How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales: SalesMemes 50 Innovative Thinking
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Do you think she also helped India fly to Mars for less than it cost to make the movie Gravity?
Hiring a pay-for-performance marketing firm can save you tons of time while making marketing more efficient. Just be sure you ask the contenders these 5 important questions before you hire one!
Visit http://www.SalesMemes.com every Friday to see the latest SalesMemes: the best and worst ideas to increase sales. See more #GoodMarketerGrace and her colleagues #SmugMarketerSam, #BadExecutionBob, #GoodExecutionErica, #HucksterHank and #TrustworthyTom.
Hiring A Marketing Firm? 5 Questions to Ask First
Bringing on external resources to help with your marketing sounds great. There’s even a term for it – Outsourced, or Pay-Per-Performance Marketing. According to Wikipedia: “Outsource marketing is the art of handing over the entire marketing demands of a company to a third party.” Sounds easy, right?
But how do you know you’re handing over part or all of your marketing to the right third party? There are five key ways outsourced marketing can be integral to the success of your business. And they each present pitfalls if you choose the wrong marketing firm.
1. Outsourced Marketing means a marketing program designed to fit your business – Will the Outsourced Marketing firm work with you to create a custom strategic marketing plan, identifying the resources needed to meet your business goals, with your budget in mind? If the firm presents you with a take-it-or-leave-it package, leave it.
2. Outsourced Marketing means you can stay focused on your core business – Will the Outsourced Marketing firm provide an experienced team to integrate, synchronize and manage dozens of marketing disciplines to execute that plan? Ask how they plan to create cross-discipline synergies. For example, will they be able to use content created for a blog, use it in a newsletter, support it with online advertising?
3. Outsourced Marketing means a more level playing field – While you focus on business innovation, will the Outsourced Marketing firm focus on proactive and responsive marketing to meets today’s ever-changing business environment? Check out the firm’s blog (yes, they should have a blog!) -are they pitching 2009-era SEO techniques (“we submit your website to thousands of online directories”)? Visit their website on a smartphone – do they ignore the fact that responsive websites (sites that are easily viewed on a smartphone) are the norm for 2014?
4. Outsourced Marketing means access to expertise in every discipline – Does the Outsourced Marketing firm have a large pool of vetted and approved experts? If they do, it means they can provide:
- Marketing, e-commerce & mobile websites
- Pay per Click advertising
- Print advertising
- Blogging & social media marketing
- Direct mail
- SEO/Search engine optimization
- Email & print newsletters
- Public Relations
- Trade shows& events
- Telemarketing
- Analytics
5. Outsourced marketing means you can expand your marketing programs without necessarily expanding your staff – But beware of marketing firms that charge you by the hour. Their economic interests may not naturally align with yours. Instead, look for firms that offer pay-per-performance services.
JointSourcing from Sales Renewal
Sales Renewal clients know that Outsourced Marketing with Sales Renewal works.
This is because our unique JointSourcing (“joint venture” + “outsourcing”) model – a comprehensive sales, marketing and technology solution – lets you outsource all the day-to-day marketing and technology work that increases your revenue – and demands so much of your time – to Sales Renewal, while we share with you the management, and a portion of the rewards and risks (similar to a joint venture).
Since our success is so closely tied to the success of your marketing:
1. We work closely with you during our Blueprint phase to create a custom strategic marketing plan. Together, we review this plan quarterly (or more often if requested) to be sure it continuously addresses your business needs.
2. We manage the many disciplines defined in your custom plan (our Sell phase). Since you know the programs, plan and budget in advance, we are able to work independently, consulting with you as needed for approvals and other input.
3. We stay abreast about new strategies, requirements, recommendations to be sure all the components of your plan are optimized for the ever-changing business environment. If we find an option that we believe will perform better, we’ll present you with an explanation of why we’d like to make a change or addition to your plan. If we feel something just isn’t working, we’ll make an alternative recommendation.
4. We act as a general contractor. We pull from an ever-growing, dependable group of experts and top-notch vendors in every discipline we offer. And we stay on top of them, too. For example, if an ad firm just isn’t producing the results we expect, we’ll work with them, and replace them if necessary.
5. We focus on the ROI of each marketing program, and the plan overall. Because our economic interests are closely aligned with yours, when we are able to optimize your profit, we are also optimizing ours.
If your company is considering an outsourced, pay-for-performance marketing solution, make sure you know who you’re handing your marketing over to! And if you’re interested in learning how Sales Renewal can help, contact us, and we’ll show you.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Bringing on external resources to help with your marketing sounds great. There’s even a term for it – Outsourced, or Pay-Per-Performance Marketing. According to Wikipedia: “Outsource marketing is the art of handing over the entire marketing demands of a company to a third party.” Sounds easy, right?
But how do you know you’re handing over some or all of your marketing to the right third party? There are five key ways outsourced marketing can be integral to the success of your business. And they each present pitfalls if you choose the wrong marketing firm.
How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales: SalesMemes 37 Condescension
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Which do you think he knows less about: social media or women?
The best antidote to the Hanks of the world is knowledge, so here are 3 Ways to Use Pinterest That You Might Not Have Thought Of (part of our Quick Tip Tuesday series).
Visit http://www.SalesMemes.com every Friday to see the latest SalesMemes: the best and worst ideas to increase sales. See more #HucksterHank and his colleagues #SmugMarketerSam, #BadExecutionBob, #GoodExecutionErica and #TrustworthyTom.
How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales: SalesMemes 49 Free Media?
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Because people only listen to the radio for the ads right?
In an era of tight budgets, it’s wasteful and inefficient to not leverage paid with free media (PR). Watch our most recent radio interview example that explains how Sales Renewal grows client sales while sharing the risk and reward.
Visit http://www.SalesMemes.com every Friday to see the latest SalesMemes: the best and worst ideas to increase sales. See more #SmugMarketerSam and his colleagues #BadExecutionBob, #GoodExecutionErica, #HucksterHank, and #TrustworthyTom.
Growing Sales While Sharing Risk & Reward (video) – Sales Renewal JointSourcing
Watch Keith Loris, Sales Renewal’s president and C.E.O., explain how JointSourcing grows sales while sharing risk and reward during his Sept 3rd interview by Radio Entrepreneurs:
0:00 – 0:14 Introduction
0:15 – 3:45 Overview of JointSourcing’s general contractor and shared risk/reward model
3:46 – 4:54 Sales Renewal’s genesis
4:55 – 6:37Further explanation of JointSourcing
6:38 – 8:00All JointSourcing deals are exclusive
8:00 – 9:08What each party brings to the “joint venture table”
9:09 – 9:37What’s unique about JointSourcing?
9:38 – 12:05Explanation of 3-Step Blueprint/Build/Sell process
12:06 – 13:00The importance of ROI and Analytics
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Watch Keith Loris, Sales Renewal’s president and C.E.O., explain how JointSourcing grows sales while sharing risk and reward during his interview on 3 Sept. by Radio Entrepreneurs.
How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales: SalesMemes 48 – Doing Good Can Pay
Sales Renewal’s insight:
In a viral, Like-driven world, sometimes it pays to do good.
While we don’t suggest helping charities just to promote yourself, working on charitable projects can often yield surprising benefits for a company (extended reach, social capital, Likes & Follows). In Sales Renewal’s case, we’ve been working for two years with Kids Really Rock, a free, all-day music and festival for families in the Boston area. Learn more about this Oct 5, 2014 family event and the charity, Cradle to Crayons, it supports.
Check http://www.SalesMemes.com every Friday to see the latest SalesMemes: the best and worst ideas to increase sales. See more #GoodExecutionErica, and hercolleagues: #HucksterHank, #BadExecutionBob, #SmugMarketerSam and #TrustworthyTom.
Proud to Support Boston Kids Really Rock
Sales Renewal is a proud sponsor of Boston Kids Really Rock, the free, all-day family music and arts festival that will be held Sunday October 5, 2014. All event proceeds will benefit Cradles to Crayons.
Boston Kids Really Rock takes place at The Lawn on D outdoor arts space at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority in South Boston from 11am until 6pm. The event will expose kids to messages of kindness, community and creativity through performances by top kids musicians and bands, and hands-on arts and community service activities for families.
Website is Information Hub
Sales Renewal is supporting Kids Really Rock by donating its time to build and maintain the festival website and assist with event promotion. The website serves as an information hub for festival organizers, sponsors, and families. “Sales Renewal managed the website for the One Family Music Festival – the precursor to this event that took place in May 2013, ” says Keith Loris, President and CEO of Sales Renewal. “We’re pleased we have the opportunity to contribute in a similar fashion this year for Kids Really Rock.”
Free, Family-Friendly Festival Features Music & Fun
Headlining the event is Dan Zanes & Friends, a Grammy-winning musician who is considered the “crown prince of contemporary kids music.” Nationally-known Boston-based artists include: Alastair Moock & Friends, Mister G, Debbie & Friends, Ben Rudnick & Friends, Vanessa Trien & the Jumping Monkeys, Karen K & the Jitterbugs, and the Stacey Peasley Band. Kids Really Rock is expected to draw 2, 000 people and will be a featured event of ArtWeek Boston, a week-long festival highlighting the quality and diversity of the arts, culture and creative community of Greater-Boston.
Kids Really Rock is pleased to partner with Cradles to Crayons, a non-profit organization that provides children from birth to age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school, or at play. The event will feature a sock drive for Cradles to Crayons, and families who are able are asked to bring new socks to donate.
Top arts organizations in neighborhoods in and around Boston will lead special activities like: Kids Really Rock Fire Station run by the Boston Fire Department; Rock Star Photo booth and mural painting with award-winning Kidcasso Art Studio; Stuffed Animal Portraits with We Art Boston; Instrument Petting Zoo; interactive projects led by the Discovery Museum; Healthy Bodies, Healthy Heart Yoga; and much more. Food and refreshment will be provided by local vendors. Find out more about the festival here.
Sales Renewal’s press release is available here.
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Sales Renewal is a proud sponsor of Boston Kids Really Rock, the free, all-day family music and arts festival that will be held Sunday October 5, 2014. All event proceeds will benefit Cradles to Crayons. Team members donated their time and talents to building and running the event website, which serves as an information hub for festival organizers, sponsors, and families.
How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales: SalesMemes 43 – No, Really, It’s Your Fault
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Because your vendors always have your best interests at heart, right?
Finger pointing is not how Sales Renewal does things. From our business model-shared risk and reward-to how we work with clients-collaboratively-we’re into a win-win, collaborative model instead. As one client recently put it,
“Having two highly dedicated and bright teams (our own and Sales Renewal’s) responsible for this transformation has allowed us to deliver something far superior to what either team alone could have created.”
Read more about how we worked together in this intriguing case study: Client’s Collaboration with Sales Renewal Leads to New Strategies, Brand, Site, Marketing Programs and … a Blue Ribbon.
Check http://www.SalesMemes.com every Friday to see the latest SalesMemes: the best and worst ideas to increase sales. See more #HucksterHank, and his colleagues: #BadExecutionBob #GoodExecutionErica, #SmugMarketerSam and #TrustworthyTom.
15 Statistics That Illustrate Direct Mail’s Potential Power
15 statistics that show why direct marketing should be considered as an element of your marketing mix (complied by Compu-Mail):
- Direct mail continues to be used heavily, with a 43% share of total local retail advertising.
- Young adults, 24 years and younger, are among the most direct mail responsive.
- 92% of young shoppers say they prefer direct mail for making purchasing decisions.
- An International Communications Research survey found that 73% of consumers actually prefer mail over other advertising methods.
- 59% of U.S. respondents and 65% of Canadian respondents agreed with the following statement, “I enjoy getting postal mail from brands about new products.”
- 56% of customers find print marketing to be the most trustworthy type of marketing.
- 70% of Americans say mail is more personal than the internet.
- Personalized print media has a more powerful presence than a personalized email, because the audience can recognize that it takes more effort to customize print media than digital.
- 76% of small businesses say their ideal marketing strategy encompasses a combination of both print and digital communication.
- 40% of consumers try new businesses after receiving direct mail.
- U.S. advertisers spend $167 per person on direct mail to earn $2, 095 worth of goods sold; a 1, 300% return.
- 98% of consumers bring in their mail the day it’s delivered.
- Of these, 72% bring it in as soon as possible.
- 77% sort through their mail immediately.
- 48% of people retain direct mail for future reference
How to Grow, and NOT, Grow Sales: SalesMemes 47 Standing Out
Sales Renewal’s insight:
Reminds us of the Gary Larson penguin singing “I gotta be me”.
For more effective ideas about how to stand out in search results, check out Why Use Semantic Markup? Because Making Google Smarter Lets You Stand Out From the Competition.
Check http://www.SalesMemes.com every Friday to see the latest SalesMemes: the best and worst ideas to increase sales. See more #SmugMarketerSam, and his colleagues: #BadExecutionBob #GoodExecutionErica, #HucksterHank and #TrustworthyTom.