Sales and marketing are joined at the hip. Think of marketing as the big umbrella under which sales, advertising and public relations all fall. Advertising and public relations can be organized and managed. It’s salespeople who typically are the wild cards in the marketing mix.

Salespeople are by nature extroverted and inclined to be persuasive and persistent in order to close the deal. Yet, some of my clients have spent tens of thousands of dollars on fancy Customer Relations Management (CRM) systems, only to have their salespeople enter inferior prospect data – or none at all. Sloppy data-collection is a waste of very expensive technology.

Here are some steps for managing leads:

• Educate your sales staff on the importance of accurate data-collection.
• Add website resources that will require prospect data to be entered as a condition of receiving free white papers or other useful information.
• Pre-qualify your current client and prospect lists every six months to ensure accuracy.
• Prioritize leads as Hot, Warm or Cold, and educate your sales force about the criteria that determine these descriptors.
• Collect business cards to ensure the accuracy of all prospect information, including email address and title.
• Assign an administrative person to download mail lists into Excel in order to discover missing data and fill in the blanks.
• Purchase new lists annually for your target SICs and have a mailing house run a “de-dupeâ€� on the list to find duplicate entries. Once this is complete, pre-qualify the new list to ascertain decision-makers.

Data is a moving target, so it’s incredibly difficult – but critical – to keep prospect information complete and current. Only then can you market to your Hot, Warm and Cold prospects with unique messaging designed to appeal to each market.

Help your sales force understand that accurate data and efficient handling of leads will make a positive difference in your marketing program. And that will make a positive difference in everyone’s bottom line.

If “SEO� pops up in conversations regarding Internet marketing and you’re not clear on the meaning, you’re not alone. SEO is an acronym for “Search Engine Optimization� and it is a key element for the promotion of a website.

Search engines in general are the “Index of the Internet,� searching billions of pages for the key words you have selected and ranking the pages in order of relevance. Search engines “crawl� websites seeking keywords and Meta tags hidden within your website and categorizing each one. Every time someone does an online search, the search engine is able to refer back to its list and pull up the websites that are most relevant to the search.

Due to intense competition, having a website doesn’t mean that anyone and everyone can find you online. If your website isn’t optimized, it is not likely to be found during Web searches. Optimizing your website is a vital step in making sure that you aren’t losing customers or potential clients who are doing research or conducting business online. By selecting and using the right keywords and Meta tags to identify your website, you are increasing your visibility and ranking.

The end result of SEO is better prospects visiting your website resulting in higher margin product purchases.

By Mary Lou Yelton

There are two things you can do to vastly improve your marketing program. First, define what your company is great at. That will be your core competency. Then, delineate the factors that differentiate your product or service from the competition. By defining core competency and communicating the differences between your company and competitors, you are creating a “brand platform.� A brand is your promise to the prospect, so you need to live it and breath it internally, and you must back it by action.

Defining and claiming your brand is more vital today than ever, because virtually all prospects now soft-shop your services via your website prior to initiating contact. If your “brand promise� is homogeneous or unclear, you’ll lose the prospect early in the purchasing curve. The Internet age has removed all boundaries and barriers to purchase. In addition, the entry costs for beginning a business are as low as the cost of a good website.

The most successful businesses in this Internet age narrow their market and are highly specialized. Prospects seek these companies through searches in major search engines. Once a prospect finds a site, the home page must clearly communicate the brand promise, which integrates core competency and differentiation. Once engaged, the prospect may interact with your website by providing their contact information or by calling you.

Narrowing corporate focus will help prospects understand what you have to offer and foster trust that you specialize in an area of interest to them. As a bonus, this marketing approach also is less expensive to promote.

It is important to consistently promote your brand promise on your website and through any other methods of advertising your business.

By Woody Stoudemire

Gotham can now add “invention specialist� to its long and impressive resume. We have recently created an alien abduction preventative called the Foil-O-Matic, which is basically a tin foil hat. But as with anything that looks simple, it’s not. The Foil-O-Matic, when folded and manipulated properly, acts as an alien-thwarting device that keeps little green men from sucking you up into their saucers and probing you for vital company information.

We are always trying to add value for our clients. We’ve built a reputation for our creative and memorable marketing campaigns, but we are also concerned about our clients as people. And let’s face it, alien abductions are serious business–we thought it was high time Gotham got involved. We could have lent our brain power to any cause, but we think the concerned citizens looking for a good alien abduction preventative are an underserved population. And we want them to know we’re listening!

For maximum protection against the alien forces that may be hindering your business, create your alien abduction helmet today.

Social media is the new media marketing; in fact, the trend towards social media marketing, in many companies, has become a favorite tactic along with traditional print and broadcast advertising.

To maximize your social media marketing efforts, you can:

1. Take a class to learn which social media outlets exist and target the ones that are most likely to give you the best return on investment. There are thousands of social media blogs, forums and other community outlets. While Facebook and Twitter are the biggest, there are thousands of other niche blogs and social media outlets that may be perfect for marketing your products.

2. Don’t try to do all things-social media. There are a bevy of ways to market your business via social media. Unless you have a team dedicated to manning everything from Twitter to Facebook to all the industry blogs you submit to, you’ll overwhelm yourself just trying to keep up. Pick 3-5 social media outlets and put your all into marketing to those audiences.

3. DO put your all into marketing on the social media platforms you like best. Try to avoid gathering a slew of Facebook Fans only to disappear once you reach your quota. Offer special incentives, something extra to those people. Give them a reward for helping make your social media marketing a success. To be a successful social media marketer, you have to be authentic and experimenting with a variety of messaging to test what works best.

4. Audit your social media efforts. Track what people are saying about your brand with tools like Google alerts. These automated tracking tools can give you “live� marketing intelligence to improve your brand and product offerings.

There are more ways than ever to communicate with prospects. From traditional mass media to cutting edge digital technology, the ever- widening array of media vehicles assault the senses daily. This “fragmentation� makes the job of the marketer extremely difficult- there are plenty of communication vehicles, but which ones will the target market utilize? One old school of thought is that of “Branding�. Branding simplified involves finding a key differentiator within the company, owning it, wrapping consistent messaging around the core idea and spending enough money so that it will be seen and understood by the target market.

Branding, which once held court as the flavor of the day (now its social media!) is really a 50-year-old idea. A corporation could spend enough money to run their ACME Coffee ad on network TV and the chances were great that it would be viewed by many households given that there were only three channel choices. Branding is really about awareness. It can contain a call to action, but the chances are great that no action will be taken by the market based on a mass media delivery.

What most people are looking for in this recessionary period is not branding but lead generation. Branding can definitely support and assist lead generation, but quicker Return on Investment is accomplished through lead generation. Branding takes years of repetition to take hold. Lead generation, through the use of direct means such as personal contact and direct marketing though traditional and digital techniques can return immediate results. Lead generation involves a specific offer to a specific market that requires a response. It is an aggressive form of promotion, trackable and can have an immediate positive impact on the bottom line.

By Woody Stoudemire

This year, Gotham celebrates its 20 year anniversary as a strategic marketing firm. This year also marks the third recession we have endured during those 20 years.

Advertising agencies are usually “first in, first out” of a recession, due to the popular theory that marketing is an “optional expense.” At the sniff of economic turmoil, companies often reduce their marketing to conserve cash. When they get a sense that things are recovering, they expect to capture market share due to weakened competition and pent up demand in the marketplace.

I would argue that a theory’s popularity, doesn’t necessarily make it right. Smarter marketers know to continue their efforts in good times and bad. With turbulent times come a reduction of clutter in communication channels and bargain basement deals on media buys.

We are now in month 18 of the 2008-09 recession, and things WILL return to normalcy. They always do. In fact, most recessions average 16 months. Barring some unforeseen craziness, you can expect your phone to start ringing with business again soon, if you have “stayed the course” from a marketing standpoint.

If you have been on the sidelines, in a spider hole or some other form of hiding until the worst is over, you may want to consider stepping back into the game right now.

Markets have the same needs they had before- there is still demand for your products and services; people have just delayed gratification or done without. Why not market now, get the word out about your products while it’s affordable and your message will be heard?

Our phones have rung more in April 2009 than in the past six months. We have vigorously marketed throughout the downturn, and we fully intend to reap the rewards from staying omnipresent.

Our competition has been compromised. Some have released their entire staff, and some have gone completely out of business. What are their former clients going to do when they need a marketing campaign? My hope is that the work we have done to get our message out will occur to them once the marketing floodgates open.

By Woody Stoudemire

1. Many companies tie their advertising to what competitors are doing. How could so many people have missed the “Would you jump off a bridge if others did?” speech from their mom. These “me too” companies will always struggle to get ahead of the competition because they are emulating others. The idea is to be different, market differently and grow market share as a result.

2. During the Great Depression, two cereal makers dominated the market. Post and Kellogg’s entered the period with equal market share, Kellogg’s chose to continue advertising while Post cut back. Kellogg’s emerged from the Depression as the dominant market leader; a position they have not relinquished to this day.

3. To grow market share, your company’s offering must be communicated in every economic climate.

4. Many companies are cutting staff or going out of business altogether, which leaves their former clients are looking for new resources, like yours. Attrition can be a very good thing.

5. There is less clutter in the communication channels. It’s much easier for your message to be heard when the competition is retreating.

6. There are excellent deals to be found, particularly in media buys for print, broadcast and outdoor. These media outlets are hungry for advertising dollars.

7. Businesses review everything in downturn- operations, personnel and vendor relationships. In a downturn, there is opportunity for your company to become that may not be available otherwise.

8. Once the recession is over, your company will be positioned for continued success in the future.

9. The Internet enables companies to advertise to an international market more affordably than ever. Take advantage of this cost-effective advertising solution.

10. Money is still being spent. It’s a little harder to come by, but the world is still rotating. Go out and get your share!

This year Gotham, LLC is celebrating our 20th year of providing marketing, advertising and public relations to our business-to-business clients. Although the economy is extremely challenging, 2008 was our best year ever. We are committed to making 2009 another stellar year by focusing on operations and providing the highest level of service we can to our existing clients. Most of our clients realize that more now than ever they need our expertise in clear communications and strategic critical thinking.

Last year, we rolled out an innovative concept called X-Factor Web Marketing, which blends public relations with Search Engine Optimization (http://www.x-factormarketing.com) to help company’s reach the top of a random search. This concept became so successful among clients hungry for measurable Return On Investment we have now spun it off as a separate company.

We all need to remember that a recession is a temporary phenomenon. Those who market will emerge stronger than those who don’t. I also believe that the business climate since 2001 hasn’t been all that great. It will take persistence, strong will and focused leadership to fight through this recession.

What could you say about yourself in 30 seconds that would sound memorable but not “needy”? Create a good sound bite that communicates your personal brand. This concise but comprehensive personal summary is often referred to as the “elevator speech” because you have a limited amount of time in which to deliver it.

The elevator speech should identify who you are, provide a unique and memorable fact, explain what you do, why you’re good at it, and how a business could benefit from your skills and experience. Remember, you have 30 seconds.

For example, if you’re an experienced truck driver with a background in logistics, you might say:
“Hi, I’m Tom Trucker. I’m a professional truck driver and logistics expert. I started out in the logistics field planning efficient truck delivery routes for a major company. I transitioned to driving cross-country truck routes 10 years ago. I’ve probably transported more live chickens back and forth on old Route 66 than anyone in the business! Still, I love having been on both sides of the fence, since it’s given me an understanding of both planning and executing transportation logistics in a variety of business settings.”

You’ve established that you’re a trucking expert, given them relevant background, provided a memorable fact – Route 66, and branded yourself as a professional and dedicated trucking/logistics product.