The company with just a small banner in front of their table seemed to be overlooked more times than not because the company beside it had well lit, professionally produced graphics. Some visitors were looking at the bigger, brighter booth and totally ignored the smaller guy. Did they all stop at the bigger booth? No, but it certainly attracted a lot of attention, and that is the purpose of big, bright graphics.

A lot of companies insist on cramming too much information and photos on their display booth or banners. The purpose of large format graphics is to attract attention. Nothing more. You only have a couple of seconds to grab their attention, so you have to keep it simple. Visitors will not stop and read everything on your booth. But if you’ve attracted their attention, they’ll come in and get more information from you.

The same goes for vehicle wraps, window graphics and exterior store signage. You have to keep it simple. If your company vehicle is logoed up like a NASCAR, your main message will get lost in a sea of clutter.

Take a walk down any street in a retail area. What catches your attention? Most likely, the store with the biggest window graphic or the brightest sign.

The next time you are at a trade show or just strolling downtown or at the mall, take note of what really catches your eye. If something stands out to you, it likely stands out to most people. Take notice and then take steps to make sure your business stands out.

We don’t usually promote ourselves in this space, but want you to know that for a limited time, Kiers Marketing Group is offering the loyal readers of this marketing tip, a discount of 20% off large-format printing, mounting and laminating.

If you want to get noticed, give us a call and we can help. And you’ll get a deal at the same time.

Last week, we (Kiers) had a booth in the Connect 2012 Tri-City Expo trade show at the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre. This is an annual collaboration between the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Saint John Board of Trade and the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce. It really is a great way to bring members of each of the three Chambers together to promote their products and services.

When you go to a show, whether it is for four hours or for four days, you have to commit to making new contacts and developing new customers. Many exhibitors had great displays and worked the show very well. Others didn’t put a lot of effort into their space and were absent from their booth for long periods of time.

As I browsed the aisles, I made a few observations that I will pass on to you that I think are important.

The venue was not well lit and most of the booths didn’t have any lights. Do what you can to make your booth brighter and stand out in the crowd.

Many booth holders were sitting in the back of their booth either texting or surfing the internet. They obviously weren’t interested in my business. Come on folks, if you really don’t care about your business, why should I.

There were lots of draws for door prizes at the booths, which is a great way to gather business cards from people interested in your business. When you are doing a draw, make sure it is relevant to your business.

Why do so many booth holders give out candy? Don’t get me wrong, I came back from the show with a bag of candy, but I don’t remember which booths I got it from. If you have to entice attendees into your booth with candy, then they are really not that interested in your business, just your candy.

All in all, it was a good show. Of course as a booth holder, I wish there was more traffic. But, with less traffic, you have more time to talk to people who are genuinely interested in your business. It only takes one hot business lead to make the show pay for itself.

By focusing on the main reason you’re there in the first place, you can make the most of your trade show marketing opportunity.

Many companies are now actively using video to promote their products and services. Some are having some success, along with some fun as well.

Videos are no longer only accessible to larger companies. With the boom of YouTube, video technology and software, many smaller companies are developing their own videos inexpensively. If you have a website, you can have videos working for you. Here are some ways that video could work for your company.

Show Your Products
If you can’t get a customer in your door or make a personal sales call, an online video is a great way to demonstrate your product. This is great if you have a product that is unique or just too big to drag around the country.

Show Testimonials
Third party validation is important for any business. If you have a satisfied customer, create a short video clip showing how much they enjoy your product and/or how great your service is.

Offer Instruction
A lot of products come with instruction manuals. Most instruction manuals are easy to follow but there are always little things that are hard to get across in print. Why not show it with a video? It would make life easier for the end user.

Product Demos
Demonstrate how to use your product. Show consumers the benefits of your products and how easy they are to use. We have many clients who are doing this successfully, and is often the final influencer when making a purchase decision by consumers.

As a bonus, YouTube offers tools that allow you to measure the effectiveness of your videos.

If you are doing your own video, here are some things to keep in mind.

Keep it as short and to the point as possible. Your video should not be longer than two to three minutes. Any longer and you run the risk of losing viewers. Make sure it looks professional and use a tripod to lessen the camera movement. The person doing the voiceover is the salesperson and should have a voice with some emotion, otherwise it will make you look bad.

Videos, if done well, can do great things for you. If they are not done well, it can hurt your marketing efforts. If you do it, make sure you do it well.

Being a curling fan, I have been watching the Scott Tournament of Hearts on TV. The Canadian Curling Association has a group of advertisers that sponsor all of their events in the “Season of Champions” series. This means they get lots of perks, one of which is getting the prime time TV spots during the events. Two of their more active sponsors are Tim Hortons and Capital One. You would think that companies this big would have more than one or two TV ads at their disposal. Doesn’t appear that they do, we have to watch the same spots over and over again. Come on guys, shake it up, it’s getting to the point of nausea.

Speaking of Tim Hortons, one of their two TV ads currently running is about three people trying to live a healthier lifestyle. One of the three brings breakfast sandwiches for the group and says “look at us, trying to eat well.” I suggest she check the nutrition guide on their website to see how well they are actually eating.

I was shopping around for vacations to warmer climates and it really bothers me that companies will put a trip on sale for $995.00 and in small text, add plus $320.00 in taxes. So the trip is really $1,315.00. Why don’t they just put that price in and get it over with? We are going to figure it out you know.

Facebook is a great tool for marketing your business, but you really have to keep your posts down to a number where people won’t block you. One a day is fine, but I have businesses posting five or more per day. That’s way too many, I either won’t read them or block the sender.

Newspaper ad disclaimers. Saw an ad for a car manufacturer in the paper last week with a 600 word disclaimer. I have mentioned this before in this column, but that was excessive. Perhaps if they put the real cost of the car in the ad, they wouldn’t have to take all that room explaining how to figure out it out.

If at any time you have an idea for this column, a comment, a question – drop me a line.

What do people think when they visit your location? Do they get a good vibe when they walk in?

Customers that have been doing business with you for a while don’t really care if your business is inviting or not. They know what they are getting. But consider what a new customer might think when they walk into your business for the very first time.

At Kiers Marketing Group, we are fortunate to have our office in an old converted church that was built in 1896. Reaction from most people who come into our office for the first time is “WOW”. Of course, we work in a creative atmosphere and our offices reflect that. What type of reaction do people have when they walk into your space?

Obviously, if you are in the furniture business, customers are going to see the good stuff as soon as they walk in the door. That’s why car dealers have showrooms, to shine up the cars and make customers say wow. You have to make sure the visitor has something to be impressed about right away.

If you are in an office setting, it is important that the receptionist is sharp and on the ball and the lobby/waiting area is orderly and clean and your company’s marketing material is on display. You want the visitor to feel they made the right decision to visit your business, even before a staff member gets to speak to them.

Take a look at your business from a visitor’s point of view. What type of vibe are they getting off your layout and décor? Give them something that will make they say WOW.

At Kiers Marketing Group, January has turned out to be re-branding month. We have quite a few customers who are enhancing or creating new brands. Regardless of the size, a business needs a snappy tagline or positioning statement. Every company or organization needs a line that helps enhance their brand.

Does your company have a tagline that makes potential customers take notice? Do people know exactly what you do by looking at your logo and tagline? If not, then you have to fix this because it is costing you business.

For example, if your company name is “Jones & Associates” and you have a sharp looking business card which includes your company name and contact info, you feel very confident when you give your card to a prospective customer. When the customer looks at your card, do they know what your business does or do they have to ask you? Your company not only needs a tagline that says what you do, but if possible, the benefits of doing work with you.

On the other hand, if your company name is “Jones Plumbing & Heating”, people know exactly what you do by looking at your name. That’s a good thing, however now you need a tagline that tells them why they should call your company and not the “Joe’s Plumbing” down the road.

Make your tagline work for you. Let people know what your company can do for them and how much easier their life could be by doing work with you. Here is a great example from one of our clients, “Fredericton Volkswagen – Turning Dreamers into Drivers”. Their name says what they sell, the tagline makes you want to buy one of their cars. Another good example is “Metalfab – The Firetruck Experts”. Kind of hits the nail right on the head, doesn’t it? Metalfab on its own doesn’t say much. Add the tagline and there is no question about what they do and how well they do it.

Companies like Nike can get away with “Just do it”, because everybody knows what they do already. Same with McDonalds or Pepsi, they can change their tagline every year and get away with it. Smaller companies have to be smart and take nothing for granted. Not everybody knows who you are and what you do. Create a tagline that enhances your brand and leaves nothing to chance.

It is no secret that newspapers are suffering from slumping circulation and advertising revenue. But you know what? Newspaper advertising still works.

In the past few years, we moved our clients away from traditional advertising like newspapers into some new media. Lately, we have been moving some of our clients back into newspaper and are seeing much better results.

Newspapers have never really been a reliable media to target the younger demographic. This is truer now than ever before. However, if your target market is the 45+ audience, then newspaper advertising is a great vehicle to throw into the mix.

Daily newspapers work well, weeklies work great. Why? Smaller communities are more community oriented and everyone wants to know what is going on. In towns and communities like these, almost everyone reads the paper. That’s why they are a good buy.

Newspapers are trying very hard to keep market share. The big challenge is how to integrate the traditional newspaper with the online edition and still retain circulation numbers. The Irving Group of newspapers has recently changed their canadaeast.com site to a pay-for-subscription model. This makes a lot of sense to me. Why should a newspaper work hard to gather all the information readers want, then give it away? I have a subscription to The Daily Gleaner, for only $3.00 more per month, I get the online versions of all their papers throughout the province. To me, this has value. For an advertiser, it has more value because all the ads that are in the papers are online as well.

The next time you are planning an advertising campaign, don’t forget to include newspapers in your buy. They are still very much alive and kicking.

Merry Christmas

We have always been big advocates of thinking outside the box and being different.

We like to create a funky desk calendar that is different than any other calendar you may receive. This year we have come up with an innovative new design that looks stylish and has a very visible date pad.

If you haven’t already received one, drop us a line and we will be happy to put one in the mail to you.

Thank you for reading and sharing our “Kiers Marketing Tips”. We wish you much happiness and success in the coming year.

When a potential customer, who you have never heard from before contacts you, do you wonder what made him pick up the phone and call your company?

If you really want to know, ask!

Most companies use multiple methods – from traditional media like newspaper, radio, TV and Yellow Pages, to new media like FaceBook, online ads and Google Adwords ­- to market themselves. Do you know which medium is working and which isn’t? An easy way to find out is to ask the caller how they found out about you.

If you do this each time you get a call from a new customer, you will know which marketing method is working and which isn’t. The same method can be used in retail. If you are having a sale, ask customers how they found out about the sale as you ring in their purchases.

For example, every time we receive a call from a new client at Kiers Marketing Group, we ask them the question. Five years ago, most of the callers said Yellow Pages. Now, the majority of callers say they Googled us. What does this tell me? We should move some of our marketing budget money around from Yellow Pages to search engine optimization and to Google Ad Words.

This is a proven method to find out which marketing methods are working for you and which aren’t. Many clients have completely changed the way they market themselves just by doing this one simple task. Many potential customers will tell you they were referred by a current customer. That’s good information as well, make sure you get the name of the person who referred them.

Try doing this. It won’t cost one cent of your marketing budget. And, it may change the way you are marketing your business.

The first place to look for referrals is from happy customers. When someone compliments you about your product or service, thank them and ask them to tell their friends and colleagues. If you have done good work for them, then they will have no problem passing on your name.

Set up a network of businesses that complement each other. Whether they are customers or suppliers, it doesn’t matter. You send prospective customers their way and they send them your way. For instance, at Kiers Marketing Group, we do large format printing (among many other things). We have arrangements with some local printers to send them our projects like brochures and stationery and they send us their requests for banners, trade show displays, etc. This works quite well and we reach new customers without putting a lot of time into prospecting.

If you get a new customer from a referral, don’t forget to send the referrer a thank you. It creates good feelings and is a win-win situation for everyone involved.