Synergy Through Outsourced Marketing

Posted on September 23, 2011 by

Sometimes, Boston advertising agencies can appear to be a dime a dozen. There are Boston web development companies, and Boston SEO (Search Engine Optimization) companies these days as well, and these firms can also tend to blend together as a homogenous field of companies all offering the same services for around the same prices. But marketing isn’t about being the same. It’s about pointing out those key differences that make an individual company or provider stand out. If an ad agency cannot do that for itself, what does that say about its ability to do that for its clients?

Another problem is that many of these companies over-specialize. For example, a Boston web development firm may create fantastic websites, but if that company only does websites and doesn’t handle any other marketing efforts, then small business owners also have to hire a marketing or advertising company as well as an SEO expert. And then who is left handling the project management? Ensuring that the work of these three entities is complementary? That it all flows well together and provides a unified image? No one. No one, or the small business owner him or herself, and that is both inefficient and counter-productive.

Still, for companies everywhere, not solely in Boston, SEO efforts are no longer optional. Websites must be optimized to increase search engine rankings. And of course, for any company that truly wants to make it in Boston, web development is essential and must blend seamlessly with all other marketing elements. The best way to have cohesive marketing, web development, and SEO efforts all boils down to one word: synergy.

Finding a company that is different from most Boston advertising agencies, that brings together advertising, marketing, SEO, and web development all under one roof, is not as difficult as it may seem. Outsourced marketing departments accomplish offer all of these services, creating a synergy wherein the sum impact of their services is far greater than that of the individual parts because it’s all managed in a uniform, coordinated manner. The web developers work with the SEO experts and content providers to get websites developed and written collaboratively, saving time and money. The marketing experts work with vendors, writers, and graphic designers to create cohesive branding and advertising pieces. Everyone collaborates, and the client wins. That’s synergy.

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How Service Providers Improve Customer Satisfaction With A CMMS

Posted on August 24, 2011 by

Field and Service Providers everywhere are concerned with improved scheduling and response times, controlling costs, getting paid faster and improving billing accuracy – all while ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction.

The cost of acquiring a new customer is consistently higher than the cost of retaining a current customer. Therefore, maintaining the highest customer satisfaction with service tracking software will prove financially beneficial to any maintenance department. CMMS systems have many features that can improve satisfaction levels including managing and providing updates on of work requests, automatically assigning work requests to available maintenance employees and tracking them to successful completion.

Maintenance program software allows an unlimited number of designated customers to enter work requests and receive automatic status alerts that detail if the request is approved, rejected or completed. This provides improved communications and allows the maintenance department to schedule and plan each request in a timely manner. Service requests can also be sorted by customer, priority, region, problem type, or other user-customizable filters. With current CMMS and enterprise asset management technologies, customer satisfaction has been known to improve up to 65%.

Powerful scheduling tools let you provide the highest level of customer satisfaction and ensure that all contracted work is performed on time. This will reduce the number of instances that a customer will have a negative maintenance experience or issue that requires a call back. With a CMMS, Service Providers can calculate response time and completion rates, track performance, and provide customers with greater visibility into their performance and response levels. Any information that is given to customers can increase trust and communication, allowing for greater customer retention.

With historical tracking of contracts, vendor information, location, work request history, repair costs and who did the work, every technician within the maintenance department has a searchable knowledge-base to ensure customer success in the present and future.

An additional benefit of service tracking and asset management software is the ability to view all labor and material charges for work performed. This historical information can eliminate client questions around billing due to the point and click access to all labor and material costs at the customer level and the ability to access the system on mobile and laptop devices.

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Marketing Lessons From Hoosiers

Posted on February 17, 2011 by lelybie13

Ever heard of “Pistol” Pete Maravich, the legendary basketball star lauded by the basketball Hall of Fame as “perhaps the greatest offensive talent in history”?

Though his basketball career ended in 1980, he is still the all-time leading NCAA Division I scorer with an average of 44.2 points per game.

Pete had so many tricks up his sleeve it’s a wonder he could even lift his arm to shoot.

He dazzled crowds with fancy shots and head fakes. Left jaws hanging with impossible, behind-the-back and between-the-legs passes. Amazed fans with his sizzling dribbling acrobatics.

Now get this: In 10 years as a professional basketball player, he never won a championship. In fact, in five seasons with the New Orleans Jazz his team never had a winning record.

It takes more than flash to win, and to win consistently.

Contrast Pistol Pete to Coach Norman Dale’s team in the movie “Hoosiers.” Coach Dale, given a small squad of scrubs, is obsessive about the fundamentals of the game.

He’s unimpressed with offensive flash and drills his team on defense instead. He knows their best chance is to play as a team. He institutes a rule that they must pass at least five times on every offensive possession before taking a shot.

His unorthodox, slow, and fundamental style clashes with the team members and townspeople, who want him to “just let the boys play.”

But after submitting to his discipline and nailing the fundamentals, the team turns around. And when they’re joined by star player Jimmy Chitwood, they start “firing on all pistons” and eventually win the championship as underdogs.

Yes, Jimmy gave them much-needed scoring power. But their core strength was in the fundamentals.

Business owners and marketers can learn a lot from their example.

Focus on the Fundamentals

It’s fun and exciting to get caught up in “cutting-edge” marketing tools and tactics: Flash websites, mobile marketing, advanced social media strategies, “creative” ads and videos, etc.

Any of these can play a role in your marketing strategy, but they can never take the place of fundamentals. Your core fundamentals must be executed religiously before you spend money, time, and effort on anything else.

Too many businesses chase “flavor-of-the-week” marketing and advertising ideas, while neglecting their fundamentals.

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Website Writing – Consider Website Contacts To Be Money Knocking at Your Door

Posted on February 17, 2011 by

You’ve written a website for your business. You’ve invested plenty of time and money in the website writing effort. It was a lot of work. You have the site to sell your services. So what happens when prospects call or contact you from your website? Unfortunately, if you’re like most business owners, nothing. For some reason, so-called business people treat these hot leads as if they were not happening. They typically fail to respond or take so much time to respond that the lead has cooled to frigid.

Why would a business ignore the fruits of their hard-earned labor? Beats me. I can only guess that they’ve got too much business to respond to potential work. Maybe they have some sort of attitude or prejudice that a prospect from their website is not a serious prospect. Possibly, they don’t know how to respond. Those website contacts are money knocking at your door. You’re making a mistake if you don’t treat them that way. Here are a few ideas to help you convert those leads into money in the bank.

1) Respond immediately. If you’re so busy that you can’t talk, let the prospect know that and make an appointment time when you can talk – preferably very soon.

2) Assume that your prospect has contacted other providers. Be the early bird who gets the worm – and work. If you respond immediately, and your competitor responds later or never, this creates a very positive impression of your customer service and trustworthiness. When it’s time for the prospect to make their choice, your initial response time carries a lot of weight.

3) Keep all your promises. If you agree to call them back at a certain time, do so. Send them promised information immediately after agreeing to do so, or communicate up front when you’ll be able to send it. Create the impression that if they choose to work with you, you’ll deliver.

4) Be extremely professional. Be prepared. Don’t apologize or make excuses or create a situation where you must do so. Know what you’re going to say. Keep it focused, direct, crisp, and intentional. This is a “hot” lead. A prospect has read your site, has a problem to solve, and wants to know they’ve found the answer to their problem.

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To Promote Your Business Buy Your Printed Lighters Wholesale And Save

Posted on January 21, 2011 by

Businesses in Australia have discovered that by buying printed lighters wholesale they can market their business every time they sell one.

Establishments such as pubs, resorts, supermarkets, etc. by purchasing bulk lighters wholesale printed with your name you can choose to sell them or give them away. When a customer purchases a certain amount of goods they could be given a free lighter. Or they can be given away with no purchase required. Most people appreciate a free gift.

Lighters are pretty inexpensive and can be used as a tool to market a company, a new product, a contest, or a sales promotion. They can remind customers of your business. Are you looking for a way to cheaply and easily advertise your business?

Unique marketing solutions can be devised using printed lighters. Your customers will see your name every time they use their lighter. Lighters also get left behind and then found by others who will also see your business name.

Lighters are used in many situations, and not only by people who smoke. People of all ages use lighters for a variety of purposes. People want to collect and share lighters with advertising on them, and a free lighter may make them to return to your business and bring their friends. You could even get creative, and run a coupon special on the lighter such as “return with this lighter and save 10%”.

There is no end to the ideas you can come up with for printing your lighters, you wouldn’t believe what some people have printed on them. While personalized products can be expensive, buying lighters wholesale is surprisingly affordable. Companies are realizing how popular these lighters are and are ordering them in the thousands.

Hotels, pubs, resorts, and even supermarkets are using branded lighters to bring in new customers and advertise their business. Branded lighters are sold by many businesses instead of plain ones. If a customer comes in for a lighter, you might as well sell him one with your logo on it instead of a generic one. This is a win-win situation, as you advertise your business, they pay for the lighter, and your logo is still seen every time the customer uses it.