Advertising made easy…

The selling process is more difficult when times are hard, prospects are less in numbers, with a decreased cash flow in their pockets, and therefore a buyer becomes more defensive on the financial aspect of the closing deal/sale.

Understanding your target prospect is paramount, as much so the buying behaviours and getting to grips with the personality trends of that person is vital. Most salespeople work on the process of building an excellent rapport with their target prospects and existing clients, making them ‘our friend’.  Quoting Frank Atkinson of salestraining.co.uk,

‘Not everyone wants to be our friend’.

Precisely, focus on the buying aspect look at the other side of the coin, get out of the box, understand your prospects, and try to analyse what makes him/her tick! Quot Frank ‘MATCH THEIR BEHAVIOUR’.

This is the crunch, getting in tune with your prospect/customer, is the key to understanding the sales process and therefore giving you the control and know how in getting to the goal …

Close the sale!

Please look at this video (below) and run it a few times, most Train the Trainer Course should cover these topics concerning the ‘THE BUYER’, here Frank Atkinson covers the topics, quickly, efficiently, with a clear flair to understand all and the simple graphic approach, gives the final result!

Yes. from this video…  I grabbed the topics and this was helpful towards the learning process, a great reminder to train and re-train, how very important this must be?

Please contact me should you be interested in sales training, locally or in the UK, options are available to bring trainers from the UK. Additionally we can guide in getting  EU grants for sales training:- contact:

sales@mariomicallef.com

SALES TRAINING VIDEO by Frank Atkinson of
The Sales Training Consultancy (UK).

With thanks to Frank and his TEAM!

1.  Provide an excellent service

2.  Best Prices

3.  Best Deals

4.  Best complete after-sales

5.  Happy New Year!

More on recession:

Thanks to info by Susan Bandura.

Now that even The Wall Street Journal has admitted we are in a recession, everyone has run amok with dire predictions about marketing and advertising.

The online world remains relatively upbeat, knowing that the Internet is still attracting plenty of viewers, and that online advertising is way cheaper than more traditional media.

But most pundits are saying that TV advertising is more vulnerable than ever – that companies are going to cut their TV advertising budgets, that DVR penetration is going to help put the nail in the coffin.

But what’s really going to happen to TV viewing in the near future?

Let’s see … everybody has a TV … people are staying at home more … consumption of entertainment usually goes up when the economy is down… and now it’s dark by the time we get home from work…

All of these factors say “more TV watching” as far as I’m concerned. Which means that TV advertising will make as much – if not more – sense than ever. The latter being related to the balance of cost versus delivery of airtime purchased.

Best simple definition of Marketing:-

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying, “Circus is coming to Fairgrounds Sunday,” that’s Advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk him through town, that’s a Promotion. If the elephant walks through the Mayor’s flower bed, that’s Publicity. If you can get the Mayor to laugh about it, that’s Public Relations.

And, if you planned the whole thing, that’s Marketing! - Author Unknown

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The following definition was approved by the American Marketing Association Board of Directors:

Marketing:

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Marketing is a business term referring to the promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market, as in shopping, or going to a market to sell ones products. Wikipedia

Marketing

The activities of a company associated with buying and selling a product or service. It includes advertising, selling and delivering products to people. People who work in marketing departments of companies try to get the attention of target audiences by using slogans, packaging design, celebrity endorsements and general media exposure. The four ‘Ps’ of marketing are product, place, price and promotion.

In A Recession, Protect Your Customers.
The loyalty factor info thanks to James Hipkin.

The tendency when times are tough is to focus on acquisition. Acquisition is important. But focusing on customer retention is less expensive and will have a greater short-term impact on your business. Small increases in loyalty (or attrition) will have significant impact on your bottom line.

Retained customers have the following benefits over newly acquired customers.:

• You don’t need to bribe them. They have paid full price in the past and are prepared to continue to do so. They are loyal because they see value in your products or services.

• They are more likely to respond to up-sell and cross-sell offers. Because they have a relationship with your brand, they are easier to convert.

• They cost less to service. They know how your products work and don’t need to contact customer service or sales as frequently.

• They can be advocates for your products. Especially when times are tough, consumers want to make purchase decisions with confidence. Nothing builds confidence like a personal recommendation from a peer they trust.

Keeping customers loyal is the most efficient marketing activity you can pursue. This is especially true for the category heavy users who are your best customers.

Your smartest competitors will be targeting your best customers. You need to protect them.

Remember, no matter how well you do everything else, you can’t make money without customers.

Whenever there’s a serious economic downturn there are always

two knee-jerk reactions:

( Post Info thanks to Sharon Krinsky, of TAC.)

1. Advertisers cut their ad budgets.
2. Ad executives say they shouldn’t.

Who’s right? Well, that depends on who you are.

In order to have an intelligent advertising strategy during a recessionary period, you need to understand that there are basically three kinds of businesses:

• Businesses for whom advertising is essential.

• Businesses for whom advertising is discretionary.

• Businesses that are somewhere in the middle.

For some companies, advertising is oxygen. With it, they grow. Without it, they die.

These businesses tend to be in categories that are consumer-oriented and highly responsive to marketing activity. They include fast food, retail, consumer packaged goods, and automotive.

If you are in one of these categories, or a similar category, trying to save money by dramatically cutting advertising will do more harm than good. If you have a successful advertising campaign in progress, you should stay the course in terms of spending and message.

However, if you’re in a category like this and your current advertising efforts are not showing success, you need to keep advertising but change your strategy. How?

Create advertising that is focused on changing customer behavior, not customer attitudes.

Businesses for whom advertising is discretionary.

There are some types of businesses that are not highly responsive to advertising: life insurance, wine, and serious technology are a few examples.

These businesses generally use advertising for secondary purposes like influencing investors, impressing the trade, softening you up for the sales call or, frankly, assuaging corporate egos (hard to believe, huh?) Advertising may be useful, but is not essential to the business.

If you are in one of these categories, and revenue is starting to sag, saving advertising dollars is a good idea. If you go dark for a few months the only ones who’ll notice will be your ad agency.

Businesses that are somewhere in the middle.

Most businesses are somewhere in the middle. Advertising is sometimes successful, sometimes essential, and sometimes unnecessary or ineffectual.

If you are in one of these businesses you can do yourself a lot of good, or a lot of harm. It all depends on whether you’re using creative and media strategies that are appropriate for the times. What you did last year may not be a good model and needs to be reconsidered with a sober eye.

contact: www.mariomicallef.com

I was delighted to see that the first Malta Blog community portal was featured on TVM: Blog.com.mt

I think this portal, will be successful and I am participating with enthusiasm with this blog, and others that I write on. I encourage all to bring their blog to this site, and perhaps even start blogging, in the least possible entry if possible. With this blog I feel its the empowerment process of shouting your ideas, your inner feelings, your thoughts, your comments on what you have read or seen int he local media or even foreign content, including of course all e/web-content.

I support the blogs because I truly believe that once the numbers increase, the networking and sharing aspect of a local blog will help support and form public opinion, through intelligent yet individual content to share with others, all in this world of ours.

I congratulate Matt, Liam and Mauro, for this venture, and for giving us Maltese the option to have our first Maltese Portal.

Please see the video clip recording of the TVM feature on blog.com.mt:-

Advertising is an inescapable part of life, a fact evident each time you turn on the television, drive past endless billboards or sit down to check your email. As a small business owner with a limited budget, you may be more sensitive to the ads surrounding you than most. Do you have a recurring fantasy about the kinds of commercials you’d like to make and how much business they’d bring in? Have you been setting aside money to start your advertising campaign? While most businesses pay for advertising eventually, make sure the time is right before plunging in. Read on to find out if the risk of the expense will pay off for your business.Is your business still growing by word of mouth and free exposure? If you’re considering launching an ad campaign, then hopefully you’ve already utilized cheaper means of getting the word out about your business, such as launching a Web site and leaving flyers and business cards around town. If these tactics, along with customer referrals, are still bringing in new business, then you might not need to pay for advertising just yet. However, if business is steady or if the initial rush is starting to taper off, then it’s the right time to explore new avenues, including buying ads.

Are you in a place where you could handle more business? While the ultimate goal of most business owners is to keep growing, you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew. And if you are also in school right now, growing your business slowly might be easier to handle. If all goes well with an advertising campaign and it leads to more business, the influx could also lead to more hiring, acquiring a bigger space for your operations and so on. Be certain you’re ready for that.

Do your homework. Research different advertising mediums and figure out the best fit for your type of business and your budget. Would your target customer base likely be reached through television, radio, billboards, the Internet or a combination of mediums? Find out the costs. Some options will likely be crossed off your list due to pricing. So decide if it’s better to launch print ads right now, or save your funds for a local TV spot.

Looking at where other small businesses advertise will help make your decision easier. Pay especially close attention to which businesses are trying to attract a similar customer base and see where their ads show up and if they keep the ads running. For example, if a business places ads in the local paper month after month, they are probably getting at least some results from the ad. And don’t be shy about talking to some established business owners about their recommendations and experiences with different mediums. Many will be willing to save you from making the same mistakes they made.

Figure out your advertising budget before you commit. The worst thing you can do is start inquiring about ad space before you know your spending limits. Don’t let a salesperson talk you into buying ads before you’ve figured out a budget. Project what you can spend on ads for the whole year to decide what monthly rates are reasonable. When you do talk to salespeople, be upfront about how much you can spend and don’t budge. If they want your business, they will be willing to work with your limits. And if they don’t want your business, someone else will.

If and when you decide to advertise, keep track of the results. Let customers mention or bring in the ad for a discount or simply ask new faces where they heard about your business. If the ad strategy you chose isn’t bringing people in, try something else. Like many other areas of your business, advertising will require a degree of flexibility until you find what works best for you and your customers.

I have decided to finally put pen to paper and report on a subject which I am able to discuss with some authority re TV media, due to my substantial experience in the latter.

I had a vision of the television media reaching a peak of saturation (on the marketing side that is!), and surpassing all levels of standards, unfortunately on the negative side.

Why? Because its all about money, there is a tendency that producers/production houses go for a production, cost all the expenses, and yet fail to make a study on how, when and who will sponsor the project! The next topic would be who would be able to sell the projects and also a contributing factor to consider are these two main points:-

1. Will the advertising agencies support the project (on the basis that the best budgets belong to the agencies)

Most agencies have annual deals with the main stations, they will never place large junks of budgets direct to production houses

Another aspect is that most production houses/producers have a tendency to by pass the agency to save the standard 15% commissions which they can pocket or pass on to the prospect.

2. Additionally most large entities have themselves annual deals with the very same stations who sold airtime or provided airtime to production houses/producers. So production houses will go out selling below the line with regards financial and corporate status of advertisers.

Many finish with numerous 10 seconds captions with the same voiceovers etc.

My definition of a producer is this, as a fact, it can be a grocer, a jeweller, a TV/Radio presenter, a teacher! Practically anybody can purchase airtime grab a camera and bingo we have a production. Most production houses do not hold a steady videographer, some of them do not even own hardware such as a camera, so they sub contract for equipment and staff. Most staff move from one company to another, so there is no steady process, very erratic co-ordination indeed! Will not tackle the acting and technical staff, the scenario here is obvious, mostly part-timers.

Therefore it is realistic that we finish with this scenario re the TV local productions.

1. The ones that are funded by the stations:- More of the same

2. The new upcoming productions, more-more of the same

3. Cloning, copying of programmes such as candid shows right now back on screen

4. Talk-Talk shows, definition: 2 cameras, producer smokes a couple of cigarettes whilst an invitee chin wags his way into a subject, some of these are much better presentations that the actual ones made by the very programme presenters. Get your clients to fill-up your show, and guess what they pay too!

5. Undercutting by the production houses, the station’s sales team responds and undercuts, or offers some very favourable free spots even before the news. Talking about news, agencies have come across spots before the news on the main stations as far down to € 177 (Lm 50) and also € 68 (Lm29), very much lower than the established rates.

With regards the stations marketing strategies! WHAT strategies? There are over 7 dramas, this winter, I reckon 80% of these will loose money, or make an even turnover, and I ask myself how do stations allow so many dramas on their own station, when the best ones will suffer as the marketing share will be defragmented more and more.

Furthermore new TV stations cropping up, now we have Family TV, Favourite Channel of Bonaci also on the way, and I hear another one on the cards from a local radio station. There is just not enough budgets to sustain all these stations, the main ones are just struggling on, and manage to keep their heads above water. Its the same conclusion over and above, mainly oversupply, in most sectors, wine bars!, property!, need I take this further?

The governance of the buyer market is the motor point of all sectors, and local TV media is dependent on the support of the local advertisers, whose conclusion… mostly feel that TV is expensive. My translation of this is, that advertisers are not getting enough good response lately to their budgets that can surpass €2000 and more, therefore this results as expensive, from the purpose of input versus output, this is how most advertisers view the latter.

I am very concerned to say that TV media this winter (which normally is the peak for TV sales), is crumbling, and there are not enough budgets to carry the flow of most productions.

A bad end to 2008 for TV media, and its looking tough for 2009!

Four All-Beef Patties, Special Sauce, Lettuce, Cheese … Are you lovin’ it?