grow your business through smart, simple marketing

by: Wendy Lieber Athena Marketing

wendy@athena-marketing.com 954.294.6467

Grow your business through smart, simple marketing

Key topics we will cover:

• What is marketing?

• Key issues small businesses face

• Start with a marketing strategy

• How to create an implement a game plan

• Q&A

First let’s talk about me• Undergrad in marketing from FSU, MBA from NSU

• Strong product management/branding background with consumer durables

• Worked in Private Equity community - responsible for enhancing value of operating companies through marketing

• Got bit by the entrepreneurial bug in 2001 - started Athena Marketing, haven’t looked back

• My passion is helping businesses share their story in a compelling, relevant way that results in growing their business

Key issues small businesses are facing

• Everyone in the company wearing lots of hats. Especially YOU.

• Never enough time to “get it all done”

• Keeping your head above water is tough enough, never-mind finding the time or budget to innovate new products/services or new marketing strategies.

• You don’t have a marketing plan or any consistency in your marketing activities

• You mistake tactics like email, website, social media with “doing marketing”

• Overwhelmed with all the digital tools available and information coming at you and don’t know where to start so just don’t do anything

What is marketing?

What is marketing?

Why bother with marketing? "If I'd wanted to be in marketing I wouldn't be running a roofing company.”!

• You are in marketing whether you like it or not.

• Marketing is not about pressuring people to buy your service.

• Marketing is about the way you deliver your service, how you interact with customers and prospects, how you address issues like customer satisfaction, identifying opportunities, understanding customer needs and as a result being better than your competitors.

• Having a good marketing strategy in place help reduce business risk and improve profitability, and stay ahead of your competition in good times and in bad.

• Marketing enhances a company’s brand which makes them more valuable to customers, prospects, strategic partners and investors.

Where to start?

Key questions you must be asking and answering on a consistent basis:• Why does my business exist?

• What are my goals?

• Who is my target audience? When do we do our best work? Who is our perfect client?

• What problems do I solve for my customers?

• How do I stand out from my competition? What do I do better, cheaper or faster?

• Are we explaining our benefits clearly to our target audiences?

• How does our business generate new leads?

• What marketing assets do we have?

• What methods can I use on a consistent basis to communicate with prospects and customers?

• How am I going to keep my current customers so I get repeat business and get referrals from them?

• How am I going to track and measure my marketing activities and results?

• Do I have a written marketing plan with an activity calendar that I am following?

• Do I have the right resources in house or do I need to outsource my marketing?

Good news/not so good news • Technology has changed the

way we communicate with our audiences.

• Every company is a publisher and has the ability to get their story published.

• Technology helps us connect with our customers 24/7 and them with us

• More access to information than ever before.

Fascinating Stats • 78% of Internet users conduct product research online.

That means your website stands a good chance of being a prospect's "first impression." That also means your new business card isn't a business card—it's Google.

• 78% of business people use their mobile device to check email. So that means pretty much everybody that can check email on a mobile device, does . Is your email newsletter optimized for mobile devices ?

• 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog. Finally, some good news! Blogging is good. Intrusive ads are bad. See how simple it is?

• 41% of B2B companies and 67% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through Facebook. If this stat doesn't poke a hole in the "Facebook is not useful for B2B companies" myth, I don't know what will.

• The number of marketers who say Facebook is “critical” or “important” to their business has increased 83% in just 2 years. That's right— critical or important. When a channel generates not only leads, but real revenue, you can't call it "experimental" any longer.

Creating a game plan Outbound vs Inbound Marketing

Creating a game plan• Inventory of your marketing assets:

1. Website

2. Blog

3. Newsletter/Email communication

4. CRM systems, email lists, databases

5. Testimonials/3rd party reviews

6. News, Recent Projects, New Materials/Technology, Education, Subject Matter Expertise

7. Logos, tag lines

8. Collateral materials - brochures, signage, vehicles

9. Digital media

10.Employees

11.Trade Organizations/Media Contacts/Industry Relationships

Implementing the plan• Phase I: Developing your foundation - all driven from your

marketing plan

1. Website - Up to date, 2014 date on it, device responsive, blog/news area that is updated frequently, install Google Analytics

2. Blog - News, Recent Projects, New Materials/Technology, Education, Subject Matter Expertise - Companies that blog have far better marketing results. (Blog weekly)

55% more visitors 97% more inbound links

434% more indexed pages

3. Communication - Newsletter/Email Communication to your database - Minimum monthly

4. Referral Program - ask for referrals on a consistent basis

presenter note: you’ll notice I didn’t include social media - if you don’t have these 3 key things, you don’t have a foundation to do good social media

Implementing the plan• Phase II - Building on the foundation!

• Establish a social media presence LinkedIn Google+ Facebook Twitter YouTube

• Adding social media sites/feeds to your site • Publicize in your newsletter on any other communication

materials - signage, vehicles, trade shows • Engage in conversations - Comment, Like, Retweet - Interact

with your audience, target audience, hashtags • Advertise

Measure, Manage and Refine

• Review your marketing plan and key goals • Determine key measurements you will track

• Initially it will be just getting things done: Website content, # of blog posts, Newsletters, Social Media Posts

• Website visitors, Time on Site, Pages Visited • Open Rate, Click Through • Google Rank for specific keywords • Social Media Audience, Interaction • # of Conversations • Repeat Business, Referrals, New Business

• Refine and Improve

Keys to Success• Know, Like, Trust, Try, Buy, Repeat, Refer - Everything you do is

marketing • Your success, or lack thereof, all starts with your marketing plan

that answers key questions about your goals, your why, your audience and your USP

• Consistency is key - without it you will never be able to manage, measure and refine

• You have marketing assets! You aren’t starting at ground 0. • Build a strong foundation and grow from there.

• Start simple with your 1. website, 2. your blog and 3. consistent communication with your audience

• Review your goals and KPI’s as often as you review your sales and pipeline - you will start to see how they work beautifully together!

Questions

• Anyone having a challenge right now they want to solve?

• What marketing have you done that has worked for you or failed miserably?

• Joint ventures

Wendy Lieber 954.294.6467

wendy@athena-marketing.com www.athena-marketing.com

!!