In today’s digital world, where ‘one-to-one’ marketing has been greatly facilitated  by tools such as social networking, many business owners assume that in this highly personalized environment, it’s not a concern if your messaging or positioning is different from one medium, audience or client conversation to the next. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, in such a divergent and complex world, it’s never been more important to have a consistent and integrated marketing strategy for your business. Here’s why:

1)      “It’s all about focus.” – I seem to repeat this statement over and over again when speaking with clients.  Being focused on what your business stands for, how to convey this and where you want to communicate these messages is critical to any business’ marketing strategy. You need to think this through carefully and get it right.

2)      Consistency is King – There is little value and almost no point in saying things one way in the online space and another in your print collateral. If your audience is the same or similar in both mediums, your messaging shouldn’t be very different regardless of which one you’re currently using. Of course, if you’re talking to two different target markets, you’ll need to do this in two different ways.

3)      Reinforce key messages – Products or services that are unique to your business or a cut above your competitors need to be emphasized accordingly. Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself across different mediums, your clients won’t find you boring or repetitive. Instead, this will help to strengthen your positioning (you can always reword your messages a little to make them unique in each channel).

4)      Think holistically and strategically – You always need to think about the ‘big picture’, no matter how deep in the weeds you are. What are your objectives, and how do you plan on achieving them? What could get in your way and prevent you from accomplishing this? Don’t get caught up chasing the latest fad marketing concepts and tactics. Instead, take a step back and look at things from your customer’s perspective – what are they looking for and how can you satisfy this? Plan out your approach as much as possible.

5)      It makes good business sense – An integrated approach to marketing just makes sense. Having that consistency, where messages reinforce each other over multiple mediums can save you a lot of money, and reduce the amount of time it takes to establish and strengthen your brand. At the end of the day, an integrated marketing plan is just a smart business decision!

So if you want to enhance your marketing effort, online or off, be sure to first assess your plans and activities. If you’re currently employing a fully integrated marketing communications strategy for your business, this will come out in spades in terms of the focused, consistent approach you’ve developed.

I’m writing this post from a veranda with a great view of the north-west Adriatic coast of Croatia, where I’m currently on vacation. This trip is different from our previous vacations in that we’re staying a full 5 weeks, so I needed to bring my laptop to stay in touch with my clients (after I finish this post I need to send an email newsletter for a UK-based client).

Although I did a pretty good job of making sure I have all my passwords with me, I was given a shock by Facebook when I tried logging in for the first time after we landed here. Although I entered my user ID and password Facebook recognised I was trying to log in from a different geographical location and, as a security measure, forced me to confirm my account. At first I thought, great, I like this, but then the trouble started: Facebook used a very unusual method of confirming my account – it asked me to give the names of seven of my Facebook friends! Although I only have a few hundred FB friends, I certainly can’t remember all of their names!

Facebook showed me pictures of no fewer than seven of my friends – but not their default profile photos, but random images from their photo albums, where my friends were sometimes pictured from the side, with other people, or in poor image conditions.

Somehow I managed to confirm my account after two tries, so now I am OK. The moral of this story for you: know thy Facebook friends if you’re planning on traveling abroad.

Please follow this link to book an appointment with me if you’d like to explore ways how to use Facebook to promote your business

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

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I came across a rather interesting article in the June 30, 2010 edition of Marketing magazine that I wanted to share with you. The article talks about one of the more challenging tasks many established businesses face – whether or not to rebrand themselves, and if so, for what purpose (i.e. to go after existing clients in a different way or to target an entirely different client segment).

 Oftentimes businesses rebrand for the latter reason in order to go out after a more lucrative or attractive target market. In the case of East Side Mario’s (ESM), this was indeed the case. Having developed a strong brand as a “family friendly” restaurant with a gregarious New York City theme, it symbolized an affordable, convenient and comfortable place for families to eat out.

 However, ESM was eager to move its business model up-market by appealing to a more upscale client. As a result, it removed its Statue of Liberty logo and replaced it with a more traditional Italian symbol – the tomato. It also got rid of its infamous marketing jingle, “Badda Boom Badda Bing” due to its association with NYC.

 What happened next is an age-old problem that occurs when rebranding involves an attempt to enter a new market. By changing its target market through changes to its marketing messages, restaurant appearance and menu, ESM alienated its existing clientele while failing to make significant inroads with the upscale segment it was attempting to go after.

 So what can be learnt from this experience? First of all, rebranding should never be entered into by any business without considerable deliberation and analysis. And while going after a new and perhaps more lucrative client segment is always tempting, it may not necessarily be the best option, particularly when the new market you’re entering is as competitive as the restaurant industry.

 Indeed the competitive landscape should always be a primary consideration in any rebranding exercise. Always ask yourself this question – does the image I’m trying to portray or the market I’m trying to appeal to create any competitive challenges for my business (i.e. are there existing businesses with similar ‘brands’ going after similar or identical customers, and if so how successful are they?).

 The key to rebranding – and the key to developing a sound marketing strategy– is finding a niche in the market you can profitably compete in and exploit, one where your products and services effectively align with the needs and expectations of that particular target market. When you find that niche and are successful in exploiting it, you’ve latched onto the proverbial golden egg. And that’s why going after a new segment may not be the most sound business decision, and in fact can be highly risky. At the least, make sure your rebranding strategy is based on sound business fundamentals, and that these support the objectives of the firm.

Are you a sales professional or business owner, who wants to maximize your business development and triple the prospects in your sales funnel?

Every business I have ever worked with wanted to generate more prospect leads for their sales pipeline. My clients tell me this all the time. The disconnect occurs when I investigate the process used to process new prospect leads gathered at trade shows, networking events etc.

As a Sales Support Specialist, many times I find marketing is generating so many prospect leads that sales is cherry picking and choosing to follow up only the hot leads. Hot is defined by sales as leads they believe will close within the near future and contribute to this month’s target. Sales does this because they have monthly and quarterly targets to hit. Does this practice sound like what is going on at your business?

The question I asked is “What happened to the remaining cold and warm prospect leads?” Usually I find they are stacked on a desk or lost in a folder somewhere. No one is following up and talking to them. You have to wonder about lost potential.

When sales prioritizes the hot leads they are harvesting only the low hanging fruit to reach short term goals for this month’s or next quarter’s sales target. Continuing this practice plays only your A team and does not develop your farm team. How much money are you leaving on the table for the competition who offers a similar product or service and is communicating with every prospect?

To develop hot prospects for tomorrow when today’s hot prospects are gone, you need to implement a follow up strategy today. That way, you can leverage the numbers, triple the prospects in your funnel and maximize the potential business development brings to your doorstep. A follow up strategy puts in place a system to not only organize, build and manage a prospect database but also communicate and educate to build future sales. Implementing a long term follow up strategy gets those cold and warm prospects, currently lost to follow up, into the sales funnel and a chance to bake from cold through warm to hot. Hot and ready for you to close that deal tomorrow.

The result? Minimization of the feast and famine cycle you may have been experiencing in your business. By adding cold and warm prospects to your sales funnel you triple your prospects. Following up with EVERY prospect allows you to mine incremental growth and revenue that can be added on top of your current business.

Here are 5 simple things you can do today to start building your follow up strategy and a system to leverage your time and information.

• Put every business card you currently have into a database.
• Start marketing and educating about what you offer and how your solution can help solve problems.
• Insert hyperlinks directing prospects back to your website where they can find more information.
• Commit to communicating on a regular basis and ask for feedback.
• Utilize drip marketing to communicate over time.

Once you get going you can optimize your time and money by expanding your system and utilizing automation and email marketing to reach even more prospect leads.

Let’s review how your prospects are processed with a sales funnel optimization consultation. Discover the hidden road blocks that are preventing you from cashing in on the opportunities already on your doorstep.

Contact me at Cheryl [at] Executive Sales Support.com.

If you have a substantial number of clients, suppliers and contacts, one of the best ways to stay in touch with them is by publishing a regular email newsletter. A newsletter will educate them, entertain them and establish you as the expert in your field, and by using this free on line service called MadMimi it’s really easy — so you have no more excuses!

1. MadMimi allows you to import your contacts without forcing you to “confirm” each and every subscriber. This means if you import 100 contacts, you can send email to 100 contacts.
2. MadMimi’s simple-yet-sophisticated email editor is so easy to use, you don’t have to hire an email marketing expert like me to manage it for you
3. The best feature of all: it’s free, for lists of up to 100 email addresses. Once you out grow this, paid  plans starts at a very reasonable US$8 for up to 500 contacts, no long-term contracts.

Sign up with MadMimi today even if you’re not ready to start using email for marketing — their free account offer may not last for long.

Boris Mahovac – Email Marketing Coach

Remember, as a member of Oakville Networking I can set up your MadMimi account for you free of charge – this is a value of US$125! Takes 2 minutes to sign up, so do it now!