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Resources How To Create the Right Sales Message Everyone has a sales message. And there are any number of ways to deliver it. But the question to be asked is, how meaningful is your message and what is the best way to reach your audience? Promoting products is not and should not be considered a "hit or miss" exercise. Whether it involves ads, data sheets, brochures, direct mail, presentation folders, newsletters, publicity, trade show visuals or Web site development, product promotion should be a program with a purpose. And it should include a timetable and budget. Those programs that are most meaningful are developed from a marketing plan. If you do not have a marketing plan, now is the time to give it serious thought. Marketing plans set a course. They provide a direction. Their detail and accuracy often reflect their reliability as a reference for sales and marketing people. A good starting point in developing a marketing plan is with your current products. List them in a way that makes it easy to compare features and benefits. Be sure to include advantages over (all) competitive products as well as weaknesses. Highlight qualities that make your products unique. Include the reasons your products are preferred. Now do the same thing with competitive products, listing their features and benefits and whatever they have that gives them an edge over your products. Looking beyond the standard products, what new products are being introduced? How do they compare? What do they offer that makes them different? Why were they developed...to improve or replace existing products? ...in response to a customer request? ...to meet a general need in the marketplace? Now that you have thoroughly reviewed and documented products-yours and theirs-take a look at your competitors from another perspective. How do they compare to the services you provide in terms of product availability, on-time delivery, technical support, customer service? How are they perceived in the marketplace compared to you? How does their market share compare with yours? If you have a distinct advantage in these areas, that is a message that should be promoted. Next, review your major customers, one by one. What is the potential for increasing sales at each account? Make note of those that offer new opportunities. And what about companies that can't be identified or are too numerous to reach through normal call patterns but represent future growth? Develop an action plan of tasks that will help you expand your business. Include whatever promotional support is needed to complete these tasks. Here are some questions to consider:
Advertising in trade publications Use advertising to reach a large audience that can not be identified. But you must first identify those publications that will do the best job of delivering your message to your prospects. Look at a magazine not only in terms of its circulation of your target audience but its editorial. How well does it cover subjects that would be of interest to your prospects? Which publications do your customers find most useful? And what about your ad? An effective ad hinges on these three elements: 1. a very concise headline that offers a key benefit to your key audience; 2. a dramatic graphic that ties in with the headline; 3. a concisely-written message (the body copy) that pulls the headline and image together. Direct mail The same criteria for creating an effective magazine ad apply to direct mail. The two should work hand-in-hand, in terms of the message and design. Like a trade magazine's circulation, the mailing list is equally as critical in getting your message to those who recommend, select or specify your product. One of the advantages of direct mail is that you can usually tailor the list by job function, job title, size of company, location and SIC (standard industrial classification). One of the best sources for a mailing list is the trade press-those publications that reach your market. Exhibits Trade shows can provide many benefits. The opportunity to meet current and prospective customers in a short span of time can justify the costs associated with being an exhibitor. The level of success will hinge on how many attendees represent your audience and how well your visuals and promotional materials deliver your message. Like ads and direct mail, trade show visuals should be simple, clear and concise; and, for the sake of continuity, they should perpetuate the same message, theme and graphics that have been part of your program. Feature articles One of the least utilized tools for gaining exposure, articles for the trade press establish a level of expertise in the marketplace. No promotional piece can match the credibility that is gained from having an article authored by someone in the company appear as editorial. As a reprint, the article can become part of a promotional package, providing the benefits of a promotional piece. Product literature Every form of literature-brochures, data sheets, folders, pamphlets-should very clearly describe products and services and follow its original intent. For example, a sheet on a new product should be no more than that. A brochure that describes company capabilities and services should focus on that level and leave specifications and product detail for another piece. Regardless of content, literature should be designed with an overall design element in mind that makes everything look like it belongs to the same company, creating a look that will become recognizable. Product newsletters Combining the best of all worlds, product newsletters can be one of the most effective promotional tools. Product newsletters can be mailers; their content can include a current ad, a photo and description of a new brochure, a new product, a new process, a new sales person. Newsletters can provide technical tips to save customers time; they can feature articles by key people or promote customers' products in case history-type application stories. They are an excellent forum for Question & Answer columns. They can describe unique applications for your products and promote trade shows where you will be exhibiting. Promotional gift items Often used for the wrong reason, promotional gift items are considered more of a necessary evil than a promotional tool that can be meaningful. The challenge is to resist the temptation to purchase items strictly for the sake of having hand-outs at a trade show and find something that not only relates to your business but is useful. Items such as slide charts that are custom-made with application data or stock items that will help your customer in some way offer more value. Publicity Like feature articles, press releases provide excellent exposure; but they are not utilized. Editors welcome information that is news to the industry whether it is new products, new applications, new literature, new facilities. And they do not require a lot of preparation. Videos If the application of your products requires attention to safety or procedures that must be carefully followed, a video presentation should be considered. A step-by-step approach can be an excellent training tool for customers to use within their own organization. Web sites To get the most out of your Web site, review it on a regular basis for clarity and ease of use. Update it constantly to keep it current. Obsolete information on a Web site can create unnecessary problems and affect your credibility. Delivering the right message With all of this sales and marketing information presented in a marketing plan, it is now possible to develop a sound marketing communications program...a combination of promotional tools working together to deliver a consistent, clear message to your prospective customers why you should be their supplier. *BPA International and ABC are magazine auditors that issue bi-yearly reports on circulation figures, thereby substantiating or refuting a publisher's claim. **See also, "Should You Exhibit At A Trade Show" and "How To Get The Most Out Of A Trade Show," JASMN Communicator, Dec. and Jan 2000 We thank communications expert, Alan B. Goldberg, for this information. Goldberg is president of JASMN Communications, Inc., an industrial advertising agency based in Highland Park, IL. He has been promoting polymers, sealants and related products to the insulating glass market since 1971. In 1978, Goldberg started an in-house advertising agency for a large chemical operation which he ran for 20 years. He can be reached by phone at 847/432-0994, by fax at 847/433-4479, or by e-mail at jasmncomm@aol.com. Source: Improve Your Marketing, 2002. |
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