Using the information discussed in prior blogs written in May starting from Your Competitive Advantage Edge! through Tracking Your Strategy-The Writing on the Wall will provide valuable information that will allow you to have a complete understanding of a competitive analysis that will give solid insight into ways to increase targeted market share.

When compiling data for a market size, it should consist of the number of potential customers in the target market who meet your demographic study discussed earlier. This information, updated annually rather than monthly, is a comprehensive demographic study of your potential probable customer.

To gather the data for market growth, consider the average frequency of purchases for your type of product or service. Unless you have great market research that is readily available, estimate this information based on knowledge of the markets and common sense. In the exhibit industry, I would want to know how often my customer purchases an exhibit item and what they purchase in order to determine this demographic information. 

The next step is gathering market potential based on the first three steps in looking at your marketing exposure. Does your marketing reach someone in the target market? If so, the potential buying customer is exposed to your marketing message. 

“Now that key marketing indicators have been created, it is time to use metrics and evaluate information.” A great example is a direct mail piece that has been mailed to five thousand people. This would equate to creating five thousand exposures if all the addresses were known and correct. If done twice a year, there would be a creation of ten thousand exposures. Additionally, if an advertisement is run in the local business paper or magazine that reaches fifteen thousand of your target market customers, then you have created twenty-five thousand total exposures. If you continue to circulate twenty-five hundred newspaper inserts per week for four weeks, that would be another ten thousand exposures for a grand total of thirty-five thousand exposures to the target market potential customers.

This process is another form of lead generation. A lead is any person who has expressed interest in your business or its products and/or services by walking into your store or showroom, submitting an e-mail, responding to a direct mail or viral marketing piece, making a telephone inquiry indicating interest in your product and/or service, or filling out a call to action form on your Web site responding to a product and/or service inquiry. A lead is more valuable than a random member of the target market because the lead exhibited a motivation to buy and an interest in your product. 

By the time these leads to sales are converted, sales information was most likely collected. For the purpose of tracking the marketing strategy, you will need the exact number of sales transactions and the number of leads generated to calculate the true lead conversion rate (i.e., leads = appointments = presentations = closure = percent close ratio).

When compiling sales dollar totals, find this on the business financial statements or in sales reports in your accounting program. This information represents one type of marketing data most people can find fairly well, but having a true understanding is key to building a strong and financially stable business. Now that key marketing indicators have been created, it is time to use metrics and evaluate information. This allows you to keep informed of what the quantification efforts are for determining the accurate, objective, and ownership point of view of the business rather than the usual collection of random numbers with personal impressions on which most small business owners rely. This also allows you to know what the business is doing and what to do about it. It also allows a business to adapt to change because they are aware of business strategies and using metrics for quantifying the data.

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

DJ Heckes, Author & CEO
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com

The writing on the wall, sometimes referred to as the handwriting on the wall, is an expression of doom or misfortune. This expression originated out of the biblical book of Daniel where the supernatural writing foretold the demise of the Babylonian Empire. This phrase is widely used when warnings are clear, but one fails to take action. For example, when a company tracks the market size, market growth, market potential, and market coverage to determine what lead generation avenues should take place and then fails to track lead conversions and measure – they should beware! The writing may be on the wall! This does not have to happen if key marketing indicators have been put in place and measured along every marketing journey step.

Getting Started is About the Process

A great way to look at the key marketing indicators is to understand whether your marketing strategy is working or not. Evaluate the sales revenue in relation to the key marketing indicators listed below. If sales are up, it is working. If sales are down, it is not.

These indicators are the financial and non-financial measures or metrics used to help a business define and evaluate how successful it is. These are great indicators to measure the long-term company goals. Performance indicators such as these differ from business drivers and goals. While a school may consider the failure rate of its students as a key marketing indicator that 
may help the school understand its position in the educational community, a business may consider the percentage of income from return customers as a potential key marketing indicator to measure. When putting something like this in place, it is necessary for a company at least to identify the key environments for the key strategic indicators, which are:

1.   Having a predefined business plan or process 

2.   Knowing the requirements for the business plan or processes 

3.   Having a quantitative and qualitative measurement of the results and comparing with 
set goals 

4.   Investigating variances and tweaking processes or resources to achieve short-term goals

Some example key marketing indicators could be:

•     Customer-related numbers:
               - New customers acquired
               - Status of existing customers
               - Customer attrition
•     Turnover generated by known and evaluated marketing segments of the customers – these could also be demographic filters 
•     Outstanding balances held by marketing segments of customers and established terms of payment – these could be demographic filters 
•     Collection of bad debts within value-based customer relationships
•     Demographic analysis of individuals (potential customers) filling out applications to become customers, and levels of approval, rejections, and pending numbers
•     Delinquency analysis of account receivables
•     Profitability of customers by demographic segments – segmentation of customers by profitability 

Categorizing key marketing indicators (also known as key performance indicators) can prove expensive or difficult for some companies. For example, staff morale is difficult or near impossible to quantify. Often a business will research another business with a similar background and use the information as a benchmark to compare targets or standards to measure against. Some well-defined indicators listed on the previous page may be then summarized and put into subcategories.

•     Quantitative indicators – presented as a number or statistic 

•     Practical indicators – interface with existing company plans and processes

•     Directional indicators – specify if the company is getting better or not

•     Actionable indicators – the ability of a company to control or affect change

•     Financial indicators – performance measurements used when looking at financial data

Another example of some more defined key marketing indicators:

Market Size: Target market population
Market Growth: Target market changes
Market Potential: Business available from the Target Market with a maximum dollar value.
Market Coverage: Effective marketing activites that reach the Target Market.
Lead Generation: Quantity of motivated potential buying customers and the % of Target Market.
Lead Conversion: Quantity and the % of leads converted to sales.
Market Share: Market share of business in the Target Market.
Average Sales: The dollar amount of each average sale.
 
To be effective in the marketing strategy research, measure this information monthly and commit to consistency. Doing this more often may skew the information. There are too many daily variances to get a clear picture and understanding of the underlying dynamics of your market and business practices if you look at the information on a daily or weekly basis.

Monitoring the information above will tell you what is and is not working in the marketing strategy. You will know if the market is growing or decreasing and discover how much business is out there for you and the competitors. You will know if the advertising and other integrated marketing communications are bringing in sufficient numbers of qualified leads for potential buying customers. You will be able to determine if the market coverage needs to be increased or not and if your salespeople are effectively converting leads into customers. You will understand the trends of the business and will be able to spot areas that need more attention.

DJ Heckes, Author & CEO
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com
Full BRAIN Marketing
www.fullbrainmarketing.com

Many companies focus so much on how to build revenue that they lose sight of how to make revenue through giving back to the community and building an awareness campaign or through donating to a cause for awareness to build revenue.

When making business decisions of how to thrive in a downturn or stalled economy, be sure to focus on giving back to the community and creating awareness of how your company supports causes. Brand your company as a full resource center to help businesses stay profitable in a downturn or stalled economy. Be the resource for services others no longer have staff to support. Listen to the customers, walk in their shoes, and develop a marketing message and overall company strategy to meet customer needs.

One thing my business has done in the local community is implement an annual EXHIB-IT! B2B Networking Event. This event started with the grand opening of our new location on June 11, 2008. The grand opening turned into a large networking event with over four hundred  attendees, including many of the local chambers, organizations, political officials, and business owners in the community. In turn, we gave away a FREE exhibit display valued at $1,200 to a selected nonprofit organization and unveiled the giveaway at the event. This event was such a success because of the marketing strategies implemented. Since that time, we have incorporated an annual branded EXHIB-IT! B2B Networking Event that is marketed as the “Pay It Forward” community service event. We solicit nonprofits to fill out an application which is reviewed and judged for one of the applicants to receive a free display. See link:http://www.exhib-it.com/pages/nonprofit_app.html

We ask the nonprofit organizations to set out their overall marketing strategy and how the new exhibit display would benefit their nonprofit organization. The applications are judged by different off-site organizations, and one nonprofit is selected as the winner of the display each year based on the criteria set out in the application. In 2009, we expanded our community commitment by adding a silent auction at the event with donations from various businesses around the state, with all the proceeds donated to a selected nonprofit organization each year. This has garnered both local and national press for the nonprofit organizations as well as our company.

This is one example of how to become more involved in your community, show that you are truly connected to your community, and be known as a pay it forward leader. This not only shows a true commitment, but it also demonstrates sustainability and that you can grow your business network. As you apply the principles presented in this book, you will learn to be a marketing innovator as well and when people experience the difference they will refer business to you and your business growth will pick up.

The biggest DO in marketing for the small business is to get a strategy in place to drive sales, profits, and growth. It’s a blanket answer that applies to any business, anytime, anywhere. When the buyers of your products and services are really struggling, it becomes even more apparent that your marketing efforts need to have pinpoint accuracy in terms of who you are talking to, what you are talking about, and when to get them to pledge their patronage and loyalty to your brand and not somebody else’s brand.

Instant association, also known as pre-emptive persuasion, is a process of establishing a link in the customer’s mind between your product or service and the emotional gratification they are seeking. When the need or desire surfaces with a potential customer, your company name is the link in their mind.

A successful brand is the most valuable resource a company has. In fact, many brand authorities speculate that brands are so valuable that companies will include a “statement of value” addendum to their balance sheets to include intangibles such as the value of their brands. 

Brands are used as external cues to qualify for prestige, taste, design, value and so forth. In other words, consumers associate the value of a product with the brand. For example, the value of Coca-cola, Kodak, Nike, Sony, and Toyota is indisputable. One estimate of the value of Coca-cola, the world’s most valuable brand, places it at over $68.7 Million. (See video chart below and video for resources.) In doing some research online, I came across Bloomberg Businessweek “The 100 Best Global Brands 2009” (http://feedroom.businessweek.com/?fr_story=d848bd8c8fdfad532b8b4e43e4c5781f7acd5ce8) and Interbrand that published the 100 Best Global Brands. (http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx) 


Both web sites state that the top brands endured, even though 2009 was a tough year. They managed to weather the storm admirably. Coca-cola managed to rank #1. The companies that made the list all had one thing in common-trust. Consumers took issues with companies online and the top companies handled negative publicity instantly and responded online quickly to complaints, issues, etc. 

 


Here is The Top 10 out of the 100 Best Global Brands listed. To view all 100, visit:
 http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx). 

Brand Origin ($m)Value Change (+/-)

1. Coca Cola United States $68, 734 +3%
2. IBM United States $60,211 +2%
3. Microsoft United States $56, 647 -4%
4. GE United States $47,777 -10%
5. Nokia Finland $34,864 -3%
6. McDonald's United States $32,275 +4%
7. Google United States $31,980 +25%
8. Toyota Japan $31,330 -8%
9. Intel United States $30,636 -2%
10. Disney United States $28,447 -3%

Trust is now at the center of every company’s marketing strategy. How does your brand create value to a customer? Why do certain brands have more value than others? Naturally, companies with such strong brands strive to use those brands globally. Leverage your personal brand: What's the least expensive, yet most effective form of marketing? Word-of-mouth referrals from friends, family, customers, of course! 

We're all busy and are working faster and harder for the instant recognition. Honestly, we forget to recommend even those companies we know, like and trust. So, to get more referrals, you need to get those you know to remember you and keep talking about you-despite & during their hectic day-to-day busy schedules. 

So what do you do to try to achieve your brand recognition and instant association? First - a consistency of ad copy will go a long way. It is a proven fact that it takes 5 to 7 exposures to a print or online ad before someone may look further. If you change your ad copy every time you post it, people will not identify with your ad. 

If you use the same ad in many different places, people will start to identify with it, and may ultimately take a further look. But that of course raises a dilemma. How do you know if you have a good ad that will draw, or one that needs to be changed? 

Some great instant brand association examples would be:

 • When we need a soft tissue, we think Kleenex®, and the emotional gratification would be a soft tissue that will help us with a runny nose. 
• When we are looking for an action sport name and hear the saying, “Just Do It,” we recall Nike, and the emotional gratification may be that we take action and get it done. 
• When we hear the saying, “You’re in Good Hands with Allstate,” we recall Allstate Insurance Company, and the emotional gratification may be feeling safe with this insurance. 
• When we need to use bleach, we recall Clorox®, and the emotional gratification would be that we know it is a great disinfectant and will get the area clean. 
• If we need a good window cleaner, we recall Windex®, and the emotional gratification is that we know it cleans the windows effectively and we will have clean windows. 
• If we need an aspirin, we think “Bayer® Works Wonders” – Bayer® Aspirin, and the emotional gratification may be that we remember hearing that aspirin also keeps the doctor away as a reducer to heart attacks. 
• If we hear, “How do you Spell Relief?” we think ROLAIDS®, and the emotional gratification is relief of stomach pain and aches. The customer can read any emotional gratification through a perceived message. In each of the seven examples above, there is a direct link with the emotional gratification sought by the customer. They can rely on the product in their perceived mind. 

When customers identify your product or company name with an emotional gratification response, the brand name becomes the name of the product type in the minds of customers. Think of FedEx®, UPS®, Kleenex®, Xerox®, and Jell-O®. All these names are brands, but the names are interchangeable with the product. 

In order to establish an instant association or pre-emptive persuasion, my company has branded one of our services as being the resource center for marketing seminars. We provide free monthly seminars on a consistent and systematic basis. When our local customers hear marketing strategy seminars, they think of EXHIB-IT! Their emotional gratification is that they have a professional development seminar they can attend on a consistent basis to help grow their business without the hassle of being sold to while here. We have marketed and provided a systematic delivery of free monthly seminars and have speakers booked well into late spring 2012. 

DJ Heckes
Author & CEO 
EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts 
www.exhib-it.com 
Full BRAIN Marketing 
www.fullbrainmarketing.com

Leadership positioning, also known as prestige identification, is used if your products are the best, most respected, or if you are the proven sales leader. 

Before your customers can get to know you, it's important to first know yourself and your company's vision and mission in the marketplace. In today's highly hyper-competitive environment, it isn't enough to simply say, "I own an exhibit business." You must define the type of exhibit business you own. Are you a walk in business for everyone with wall to wall exhibit choices and information that can easily be identified and the same products purchased at other exhibit businesses? Or do you specialize in unique products or services, thus attracting those people who demand more than what they can purchase on the Internet that are unique and not readily available at other locations or maybe it is the added value they see and feel? 

Having distinct product attributes can deliver a promise of some special status. In the customer’s mind, you must be able to make a legitimate claim to being number one in some important aspect and deliver that promise. 

A good example of this would be if you are a hospital claiming that you are number one in the state. You may have a large billboard and many printed materials supporting this statement, but can you prove the claim with statistics or award recognition? Basic principles must be applied when making marketing messages about “being number one” and it is the responsibility of the person doing the advertising to conduct truthful and non-deceptive advertising. 

Back in the early days, I had a marketing statement that listed us as the “Largest Rental Exhibit Provider in New Mexico.” I had a competitor challenge me on this. When I first opened my business, I did a competitive analysis of what was offered in New Mexico and EXHIB-IT! was, in fact, the largest rental provider in the state. We actually had over fifty exhibit rentals and could rent at any given time without having to go our manufacturer or other sources to provide the rental products. Support claims made to build credibility and market those results. 

To be sure you are a thought leader and forward thinker in your industry, research these things in your own industry to define who you are in the market place. 

• Describe how your industry has changed in the last 5 years. 
• Describe the changes you expect to see in the next 12 months in your industry. 
• Describe the changes you expect to see in the next 5 years in your industry. 
• Become familiar and up to date about any regulations on marketing in your industry. 
• Describe the perceived standards of customer service in your industry. 
• Describe the perceived standards of technology in your industry. 
• Describe the perceived standards of product quality in your industry. 
• Describe the perceived standards in sales & marketing in your industry. 
• How does your business compare to these industry standards? 
• Customer Service? 
• Technology? 
• Product Quality?
• Sales & Marketing? 
 • What are businesses in your industry required to guarantee? 

 When you are done reviewing this data, and then conclude with: 

• List 3 things that you can not confidently guarantee today, that you would love to be able to guarantee and focus on this. 
• What is the one thing, if you could guarantee it that would make you the market leader? (For example, a news agent that guarantees      to sell you a winning lottery ticket every time?) 
• In an ideal world, what would you like your customers to see as the main point of difference between you and your competitors? 

Now you are ready to write your company’s unique selling proposition, also known as USP, that has a guarantee, or more than one guarantee, that also delivers a compelling reason to do business with your company with some type of guarantee or experience based on the customer feedback you receive from listening. Once this has been accomplished, be sure the entire company has the same buy in to the guarantee and the message is communicated from the owner, managers, to the face-to-face employees who engage with the customers on a daily basis. 

DJ Heckes, 
Author & CEO EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
www.exhib-it.com 
Full BRAIN Marketing 
www.fullbrainmarketing.com 

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