The band Kiss formed over 50 years ago. But their popularity soared when they wore extreme makeup, outrageous costumes and combined their music with a theatrical-like performance. Why did they decide to go that route? Because they were determined to create an experience they themselves would have paid money to see. And whether or not you are a Kiss fan, you can apply that same lesson to identify new capabilities for your business.

Identify New Capabilities

When you play the role of consumer, what would you be a customer of? What business or life events drive your interest in, need for, or use of certain products? How could a new capability or better execution simplify, streamline or enhance a process?

After you answer, then go make that thing.

A Personalized Experience

Even in a time of increased concern over privacy, personalization matters. When companies do it poorly, consumers go elsewhere. But, when companies do it well, personalization drives revenue.

In fact, Accenture found that 75% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a company that knows their name and purchase history and recommends products based on their preferences. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence on the sales impact, companies don’t execute personalization effectively.

For example, website visits and outbound digital communications are common vehicles used to provide a personalized experience. But, print plays an important role. One study found that people spend 25% more when using direct mail in combination with email marketing. And, direct mail comes in many forms.

Mini Catalogs

Digitally printed flyers or mini catalogs that contain products complementary to past purchases, along with useful tips, can be used to trigger new purchases. For example, one fashion brand includes details in their materials on how to ensure proper care and cleaning of the item to extend its life. And, a housewares provider includes meal preparation, time-saving tips and QR codes that link to humorous but instructional videos which serve three functions:

Dynamic Kits

Personalized kits containing information that’s specific to a customer’s unique situation isn’t a new concept. But, like many digital communications failures, it remains an area that organizations don’t execute consistently. Whether it’s personalized to a specific individual, a business function or an event, customization impacts the consumer. And, in addition to the potential impact on purchasing behavior, it delivers many other benefits.

In-Store Experience

If you’re like me and avoid shopping whenever possible, you don’t expect to know the location of an item in a store you rarely shop at. But regular shoppers do have that expectation. And, wandering around trying to find the item you need can become an unnecessary time waster. Plus, as stores employ fewer associates to guide consumers, it worsens the problem and creates a brand-eroding experience.

Find Ways To Save Customers’ Time

Using QR codes on in-store signage and displays provides customers extra information that can save them time and heighten their interest. Stores know the location of their products. But many don’t provide a way to access it. Plus, when they do provide a list, the number of items they carry make it impossible to show everything. Using printed materials containing a QR code allows the consumer to easily access an online search tool which makes finding the location easy.

In addition, QR codes that link to additional product information, or even specials that aren’t otherwise advertised, can engage shoppers and elevate their experience.

Obviously, these alternatives require more than printed materials. But, combining the print and online expertise provides an added value experience that retailers can’t find just anywhere.

Create Pop-Up Shops

Pop-up shops usually allow other brands to temporarily set up within another retailer’s store. This certainly can benefit the brand but it also assists consumers. A pop-up shop that provides education and instruction assists shoppers and typically increases the sell-through of that product. Pop-up stores typically include signage, POP displays, floor graphics and more.

Plus, this concept is exclusive to a brand the retailer carries. They can use this same concept to showcase a particular line of products or segments of their own inventory.

Differentiation

In the 70s, Kiss played hard rock. In fact, they were one of hundreds of bands that played that genre of music. Although their music may have struck a chord with certain people, it was the “glamour” part of their act that set them apart

And, also in the 1970s, it was the actual print product that distinguished one printer from another. But, today, advances in print technology make print craftsmanship harder to differentiate. Plus, the shift to younger, less experienced print buyers and the propensity of digital alternatives means it may take some “glamour” to set you apart. Making the thing that you would be a customer of can glamorize your company and create new opportunities that were previously not available.

InterEdge Marketing

InterEdge Marketing specializes in helping organizations identify new capabilities and grow their business through new product development and effective marketing programs. Contact us for more information.

The post How To Identify New Capabilities That Your Customers’ Need appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

They bombard us. From choosing our morning coffee to relaxing in front of the TV at night. Options. In fact, Starbucks can brew up over 8,000 different combinations to satisfy your need for caffeine. And, U-verse delivers north of 400 stations in genres ranging from cooking to martial arts for your viewing pleasure. Although these endless options should make us happy, that’s not how it works. Instead, it creates decision paralysis. And, research shows that if you’re surrounded by an abundance of options, you typically end up less satisfied with your final decision than if you were given fewer choices in the first place. So, when thinking about how to expand your business, here’s a good option - narrow your focus.

Narrow Your Focus To Expand Your Business

A six-color Komori G40 Lithrone press can produce nearly any printed product on materials ranging from a thin sheet to a thick board. But just because you can produce a vast array of print for almost any company doesn’t mean you should. In fact, narrowing those production capabilities - and your focus - often improves the business outcome. Furthermore, by targeting your capabilities you benefit by:

Expand By Not Expanding

Plus, the strategy of narrowing your focus allows you to minimize additional capital expenditures by leveraging current investments. In addition to the low cost of entry, targeted capabilities can add clarity and strengthen your overall offering.

Target A New Market Segment

For example, a company that sells to the healthcare market recently developed a new product offering that targets medical marijuana producers. Moreover, with the recent passage of the Farm Bill, ingredients such as CBD from the hemp plant are now legal. Since producers of CBD use products similar to medical marijuana companies, the company targeted those organizations as well. As a result, the printer was an early mover into two complementary and fast-growing market segments.

If you serve specific market segments today, consider expanding into others with upside potential like these. If you don’t serve specific segments, then develop a plan to do so.

Target By Specific Products

Years ago big box stores reigned. From clothes and jewelry to hardware and appliances, they carried it all. Then specialty stores opened. Instead of a little of everything, they provided a larger selection of just a few things. Plus, they provided a premium in-store experience, personalized and tailored to the customer, that relies on their product expertise.

Regardless of the types of products you produce, becoming that specialty provider can elevate your position. Rather than general printed materials, productize categories you currently print like brochures, corporate social responsibility reports, signage and packaging. In addition, combine a strategy element to your product offering. When doing so you deliver an expertise that generalists will never be able to mimic. Here’s what I mean. Combining services like customer modeling, persona creation and conjoint analysis with brochure production allows you to uncover and better understand the needs of your customers’ target audience and develop more useful printed materials. Ones that provide a greater return on their investment.

It’s true that many prospects only want you to reprint or make minor changes to a previous version but you can develop far deeper and more profitable relationships through a specialized offering.

Furthermore, a targeted offering can drive production efficiencies and profitable production runs.

Target By Customer Type

Many years ago, after moving into our first house, we consulted a landscaper to help us improve the curb appeal. We had read about his company in the local paper which chronicled his work in one of the more expensive subdivisions in town. After touring our yard and hearing our questions about relocating some of the current plants instead of buying all new or doing some of the work ourselves to keep costs in check, he berated us for being cheap. We weren’t his ideal customer nor was he our ideal landscaper.

But, just as there are customers who want to economize, there are others who are willing to pay list price for services if they perceive the value. And, you can target either option. Lower cost materials and streamlined workflows can reduce your price point and cost structure. Or, you can cater to the opposite extreme, clients who appreciate additional features, personalized service and don’t mind the costs that come with it.

In addition to the economy or luxury type buyers, you can target:

Unfortunately, they don’t sell a list of prospects that fit each of these categories. However, by positioning your organization appropriately and doing your homework you can identify viable targets.

InterEdge Marketing

InterEdge Marketing helps you expand your business through effective business strategies and marketing programs. Contact us for more information.

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Create An Omnichannel Experience

An effective ominchannel provides your customers with a seamless experience. But executing that experience requires more than technology. Instead, it blends technology with a workflow that increases your:

Customers want to connect with you in the way that’s most convenient for them. In fact, the hands-on value a knowledgeable sales rep brings to an unsure customer is essential for some, just as others prefer an online do-it-yourself tool.

And, regardless of where the interaction takes place, they want you to remember when the conversation flips to another channel.

Developing an omnichannel strategy can help you deliver that experience.

Omnichannel Technology

Developing an effective experience requires the right combination of an effective staff and appropriate technology. In fact, given consumers’ purchasing habits today, reachability and purchase and service convenience are impossible without it. So, integrating the right technology into your workflows is the first step.

Online Ordering Tools

Regardless of whether you sell stock products or engage entirely in custom work, there are web tools that allow customers to leverage those capabilities online.

If you have a WordPress site, plugins such as Woocommerce, Cart66 and WP E-commerce are viable options. If you don’t use WordPress or need a more powerful tool, Shopify, Bigcommerce and Magento are all cost-effective alternatives. Plus, incorporating mobile-responsive shopping carts connects you to the 10-20% of users who engage through their mobile devices.

Live Chat

Live chat tools deliver multiple benefits. If you do employe an online ordering tool, it provides the consumer an easy way to get answers as they consider a purchase. In addition, when prospects are just learning about your capabilities, live chat allows you to engage with prospects that otherwise would remain anonymous. Furthermore, live chat applications typically drive higher sales conversion rates.

Podium, Zendesk Chat, Live Engage and more are options that work across multiple channels including websites, social media and text messaging. You can configure them so the app is only available when your staff is available. But, one word of caution: consumers are impatient, an immediate response is important to most customers.

Social Interactions

My sister-in-law spends a few hours a day on Facebook. It’s her source for national and local news. Plus, she uses it for learning about products and obtaining customer support. Perhaps your customers are LinkedIn power users instead of Facebook fanatics. Or, maybe they are old school and just like face-to-face interactions.

It’s true, not all of your customers use social media to interact with a company. But, some do. So determine which channels your customers participate in. Then develop a plan to provide support when they need it. For example, order confirmations, delivery schedules and troubleshooting guides are common requests of current customers. And, product and service information that educates, answers questions and helps formulate decisions are needs of prospects.

Serving your audience in their preferred channels, with the materials they need at their stage of the purchasing process, will help you deliver an effective omnichannel experience.

Digital Content

We brew a fresh pot of coffee almost every day. But, even though I’m 100% sure I measured the coffee-to-water ratio correctly this morning, the coffee tasted terrible. It turns out we had a “slime” build up on the filter. Fortunately, Cuisinart provided instructions on how to eliminate the problem. The ease of solving the problem, coupled with our good experience since our initial purchase, translates into a high probability that we will purchase a new Cuisinart model when this one stops working.

Today, products that elevate the customer experience are more than the physical item or service. It includes information that’s associated with the products and services. For example, an up-to-date knowledge base makes it convenient for a customer to help themselves without needing to reach out for help. Potential content might include specification guides, paper selection tools, design tips, freight calculators and more.

Plus, according to James Martin, Executive Vice President of the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association, "People don’t know how they want to access information until they need it. At that moment, they want it in the form that best fits their needs. That could be print, website information, e-commerce, a blog post, social media and more. And that means you need to make sure your message is available in various forms that allow a prospect to access it in the way they prefer."

Content complements the value of your physical products and services.

Personalization

Personalization is more than just using the customer’s first name in an email. Instead, it’s a collection of information obtained throughout the customer relationship that helps you provide the best possible customer experience. By doing so you are better positioned to provide relevant suggestions or more informed support.

Plus, in the eyes of the customer, personalization, done in the right way, can serve as a sign of respect for their loyalty and business. It also signals that your business is interested in strengthening the relationship by continuously working to provide better service, suggestions, support and more.

Furthermore, you benefit from taking this same approach towards prospects. Although your knowledge of their wants, needs and challenges isn’t as great, you can impact the relationship and bring them closer to purchasing from you.

There are many avenues for collecting and leveraging customer data such as customer relationship management or contact management software. Something as simple as a shared inbox for your customer service department and sales team serves as a great first step.

One Bite At A Time

Prospects and customers interact with you in various ways. The amount and type of interactions vary depending upon your business. So, chart the interactions. Define the steps you perform effectively today and the gaps that impact your reachability, purchase and service convenience, and ease of use. Then take the steps to fill in those gaps and create an omnichannel experience that attracts more prospects and strengthens relationships with current customers.

Understanding the customer experience is the starting point to effective omnichannel communications.

InterEdge Marketing

InterEdge Marketing specializes in developing strong customer relationships through an effective omnichannel experience that increase sales and revenue. Contact us for more information.

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If one out of every two selling opportunities resulted in a sale, we could all retire early. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. When you consider the typical prospect outreach methods, the actual close percentage is more like the single digits. Fortunately, you can increase your odds because, certain types of sales leads do close at a much higher rate. For example, by capitalizing on trigger events, you can propel a prospect from ambivalent to intrigued and from prospect to customer.

So how do you identify trigger events and increase your selling opportunities?

What Are Trigger Events

Trigger events are any occurrence that creates a sales opportunity. From a merger or acquisition to a shake up in the executive ranks, when properly executed, they increase the probability that prospects will  greet your outreach with much greater interest.

Define Your Target Audiences’ Trigger Events

There are numerous common trigger events across the accounts you target. But, some vary depending upon the industry. So, develop an applicable list. Here are 15 examples:

1. New buildings, stores, locations
2. M&A
3. New name or branding
4. New product or service
5. A major competitor move
6. Changes in hiring velocity
7. New leadership
8. New job/role for current contact
9. Expiring contract
10. Good financial report
11. Bad financial report
12. Hiring an outside consultant
13. New legislation
14. Awards
15. Filling out a lead form

Track The Trigger Events

When I first started in sales, I rode along with one senior account rep a few times during my training. “Ralph” only had a few accounts but he had a Rolodex (remember those?) that overflowed with contacts.

On our first outing together he took me to one large client. With numerous meetings schedule, we arrived early. And as employees were walking in to start their day, it was like he was one of them. Before walking 50 feet he had already spoken with four people he knew. Plus, his long time receptionist friend had our badges prepared and signed us in to the guest register to avoid any wait times. Furthermore, before we headed off to the first meeting, she pulled Ralph aside to tell him about a shake-up in the management ranks that occurred the day before and gave him contact information for the new employees.

As we moved from desk to desk and meeting to meeting, the people called him “The Mayor.” I didn’t realize it at the time but that was a term of endearment. He knew more about the company than they did. They asked him for the inside scoop on their own company; information which he was often able to provide.

So, if you have your hand on the pulse as Ralph did, you may not need a different system. But for the accounts where you don’t have those insights, set up alerts so you’ll know when a trigger event occurs.

For example, Google allows you to monitor up to 1,000 different alerts. You can set them up for brands, people, topics and more. Keep in mind that Google alerts don’t return social media results.

LinkedIn is another good source, especially when tracking position changes and people movement. This overview will help you get started.

Plus, there are dozens of other free and paid sources you may want to check into.

Define The Contacts That Trigger Events May Impact

It’s essential to know when a trigger event occurs. But further, once it does, you need to know where to present your solution.

In the accounts you know defining contacts is fairly easy, but it’s far more difficult in an account you are trying to break into. What’s more, when a trigger event does occur, you need to mobilize quickly. So, the more you can identify contact names in advance, the more quickly you’ll be able to capitalize on the opportunity.

But, knowing the contacts in advance of each event is impossible. Therefore, use LinkedIn or other data sources to get the details you need.

Prepare To Connect In Advance

Before you connect with the appropriate contact, make sure you understand their pain points. How does the trigger event impact them and how do your capabilities help them mitigate that pain?

Then, build content that speaks to those pain points to elevate your standing including:

Strike When The Opportunity Presents Itself

Trigger events represent a key time for change in an account - one that can propel your capabilities toward serious consideration. With so much information available online, buyers continue to self-educate and formulate purchasing decisions before even speaking with a vendor. But, if you are the first company to connect with a buyer once they have a need, the odds of selling to them increase substantially. Monitoring trigger events are one way to identify a company at the forefront of their buying need.

InterEdge Marketing

InterEdge Marketing specializes in developing and deploying effective marketing programs, such as trigger campaigns, that increase sales and revenue. Contact us for more information.

The post Use Trigger Events To Increase Selling Opportunities appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

New and innovative. Two traits that business customers expect and value. In fact, the Nielsen Global New Product Innovation Survey found that over 80% of customers considered innovation a key reason they chose to buy from a company. And, as for new products, more than 60% placed a higher value on companies that offered new products. Yet, the majority of new products fail. So, how do you uncover new business opportunities that maximize revenue opportunities and minimize failure rates?

Uncover New Business Opportunities

What are the two reasons new products fail? The inability to pinpoint customer needs and demand. It seems obvious but for a new product to succeed it must fulfill a customer need. But, companies don’t intentionally develop a product that their audience doesn’t need. Instead, they miscalculate the value their new product provides. Meanwhile, by targeting your customers’ value chain, you can uncover new business opportunities that increase user acceptance and the revenue you drive from them.

Target Your Customers Value Chain

Before Harvard Business School's Michael E. Porter coined the term "value chain", organizations looked at fulfilling a customer need as a catalyst to expand their services. For example, photography, design and other premedia functions were common added-value services that were complementary to a print service provider. In addition to serving current clients, these services opened up new business channels and, at times, became a meaningful revenue source.

Analyzing a value chain is similar but does more. It helps you dissect business activities and identify opportunities that are less obvious but no less important.

For example, marketing and sales are primary activities engaged in by all companies. Whether it's a 1:1 email from a rep or a multi-step direct mail or email campaign, data is an essential element companies need to effectively connect with prospects or interact with customers.

Contact List Management

One of the top reasons for poor email open and click-through rates is bad data. And, the same is true for direct mail response rates. Whether your customers include small- and medium-sized clients or Fortune 500 companies, it’s a virtual guarantee that data is an issue. And, with the large amount of information organizations are collecting, it will only get worse.

Data challenges come in a variety of shapes and sizes. For example, a direct sales team may use a few thousand contact names to assist the prospecting process. While a marketing team running direct mail or email campaigns lists are significantly larger. In both situations, they often start with a purchased list. And, like any business, list providers vary in quality and price. Plus, there are rules on how long you can use those contact names before you have to pay for them again. But, if contacts engage, they become your property, meaning it’s essential to manage them properly to keep your costs in check.

List management is essential but difficult. It’s often done poorly, especially if there is no dedicated person to manage the process.

Furthermore, CRM systems, usually maintained by the sales team, also need attention. And given the sales reps I know, they are good at paying attention to customers but not data. Unfortunately, when that data is used in a follow-up email or feeds mailings it often results in undeliverables. That translates into more aggravation, fewer engaged prospects and a reduction in sales-ready leads.

But, when lists are cleansed, updated, segmented, appended and otherwise maintained, the success of marketing programs increase.

Succeeding At Contact Data Management

In fact, succeeding at contact data management requires both an expertise and a commitment to the process. Hiring an FTE or contracting with an experienced source is essential. But coding or software development skills aren't necessary. In addition, there are SaaS contact database tools that allow you to provide this service to multiple clients. Plus, it also allows you to scale, providing services to additional clients with minimal incremental cost.

Discover More Opportunities

In addition to contact data management, there are additional data analysis challenges that companies face. Analytics, funnel analysis and lead scoring are three areas many organizations don’t effectively address today.

For example, website, email and social media analytics provide insights into customer behavior and, when analyzed effectively, can guide changes that improve the customer experience. Funnel analysis relates to the steps a prospect follows before they decide to purchase an item or fill out a lead form. Eliminating bottlenecks, reducing churn and improving communications by identifying segmentation opportunities are key elements here. Lastly, lead scoring can assist the sales team by identifying prospects that are more likely to have an immediate need. Each area has revenue implications.

Furthermore, expertise in these areas elevates your role as a consultant and guide marketing program development that are both electronic and print.

InterEdge Marketing

Are you looking to expand your services? InterEdge Marketing works with organizations to analyze the market opportunities that best leverage your business strengths to identify new products and services that will grow your business. In addition, we specialize in developing and deploying effective marketing programs that will maximize the return on your investment. Contact us for more information.

The post Uncover New Business Opportunities Using Value Chains appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

The numbers say you should expand your services.

But, where to make that investment isn't always obvious. Raise your hand if you thought Amazon would succeed when they expanded beyond selling books online over 20 years ago. Although few predicted success, their customer-focused platform and strategic addition of practical products and services catapulted them into the world’s leading retailer. And although your business may never resemble Amazon’s, the numbers say you, too, should expand your services.

Why Expand Your Services?

Because expanding your services impacts revenue. In fact, research shows that profit leaders:

The Numbers Behind Expanding Your Services

What is the most compelling reason to expand your business?

Revenue!

Research from various organizations finds strategic expansions improve top line sales, increase profits and provide better business health.

For example, the 2019 PIA State of the Industry Report states that,

“Financial performance typically correlates with specialization by a printed product or vertical market. Also, diversification into various ancillary services generally correlates with higher profits. This dual strategy works by lowering costs from specialization and increasing revenues from diversification.”

As for services, participants in the Idealliance “State of the Industry Report, 15th Edition” expect, on average, something other than printing, both traditional and digital services to provide 31.6% of their revenue in 2018, up from just 13.3% in 2012. That means many commercial printers are pursuing opportunities to get involved in their clients’ work earlier, stay involved longer and satisfy a broader range of their communication needs - print or otherwise.

Furthermore, in their book, What’s Your Digital Business Model, Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner found that enterprises ranking in the top third of digital experience had an 8.5% higher profit margin and 7.8% higher revenue growth than their competitors.

But that’s not all, by expanding your platform you can grow your customer base and increase diversification. Both minimize your business risk. Plus, it has proven to help organizations better adapt to changes in the market and to consumer demand which increases long-term business success.

Convergence Is Upon Us

In a presentation to the Great Lakes Graphic Association, James Martin, SGIA Executive Vice President, detailed how convergence is occurring with virtually all segments of the industry.

NAPCO Research evaluated the degree that printers are expanding their offering across six different industry segments. They found that the vast majority of organizations, 95% of those surveyed, believe there’s an expansion opportunity within their own business.

So, if you are looking to expand your services you’re not alone. In fact, products including:

Where Do You Start?

There are numerous options but, expanding your capabilities to provide a service that current customers use and are willing to buy from you is a low-risk opportunity. And, outsourcing that capability until it is cost beneficial for you to build out, further lowers the risk.

But, when looking for expansion opportunities beyond the low hanging fruit, keep these points in mind.

Non Traditional Competition

The SGIA convergence study provides clear evidence that organizations specializing in a different product category may now compete against you. And, it’s not just companies in the print industry. For example, customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation companies provide a robust digital services offering. But, many now also provide direct mail and kitting and fulfillment options that integrate into their electronic communication platform.

Define Your Business Around Customers

In the CRM and marketing automation example, the critical customer need is delivering effective communications to the customers’ target audience. CRM and marketing automation organizations built their business centering on a digital platform that provides numerous functions including effective digital communication options. Initially, print wasn’t an alternative. But, when it became apparent that integrating print into the process helped them deliver effective communications, they built an API and partnered with print providers to satisfy that need.

The fact is, these organizations provide effective marketing services. But, they are no more effective than the marketing services successful commercial printers provided their customers for years. So, adding a complementary digital service offering is sound strategy.

Complement Printing

Furthermore, adding digital services reinforces a recent Idealliance statement, “the future is about complementing, not abandoning print, because communication is mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive.”

Next Steps

As you consider a service expansion, take these key steps:

No Guarantee

Growing revenue through a new product offering is no guarantee. But, given the ongoing market changes, it’s likely that doing nothing is a guarantee. A guarantee that you’ll face the ongoing threat of declining business.

InterEdge Marketing

Are you looking to expand your services? InterEdge Marketing works with organizations to analyze the market opportunities that best leverage your business strengths to identify new products and services that will grow your business. In addition, we specialize in developing and deploying effective marketing programs that will maximize the return on your investment. Contact us for more information.

The post The Numbers Say You Should Expand Your Services appeared first on InterEdge Marketing.

The fact is, a new service or product expansion undergoes a detailed ROI analysis. And, few equipment purchases receive final approval without a realistic payback period. That makes sense. But, where do sales and marketing fit in? An effective and coordinated marketing program will elevate topline revenue and propel the payback period into a best case scenario.

How To Develop A New Services Marketing Program

It takes diligent planning to prepare, install and successfully execute a new capability. And, the most effective way to ensure top-line growth is to develop a new services marketing program using the same diligent planning process.

Regardless of whether you added a capability previously or plan to in the future, integrating an effective marketing program in conjunction with your new capabilities launch will accelerate your revenue.

The Critical Path

In project management terms, the critical path is completing a project in the shortest amount of time possible without sacrificing the requirements essential for success. But, the critical path to your customers’ decision-making process starts with “what’s in it for me”.

So, the first step in marketing your new services is to quantify the following:

The customer pain points that led to you adding the new capability
Your value proposition and how it benefits the customer

Fill in the blanks: Companies with problem ______ use our new service to accomplish/improve/eliminate________.

Define Roles And Responsibilities

Next, as a management team, define the roles, responsibilities and timelines.

Furthermore, if you don’t have the internal resources to start marketing your new services effectively, look outside the company. Adding a few more customers to the mix will far out weight the cost of external support.

Sales And Marketing Responsibilities

A successful launch requires a team effort. A new services marketing program combines functions from both sales and marketing. Since responsibilities vary depending upon the organization, you may choose to distribute tasks differently than recommended here. But, applying critical path dates and deadlines will keep your campaign on track.

Sales Tasks

1. Develop a target account list. These are the customers and prospects most likely to need your new capability and/or represent significant revenue opportunities.
2. Assign new prospect accounts to the appropriate reps. Develop a contact list of decision makers in each target account. Make sure it includes both the email and street address. This information is essential to communicating information as your capabilities near launch. If you use a CRM system, download the data from there.
3. Determine how your sales team will target these accounts. For example, it might include scheduling presentations with key decision makers, developing a webinar or conducting a facilities tour to see the capabilities in action. Plus, add relevant information to PowerPoint decks and a capabilities overview for RFP responses.
4. Develop a training plan to ensure the sales and customer service team understands the capability, what to look for in an account to identify an opportunity and how to present it effectively. Make sure they have the basic knowledge that allows them to answer questions. And if they aren’t able to, define the subject matter expert who can follow up.

Database Marketing Tasks

Data and customers are unique company assets. Although both are essential to your entire business, using data to better understand your customers and target your best prospects will pay long term dividends.

1. Develop the spreadsheet format that sales should follow when compiling the target account list. Although they are only responsible for the customer and prospect information, consider adding other useful fields such as vertical market, company size, department, YTD sales revenue and other data that will better help you identify the best prospects and market your new services.
2. Once sales completes the list, refine it. Start by cleansing their data. Correct misspellings, capitalizations, incorrect use of company names and email address extensions.

Equal Opportunity Communications

In a recent presentation to the Great Lakes Graphic Association, James Martin, Executive Vice President of the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association said, "People don’t know how they want to access information until they need it. At that moment, they want it in the form that best fits their needs. That could be print, website information, a blog post, social media and more. And that means you need to make sure your message is available in various forms that allow a prospect to access it in the way they prefer."

You should develop communications for a new services marketing program in the same way.

Marketing Communication Tasks

1. Develop website content and marketing materials that appeal to the needs of your target audience including:
   • Brochures/Sell Sheets
   • Direct Mail Pieces
   • PowerPoint Slides
   • New Web Page(s)
   • Website Banners
   • Blog Posts
2. Use the pain point and value proposition information here. Although this is a single related task, it will take time to plan, develop, review and produce this information. So, allocate the appropriate time and resources.
3. Develop content that describes the new capability, similar to the message in your marketing materials, that your sales team can post to LinkedIn, Facebook or the other social media channels you use.
4. Develop a case study detailing the value it provided your customer. If you don’t have one to feature today, develop a use case to better demonstrate how your new capability benefits customers.
5. Make it a topic of your newsletter. Connect newsletter articles to the content you develop.
6. Develop a nurturing campaign. For example, a multi-drop email campaign highlighting customer pain points and how your new service mitigates that pain will increase awareness of the perceived need. Make sure your emails include an easy way for your client to request additional information

If you don’t have a newsletter or an effective way to execute a nurturing campaign, InterEdge makes it easy to develop and send one regularly.
Click here to learn more.

7. Plan an event or open house. If your new capability includes production equipment, an in-person event builds trust and strengthens relationships.Consider a video.
8. A video can highlight the value of your capabilities regardless of what they are.

A broad mix of tactics is essential to effectively marketing your new capability.

Put It All Together

Once you have your campaign defined, detail the exact dates to complete or launch each task. For example, the target account list will take a few weeks to compile. But, the contact data is essential to communicating a direct mail or email message to those accounts. And, you can’t produce a video showcasing your new capabilities until they are up and running.

Furthermore, the sales tasks require more sweat equity than budget but there are direct costs associated with marketing. So, consider your options and define an appropriate budget.

Don’t Stop Now

These initial marketing efforts create interest and may even generate new business you weren’t expecting. But, long term success is more than a one-shot deal. It requires a consistent ongoing effort. And, that means continuing to communicate useful information and refining your message if necessary.

For example, collect feedback from client interactions to determine if your messaging is on target.

What is the customer service and sales team hearing that’s different from what you anticipated?
Are there key points of distinction prospects value that you didn’t consider?

Take this information and revise your plan accordingly.

Don’t Be A Tree In The Forest

Formulating and executing your marketing plan will allow you to maximize the investments you make. Without a campaign, your new service could turn into the tree in the forest that falls down. Does it make a sound?

Instead, make sure you optimize your top line growth and the value your audience gains from your expanded offering.

InterEdge Marketing

InterEdge Marketing assists organizations that lack the time, resources or expertise to develop an effective marketing program. We specialize in developing and deploying effective communications, both digital and print, that meet the needs of your target audience. Contact us for more information.

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When was the last time you got everything you asked for in you budget? If 2019 is another year of trying to figure out how to do more with less then these marketing productivity tools are for you. Not only will they allow you to do more with less, they fit any budget. Because, they are free!

Read through each one and then share the marketing productivity tools you use.

Boomerang

You can’t live with it and you can’t live without it. Email, that is. A marketing productivity tool on one end and simultaneously a chain around your ankle. So, here’s a way to spend less time on email and reduce your inbox clutter. Consider adding the Boomerang app. It is an extension for both the Gmail and Outlook email clients. And, it will reduce the time it takes for you to manage your emails.

There are many helpful features. For example, it allows you to set up a time to send an email at a later date. Instead of saving it in drafts and making a physical or mental note to hit send later, the app does it for you. This helps you avoid sending a message when you know the person isn’t available. And, for those hard to reach contacts, you can schedule your email to send at an off time when the odds of connecting might be greater.

Shrink Your Inbox

In addition, do you keep a message in your inbox until you answer the question or resolve the issue? If so, that usually results in an ongoing inbox expansion. And that means, it’s easy to lose track of that message and dozens of others. But, tracking the message is why you kept it there in the first place. Boomerang allows you to move the message to a folder or your archives and choose a follow up time. Only then does the message reappear in your inbox.

Lastly, Boomerang includes a read receipt type function. It tracks if the recipient opened, clicked on or responded to your email so you can determine an appropriate follow up.

The free version allows you to use the Boomerang option on as many as 10 messages a month. And, the paid option starts at $4.95 and includes unlimited emails.

G Suite

You probably have a gmail address already but, the G Suite is so much more than an email tool. In fact, it contains numerous marketing productivity tools. For example, Google Docs make it easy to share, collaborate, change and complete documents far easier than other methods. Do you originate documents or spreadsheets that need input or approval from others? If so, docs is far more effective than endlessly exchanging and updating files. Plus, it eliminates the error risk inherent with that process.

Another time and money saver is Google Hangouts. It provides free phone calls to many locations throughout the world. Plus it includes video and screen sharing capabilities. And, depending upon your needs, Hangouts might replace your paid conference call tools.

The G Suite is free for individual accounts while the professional version starts at $5.00 per month.

Hemingway

How do you make your writing more powerful and easier to understand? If you don’t write for a living or have a mother who was an English teacher, it’s a challenge. Ultimately, it takes practice. But, as John Wooden said, “perfect practice makes perfect. And, the Hemingway app allows you to write in a fashion that is closer to perfect. In fact, it provides insights into your writing and offers tips that make it better.

For example, sentence length often translates into complexity. The longer the sentence, the harder it is to understand. The Hemingway app highlights those lengthy, complex sentences making it easy to focus your improvement efforts. It also calls out complicated forms of words and offers simpler alternatives. Other shortcomings such as the passive voice and excessive adverb use are identified as well.

The browser version is completely free. The desktop version is a one time cost of $19.95 and includes export formats and direct publishing options not available in the free version. Plus, it works for both Windows and Mac.

You still have to write it, but after you do, the Hemingway app suggests changes that make your writing better.

Feedly

How do you stay up to date on your industry, important trends and customer related information without drowning in content? Feedly is a great option. It’s a news aggregator application that compiles news feeds from a variety of online sources. It allows you to pick and choose the ones that best fit your needs, delivering them to a news feed that you personalize. It’s available for various web browsers and mobile devices running iOS and Android. Furthermore, it’s available as a cloud-based service.

Unlike Google Alerts, Feedly better filters the content and delivers more relevant sources and topics. Plus, it allows you save articles to folders, that you create, making it simple to find past articles of interest.

Feedly Pro, the paid version, costs $5.00 per month and provides numerous benefits. You can share information with your staff, highlight and add notes to the articles you clipped and more. In addition, you can create team newsletters that contain the articles of your choice and then distribute it regularly.

Evernote

Have you ever had a moment of inspiration but were unable to record your idea? And then, you forgot the idea before you had a chance to write it down.

Note taking tools like Evernote allow you to capture ideas and inspiration in notes, voice, and pictures from any device. Plus, you can then sync it and access the information from your computer, smartphone or tablet.

It helps you capture and prioritize ideas, projects, and to-do lists.

Further, you can bookmark a webpage, clip the webpage, take a screenshot or copy a small section into an Evernote notebook for later follow up. And, Evernote Scannable allows you to scan paper documents, including business cards, and upload them into your folders.

The paid version provides greater team collaboration and integration with common applications.

IFTTT

When are marketing productivity tools not marketing productivity tools? When they create a task that cancels out the ones they eliminated!

It’s hard to get all your work done each day. Even though technology has never been better, it doesn’t always solve the problem. In fact, the applications and devices that are supposed to streamline our workflows, sometimes add extra steps. Especially when they don’t work seamlessly with each other. So, even though our productivity increases, there are still tasks that require us to repeat our steps. But, IFTTT is designed to minimize those issues.

IFTTT is short for “If This, Then That,” is a useful tool that automates tasks that might otherwise be repetitive. It also connects devices that are unable to talk to each other.

It works like this: users are guided through a process to make simple scripts, aka "recipes," where some type of event in one device or service automatically triggers an action in another. For example, I have an iPhone but use Google G Suite products for email. So, when I’m at an event or with a customer, and have new contact information, I add it to the contacts in my iPhone. But, that means when I send a follow up email, I need to retype the contact information into Google. It’s a few minutes of unnecessary work. However, the "Save New iOS Contacts To Google Contacts" recipe eliminates that duplicate step. When I upload a new contact on my iPhone, voila, it records that same contact information in Google.

Plus, if you use social media, there are dozens of recipes that save time. You can automatically share blog posts to your Facebook page or integrate photos from Instagram with Twitter.

The fact is, there are hundreds of applets for business and personal use. And, no matter which ones or how many you use, the price is always free.

InterEdge Marketing - Marketing Productivity Tools And More!

Whether it's recommending marketing productivity tools or suggesting digital strategy improvements, our goal is to be your source for marketing information that you can put to use. Subscribe to our newsletter to get bi-monthly tips on how to elevate your marketing programs.

InterEdge Marketing provides website marketing strategy, content marketing and lead generation programs that help organizations drive revenue.

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