Right Place

Know where they are, where they are more likely to be and where there is an opportunity to enforce a message. Where do your target market live (referring to online and offline), spend their time and make purchasing decisions? There is no point in spending 100′s of euros on Luas Advertising if your target market live and commute mostly from Rural areas outside of Dublin City.

Right time

How long do you have, to market your Product/Service/Event and what are the time constraints? If you are running an event in three weeks’ time in Dublin then running a nationwide Campaign may not be the most effective use of time. Focus on what is likely to bring the best outcome in the required time frame.

Product2Market considers varied tactics which are based on our own tailored Campaign. Bus advertisements and banners would be wasted on us while E-mail marketing campaigns are more feasible as we have the essence of time; we have multiple resources at hand and we know our market.

Marketing is very dynamic and so, new resources become available constantly. This means that thinking outside the box is necessary and being highly sensitive to your clients’ potential needs, whereabouts and requirements is a must.

To learn more about how we can help you build an effective marketing strategy , Contact a member of the Product2Market Team.

To learn more about Product2Market’s Online Marketing Services, read about our Online Marketing Services.

There are hundreds of new and conventional marketing resources available to marketeers and entrepreneurs which can be applied daily . However, one challenge which Business owners face, is to decipher what works best and what to build into a marketing strategy.

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you make the next marketing move and plan for the short, medium and long term to build sales.

What is the market position of the Company?

Being aware of your current market position will give you a greater focus to build your marketing strategy- this applies to factors such as your geographic location and reach, demographic factors aswell as competitor activity.

Companies in the Business 2 Business space will have a different market focus to Enterprises in the Business 2 Customer space and SME’s will have a different market focus to Multinationals.

Moreover, your competitors will have a huge impact on your campaigns; ask yourself- how are THEY making noise in the market place and how effective is it? What are they doing that I haven’t tried yet? Read our Blog on Competitors and Analysis.

What has been done before?

Often, knowing what doesn’t work can lead you towards what does. Certain tactics may have been tried several times to no avail thus enabling you to rule them out and make the decision-making process easier. Always ensure however that you are comparing like with like, for example an advertisement in a magazine with 100,000 readers is targeted much differently than a magazine with 10,000 readers therefore will potentially yield different results.

How many times have said marketing campaigns been tested?

Develop a list of variables to test. Don’t forget you will need to test everything twice to be certain of your results. A great strategy is to identify one stream of communications — for example, your Google Adwords campaign — and test two versions. Whichever comes out on top, use that as the control for your next test. Testing should be a continuous activity, and by using this method you can ensure your marketing is always evolving.

How can Marketing activity be analyzed?
Testing what is working is straightforward and can be carried out by analyzing available data and simply asking existing and prospective clients where they found you and how effective they find your marketing campaigns. Numerous feedback gauging techniques can be availed of both online and offline (to learn more, check out our Blog entry).

What steps are next?
Testing initiatives can become very involved, so don’t lose sight of the goal. Once you’ve got your first wave of results, make sure you share them with everyone involved and take action on them. But the job doesn’t end there. Monitor your results to ensure your new best practices stay fresh and are still producing the desired results. Again, a good testing plan never ends. Your customer base never stops evolving and neither should your marketing plan.

At Product2Market, we’ve tested marketing tactics in house so we know what works best and what yields results. Getting the fundamentals right is necessary for every enterprise, large and small however it’s the steps after this which can vary. To learn more about Product2market’s Marketing Strategy building and how we can help you, contact a member of our team

Feedback is one of the most powerful management support tools used to gain customer insight, test potential markets and learn about your in-house reactions from employees and peers.  Change is inevitable especially during these economic times as new markets are emerging and expanding while spending patterns are changing and consumers are tightening their purse strings. Having the best view of the markets is an area to highlight for 2012 and when considering your options moving forward.

At Product2market, we carry out market testing and online survey feedback gauging services for SME’s and Multi-national Enterprises. This enables Business start up’s and existing enterprises to build a greater Marketing and Sales’ Strategy by achieving numerous objectives. Some of these objectives include the following:

Gaining feedback from potential customers will help you identify new markets, territories and/or angles for your product or service.

Learning from existing customers will mean that you are constantly improving and making your service/product better.

Market testing will mean that you are always striving towards a goal based on real feedback and opinion thus avoiding complacency and the risk of  slipping behind the Competition.

Adding something new to the mix will keep employees learning something and give them fresh areas of focus.

To carry out ongoing market testing and gain constant visibility of the market, a number of resources can be used both in an online and offline capacity.

Resources of potential use range from the following:

Direct surveys

Use online surveys such as www.surveymonkey.com to gain feedback via your website, social media or as part of your email marketing shots. Offline, why not present feedback forms (where applicable) to customers post service-use to gain immediate understanding of their likes/dislikes?

Market testing via telemarketing

Hire an agency to make some cold calls in order to gather feedback from your potential market. The acting body will be able to present a report of data with real business intelligence which will give you an objective to focus on.

Online/Desk research

There is an endless amount of data available online and offline which will give you insight into your target market. A certain amount of desk research is always beneficial as it allows you to gain an understanding of competitor activity along with media activity coverage and past trends of interest within your Industry via articles.

Focus Groups

Several agencies use focus groups as a tool to understand interest in new or potential products/services. Those taking part in the groups will be entirely neutral and subjective and reports given will be the same.

Forums

Online forums are built for the purpose of opinion airing of broad and specific target markets. Using forums such as www.boards.ie to learn about market thoughts will add more data to your research.

Product2Market provide market testing services to a variety of Enterprises to help Company owners gain greater visibility of existing and potential target markets. New Territories, Verticals and Demographics can be gauged as potentials for new Business. For more information on our market testing services.  Contact the Product2Market team today!

“The marketing of goods or services by telephone…….”

In the 1950’s a company called Dial America Marketing Inc coined the phrase Telemarking while they worked on behalf of Time Magazine selling subscriptions over the Telephone.  Before that, America had a very strong culture of “Door to Door Sales ” and visits from a “Traveling Salesman” would have been common place in most suburban neighborhoods.  Telemarketing enabled greater coverage and quicker results and before long was adopted by most companies that relied on New Customer Acquisitions at the time.

Telephone Marketing (Telemarketing) is today still one of the most popular ways to attract new customers and build brand awareness.  However, with the advent of Online, Email and the traditional Direct Marketing, when is it right to use Telemarketing?

Firstly, our advice is that no one Marketing strategy is right in itself.  We find that to create Marketplace awareness and impact, there can be strong synergies using a combined approach of Telemarketing and some of the “new era” Online Marketing Approaches.   However, successful Telemarketing should have some clean strategies; we would subscribe the following:

1. Have your proposition/pitch Telemarketing ready (i.e. succinct, direct and to the point).
2. Make sure that you can establish credibility early in the conversation. Bare in mind that the majority of people will not necessarily be expecting your call, so it’s important to establish what you do and who you do this for, before looking for openings in the conversation and starting your pitch.
3. Have a “Route Map” for your Telemarketing calls,  having clear stages set out will help you stay in control of your phone conversations and will make sure you get what you need to give and take from each phone call.

Product2Market deliver over 2,500 Telemarketing/Sales calls per week and have developed a very strong core discipline in this space.  If you would be interested in our support with your Marketing Campaigns – please contact us today !

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out “(Robert Collier).

It might seem obvious but having a consistent routine when executing your marketing campaigns is essential. At Product2Market, we’ve been there, done that and we’ve seen the results for numerous Companies when dedication and of course, effort are applied. Keeping a number of basic fundamentals in mind will get you on the right track.

Time is of the essence

The most fundamental element to consider in relation to consistency and the result of your online activity is time. Whether you allocate 2 hours per week or 10, keep it similar (as much as possible). That way, your profiles and website won’t look off balance when they are frequented by new and existing customers.

Manpower and Management

Decide on your marketing administrator and delegate to them! Having numerous different personalities coming across Online platforms is very off-putting. If having only one administrator is not possible then ensure that all involved are briefed on the style, personality and voice of your social media sites and Blog.

Know who you’re talking to

So, you’ve established your target market, they know where you are… how do you get them to come back and interact? Voicing opinions and giving feedback is something everyone loves to do; encourage comment sharing from customers and build relationships with your fans, followers and website visitors. Make this a habit.

Keep it real.

Be true to your brand and what you are about.  Don’t post comments just because you think you should and don’t post something that you don’t find interesting yourself . Remember, put yourself in their shoes, what would you enjoy?

At Product2Market, we know all about online marketing and how it will attract new Business while building a strong online identity. If you would like to find out more, contact us via the website, social media or give us a call at the office on 01 544 5775…

Len Brennan discusses E-mail Marketing and Product2Market from Product2Market on Vimeo.

Part of the Product2Market service portfolio is an email marketing service for clients in the Business 2 Business (B2B) and Business 2 Consumer (B2C) industry. We plan, execute and analyse email marketing campaigns which directly increases your sales pipeline. By using our email marketing analytics’ system you gain greater market intelligence by monitoring the Where’s? Why’s? Why not’s?

Here are some reasons why email marketing works:

- Email marketing is extremely cost-effective, allowing you to reach hundreds of existing and potential customers directly to their e-mail account.

- Legislation governing unsolicited emails in place in Ireland is complex and is often ignored by senders.  You should always ensure that you only email someone that has provided their details and agreed to receive an email communication from you. This means that those signing-up to your mailing list WANT to hear from your Company.

- With a two-way communication channel, companies can feed off of the responses of their recipients, making future campaigns more dynamic.

- Email marketing supports sales through other channels. By including links to your website and social media channels in your e-mails, customers are driven to your online marketing resources which will inevitably affect sales.

- Emails can be saved and re-read thus meaning there are multiple re-read opportunities for recipients along with the possibility of emails being forwarded to other parties with potential interest.

For more information on Product2Market’s email marketing services, visit:
http://www.product2market.ie/e-mail-marketing/