The Simon Group

The Groupies have been busy keeping in touch with our many friends (clients, reps, editors, vendors) from our infamous BBQ, to client dinners and our holiday card video shoot. To see some of our recent activities, including the Fabulous Fall BBQ 2009 edition, cross-country meetings, our new logo and more, go to Facebook.com and search for “The Simon Group.” Just click “Become A Fan” under our logo on the left.

Now you can also follow us on Twitter @TheSimonGroup86.

And don’t forget to check back after The Simon Group’s 24th Anniversary party on March 17th for more photos and updates!

TSG Updates Facebook, Social Media, Twitter

Joanna Puglisi-Barley: PR Manager

Joanna Puglisi-Barley has recently been appointed Public Relations Manager for The Simon Group to help service the agency’s growing client base. With nearly 20 years of marketing and public relations experience, Joanna is no stranger to The Simon Group, having freelanced for the company since 2002. She will be working closely with the agency’s diverse clientele, implementing various PR programs and strategies in an effort to increase market exposure and product awareness throughout the industrial, high-tech and electronics sectors.

Read the full press release.

Press Releases, TSG Updates PR, press release

The ultimate goal of marketing is to gain new customers. You spend both money and resources to educate your prospects about why your products and services are the best out there. The problem is that most of the time, people seeing your ads or reading your whitepapers and press releases aren’t entirely ready to commit. They need guidance, encouragement. The application in your case study is really interesting, but they may not have that specific application right now.

It’s these situations that expose the weak link between marketing and sales; the gap that exists between broad marketing techniques and closing a sale. You’ve met your marketing communications goal by targeting the right audience and gaining interest, but you aren’t quite ready for the sales team to take over. You’re stuck in the “in-between” when there isn’t one specific person responsible for the next phase.

Often, leads are passed on to sales without a second thought about whether or not all critical data has been obtained. A sales person gets incomplete information or a contact that isn’t ready to move to the sales-side of the deal, so the sale doesn’t move forward. How can you turn an inquisitive reader into a real buyer?

Fortunately, when given some light, that “in-between” grey area of lead management can reveal tried-and-true steps to follow. Lead management can educate buyers, help you understand your customers’ needs and ultimately generate revenue when a comprehensive and effective strategy is used.

These simple steps can turn that weak link into one of your most effective strategies by coordinating efforts between the marketing and sales teams. One group or one individual just won’t have the time, or the knowledge, to take care of everything.

1. Capture.

Capture your leads. It sounds so obvious it’s often overlooked. If you’re paying for advertising positions, especially online, you should know who is seeing the ad, whitepaper, e-newsletter or other medium you’re using.

While it varies significantly from company to company, chances are the publications have most of the raw data you’re looking for. This can range from the number of impressions or click-throughs to geographic and demographic data or be as detailed as company name, position, contact name and contact information.

Ask for as much as you can get and follow up with the publication. In fact, ask these questions before you place the space—we do!

2. Score.

First, determine what criteria are necessary in a prospect before they should be given a sales pitch:

• Should they have certain decision-making responsibilities or work for a specific industry?
• How often do they look at your ads or website?
• Have they downloaded a certain number of whitepapers about your products or technology?

Once you know the base level for a qualified lead, you need to monitor your data to look for trends. Find the person, company or market niche that continually opens your email blasts or goes to your website after reading one of your articles in a publication. Update your information until the prospect has reached your base level.

3. Nurture.

Build a relationship with prospects that aren’t quite at the optimum level for a sale yet. Even if they aren’t ready to buy from you now, building a relationship will increase your chances of them seeking you out later.

Don’t just rehash your ads, but rather send personalized (and most importantly!) useful information. Showcase your expertise and the value you can bring to the table when a purchasing relationship unfolds.

4. Give.

Having the lead ready for a sales call doesn’t make marketing irrelevant. The sales team can use the same information you tracked to determine if the prospect was ready for a sales call to establish their own approach. You don’t want the sales person to call a contact about product X when you know they showed more interest in technology Y.

Be sure to ask the prospect about the marketing activities they responded to. If they were interested in the whitepaper on technology Y, most likely they will have questions based on the information that was presented in it.

5. Evaluate.

This step closes the loop and shows the true importance of sales and marketing working together. Just because a lead ended in a sale doesn’t mean the process couldn’t be improved.

Evaluate the progression of the lead through the end sale to see where you struggled. If a lead doesn’t end in a sale, send the prospect back to the nurturing stage to learn more.

Reevaluate your scoring criteria as well. If leads aren’t turning into sales as expected, maybe a different base level is needed.

Lead management doesn’t stop after these steps either. You should be learning as much about the success of your marketing techniques as you are about the people responding to your communications. An effective campaign will be evident, as will an ineffective one. Properly managing leads should turn them into sales, but should also give you an education about your tactics along the way.

Articles, Online Marketing Advertising, Branding, leads, Marketing, sales

Jena Stauffer: Marketing Specialist

Jena Stauffer has recently taken on the role of Marketing Specialist, specializing in expanding the company’s online marketing programs, including online advertising, social media outlets and other web venues. Jena enters this position after initially joining The Simon Group as an intern in May 2008. She will also continue to provide account support for all areas of marketing, such as strategic planning, research, advertising, public relations, collateral, direct mail and new business development.

Read the full press release.

Press Releases, TSG Updates Advertising, Marketing, press release, Social Media

It comes as no surprise that the security industry is demanding more advanced technology. The need for better security systems, from waterfront ports down to the local convenience store, is a continual process that even the latest economic climate hasn’t beaten. However, the downtrodden economy has played an important role in driving some of the industry’s technological developments by requiring more cost-effective systems with advanced functionality — quite the conundrum for manufacturers in this space. There is a big push for money-saving products that provide greater ROI and decreased electricity usage.

In a recent U.S. market report, the SIA (Security Industry Association) provides a long list of considerations pertinent to security system users when evaluating products:

• Price/budget
• Company reputation
• Product reliability
• Technical expertise
• Customer service
• Ease of use and functionality
• System features
• System integration and upgradeability

Among the multitude of available security systems, including physical access control, intrusion/fire detection, electronic article surveillance and CCTV/video detection, remote video surveillance is growing significantly in popularity. Affordable onboard memory and data streaming capabilities have made these types of products more obtainable to more users.  This is especially true for the residential market and outside businesses such as car dealerships, construction sites, apartment complexes, roofing companies, lumber yards, metal distributors and more. Security system product advancements are providing users with better system control and quicker data access to increase response time in the event of an emergency.

Overall, the security industry is meeting the challenge of simplifying more complex systems in terms of installation and use, while offering better control and protection. Ease of operation combined with cost-effective technology can expand the market to additional industries and more businesses.

Industry Insight Industry Insight, Security

The list of social media is virtually endless, with big names like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn dominating the landscape, and the infinite amounts of blogs on every topic imaginable.  All of these different social media sites have one thing in common; they never deject conversation, comments and feedback as many consumers feel email and other websites do. In fact, they encourage interaction.

B2B marketers should view social media as a new way to interact directly with customers, in addition to employing traditional marketing techniques to generate even more brand awareness.

Follower-driven

Social media can take traditional electronic communications, such as email, to the next level. On Facebook and Twitter you can encourage customers and prospects to follow you and be on the look out for your news and product announcements to help generate buzz early on by providing useful content and pertinent updates.

Community-based

A B2B blog can be another useful type of social media by surpassing the one-sided limitations of a mass distributed press release to provide different elements not available with traditional press release distributions.

A B2B blog can provide:

• A user-friendly environment
• Two-way conversation capability
• Increased SEO (search engine optimization)
• Daily exposure to unique users

And, B2B blog users do not need to be confirmed as “friends”, like on Facebook or a fellow “tweeter” on Twitter, or even on the PR or marketing firm’s exclusive e-mail lists, so many times this format is viewed as a less intrusive means of communicating on industry happenings and technology developments.  It can also encourage a good problem/solution community, where customers and the company alike can share information to make products and services better and align future development with specific industry needs.

Research-oriented

If SEO is your goal, use Wikipedia, which is presently at the top of the SEO totem poll. It offers a unique setting where anyone can add (or delete) content, pictures, diagrams, references or external links to references (such as your new white paper or application note). Because it’s affiliated with Google, it skips one of the steps to optimization. By linking with Wikipedia’s individual pages, keywords and phrases, you can make the online search as easy as possible for potential customers or colleagues searching the web for information. Just remember this user-driven format frowns upon blatant self-promotion!

Maintain the balance

Mixing traditional marketing techniques with social media outlets can significantly increase market awareness. Not only will you benefit from the exposure social media outlets can bring, but you can also turn the benefits back onto your customers as well. Link your product to its latest application in more internet formats by writing blog post. It’s really not that hard to do and the impact will be tremendous!

Tactics to Try

• To generate excitement about a new product or application, update your Facebook status with the information. Associating your name with your customers is mutually beneficial and can lead to increased business.
• Link your new technology or service to the current buzz phrases in the industry in your blog posts. Not only will this increase your SEO, but people can comment on the application and the product.
• Contribute to a pertinent Wikipedia page by linking to a white paper on your site. If Wikipedia doesn’t have the page you want, create one and manage the content yourself.

Articles, Online Marketing Branding, Facebook, Marketing, SEO, Social Media

Advertising may seem expensive, but when done correctly, it’s a great way to broaden your company’s brand awareness and increase sales, especially in down economic times when your competition may be cutting back on their frequency or ad sizes!

As part of an integrated marcom program, advertising is a highly effective way to get your message seen by customers and potential customers. But, because you specifically control the message and where it appears, it tends to be more expensive than other marcom tactics, like PR.

And it’s interesting to note that most publications carry separate circulations for their online readers and print readers. There is still a subset of people that rely on print to learn about emerging technologies and products, while others rely more heavily on websites and e-newsletters.

Determining where to advertise can be a bit tricky. Here are three helpful hints to make your advertising program more effective.

First, determine your target audience; who do you want to reach? Narrowing your target audience helps you identify what trade magazines and web sites fit your company best. Look past the raw number of people that receive the publication as well as the click-throughs and impression statistics typically found in a media kit and understand who is reading the magazine or visiting a web site. Pick a publication where the circulation is representative of your target audience – job title, industry or market segment, what products they specify or other relevant criteria. Independent third party audits, such as BPA or ABC statements, are a great source of data if they are available, but there are other ways to obtain this info, too!

Then, review the editorial content of each issue. A publication’s editorial calendar will identify which topics it covers every month, as well as any industry events that it attends or sponsors throughout the year. Make sure that this information matches up with your target objectives.

Finally, study your competitors: What products are they advertising? What messaging are they using and how are they talking to the market?  Are they advertising in a specific magazine or on a website on a regular basis? If they are, it might be a good indication that their advertising is working.

Each media analysis we do includes the data above as well as information on total circulation, dedicated circulation, cost per thousand readers and other similar details to help our clients make an informed decision about the media program before spending precious advertising dollars.

• Total circulation – the total amount of people receiving the magazine or visiting a website
• Dedicated circulation – the subset of the circulation interested in your products, based on industry, market segment, specifier data, etc.
• Cost per thousand (CPM) – a break down of the cost to reach 1,000 readers

These detailed reports make it easy to compare and contrast relevant publications to determine more than just which ones reach the largest audience. They give you the power to easily compare the cost to reach the specific audience you would like to target.

Being aware of these analysis techniques, researching your options and narrowing down your choices ensures your advertising will be as effective as it can be because, in the end, advertising still pays off.

Advertising, Articles Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Media Analysis

By Marty Simon

The marketing communications business has seen a lot of business cycles come and go in the last 40 years…even a few recessions. Through it all, we’ve seen that clients who remained aggressive in their marcom efforts during downturns come back stronger and faster than those who cut back on marcom expenses.

We used to think this was only anecdotal based on our clients’ experiences. But it’s really much more than that. Research over the years has proven precisely what we’ve observed.

A few weeks ago a summary of research in just this area landed in our email. It tracked four recessions since 1970 and the impact that marcom expenditures had during those downturns. It showed the same trends for the country as we saw in our clients: those who maintained or increased marcom budgets during the recessions fared far better than those who trimmed their marcom costs.

If you think about it, it just makes sense…you get a bigger bang for your marcom buck because your competition is cutting back and you’re not. That’s a simplified view for sure, but it seems to be the essence of the strategy! The research is everywhere…search your favorite marketing resource or view the studies we read at http://www.gtms-inc.com/tip_marketingrecession.htm and http://www.americanbusinessmedia.com.

Thanks to Go-To-Market Strategies and American Business Media for this valuable research!

Articles, Integrated Marketing Advertising, Branding, Marketing

Thanks to everyone who made this year’s BBQ a huge success. With over 150 guests and nice weather, The Simon Group and Rhythm Eggs rocked in the fall season with 20+ performers, including Groupies, friends, reps and clients taking us back to the 1960s and over to London with the werewolves. The rain stayed away long enough to let the Groupies enchant the crowd with their version of R.O.C.K. Sellersville, PA… complete with kazoos!

Kids covered the driveway in sidewalk chalk, glittered their art projects (and themselves), played in the moonbounce and tested their skills at football, volleyball and baseball. Thanks again to the caricaturists for their wonderful creations. Don’t forget to ask someone about their Simon Group ink… devil heart temporary tattoos complete with The Simon Group’s signature “S” could be seen on more than just the kids!

Meet us on Facebook (The Simon Group, Inc.) to see pictures of the band, performers and the rest of the crowd at the Fabulous Fall BBQ last Saturday. You can also check out videos of some of the performances!

We hope to see you all again next year!

TSG Updates Fab Fall BBQ, Facebook

Despite current economic conditions, the military and aerospace market is doing quite well. The Department of Defense’s 2010 budget request sought increases in funding for different types of missile defense systems. Although funding was cut for medium and long-range missile defense programs and the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, systems that have proven themselves useful in defending the nation at its current state, such as short-range and naval-based systems, received increased funding in the request, maintaining the strength of American missile defenses. Additionally, the embedded military electronics market is doing well thanks to the military’s need to remain strong and as technically advanced as possible.

Other events have also been stirring up the military and aerospace world. Striving to stay technically advanced, many military applications have begun utilizing MicroTCA-based embedded systems. MicroTCA’s small size, light weight, low power and low cost make it desirable for use in military applications such as battlefield communications, mission computers, monitoring and surveillance, emergency response and Navy open architecture. It also possesses a simple network comparable to a PC running software on its desktop. And the military’s recent shift toward network-centricity in open systems platforms has placed increased attention on MicroTCA. Rugged and extended temperature versions are currently in development to make MicroTCA even more useful in military applications.

Other interesting developments are on the horizon for military and defense applications as well as in other markets. Check back often to read about other industries.

Industry Insight Industry Insight