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In this issue:
Marketing Article: How To Find The Best Mailing List For Your Offer
Marketing Article: Building Brand Awareness Through Tradeshows

During the past 30 years I've bought or compiled thousands of mailing lists. Eventually I learned how to find lists that always produced highly profitable results. You'll discover how I do it in this article.

WHO SHOULD BE ON YOUR LIST?

Implementing any successful mailing program begins by determining who will get your mail. You need to find or compile a mailing list of qualified prospects for your offer. The success of your mailing is directly dependent on the accuracy of your mailing list in targeting prospects most likely to be interested in your product or service.

For example, an offer for information about a quick, easy way to lose weight will get a big response if it is sent to a "targeted" list of subscribers to a weight loss magazine or newsletter. But, you will get a very meager response if you send the same offer to the membership list of your local Chamber of Commerce. Your offer would not be relevant to most people on the Chamber of Commerce list and most of your mailing budget would be wasted. Remember, you must target prospects likely to be interested in your offer.

The lack of serious attention to selecting a mailing list can doom your mailing campaign to failure. Poor list choice often occurs because the decision seemed so obvious, it was done quickly and with little serious thought. I developed a simple procedure I always follow to be sure I select the best list for my offer. I use this procedure even when the list selection seems obvious. It usually enables me to create and implement a mailing with profitable results on the first try. Here's what I do...

A SIMPLE PROCEDURE

I begin my search for the best list by defining the person I want to reach. Starting with a blank sheet of paper, I list all of the characteristics I can expect qualified, interested prospects for my offer to have. If I'm working in an established market, I write down the names of some of my best customers in that market. Then I write down the characteristics they have that make my product or service valuable to them.

Once I develop this list of characteristics, I make a list of actions and activities these ideal target prospects pursue that might be recorded in some way. For example:

1. What associations or clubs would they join? (Many association or club membership rosters are available to the general public. If not, you can get it from one of the members.)

2. What licenses would they be required to have? (All licenses except driving licenses and auto registrations are public information you can get at your city, county or state licensing offices.)

3. What publications are they likely to subscribe to? (Most publications rent their subscriber list to other mailers.)

4. What products or services are they likely to buy? (Many companies are willing to share their customer list with other non-competing businesses who are willing to share a customer list in return.)

WHAT ABOUT LIST BROKERS?

Take time to think about ways you can find or compile the ideal list without getting it from a list broker. You'll not only save money, you'll also have a list your competitors will probably never find. By avoiding a list broker, you may also enjoy the advantage of a list that is not being used by other mailers. Heavily worked lists tend to be unresponsive, even when they are highly targeted. By finding or compiling your own list, you'll have a list that is not heavily used by other mailers and your potential for a high response is maximized. You'll also have a list you can re-use as often as you want without paying another rental fee. Most list brokers charge an additional fee each time you use their list.

If you decide to get your list through a list broker, the simple procedure I described above will enable you to tell the broker exactly what you want.

Unless you already work with a trusted list broker who has proven his or her list selection skill to you in the past, call several brokers with your requirements and have each of them give you their recommendations. Then, be careful not to make your final decision based solely on the cost of a list. Whenever I thought the cost of a list was expensive, it nearly always produced a profitable high rate of response. Lists I thought were bargains nearly always produced an unprofitable low rate of response. I've learned that the cost of a list is not important when it contains people who have the exact qualifications I need.

Finding the right mailing list is not difficult when you follow this system. It enables you to quickly maximize profits from your mail while avoiding expensive, time consuming trial and error tests.

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Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales personnel and developing sales leads. He is now a Sales Consultant. Bob recently wrote a manual for small business owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards" and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more information... Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards". Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time) Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133

Branding is a basic marketing concept that is designed to set your products/services apart from the competition. By using a particular name, phrase, design, symbol or a combination of these, you can create a unique identity. When choosing a brand name, consider the following five criteria:

1. It should suggest product/service benefits.

2. It should be simple, memorable, and unique.

3. It should fit the image of the company.

4. It should have positive connotations for the target market.

5. It should be easy to pronounce and to pictorialize.

Branding is not a sales and marketing gimmick. Instead it refines and defines corporate culture and identity. A brand must have meaning to its consumers, its organization and its employees. Brand is an emotional link between you and your customer. It is what people buy when they buy your product or your company. The most important part of a brand’s identity is the promise it makes to customers. The essence of branding is simplicity and timelessness.

Integrating Brand Awareness Into Your Exhibit Program Since exhibiting is a powerful extension of your company’s advertising, promotion, public relations and sales function, that automatically means it is an excellent way to enhance brand awareness. Everything your company stands for, no matter how large or small, is being exhibited on the show floor. This means there needs to be total consistency, congruity, clarity and focus in every aspect of your exhibiting program, before, during and after the show.

Here are three important points to consider as you plan to integrate brand awareness into your tradeshow program.

1. Consistency and repetition is vital in creating brand awareness. People buy brands they know and they trust! A brand is a promise that companies make to their customers. Strong branding requires all the levels of communication to agree with one another.

2. Ensure all your marketing and promotions are consistent and that they have your logo, colors, typeface, slogans and characters. Everything you develop should have the same look and feel.

3. Peoples’ perception about your company, products, and services is a major factor in their choice of brand preferences and their buying behavior. All perception is subjective and based on experience. Individuals tend to interpret information according to existing beliefs, attitudes, needs and mood.

The following is a 10-point checklist to act as a reminder for many of the questions you need to ask and answer as you plan brand integration into your exhibit program:

1. What needs to be done to ensure that your booth conveys total consistency, congruity, clarity and focus of your company image and brand?

Consider:
- booth size
- location
- graphics
- demonstrations
- staff
- handouts and giveaways
- lead management

2. How can your graphics work best for you?

- can be easily seen and read in three seconds
- use a simple and bold typeface
- have striking and grabbing visuals
- are instantly memorable
- use a unique size or shape
- reinforce your message
- make your message a single, strong, provocative idea
- use a "What’s in it for me?" message
- use bold colors

3. What are the best promotional activities you can use to enhance brand awareness?

Personal invitations (e.g. with incentive and response form)

Direct mail with incentive

Pre-show advertising
- trade and/or local publications
- local media
- websites (e.g. company, show, association)
- broadcast faxes
- association newsletters
- city billboards
- transit advertising

At-show advertising
- show catalogs
- show dailies
- airport billboards, banners/electronic message boards
- hotel closed-circuit television
- hotel - on door or in room promotion
- kiosks/banners at show site
- convention television channels

4. What types of PR communications could be used?

Pre-show:
- press releases for local and trade publications
- product/service application articles
- personal invitations to trade/local editors
- company newsletters

At-show:
- press kits for the press office
- press reception
- video/slide presentation at the booth
- reprints of articles as giveaways
- seminars/workshops
- contests
- personalities/spokesperson at booth

5. What sponsorship opportunities exist and would complement your company image?

Some of the most frequent sponsorship opportunities are:
- press room
- international lounge
- speaker or VIP room
- awards reception
- educational programs
- keynote sessions
- coffee breaks
- luncheons/dinners
- banners
- badge holders
- audio visual equipment
- display computers
- tote bags
- shuttle buses

6. What advertising premiums will be consistent with your image and complement the message you want to convey?

Consider:
- budget
- originality
- usefulness and appropriateness for your target audience
- distribution

7. Who are the best ambassadors for your company - the right people to staff the booth?

8. What training should they receive?

Consider:
- prospect qualification
- booth etiquette
- product knowledge
- product demonstration
- obtaining commitment

9. What is the best dress code to convey your company image?

10. What is the best way to follow-up after the show that is consistent with your exhibiting program?

Remember that branding is a process, a business system, that fuels and sustains all customer/company relationships! Total consistency, congruity, clarity and focus in every aspect of your exhibiting program, before, during and after the show are essential.

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Written by Susan Friedmann, CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author, "Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies," works with exhibitors, show organizers and meeting planners to create more valuable results from their events nationally and internationally. Website: www.thetradeshowcoach.com