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Blog posts tagged events
Attention grabbing: How to get your product noticed
January 24, 2011
If, like me, you are a product person, then I think it’s safe to assume you spend a healthy amount of time thinking about how your product can make an impact on its market.
At Actinic, we are pretty lucky as we have a sizable user base, but it wasn’t always the way. Plus, I have never met a product company that doesn’t want more users.
So here are my top ten tips for making a big splash:
1. Get to the influencers
Every industry has a set of influencers. Get to them, demo your product or offer early access if you are yet to launch. An interesting tip I picked up is to look at those that write books about your space, contact the authors and the people that are quoted on the back and get them on board.
2. Become active in the community
You need to become the face of your product in relevant online communities — everything from social networks to discussion groups. If you’re not the authority for your product then someone else will be.
3. Go to industry events
Get out of the office and away from the desk. Nothing beats good old-fashioned networking and many events are free to attend.
4. Make business cards work harder
Seriously, business cards are not dead. In my opinion they are the most powerful marketing tool available and considerably more acceptable to hand out at events. The premise of the double-sided card is simple; one side has your contact info, the other a short description of your product. But avoid marketing BS at all costs.
5. Comment on the competition
A great tip I picked up at a conference last year is to search for comparisons between your competitors. If your space is reasonably mature you’ll find everything from reviews to blog posts. Why not include a comment while pointing out how your product is different from those being discussed?
6. Generate a marketing kit
I am amazed at how few companies in the tech space still offer a marketing kit. It’s one of the most useful tools a marketer can provide. Think about how you can condense all of your information into a concise PDF or simple HTML site. Include interesting information, case studies/testimonials, product details, market statistics etc.
7. Blog, Tweet, Facebook update
It all makes a difference and remember no one likes a constant stream of “why you’re the best”. Mix things up, be interesting.
8. Don’t forget PPC
Pay-Per-Click advertising is the long-established method of getting eyes on the prize. The reason for this is simple — it works. Google and Bing ads are the obvious starting place but don’t forget about Facebook, where you can target a campaign based on people’s interests and demographics.
9. Get listed
Think about Linkedin, Crunchbase, Mashable and others — they are often free. There are loads of business directories, make sure you’re in all of them.
10. Delight your customers
Cliché I know, but if your current customers are not raving about your product or service then I doubt the new ones you’re trying to attract will be either. Also no-one sells a product better than an existing, happy user.
Benjamin Dyer is an expert contributor to IT Donut and director of product development for ecommerce specialist Actinic.
How do you get people to book on a workshop?
November 25, 2010
I’ll be honest, getting 20-30 people to put their hands in their pockets and book on your workshop isn’t easy. In addition to persuading people that it’s a good idea, and that it’ll be a good investment of their time and money, those people also have to be available on the day you’ve chosen to run your workshop. And it’s that third dimension that adds a certain extra pressure to marketing workshops.
You need to market to an even wider net of people than you might if you were selling a product or service (which could be enjoyed at any time), because a good proportion of people that think it’s a good idea, and are even willing to spend the money, will find that they can’t make the date you’ve picked (for whatever reason). So just how do you market your workshop or seminar in a way that will help it sell out without causing you an embolism in the lead up to the event?
1. Get yourself a database
Your database is your goldmine when it comes to booking workshops and seminars. If you’ve been marketing your business properly (you have been sending out emails and newsletters haven’t you?) then these people already know who you are, they know that you know what you’re talking about, and they probably know that they’d enjoy your workshop. You can then use this list of warm leads to market your workshops to. “Buying one in” by the way doesn’t count. They need to be warm leads. Don’t have one? Run a competition with some friendly people in your industry to give away a place on the next workshop and get building yourself one. There are still plenty of other things you can do in the absence of a database.
2. Get allies
Buddy up with people in your industry who will help you market the event – either just for the love of it, or in return for some cold, hard cash. We recently worked with a wedding planner who didn’t have a database as her business was only a couple of months old. We recommended she ask wedding dress shops, wedding bloggers and her twitter friends to help her promote the event along with any friendly media.
3. Get it in the media
Use your PR charms to get your event published – online blogs, forums and event sites are great; newspapers and magazines even better. And after the event try and get a write up – why not invite a journo along for free?
4. Use social media to raise awareness
Tweet it, put it on LinkedIn as an event and invite your contacts, add it to social networking forums, your Facebook fan page and sites like Ecademy.
5. Blog around the topic to get people thinking
In June, I ran a Blogging Workshop with Tom Evans. Between us we managed to get 28 paying bums on seats. That’s much harder than it sounds. It was a huge help to have two of us promoting the same workshop but the other thing that really helped was my “blog campaign”. About six weeks before the event, I started blogging about blogging – how it benefits your business, how to generate comments, how to gain readers and so on. It raised peoples’ awareness and meant they were much more receptive to the workshop.
6. Make the topic of your newsletter the topic of your workshop the month before
If I’m running a Marketing Planning Workshop in December (which I am, by the way, spot the shameless plug!) then I’ll start blogging marketing planning type stories now (ooops! note to self) and I’ll also ensure that this is the topic of my newsletter for November.
7. It takes three emails to sell out a workshop
That’s in my experience anyway. So I email six weeks before, four weeks before and two weeks before. You might find it takes more or less time depending on the size of your database, the number of workshops you’re offering and the subject of the workshop.
8. Don’t rely on online alone
Write to people, call them, invite them and tell people about it at networking events. Use the feedback from people to improve your copy and make sure you’ve answered all their worries and reservations.
Now there must be more tricks to it than that. What other tricks do you employ to get your workshops sold?
Fiona Humberstone is an expert contributor to Marketing Donut and managing director of Flourish.
Exposing the myths about being an entrepreneur
November 12, 2010
It’s Global Entrepreneurship Week this week and, now in its third year, the event is bigger than ever.
Global Entrepreneurship Week is all about inspiring and galvanizing would-be entrepreneurs and supporting them with training and mentors.
Here in the UK, we do need a bit of a kick up the backside it seems. While research show that over fifty per cent of us think we’ve got what it takes to run a business, only 5.8 per cent of us are in the process of setting up in business right now. That might sound a lot – it does to me – but compare that to eight per cent in the United States and a whopping 19 per cent in China.
So what’s stopping us?
The organisers of Global Entrepreneurship Week believe that five myths about setting up in business create significant stumbling blocks for would-be entrepreneurs. They are hoping to blow these myths wide open this week:
- Entrepreneurs are born and not made
- Entrepreneurship is a solo activity
- There is a stereotype of a typical entrepreneur
- Entrepreneurship is only about profit
- You need lots of money to start a business.
These so-called myths are part of the age-old debate about what makes an entrepreneur. But the fact is that, like it or not, the very word does conjour up a stereotype – the maverick inventor like James Dyson, the business pioneer like Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the empire builder like Richard Branson.
Sadly, there seems to be a consensus that you can’t be called an entrepreneur unless you’ve proved yourself by making your millions. And increasingly, you have to be famous too. In other words, you have to be a business A-lister.
And yet it is the continual innovating, risk-taking and sheer grafting of anyone that sets up a business that should earn them the title entrepreneur.
Like many such events, Global Entrepreneurship Week is being supported by a host of entrepreneurial A-listers, headed by Dragon Peter Jones. But what’s great is that it is also very much on the ground, with 36,000 events in the UK alone and business people of all kinds offering their services as mentors.
So let’s hope this week does kick-start a new era of entrepreneurship – one that embraces businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Why being a business celebrity is the best way to stand out in your market
October 13, 2010
Being a Business Celebrity is all about using YOU as the point of difference in your business. Instead of thinking up a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) I’m saying you use what you already have — a PSP (Personality Selling Proposition).
A successful business needs personality and visibility. Having a clear business personality means you will always stand out in a crowd.
The world is changing – people are buying from people and social media has blurred the boundaries of business and personal.
You need to tell and share your story. You need to BE your story. You are your business, and if your business is big enough you need to bring out ALL the personalities in your business and use them.
Once you understand and accept that you are what makes your business, you’re able to be bolder, less afraid to stand out in a crowd and you can create loyal fans.
I’ve set out six steps to being a business celebrity. You can follow these in order (and repeat four and five over and over!) and you’ll have a personality-led marketing plan.
- Know your personality, and realise it’s all you need to succeed. Know what is authentic to you and what sets you apart — and believe it!
- Find out exactly what makes you unique, what is going to set you apart from the competition. Look at your experience, approach, ideas, hobbies and loves. Find out who you are and define the unique detail.
- Define what your business personality looks and feels like. What does your business personality look and feel like in words, colours, pictures, clothes and media.
- Tell everyone about you. Share your story. Convey and communicate your personality – whether you film it, blog it, write it, or present it — make it your way, authentic to who you are.
- Plug your personality into your business. This is the heart of the marketing plan. Use your website, online marketing, social media, networking, speaking, PR and more — to turn personality into business results.
- Use the power of celebrity to draw people to you. When you’re a celebrity it means you’re not a commodity any more. You aren’t the same as everyone else. YOU bring something different. So you can charge what you choose, work in the way you want to, and with the people you want to. You are known and sought after – that’s the “pull” of a celebrity, not the “push” of a promotional campaign.
If you want to know more about how to use the six steps to being a business celebrity – get the free download with more detail, examples and actions to take for each step here.
Lucy Whittington is an expert contributor to Marketing Donut.
Should you run workshops for your customers?
September 29, 2010
I started running marketing workshops for my customers back in January 2007 and I haven’t looked back since. Each workshop has helped me to develop relationships with my customers, find new customers, demonstrate my expertise and most importantly, help my clients grow their businesses.
Some workshops have been easy to fill, others harder. And whilst no one could say that they’ve been easy money, I’ve made a great profit out of each and every one of them and generated significant amounts of business after the event from the delegates in the room. You could say that I’ve had such a good experience with them that I’ve become quite evangelical about running them! In fact, I recommend that many of my clients run them for their customers too.
But many of the business owners I speak to can’t quite get to grips with the idea of running a workshop. They know it’s a good idea, but they get that sort of glazed look in their eyes when I mention it, and I can see them thinking “Just agree with her and she’ll stop pushing you”. But I can see that for most business owners, running a workshop is scary.
So why wouldn’t you run a workshop? Why might it be a bad idea? Well having done a bit of a brainstorm, I have a few theories.
Firstly I think people are scared. “Who do I think I am to run a workshop on X, Y or Z”. They’re worried about being lynched by their competitors for daring to put themselves out there as an authority on the subject. But you can’t run your business for the benefit of your competitors. You have to do what’s right for you, your business and your customers. If you think that you have some knowledge that will help your customers, why not share it?
I also think they’re worried about being “found out”. Found out by their customers for not being the world authority on their subject. Worried about having someone in the room who knows more than them. Worried about looking like a fool.
Well you know what? Maybe there will be someone in the room who knows more than you. Unless you’re a professor in your subject, the chances are that you don’t know it all. But if you’re clear about what you are good at and who this workshop is for, you will add value to your delegates and you won’t look like a fool. I promise.
People are also worried about no-one coming. Selling 20 spaces on a workshop is not easy. Even if people tell you it’s a good idea to run a workshop on the subject of your choice, getting those people to commit financially and making sure they’re available on the day isn’t easy. It takes skill, tenacity and organisation to fill a workshop. And that puts people off. Either they’ve tried it and had their fingers burnt, or the sheer scale of what they need to do puts them off.
Having filled workshops and conferences for more than three years now I know how tough it is. But I promise you that the benefits far outweigh the hard work.
Legislation? For or Against?
September 15, 2010
I attend all sorts of events, personally and professionally. Inevitably I am asked what it is I do. I mention that I help individuals and businesses ensure their employees are aware of, and know how to apply current legislation when planning and managing an event.
The majority response is “Oh, you mean health and safety. Don’t you think it’s gone too far!” Often this statement is presented with an eyeball roll and a loud tut!
As my first blog with Marketing Donut, I thought I would take the opportunity to answer that question here.
The laws affecting events are not just health and safety. Clearly, that subject matter is the most high profile, followed closely by data protection but it also includes copyright, licensing, working time regulations and so on.
So, has legislation gone too far?
I have been working in events since the eighties. I have witnessed incidents and accidents (mainly) during set-up and break-down that should have been avoidable. It is only because of the response of emergency services that I was not witness to a young man dying. And that image has stayed with me for more than 20 years.
I know of at least six serious vehicle crashes that were probably caused by tired drivers who had been working all day and were then required to drive hundreds of miles to get home. And I know someone who got run over by a portable toilet on a show site!
I have witnessed delegate lists, including passport details, being thrown into a bin. And have seen copyright laws broken again and again.
I also know that in the nineties insurers were setting aside huge sums for injuries to event visitors. Around £5,000 if someone tripped and bruised their rear, between £15,000 and £25,000 for a knock to the head and up to £250,000 for a serious limb break. Insurance premiums went sky-high for the whole industry. Thankfully, the insurers started fighting back so the payouts now are more realistic.
So what has legislation made happen that was not being done before? For those that run their business without applying the laws, it has done nothing. These individuals assume the responsibility belongs to another person. They clearly do not believe anything untoward will ever happen, and if it did it wouldn’t be their fault.
If you are a business owner, don’t just purchase a folder full of policies and file it away. Get hold of the information and work out how it can benefit you and your business. Ensure all of your employees understand and embrace it too.
And what if you don’t? Keep your fingers crossed. Carry your lucky rabbits foot. Hunt around for that four leaf clover. And hope that you, your employees, your suppliers, your clients or members of the public don’t have an accident at your event.
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