Here's the last part in our "Marketing Tips for Tech" series. Hope you enjoyed it - feel free to ask your own tips or ask us questions.
12)
Consistent and pervasive branding. Your company’s logo and URL should be on all documents to make sure that your clients and prospective clients know who you are and with what company you are affiliated. Consider is putting a signature at the end of all emails including replies and forwards. Be careful not to embed too many graphics into the signature as it alerts some spam filters. And don’t forget to trademark and copyright appropriate materials. If you want to be really coordinated, have your marketing firm create a simple style guide which outlines how and when to use your corporate marks.
13) Use web analytics. To maximize your profits figure out who is hitting your website. This can be useful in many ways. You should also definitely track the keywords people are searching for in order to find your product or service.
To find companies hitting your site you can use two free services --Google Analytics or
StatCounter. While these services are free you do have to manually search which people looked at your website unless you create custom scripts. Nevertheless, it is a top choice for a free customer base service. Another service is
LeadLander, Visitortrack by
NetFactor or
LoopFuse. They are more expensive choices, costing $1,900 to $4,800 per year; however they provide you with customizable automated detailed lead reports, ties into
Jigsaw and
LinkedIn databases, and customized email alerts.
14) Test customer satisfaction on an ongoing basis. It never hurts to know exactly how your clients feel, and get important feedback about the positives and negatives of your job. This can be as simple as a phone call to your clients, or an anonymous survey on your website. A phone call or email is more personal, and your client will know that you value their opinion and business. An anonymous survey on the other hand allows you to truly know how you conducted your service or how your product worked for your clients. This allows for the communication of productive criticism, helping you improve your products or services. To get the best results you should consider conducting both types of customer satisfaction tests.
Labels: analyzing leads, ann arbor michigan, branding, customer satisfaction, customer satisfaction tests, google analytics, leads, marketing tips, surveys, tech compnaies, technology marketing
This week and next, I'll offer the last two parts of the "Marketing Tips for Tech Companies" series.
8) Use pay-per-click. Sure this sounds obvious but it's amazing how many companies do not use PPC. They either are afraid to try or had a bad experience because the campaigns were not setup properly.
The Internet is an efficient and inexpensive way to reach your audience. Tradeshows and print ads can be expensive and are aimed at mostly passive buyers - people that are simply browsing with no intention of using your services. If someone searches “marketing firms in Southeast Michigan” then they are more than likely actively searching for just that. This makes it more likely that they will click through to your website. For example, a full-page advertisement in a trade magazine can cost between four to ten thousand dollars, compared to a trial pay-per-click (PPC) campaign that might cost $500-$1,000.
Try using exact keyword matching instead of broad match for even bigger bang for your buck. Once you have mastered exact keyword match campaigns, Google Adwords’ embedded match is an exciting alternative for ad targeting. For a great training video on embedded match techniques, see
http://www.stompernet.net/goingnatural3/vid1_adwords_triangulation_method.
9) Ask for Referrals. If you know your customer is satisfied, which hopefully they always are, then you should ask if any of their friends, colleagues or partner companies need your services. Referrals are very simple because all it takes is one simple question to your client. Although this sounds easy, many companies do not do this, and lose potential business. There are several firms out there that automate referral reminders and gifting. Check out
Automatic Referrals for detailed advice on how to get more referrals and even phone numbers from your current clients.
10) Cross promote your product or service. Cross promotion involves using two or more companies or organizations combine forces to advertise a product or service (think an OEM and reseller). Each company or organization helps promote the others' product or service. By teaming up with synergistic companies you will save time and money. It will allow you to gather more information than you could on your own, for example lead lists. Also, other companies have different techniques, thus learning from them can be of great advantage to your company. In addition, the cost of advertising and renting booth space at a trade show can be very expensive; by teaming up with another company you can save money.
11) Integrated Marketing. Diversification is a key to more than just stock portfolio success. To reach your target audience you must use many different marketing techniques at once. You should be using different forms of marketing in parallel such as internet marketing, public relations and advertising. Used in combination marketing efforts are so much more powerful than ad hoc campaigns.
Labels: cross promotion, customer satisfaction, customer service, integrated marketing, marketing, marketing tips, pay-per-click, referral marketing, tech companies, technology marketing
Welcome back to our blog post series on marketing tips for technology firms. Here are tips #4 through #7.
4) Make sure your brand is clear. There is nothing more frustrating for prospects than trying to figure out what a brand is all about. Be precise in what you are selling and to whom.
And as a technology company, your branding should also align with your current and future product and services roadmaps.
5) Clearly articulate your technology products or services. In order for your clients and prospective clients to understand what you are truly selling, then you must be clear in your presentation. This is especially important for technical services.
We recommend answering the 6 questions in
Harry Beckwith's Selling the Invisible.
a. Who are you? (Your company’s official name)
b. What business are you in?
c. For whom…what companies/users do you serve?
d. What need…what are the special needs of the company you serve?
e. Against whom…with whom are you competing?
f. What’s different…what makes you different than the competition?
g. Unique benefits…what are the unique benefits a client derives from your services?
These seven questions work equally well for products. By answering these questions, your customers and prospective customers should be able to get a better understanding of what you will provide for them.
6) Get testimonials and endorsements. In order for potential clients to validate your offerings, it is imperative to have your customers vouch for you through testimonials. It is very simple and sometimes overlooked. Testimonials are easily accessible and all it takes is a simple quote. Online video testimonials are now easy to produce and even more effective than written quotes. The testimonials should be posted on your company’s website, but can also be used in other documents and advertisements.
7) Use word-of- mouth technique. Whenever you see a movie you like or try a new restaurant that was amazing, you usually pass this information on to a friend or acquaintance – why not tailor this technique to marketing your products? Word-of-mouth marketing is a not a new technique but it is one that has been overlooked by many marketing professionals. There are many websites that can help you identify what word-of-mouth is and how to use it to the best of your advantage. For example
WOMMA is the official website of the word-of-mouth Marketing Association. It that helps business owners network within their industry.
WOMMA shares the 5 basic elements to word of mouth marketing: 1) Educate people about your products and/or services 2) Identify people most likely to share their opinions 3) Provide tools that make it simpler to share information 4) Study how, where, and when opinions are being shared 5) Listen and respond to supporters, detractors, and neutrals.
In this vein,
URefer is an interesting online referral engine that was just launched. Now folks can refer business to you online and the site also has interesting word-of-mouth possibilities.
Labels: branding, endorsements, Internet marketing, marketing technology, marketing tips, tech companies, technology products or services, testimonials, word of mouth marketing
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