Technical Marketing appointed to promote ABTT 2012 Theatre Show

The Stage web site has posted the news that Technical Marketing Ltd has been awarded the contract to market the ABTT 2012 Theatre Show.

Technical Marketing Ltd has been appointed to plan and implement a marketing campaign to promote the ABTT 2012 Theatre Show which takes place on the 13th and 14th of June at The Old Truman Brewery in London.

Technical Marketing’s Andy Collier announcing the engagement said,  “we are delighted to have been appointed and thank the show organisers for the trust placed in Technical Marketing to deliver a successful campaign. What is particularly exciting is that although the show enjoys a fantastic heritage – 2012 will be its 34th year – it continues to evolve and retain relevance to the theatre industry now.” Andy continued, “as both a visitor and exhibitor over the years, for me the show has always been friendly and accessible. Not only is it a great opportunity to talk to equipment suppliers and examine new products, but it is also a ‘must attend’ event for networking and making or renewing contacts”.

Co-director David Brooks picked up the theme that “Technical Marketing will  be emphasising the show is a valuable opportunity for exhibitors to meet and engage with knowledgable  visitors – many with an important role in specifying or purchasing products and services for the theatre market”. David explained,  “we will be developing awareness of the value of this annual event for both exhibitors and visitors and running a marketing campaign throughout the months leading up to the show in June. In particular news and information will be available through a dedicated web site and via email, as well as through popular social media platforms. We will be encouraging feedback through these channels so visitors can tell us what they are looking for at the show and in the associated seminar programme.”

Technical Marketing Ltd is well known in the theatre and entertainment technology sectors and specialises in providing affordable marketing services to technical, scientific and industrial business-to-business companies including small, new technology start ups as well as larger established enterprises.

A benchmark for social media

Marketing Week has recently published an article – Benchmark your social media – that offers an insight into recent market research and talks about an initiative to benchmark and create a ROI model for social media. The report looks at how brands can put a value on their digital activity. The following extracts are quoted from the article.

 With most marketers expecting to spend more on social media “few claim to know what they really get for their money.”  The four major digital platforms were examined “to see which ones marketers are getting the most success from. Facebook is the most successful with 16% of businesses seeing a return on their investment. This compares with 15% for Twitter and LinkedIn and 9% for YouTube.” Presumably this implies that over 80% cannot identify a return on investment. “Half of the 900 UK marketers questioned by the CIM see potential in social media, saying it will be a significant force in five years’ time. But for the moment, many aren’t seeing results. Nearly a quarter say their activity on Twitter was not at all effective last year, a third say the same for Facebook, 37% for LinkedIn and 44% for YouTube.”

Here are some interesting further snippets from the article.

“if you are achieving above about a 2% engagement ratio, you are generally doing a pretty good job. Past 5% is very good. It’s not difficult to acquire more fans through ad spend if that is what you are after. The challenge is keeping them engaged when you get them there.”

“Social media will make you money if you act upon what your customers are telling you. That is not just as a marketing team, that is the whole business acting on it. It gives you what is on the customer’s mind in real time.”

“About a third of marketers say they are just experimenting with Linkedin and 37% say their marketing efforts through the network were not at all effective. This compares with 33% who say Facebook didn’t get results last year and 44% who weren’t happy with YouTube.”

The general impression is that social media is still pretty much an unknown in terms of demonstrating a clear Return on Investment. Getting Facebook members to “like” a brand is a far step from engaging people with the brand and that is probably even further distance from turning into a buyer. For b-2-b buyers it may be a really big step.  

Returning visitors

Much advice is available about attracting visitors to your web site and gaining their attention with a view to converting their interest into a purchase. But how do you deal with people who already are customers and returning visitors?

Analytics of established companies indicate that a significant percentage of web site visits are from returning visitors. Enquiry source analysis further suggests that many already know the company. Add to this a review of search terms and there are again visitors reaching the site because it is their chosen destination - they know the company already.

There are several possible reasons why visitors return. One may be that their first visit was initial research to discover potential suppliers and short listed your business as a possible vendor. As that group of visitors moves through the sales process, the web site should make it easy for them to find the specific information they require at various stages in the process including pricing, delivery and ordering details. Another reason is they are customers ready to make a new purchase. Where product values are high and purchase intervals infrequent it is important that returning customers can discover what is new and what developments there have been since their last purchase.  Another group could be specifiers who already acknowledge your company as a qualified vendor and need to ensure that they are using the latest current product data.

Ensuring that both new visitors and returning visitors quickly find what they need will probably mean they will take different journeys through the site so it should be clearly signposted which route to take. Aside from the practical information such as who you are, how you can be contacted, pricing and delivery visitors will need to know about your products.

Where there are product options it is important to provide simple guidance to help them select the right one. Buyers and specifiers are influenced by what the experts of that market have to say about your product and what endorsement they give. Finally what do users and owners of your products have to say about practical experience. The factual, expert and user experience combine to provide compelling copy. One useful way of providing regular updates in each of these three areas is by including a Virtual News Office.

Let me tell you a story

Content is arguably the most important factor for a web site, or indeed for any form of marketing communication. But what makes good content?

There is typically much discussion and focus on the technical aspects of web sites, often in stark contrast to the effort spent in providing compelling content. For example non-technical people merrily debate the merits of rival content management systems whereas practical observation suggests that marketing people rarely actually use them. And although we provide systems for people to subscribe or unsubscribe from email lists it is surprising how often we are sent emails asking us as administrators to add or remove names. Content rather than technology alone is what can convert a visitor into a prospect and ultimately into a customer.

It is likely people visiting a web site for the first time will be in an early research stage of sourcing a product or service and probably relatively ignorant about the options, or what products they actually need to solve their problem or meet their requirements. For example they might have a need to measure something very accurately, perhaps in a hostile environment and only have a vague idea what devices or systems will help them achieve this. They may have considerable expertise in their own field and need to be in touch with similar experts in another field - in this case precision measurement. We have a client who does just this and for tim we have developed informational content that describes how their transducer products are applied in a whole range of measurement situations. This content does not spell out the detailed technical specification of a product at all. Instead the product is referenced as a means of solving a measurement problem and readers are invited to contact the engineering team for free advice in proposing solutions to their particular challenge. Of course the web site will also need to provide product specifications, but these are for a later stage in the sales cycle, once the prospect knows what equipment they will require. But without telling a story that describes a scenario they can identify with, it is unlikely they will have made the journey to get them looking at product details. They simply will not have known that is what they needed.

Of course telling a compelling story helps establish the company as an authority and expert in the field. By explaining what is needed, how it can be used and most importantly the benefits the product brings to the prospect, the company who has provided the essential education and perhaps demystified the industry jargon has put itself in the pound seats for when that prospect becomes a buyer. Merely talking about the company and setting out the products is not enough. Content that positions the company as a vendor that can benefit the visitor will not only help lead the visitor along the path to become a customer, but will be recognised by search engines to as providing relevant content.