When you meet with a marketing firm, they may throw out some of the following terms without defining them first. This list should help you to know what to listen for and what each term means or stands for.
ROI-
Return on investment. How much a campaign, project or event measured up after the initial investment. For example, if you spent $3500 on direct mail to promote a certain product or service and received $7800 in business from that direct mail campaign, the ROI would be $4300. This is why coming up with a way to measure your marketing efforts is crucial.
SEO-
Search engine optimization. If you have a business that is run completely online or would benefit from receiving exposure to a potential client base online, you need a way for people to find your site through search engines. People can place keywords in your site and give you advice on giving your site a higher search rating (which means it shows up higher on sites like google when people input those keywords). For example, if your site is on the 5th page of the google search results when people type in keywords related to your business, you’re probably not getting any web traffic from that search engine. If you’re in the first 2 pages (a coveted position, indeed), it’s more likely that you’ll have people finding your site through the search engine results.
Web 2.0
Ok, I’m going to cheat here and copy and paste the Wikipedia definition:
A term that describes the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.
To find out more about web 2.0, see this Wikipedia article.
Social Networking
Part of the web 2.0 movement with sites that allow users to interact with one another through their online profiles. Examples of social networking are facebook and myspace. It’s a great way to showcase your company through a more personalized approach (and there’s no cost to create profiles on either site).
I will have several more blogs with marketing terms defined over the next few posts. Please add some to the list you think need definitions or add your own definitions.
Friday, August 15, 2008
You gotta talk the talk...
Press Release-Bilingual Marketing
The Marketeers, LLC and Susana Torres Translations are combining forces in order to better serve the multi-cultural and multi-lingual Houston community. Together, the two companies will enable businesses to create marketing strategies, campaigns and materials that reach a culturally diverse target.
“We’re ready to offer smaller Houston businesses an affordable solution to multi-cultural marketing through this partnership,” said Amber Ambrose, general manager of The Marketeers, LLC.
Susana Torres Translations, located in Houston, TX, provides translation services centered around a profound knowledge of grammar and a passion for writing. This approach ensures an interpretation as opposed to a literal translation of materials. They offer onsite translation services and language classes in addition to translation of materials. See more at www.torrestranslations.com.
The Marketeers, LLC is a marketing firm located in Houston, Texas. They offer marketing collateral design, strategic and creative development and implementation, event planning and development and follow through of product or service promotions. More information and an online portfolio can be found at www.marketeersllc.com.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Confidence in your consultants
When hiring any consultant, a portion of the price of services is due to the expertise of your consultant. So why not trust them with the project you’ve handed off?
For example, would you hire a plumber to fix your leaky sink and stand over him or her the entire time and direct their every action?
“I’m not sure you’re tightening that pipe correctly, perhaps you should use the other wrench for that…”
Can you imagine having that conversation?
Would you call your accountant and argue whether or not the return they’ve prepared for you meets certain tax laws?
The answer should be “no” if you truly trust your consultants, vendors and service providers.
The same should be applied to your marketing/advertising or graphic design firm, marketing director or anyone you’ve hired to help you with your marketing efforts. Unless you have a strong background in the field you’ve hired someone to help you with, you should remain confident in the abilities of the person you’ve enlisted to provide you with services.
Micromanaging any project (no matter what type of professionals are involved) will lead to exhaustion, frustration and a lesser outcome. It may even lead to broken relationships or a tarnished reputation and quite possibly, a hirer bill from your consultant (due to the extra effort involved just catering to your whims).
However, since marketing and advertising relate more to the image of a company, a subjective approach is understandable. This is why you should do your homework as a client before deciding on a marketing/advertising firm.
Have you seen their previous work? Does it correlate to what you’re looking to do? Do you agree with their approach to projects and clients? Do you have any reservations about your contact at the agency/company? Is it easy to communicate with your contact? Do they have the same moral platform? Can they see your company from a customer standpoint? Can you see your company from a customer’s standpoint? Are there procedures in place to show accountability and/or responsibility for the project? Have you checked references?
There are thousands more questions to ask yourself before you decide on a marketing company that could make or break the relationship, and eventually, the final project. Make sure after you’ve made the decision that you remain confident in your consultant’s or firm’s ability and enable them with support, not micromanagement.
