CCB fast.MAP 2008 Marketing GAP Research

Larson Notes & Satire: Do everything you can to stack the odds in your favor. Start with the high odd makers. Though Social Media try to get your company, your brand better known. In this age of technology put a little effort out and money and use a printer with variable data equipment. (If you need help call me, I represent a few). If you have done your homework and put together the right list you are sending it out to people who have a need or basic interest in your product or service. And he word free is probably the best 4 letter word you can ever use. And it is never a bad thing to keep your efforts as local as possible. Local sometimes is another way to say trust

Personally I use a post card or a 3 or 4 letter wave mailing campaign as my direct mail methods of choice. A one shot deal might fit if used in conjunction with other marketing channels. I see the key being to not use a standalone mailing if you don’t have to. Do you?

If you need help putting something together let me know. We can either help of send you in the right direction


Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson
http://larson-and-associates.socialgo.com
http://teamcircle.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.

Friday, April 16, 2010

March Employment Report

Are you in Illinois? If you are, aren’t you lucky, NOT! We are at the or near the top in unemployment and with a state government and many local governments that can’t control spending, (see the Daily Herald on the west side to O’Hare Airport “getting that roadway done at any cost” ) does not seem like the kind of physical responsibility I like to see in public office holders.

The official figures for the nation were standing at 9.7%. In Illinois we are officially standing at 11.5% and even with those incorrect figures government officials are patting themselves on the back. And this is after all the temp workers working on the census and a few construction workers thrown in to boot. Factories might be making more stuff but they are still laying people off.

Taken from the site Shadow Government Statistics we see a much different number. One that I would tend to believe more than the one the government uses.





So what line do you think shows the real unemployment figure? I’m betting in the blue.


Larson note:

We are looking for regional sales persons in all areas of the country.





We are also starting to interview for some telemarketing positions to be opening up in the next month. All home based so you don’t have to move and uproot your family. If all goes as planned I see 25 - 30 people taken on by the end of June in this capability

If interested give us a call at 847-991-0488.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates
http://businesswarfare.ning.com/profile/HowardLarson

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. We are offering 2 free (a $75.00 value) ½ hour consultation periods per week to talk about marketing businesses. Call or email to get your spot to pick my brain for 30 minutes today.