Planet 3 Press Blog » Marketing Trends http://www.planet3press.com/blog Enjoy Green Tips, Graphic Trends and Marketing Tools with Planet 3 Press! Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:32:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Developing a Really Successful Marketing Plan http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/09/24/developing-a-really-successful-marketing-plan/ http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/09/24/developing-a-really-successful-marketing-plan/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:18:05 +0000 planet3press http://www.planet3press.com/blog/?p=156 If you are a business owner or company manager, you know how important a marketing plan is to the short- and long-term prosperity of your enterprise. Following are six time-tested steps toward developing a really successful marketing plan:

Step 1) Describe your products and/or services in easy-to-understand terms. Include what sets you apart from your main competitors and the benefits/value your customers will receive.

Step 2) Carefully identify your target audience. Be specific with respect to the demographics and product/service preferences of your ideal buyers. Focus your company’s resources and marketing tactics on these groups.

Step 3) Establish both short- and long-term objectives for your business. Make your goals meaningful, specific and measurable. Pursuing concrete goals such as revenue earned and new customers acquired will help keep your marketing efforts fruitful and focused.

Step 4) Laser-focus on your prime competitors. Are they small local businesses or larger regional or national companies? Understanding the competitive landscape will enable you to sharpen your target marketing and maximize the impact of each dollar spent.

Step 5) Formulate a detailed marketing budget. Dedicate a specific monthly or quarterly amount. Compare expenditures to results and adjust accordingly.

Step 6) Execute! The best marketing plans often fall victim to lackluster follow-through.

]]> http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/09/24/developing-a-really-successful-marketing-plan/feed/ 0 Direct Marketing Helps Retailer Increase Sales http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/09/23/targeted-direct-marketing-helps-retailer-increase-sales/ http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/09/23/targeted-direct-marketing-helps-retailer-increase-sales/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:31:39 +0000 planet3press http://www.planet3press.com/blog/?p=148 CHALLENGE
A specialty outdoor furniture and garden accessories store had been experiencing slow sales over the last few years. More recently, they experienced even larger sales declines and wanted to find a way to boost sales before the fall and winter, which are traditionally slower seasons for them. They had a good database of customer names with purchasing histories, but didn’t know how to reach these customers most effectively to motivate them to come back into the store and make a purchase.

SOLUTION
P3P helped this store create two different direct mail postcard offers: one to customers who had bought furniture in the past and one to those who had purchased garden accessory items. The mailers were each personalized gardenspecifically to the customer, noting their last purchased items and offering a discount on a similar item with an additional discount on other items in the store. The mailing was targeted to only those customers who had not purchased anything in the last three years.

The postcard also included a personalized URL which led the recipients to a website landing page with a few questions that were designed to help the store learn more about their clients’ interests so they could recommend certain products or even consider adding to their store inventory if it seemed they didn’t have what customers wanted. Shortly after visiting the website and answering the questions, the dormant customers received a thank-you e-mail from the store manager referencing their area of interest received from the survey. The e-mail also invited them to visit the store within a certain time period to receive additional discounts.

RESULTS
Store traffic was much higher during the specified time periods, and the store saw a five percent increase in sales for the month of September. Additionally, they realized that some of the customers had moved, so they deleted these names from their database to optimize budgets. Reports generated by the system used to manage this integrated
direct marketing campaign helped the company learn that many of the dormant clients were generally happy with the company’s products, but they just needed reminders of all the other items the store carried. Now the store does more frequent direct mail marketing to ensure that their customers keep coming back for more.

]]> http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/09/23/targeted-direct-marketing-helps-retailer-increase-sales/feed/ 0 How to Keep Web Visitors Coming Back for More http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/04/21/how-to-keep-web-visitors-coming-back-for-more/ http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/04/21/how-to-keep-web-visitors-coming-back-for-more/#comments Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:40:52 +0000 planet3press http://www.planet3press.com/blog/?p=123 Workers share a computer Your company has probably invested substantial time, energy and resources in developing its Website. Naturally, you want to inspire not only first-time hitters, but also repeat visitors. Consider this handful of simple strategies:

1) Change your site’s contents on a regular basis. How often? Every week, if possible.

2) Ensure that your site’s links relate clearly to what your company stands for and what it offers. Make sure they’re sequential, current and easy to find.

3) Reward frequent visitors with a free promotional item or a product/service discount. This assumes that you encourage visitors to leave their contact information. 4) Send out an e-blast to your best customers and e-prospects whenever you complete significant site updates. Include a link to the site, of course.

5) Test your site’s “return appeal” with a focus group. By e-mail or telephone, ask frequent visitors questions such as “What do you like most and least about our site?” and “What would persuade you to visit it more often?”

]]> http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/04/21/how-to-keep-web-visitors-coming-back-for-more/feed/ 0 6 Steps Toward Developing a Really Successful Marketing Plan http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/04/17/six-steps-toward-developing-a-really-successful-marketing-plan/ http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/04/17/six-steps-toward-developing-a-really-successful-marketing-plan/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:52:33 +0000 planet3press http://www.planet3press.com/blog/?p=70 istock_000004910524medium.jpg If you are a business owner or company manager, you know how important a marketing plan is to the short- and long-term prosperity of your enterprise. Following are six time-tested steps toward developing a really successful marketing plan:

1) Describe your products and/or services in easy-to-understand terms. Include what sets you apart from your main competitors and the benefits/value your customers will receive.

2) Carefully identify your target audience. Be specific with respect to the demographics and product/service preferences of your ideal buyers. Focus your company’s resources and marketing tactics on these groups.

3) Establish both short- and long-term objectives for your business. Make your goals meaningful, specific and measurable. Pursuing concrete goals such as revenue earned and new customers acquired will help keep your marketing efforts fruitful and focused.

4) Laser-focus on your prime competitors. Are they small local businesses or larger regional or national companies? Understanding the competitive landscape will enable you to sharpen your target marketing and maximize the impact of each dollar spent.

5) Formulate a detailed marketing budget. Dedicate a specific monthly or quarterly amount. Compare expenditures to results and adjust accordingly.

6) Execute! The best marketing plans often fall victim to lackluster follow-through.

]]> http://www.planet3press.com/blog/2009/04/17/six-steps-toward-developing-a-really-successful-marketing-plan/feed/ 0