Marketing: Basic Check Points to review… Now.
We talk with business owners each week about their overall business and the marketplace. Times are challenging and many companies are seeking advice from us as to how to drive revenue. Really, basic “good business practice” holds true time and time again. We just apply it to our marketing outreach. Here are 4 points off the top of my head.
(1) STOP THE BLEEDING OF FUNDS: SLASH all activities that you cannot quantitatively validate are
driving revenue. That means, review every single touchpoint of your lead generation and conversion process to ensure optimal execution at each point. Review media, creative, offers, call to action, sales process etc… Most of all, ensure you have established a core set of Key Performance Indicators that you live by and systems with which to measure. Profit margins are too tight right now for error.
(2) RETURN TO THE BASICS: Stop experimenting! All too often we’ll go into a business and run down our checklist of “must do” activities and find that they are not being done. For example: Do you have signage? Have you contacted the brokers? PPC program in place? Does your website feature your locations and have an inquiry form on each page? Is someone on hand at all times to answer phones and capture the tour? Is your center tour ready? Do you have sales letters in place to convert? Does your agreement reinforce your value prop? Are you reviving the living and raising the dead? Sometimes “doing the basics” gets boring. It’s more fun to go out with a “splashy campaign” or “test a new medium”. That’s great – we should aways set aside a certain percentage of our budget for testing. But, when resources are tight you must be absolutely ruthless in ensuring the bread and butter activities are done flawlessly.
(3) BEWARE OF “DEATH BY 1,000 CUTS”.: Sure, Social Media campaigns and PPC efforts are monetarily “inexpensive”. Yea, referrals whether on-line or conventional brokers are paid on a “Performance” basis. But, what if you spend all your time on an ill-guided social media campaign that doesn’t support your brand, foster relations or drive leads. And, what if you spend hour after hour chasing down the wrong broker leads – ie: those leads that will never close. And finally, what if you don’t have the systems in place to ensure that you can convert these highly transactional leads once they call in? Be ruthless on investing your time in any activity regardless of whether you are paying out of pocket or on a pay for performance basis.
(4) ONCE CALL. ONE CLICK COULD = $20,000 (depending on your average deal value): Oh my. If I could count the number of times I didn’t get a return email or call when I inquired on-line or the phone calls that went into “voicemail hell”. If someone inquires via your website, landing page, phone or in person every member of your team better be empowered to convert the inquiry and ultimately sale. Conversion is KING!
Andrea Pirrotti is a ROI-driven marketing maven with proven successes in creating, executing, monitoring and optimizing marketing programs in the business center category.
From of 1999 to 2005 Andrea worked for The Regus Group and ultimately served as Vice President of Global Marketing in charge of 750 locations across 60+ countries. She was the marketing lead and member of the executive team that fueled the firm’s growth from $200 million to $1 billion in revenue over a six-year period. During her tenure she crafted the marketing strategy for Regus’ IPO, the firm’s product, location and country launches, bankruptcy (and early emergence) and acquisitions. She has been consulting in the industry ever since.
In addition to her experience in the business center world, Andrea served as the outsourced head of direct sales and marketing for Helicor where she re-launched the StressEraser, a FDA regulated biofeedback device that eliminates the harmful impact of stress on your body. She exceed sales and costs per acquisition targets while achieving a 100%+ increase in sales volume year on year.
While at Antares, a private equity firm with $5 billion in real estate assets, Andrea reduced marketing costs by 62% while increasing leads by 35%. Notable press placements include: VH-1, Fortune, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, The New York Times, Alpha Magazine and Deal Maker.
From 1991-1999 she headed up marketing for the Technology, Communication and Entertainment tri-state group at Ernst & Young LLP, Graduate programs at the Princeton review and served in Product Management roles at WarnerVision (now Warner Home video) and Gramavision records.
Andrea received a BS in Communications from Boston University and an MBA in Marketing from Pace, Lubin School of Business. She lives in Fairfield, CT with her husband Johnny and their newest addition to the family – baby Johnny and Sophia.