B2B Marketing UK - new small business marketing service

B2BMarketingUK is now able to offer marketing services to UK small businesses. We are collection of marketing profesionals who specialise in all aspects of B2B markeitng with a focus on lead generation and marketing ROI.

A few of our services can be found below.

Design

All marketing design including;
Adverts, Flyers, Postcards, Online Brochures, Posters, Leaflets, Newsletters (Internal & External)

Sample project:

A5 Flyer / A6 postcard (copy provided by client)
Briefing call / meeting
Multiple initial design proposals
Feedback call
Final Design
Supplied electronically as PDF – excludes printing costs

8 page online brochure (copy provided by client)
Briefing call / meeting
Multiple initial design proposals
Feedback call
Final Design
Supplied electronically as PDF – excludes printing costs

Strategy & Planning

Marketing Planning – What are your objectives? Where is your market? What makes them tick? How to market effectively to them?

Business Planning – Where are you now? Where do you want to be? How will you get there?

Brand Planning – Improve your profile, Understand your positioning, Where do you want to be? How do you get there?

Campaign Planning – Setting campaign objectives, Choosing the right medium, Running an effective campaign, Measuring true results, Improving future campaigns.

Sample project:

Marketing plan
Briefing call / meeting – 1-2 hours
Marketing research
Includes;
Current market situation
Objectives of plan
Marketing strategy
Tactics & Campaign suggestions
Resource requirements
How to measure success
Supplied electronically as PDF

Lead Generation

Sourcing tenders & RFI

Online lead generation consultancy

Lead generation campaign management

Sample project:

Sourcing tenders & RFI
Briefing call at start of project to define tender types of interest
Supplied by email ad hoc as they come up

Events & Exhibitions

Organising corporate events

Planning for Trade shows

Event campaign management

Online

Web design

Online Marketing (Site optimisation, driving traffic, improving conversion)

Web Analytics Consultancy

Press & PR

Press release distribution (Print & Online)

Copywriting for brochures, web, press releases, campaigns, case studies etc

Price List

All projects are undertaken on a fixed price, this is determined on a project by project basis.

We offer an hourly rate for all services but you will always receive a fixed price quote before undertaking any work. The standard hourly rates apply for additional works outside of the original project scope.

Please contact Wendy Melville on 07919 403 044 for more information or to obtain a quote.

Read more blog entries here

Planning and organising a prospect seminar

I do like my checklists and here is another one. I recently organised a seminar for a B2B software company. The objective was to get as many decision maker bums on seats to review the latest software. Below is a timeline of event planning activities leading up to and after the seminar.

Seminar Checklist

9 weeks before
Create invite list for all prospects you want to attend
Book date and Venue
Confirm speakers & agenda
Update your website updates – news page / newsletter / event pages etc
Draft invites
Think of a client you invite along (prospects are always more inclined to believe other customers / user of a product or service than the vendor)
Create a template of attendee spread sheet

7 weeks before
Send out hardcopy invite
Follow up invites with calls over the next few weeks to confirm receipt of the invite and prompt a registration

6 weeks before
Send email reminder

3 weeks before
Send Email reminder 2
Continue to follow up invites with emails and calls
Review presentations

2 weeks before
Send final email reminder – headed something like ‘Last few places on the seminar’
Create Directions and agenda
Create Feedback forms to give out on the day
Create Lead sheets for your sales team to complete on the day (as much as they think they'll remember everything - they won't)
Do all of your printing in advance
Organise team meeting for everyone attending. Run through;
- who is doing what
- room layout
- delegate list

1 week before
Create delegate packs
Call/email all attendees to confirm they have received directions and are still coming
Call/email host / vemue to run through final requirements
Send host / venue list of attendees
Create a ‘hot list’ for sales. Prospect leads which are really hot and should get extra attention at the event.

On the day – at the event
Take with you;
Print out sales' diaries so meetings can be booked on site
Delegate packs
Feedback forms
Lead sheets
Any display equipment like a pull up stand
Business cards
Name badges
Camera (pictures for PR or website)
Contact numbers for all staff attending

On the day – back in office
Send out ‘thank you for attending email’ to prospects.
Send out ‘sorry you could not attend email’ to no-shows and cancellations.

Afterwards
Review feedback forms - what can you do better - tell the team
Give event evaluation at next team meeting (best bits, things to remember for future etc)
Send out info delegates have requested

Remember to record any actions afterwards so you can compare teh performance of each event (especially in relation to cost, time spent organising etc)

Read more blog entries here

Making the most of an exhibition

How to make the most of an exhibition

Exhibitions are a costly marketing activity. If you get it wrong its a costly mistake! Here is a checklist to help you make the most of your exhibition spend.

• Ask why are you exhibiting? Too many exhibitors fail to define their aims when attending exhibitions and events. Why are you there? What do you need to get out of attending to consider it a successful show? (sales, brand exposure, share of voice etc)
• Don’t just book the space because your competitors will be there. If you are not sure why you are attending perhaps you shouldn’t be there at all.
• What style of stand should you book? The stand that you book and the way you use it should be defined by your aims for the show.
• Establish a budget for the entire event and keep to it. If you are in doubt about the cost of anything, contact the organisers or the suppliers directly. Rough estimates I work to are approximately one third of your budget on hiring the stand area itself. Shell Scheme is cheaper than designing a bespoke stand and there is plenty you can do to make the space suit your personal needs and to attract customers.
• Be proactive. Make appointments with your customers beforehand, invite your prospects to come meet with you – they will be busy once they get to the show - make sure you're on their list of peopel to meet. Make sure that your company does not miss out because you have not made the effort to contact them before the show.
• How long do you want people spending on your stand? Should staff gather contact details and move on or should they be giving full demonstrations and sales pitches to each visitor? What is the best use of their time?
• Keep your stand tidy! Sounds silly but coffee cups, water bottles, sweet wrappers look messy and unprofessional.
• First impressions count. Stand staff should be easily identifiable and approachable - staff checking their emails when the stand is quiet or on their phones WILL put off visitors.
• Consider some ‘training’ for the staff that will be on the stand or at least have a prep meeting before the show. Do they know how to use any equipment (badge scanners etc), do they know the objectives of the exhibition (generate xxx leads, give xxx demonstrations etc).
• Make sure you have enough collatoral for the visitors. Marketing collatoral is vital in aiding the visitor to remember your company. They visit over 100 stands at most exhibitions – you need to make sure it is you and your offering that is remembered and ordered.
• Use the press. Most exhibitions will have a press area. Make sure you leave your information or press packs in this area. Trade journalists are usually sent along to cover any major exhibitions, and I apologise to my journalist friends here, but they are lazy. Creating the press releases in advance on your activity at the exhibition and leaving contact details in the press pack will make it more likely that it is your stand that is mentioned in the post event news articles.
• Ensure that your hard work doesn't get wasted by failing to follow up the leads. People have visited your stand – this means they are interested in your products or services, make sure your team follows them up. Take notes on each customer who visits your stand – there is nothing worse than calling them up after the show and not being able to remember what it was you discussed on the day. I am amazed by the number of companies who pay extortionate amounts of money to attend an exhibition and then the sales team only follow up a handful of leads from the show.

And finally, measure your success. 3 months after an exhibtion the marketing team should be able to answer the following questions;

• What was the total cost of participation in this event?
• How many leads did you get?
• What was the cost per lead for this exhibition?
• What was the cost per subsequent meeting / product demonstration / invitation to tender etc? Use whatever your primary objective of exhibiting was.
• What was the cost per sale generated?
• What was the exhibition ROI?

After a year of multiple events and exhibitions the marketing team should be able to tell the business where the money was spent, what it achieved and how much sales revenue was generated.

Read more blog entries here