tradeshowgypsy

Crystal ball used for seeing like a magnifying glass at this point from all the marks on the marketing budget spreadsheet! If your marketing is missing in action better let out the hound, finding all of those pieces, he will be on the hunt for a while!

So, all of those dollars spent on a show divided by however many leads = ROI, right? WRONG – you have to factor in all the marketing that was done pre/post show both on the cost and return. How many touches were done per customer? Did you email blast your group and new product to the moon (it could happen there are many agencies that do work in that industry)! Did you send thank you for attending or see you next time to the new leads and the mass email blast? Was there a press release involved? All of this needs to go into the number of times your company brand came across the desk of a potential/existing customer. Did your sales team have a miraculous discovery of where the initial contact point was made to lead to the sale?

How many ads did you place both in print and online? No way to know how many print hands saw your ad, unless it is catchy enough to have someone actually say, “I saw your ad in… pub”, but we are humans and humans can be a very tangible spices that will remember what they see and touch way before what they hear. The market has thinned in the printed pubs no doubt so people are seeing and touching fewer, that means they are paying more attention to the print even if it is to get to the website for detailed info – touching them twice. So you gather the number of the publication distribution – and say 15% actually hit the hands and eyes of your customer base – that can still be a good number.

Online trackers can help you out with how many times you had hits on the specific pages dedicated to your product release/press release/show code or more detailed reporting if your site is database driven.

All of these numbers can give you an idea on budgeting for next year how many touches per customer do you want to expend those marketing $$ on and where was the biggest focus (product/market) for the prior year? Do you want to stay there? Are things changing on the ole organizational goals and objectives plan? So many questions to consider and if you have some back up internal research to look at that can really make a positive difference as to how the organization makes the decisions for the next year and improve on the return.

Your new and challenging social media sites as well are a new venue that is not easily tracked other than establishing good following group and getting quality followers – not an easy task but necessary! Once again depending on your organization getting the price estimated early on is crucial to assure that all your marketing for shows and campaigns are well accounted for so that decisions can be made with more than just an “I think we should do” plan.  Also, planning ahead can save a fortune!

GOLD COINS –gotta love em!  Doing all of these things in the “slower” months of the holidays  – can pay off extensively throughout the following year.

If the company thinks they can scrimp and cut any of these elements to the marketing program – they will feel the pinch! (OUCH!)  Whether a self-employed gypsy or huge organization – everyone is now having to play in the same mediums in order to reach their customers – there are so many different individual preferences – “Old-Boomer-X-Y Baby Gens” involved in business that there is no one full-proof invest my marketing dollars in this medium and poof marketing done! We are after all a society of options = double-mocha skinny-light-whip – vente coffee please 🙂  What is that? Or you online guru’s how many apps on that iPAD or Smart Phone? Watch out for that Guerrilla – that marketing ape is serious when it comes to creative ways to do marketing, which can go amuck if it gets too creative and appeal to some but can backfire on others!  Guerrilla Marketing – innovative/creative-low-cost marketing in the more with less world!

So shake that crystal ball again gypsies, and take another look, are you missing your marketing?