Category: Sales & Marketing

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Sales & Marketing

3 Prints That Impress Trade Show Attendees

Article Contributed by Randal Whitmore

Trade show season is underway which means you and your competitors will be journeying nationwide to impress attendees with your company’s offerings to drum up some new business, raise brand awareness, and put faces to your company’s image.

Alongside the representatives of your business, print plays a vital role in displaying your company brand at a trade show and increasing the likelihood of a response from attendees once the show has ended.

You could have the best salespeople in the world promoting your company but in a situation such as this where other businesses are adding to the advertising noise you need to make an impression that stands out and captures the attention of your target attendees.

So you’ve decided to be an exhibitor…

… and by now you might have a space booked at a business convention of some kind and you’ve identified which employees will be attending to represent your business in the best light possible. The next step is to organise your printing, which is why we’ve provided three printed must-haves required by trade exhibitors to help make a great first impression with potential new clients and increase the likelihood of an aftershow response.

1. Exhibition Stand

When exhibiting at a trade show you’re usually provided with a space that includes 2-3 walls made of chipboard coated in felt so that you can hang photos, banners, or some other kind of advertising material. If you’re on a tight advertising budget then this might be your preferred option.

On the other hand, if you’re looking to make an impressive appearance then having a custom printed exhibition stand will allow you to completely personalise that space with your branding.

As you can see in the image above there is a collapsable lectern, which can act as a good addition to your stand if you intend on running a mini-seminar within your booth to promote the products or services you offer.

Tip: provide seating and allocate seminar time slots to make your seminars appear more official. Try providing information of value that your visitors can use when they leave the show rather than using it as a hard sell opportunity. Not only will it capture your visitors’ attention but it will also show that your company is an expert in its field.

Collapsable exhibition stands come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes so before having one printed you should ensure that:

  • the exhibition stand fits within the dimensions of the exhibitor space you have booked (some event organisers dislike exhibitors whose displays spill over the perimeter of their allocated space);
  • it is easy to construct (there is nothing worse than toiling over an exhibition stand before a show. Purchasing an easy-to-construct stand will help with keeping you calm);
  • the stand allows space for other advertising materials, such as a pop-up banner, and for visitors to move around within (you want to invite attendees into your exhibition space, away from the distracting traffic that flows in between the stands).

2. Pop-up Banners

A pop-up banner is a must-have piece of advertising material for trade show exhibitors that can break down your company’s products or services in bite-size chunks of information. A pop-up banner should a) attract the attention of passers-by of your stand, and b) match or compliment your company’s brand identity in message and visuals.

If you can’t afford a custom exhibition stand then the pop-up banner is a much cheaper printed alternative that will customise the space you’ve booked. It can, however, be used in addition to an exhibition stand if your budget permits one e.g. your custom stand would display your company’s brand name, logo, colours and graphics with a pop-up banner nearby displaying the products and services you offer.

Most pop-up banners come in two parts (the banner and the stand) and are very easy to construct. The main difference between providers is the quality of print, therefore, you will want to choose a professional printer that produces the highest quality possible to aid your design in creating a great impression with trade show attendees.

3. Professionally Printed Flyers

It is always a better idea to have your flyers printed by a professional flyer printing company because the quality will be much higher than what you can produce in-house, plus you can choose from a range of finishes, customised cutting options, and other personal touches that can be produced on a large scale. It is also a much lower cost to outsource this kind of promotional activity.

Once your employees have spoken to, and hopefully impressed, a potential new or existing client it is a great idea to hand that visitor a flyer that displays your company brand, products, services, and contact details. This will give them something to take away that will remind them of the experience they had at your stand when sorting through the materials they have picked up from the show.

To increase the likelihood of a response from your flyer you should include a hook of some kind e.g. a trade show exclusive offer. Providing an exclusive voucher code will allow you to measure the ROI of your trade show exhibition activity and give the client an additional reason to re-visit your company (the first being the experience that your representatives provided).

Enjoy the Trade Show

Exhibiting at a trade show is a rare opportunity for your company to be displayed face-to-face in front of your target market so the first impression you will want to make with potential clients is a good one.

By organising these 3 trade show exhibitor products you can be sure that your company brand will be displayed to attendees in a positive way that makes you look professional and stand out from your competitors who may not take advantage of such an opportunity in the same way.

About the author:

This article about impressive trade show print was written by Randal Whitmore who regularly contributes articles related to graphic design and business to Solopress – a high quality printing company based in the UK.

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Sales & Marketing

Ways to Increase Sales and Grow Revenues

Every prospect wants to know why they should buy from you. They want to know the outcome they will experience before they want to know how you will create those outcomes. Let’s start with four basic facts …

1.    Every prospect has a problem. This problem creates some negative emotions.

2.    Every product has features: Features are merely objective facts about a product (or the company behind it). In three-dimensional products, features include size, shape, weight, construction, color options and more. You need to be able to tell your prospect the feature of your product or service that will solve the problem. In information products, features include number of pages, size, frequency of publication (for periodicals) and the types of information that are presented.

3.    Fortunately, most features are there for a darned good reason: Prospects don’t want features. They want you to change their lives for the better. Product features are merely the means to that end. That means features can have a place in ad copy – like telling prospects how many issues they’ll get per year … how many big pages are in your book … or that your widget is made from carbon steel for strength or carbon fiber for lightness.

Beyond that, features are a yawn because they’re about the product; not about the prospect. Or, as in the examples above, they can help demonstrate how your product delivers a benefit. The good news is, just about every product fact – every feature – is there to provide a benefit that your prospect IS willing to pay for. Tell your prospect in no uncertain terms the benefits of a particular feature. But we do not want to stop there.

4.    Each benefit has a positive emotional outcome for the buyer. Many time there are more benefits associated with each product feature than are obvious to the average buyer. Each benefit or combination of benefits producing one, two, three or more new benefits you never thought about before. The secret to selling and marketing and most any other revenue generating activity is to identify each and every benefit a product provides – and the emotional outcome your buyer will experience.

5.    Your prospect is buying emotionally first, then they intellectualize & justify the purchase. Connecting the feature, benefits and outcomes makes it very easy for the buying to understand why you are the right and safe choice.

Outcome that sing and soar – in five simple steps

Here’s a little exercise to help you drill down to the outcomes prospects are willing to pay for and then connect those benefits with powerful response-boosting emotions that your prospect already has about those benefits (or the lack of them) in his life.

By the time you’re through, you will have a complete list of company and product features … you will have squeezed every possible benefit out of those features … you will have fully defined the outcomes of those benefits and you will have connected each one to a powerful emotion your prospect has about each one of them.

In short, you’ll have a comprehensive “features/benefits/emotional outcome” inventory you can refer to as you create your marketing message, write your copy, build your sales presentation or create contents for your website.

Going through this exercise can go a long way towards finding new themes and adding power to your sales and marketing.

To begin, create a spreadsheet with these headings:

  • Problem
  • Negative Emotional Outcomes of Problem
  • Feature that Solves the Problem
  • Tangible Benefits of that Feature
  • Positive Emotional Outcome Prospect with Experience
  • Rank

Write until all know problems are identified and documented. Document how they feel when they experience this problem. Next write the feature of your product or service that solves the problem and document the benefit of that feature. Finally, describe the positive emotional outcome the buyer will experience.

When complete, rank them in order of importance.

He is an example of what your table should look like.

Problem: Sales have plateaued

Emotional Impact of Problem: So frustrated because no matter what I do, I just can’t figure out how to take the sales to the next level. And I’m always the one having to do the sales

Feature: Learn how to build a sales and marketing system

Benefit of Feature: You can stop being the only “sales guy” and start leveraging your marketing and sales processes so that customers come to you to purchase, instead of you chasing them. You will grow sales!

Emotional Outcome: You’ll feel a great sense of relief … no more anxiety about “where is the next sale going to come from?” and you won’t have to be chasing prospective customers all the time … prospects who are hiding from you.

When you complete this process you will have all the material you need to write a great sales letter, create compelling web copy, and build a powerful sales presentation and some much more.

This process is where increase profits and grow sales begins. You need to understand your prospects better than they understand themselves. When completed, you can tell them exactly what they can expect when they work with you.

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Sales & Marketing

Results! 7 Reasons Why You Absolutely Must Get Creative With Your Marketing RIGHT NOW

1. It’s not your grandfather’s communications model.

Communications has drastically changed since, say, the 1970s when advertising was in its heyday (actually most of the 1900s, but the 1970s is a good representative year).

Target markets are fragmented, customers have more demands on their time and they’ve learned to shut out the majority of advertising messages out there. The old ways of marketing based on advertising don’t work the way they used to. To succeed in the new communications model, you need every advantage you can find. And that includes harnessing your creativity.

2. Break through the information/products overload.

The Internet has been the biggest boom to small businesses everywhere. It’s simple and affordable to sell your products and/or services to anyone in the world. However, the ease of setting up an Internet business means lots of people are doing it. Lots of people doing it means lots of products and services are available.

The easiest way to set yourself apart from the other 16 million Web sites out there is to enlist the help of your creativity.

3. If it looks like your competitors’ marketing plan…

While it’s always good to know where your competitors are putting their marketing dollars, it may not be smart to be there too. (What I’m referring to are the different marketing vehicles, such as print publications, radio stations, billboards, event sponsorships, community groups, etc.) This is especially a problem if you’re always following your competitors’ lead and are never “the first” to take advantage of a new opportunity.

Think of it this way: If your message is only appearing in the same places as your competitors, how are you going to keep from blending into the crowd?

I’m not saying to ignore the places where your competitors are hanging out. I’m just saying you had better get creative with your marketing vehicles. Maybe you need a token presence on some media outlets while you branch out and look for other “off the beaten track” opportunities you can own.

4. If it smells like your competitor’s marketing message…

Producing similar marketing materials to your competitors’ is a surefire way to get your customers to ignore you. Take cars for instance. Can you tell me the difference between a Ford and Chevrolet commercial (other than the tagline)? Do you even know if the commercial you’re remembering IS a Ford or Chevy commercial?

See what I mean?

And when your customers can’t remember what’s different between you and your competitor, how will you convince them to buy from you rather than your competitor?

Getting creative with your marketing will help your message stand out from the crowd.

5. Harness the power of your creativity for your marketing.

Not only is there power in using your creativity, but there’s power in new ideas. Skeptical? Think of the surge of energy you feel during that “A-ha” moment. Think of all the excitement surrounding a new idea. You can even take it further and look at the energy surrounding the creation of a new life (which, when you get right down to it, is the ultimate act of creation). When you focus that power on your marketing, there’s no telling how far it will take you.

6. Enjoy your marketing.

Let’s face it. Marketing isn’t always fun. In fact, sometimes it’s drudgery. But when you add your creativity to the mix, your marketing takes on something completely different.

Being creative is fun. So, the more you can blend your creativity with your marketing, the more fun you’ll have with your marketing. And the more fun you have, the more you’ll do it (and the more results you’ll see).

7. Use it or lose it, baby.

The more you use your creativity, the more creative you become and the more your creativity will spill over in other parts of your life. What better way to consistently make use of your creativity than by making it a part of your marketing plan?

The bottom line? No matter where you are on the creativity scale, your attempts at creativity won’t hurt your marketing (no matter how “bad” you think you are at it). But if you don’t at least try to be creative, you’re definitely never going to stand out from the crowd. And, chances are, being creative will only enhance your marketing – probably in new and unexpected ways.

That’s the beauty of creativity – you never know when or how it will step through the door, bringing with it the all the energy and excitement of new adventures.

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Sales & Marketing

Fifteen things I wish Mom would have told me about Selling

Here are fifteen things I wish Mom (or someone) told me about selling. Instead I figured them out myself. I thought I would share them so you can see sales as the proud and noble profession that it is.

1) People are not born being good at sales. Selling is just a skill that anyone can learn.

2) Stop making excuses.  It is not the economy; it is you, your skills, your attitude, your perception that makes all the difference.

3) Selling is not manipulation, it is influence. It is not about lying; it is about honesty.

4) Selling is teaching someone to buy from you; not forcing them to buy.

5) Understand when people buy your product (no matter what it is) they do so for their reasons not yours.

6) Believe in what you are selling and allow that belief to show.

7) Admit you don’t know everything and that’s ok. Life is about learning. Being good at sales is about learning. Remember rule number 1.

8) If you don’t know, tell your prospect. Feel good knowing you will find out and then find out.

9) Play and have fun.

10) Be honest, fair and ethical with all people.

11) Learn to say “no” and feel good hearing “no.” They are not rejecting you – they just don’t need your product or service right now.

12) Listen more than you talk. People need to feel heard.

13) Surround yourself with people that are more successful, happier, and accomplished than you are and learn from them. Why make the same mistakes they made.

14) Sell what you love and the money will come. If you don’t love what you sell find a way to at least see the good in it.

15) Spend money on training that will make you a better person. You never lose money on your investment when you grow as a person.

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Sales & Marketing

3 Tips to Creating a Free Gift Your Ideal Clients Actually Want

If you’re like many entrepreneurs, concern (or even distress) about the size of your email list is a major issue. And for good reason. 

Your email list — which is a list of folks that have given you permission to email or otherwise contact them — is the foundation of business success. Those are the people who are interested in building a relationship with you and eventually may turn into a customer of yours. The more people on that list, the easier it is to build a profitable, sustainable business. 

So how DO you grow that list? Well, one tried-and-true strategy is to come up with a free gift or “taste” of your offer in exchange for getting your ideal client’s contact information. (An example of this is a special report or a video or audio recording and you set up an opt-in page to collect the name and email address in exchange for giving them access to that content.) 

The problem is, how do you figure out what the best gift should be? Below are 3 tips to help you do exactly that: 

1. Create your gift around what’s keeping your ideal client’s up at night. No matter what it is you sell, there’s one major problem keeping your ideal client’s up at night that your products or services would solve. That’s what you want to focus on — what I call the “gateway” problem. 

This is important to remember — while I know some of you reading this offer very complicated and thorough coaching or healing programs that end solving lots of issues your ideal clients have, they didn’t actually buy the your program because of ALL those results. They bought it because of ONE major issue they were having, and now that your program solved other problems, they’re really excited about it but that’s not what caused them to buy your program in the first place. 

If you try and get too cute or complicated in your initial gift, your ideal clients aren’t going to be that interested in giving you their name and email for the gift (much less actually going through what you put together). 

2. Spend some time crafting a hooky title for your gift. The title is what is going to catch their eye and encourage them to read more about what you’re offering for free. 

So how do you create a hooky title? Go back to what’s keeping your ideal clients up at night. For instance, you’re a weight-loss coach, you could focus on 5 foods that make you fat. Or if you’re a business coach you could focus on 5 mindset traps keeping you from building a successful business. 

Now, what’s keeping your ideal clients up at night is only the first step. As you can see by my examples there are a couple of other tips to help you craft a hooky title: 

* Putting a number in there. It helps to have X tips or steps or secrets or strategies. Adding that detail makes it more specific for your ideal clients plus it implies you’ve laid out the information in a way that makes sense for them to consume. 

* The smaller the slice, the better. Notice I focus on 5 foods that make you fat or 5 mindset traps. Not EVERYTHING that is making you fat or EVERYTHING that is keeping you from growing a business. One piece of the puzzle. Again, that specificity makes it very clear exactly what your ideal clients are getting, and the more clear they are, the more likely it is they’ll want it (if it appeals to them). 

3. Don’t be afraid to make it content-rich — but don’t give away the store. Okay, so how on earth can you do that? 

The best way to do this is to completely answer whatever you promised them you would answer, but your answer should open up another question. So, for the mindset traps, you tell them exactly what the mindset traps are, but if they want more personalized help to avoid them, they’ll need your product. Or you share what the 5 foods are, but then you may need something to replace those foods (or maybe eliminating those foods isn’t enough and they’ll need more help) and that’s where your program comes in. 

The problem I’ve seen with content sharing is either people clearly hold back information so it’s obviously incomplete (which irritates your ideal clients) or they share too much information and their ideal clients end up feeling satisfied and have no need to take the next step (EVEN if it’s a false sense of satisfaction). 

Again, this can be helped if you narrow down what your gift is covering to a very small piece of the puzzle. If you do that, you (hopefully) won’t share so much your ideal clients feel complete, and if you answer that small piece completely, they’ll feel like you gave them a great deal of content.