Newsletter Archive

Welcome to the latest edition of Stratamar, inc.'s periodic newsletter. While recent events domestically and abroad have cast a major pall across the country, my family and friends in New York City are adamant that we all have to make a special effort to get back to normal (whatever that means now). Otherwise, the terrorists win. We agree, and hope that this delayed newsletter does not seem inappropriate to you. If it does, please accept our apologies.

PLANNING FOR 2002

Although Columbus Day is barely behind us, retail stores are fully decked out with their Christmas displays. That means it is time to solidify your 2002 plans. Why so early? Well, here are some key things to keep in mind:

• most competent, well-executed marketing tactics take at least 6-8 weeks to scope out, conceive, develop, and launch. Even if you start the process today, the benefit for the rest of 2001 will be minimal. But, today's planning lets you hit the ground running in January, when many companies will have stalled and just be starting to discuss their tactics for the new year.
• your competition is still lying low. Even maintaining your marketing at year-ago levels will make it seem as if you're dominating your niche.
• ad spending is still sluggish, and real (not posted) rates are generally down from last year. Lock them in now for all of 2002…even if you only commit to 50% of your normal space, you'll have substantial savings.
• Congress and President Bush will pass an economic stimulus package before too much more time elapses - neither wants to risk the blame for a bad economy when control of Congress is up for grabs in just 13 months. Recent events will just accentuate that perception and demands for economic stimulus.

BUSINESS MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Are you in need of some fun networking, business-to-business marketing advice, or general marketing education? Check out the Business Marketing Association for resources. Plus, if you're located near most major cities, local chapters have regular meetings with guest speakers and activities. You can connect with the web site of your local chapter via the National BMA's URL listed above.

For those of you located in the Columbus metro area, I hope to see you at our next meeting: Tuesday, November 13th, starting at 5:30 at the Embassy Suites at Corporate Exchange. Check out the Chapter's scheduled activities and sign up for our email reminders.

TARGETING

I've been to New York City twice in recent weeks to visit my son and daughter, and saw a message targeting scheme I'd heard was introduced in Boston earlier this year. Certain NYC taxicabs can now be programmed with multiple electronic messages for their rooftop advertising displays. Combined with a built-in GPS (Global Positioning System), the cab can then display an ad based on the section of town in which it is at any given moment.

For example, in Midtown an ad might flash for a new Broadway play just opening. If the cab's next trip takes it to Greenwich Village, the ad might feature a hot new jazz club. Or, when called to Astoria, the ad for a restaurant chain might change from English to Greek or Arabic.

Why is this relevant to you? Only because the cost of developing multiple messages, and of maintaining the database to allocate them optimally, is rapidly declining. It costs little extra to tailor your letter/flier/email to each customer's or prospect's buying history, Standard Industrial Classification, family status, or similar attribute. Not only will the message seem more relevant, but the likelihood of additional sales increases dramatically because the message's appeal is more personal.

In the online world, it is rapidly getting to the point where the messages on your web site or in your emails almost have to be tailored to each individual visitor if you want to keep them coming back.

RETRIEVING EMAIL REMOTELY

Speaking of my trip to New York, here's a very useful web site I'm glad my wife found just before our trips:
http://www.mail2web.com

It's an easy, free means of retrieving your email when you're away. All you need is your email address and the password that your ISP requires to allow access to your email account, and you can pull your messages from afar. It also seems to work more easily than forwarding your email to hotmail.com or another net-accessible proxy email location.

TRADE SHOWS

We've received many comments recently, both personally and in the trade press, about major declines in trade show attendance between 2000 and 2001. In fact, we've also seen several national shows cancelled recently. Any reasonable person would expect the trend to accelerate for at least a few months as the aftereffects of the World Trade Center attacks continue.

You can argue either position you want based on the attendance decline. Some attendees see the trend as positive, contending that browsers are no longer attending the "junkets", and the remaining crowds are those who are truly interested. Thus, exhibitors deal with fewer but more serious attendees, and attendees have lesser crowds competing for the limited time of exhibitors. Alternatively, you can argue that the high costs of exhibiting at trade shows, combined with declining electronic promotion costs, are eroding the usefulness of trade shows as a promotional tool.

Whatever your feelings, the facts re-emphasize the need to have a well-conceived plan for your trade shows. If you're there as an attendee, take advantage of the reduced crowd to spend more time at exhibits, ask more targeted questions of the reps, and get the information to make your trip truly worthwhile.

If you're exhibiting, research the registrants beforehand. Make sure they all know you'll be exhibiting, what the benefits are of your product/service, and where to find you (especially important in the Javitts or McCormick Centers). Give them an incentive (something everybody gets, not just another contest entry) for visiting your booth. Increase the ante for those attendees who are your best prospects with a two-part incentive (e.g. mail them one bookend before the show, and supply the matching one when they visit your booth). If need be, track them down at the show lest they get away. Just as importantly, make sure your booth is sufficiently staffed - Incomm Research indicates that 58% of booth visitors will NOT wait more than one minute for sales assistance.

The bottom line: have a good game plan to make sure your trade show costs aren't wasted.

MINI-SHOTS

It's time again to re-visit your web site, and adjust it based on your changing visitor profiles, altered search engine algorithms, and revisions in your business goals. If your site hasn't been changed in the past month, its effectiveness is starting to erode. If you haven't touched it in three months or more, it's now close to worthless as a promotional tool.

To save money in this year of tight cash, arrange some cross promotions with related, but non-competitor, companies. A fireplace screen manufacturer might co-promote with a real estate agency. Or, a temp agency can co-promote outsourcing solutions with an ASP developer. As long as you pay at least something towards the fixed costs of your partner's promotion (and his/her target market is in synch with yours), both parties benefit.

If you own an internet domain, make sure that you have a default email "bucket" into which incoming emails are placed if they are not specifically addressed to a bona fide email address within your company. For example, while I have several specific email accounts set up at Stratamar (info@stratamar.com, sales@stratamar.com, neilbrown@stratamar.com, etc.), I also have a bucket into which miscellaneous @stratamar.com emails go. Sure, I get a lot of spam in it, but I also periodically catch emails with misspelled addresses (nielbrown@stratamar.com). Without this default bucket, these misspelled emails would bounce back to the sender. Instead, I've caught several sales leads this way. Check with your web hosting company - a good number of this newsletter's recipients (including at least one email marketing company) do not have such a default account.

NEED HELP OR HAVE A QUESTION?

Of course, there's no way we could let an entire newsletter go by without one bold, self-serving pitch. We're here to be your marketing experts whenever you need it, whether it's for an entire project or just a few hours to give a fresh perspective on a situation. We've recently completed projects for new approaches in online banking, non-profit fund raising, software marketing, and education, and we'd love to put some of that expertise to work for you. Even if you just have a question you'd like to discuss, or see addressed in the next newsletter, email or call us at your convenience.

Have a safe and happy November.

Neil Brown, President
Stratamar, inc.
neilbrown@stratamar.com
614 946-4614

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