Increase Sales by Engaging Customer Participaction Contests

Sometime ago I wrote about the idea of engaging customers in contests and not just collecting names at a trade show. I was thinking about it more and thought it was worth a second look. Contests are a good way to get a bunch of names of people who aren't really interested in your product, so ask people to do something more then just dump their name in a draw.

Once you've figured out what great prize you can hand out send an invitation to your customers to participate. First they would need to submit a video of them (or friends) using your product in a unique way. They would need to answer the question, why buy your product?.

If you have a good website developer that could enable videos to be uploaded to your site, utilize him. If not, use youtube to upload videos for your consideration that way others could vote for their favorites. Think about it, your customers would be providing testimonials and free commercials of your product to be viewed on a popular video hosting site. So far it's cost you the prize and some time inviting them to participate.

Second, encourage them to invite others to join in their video and to ask family and friends to vote for their favorite videos. Open the contest up to non customers by uploading a video of your own explaining the rules and the prize. Remember, be interesting, energetic and have fun with it.

After a set amount of time choose one of the top 5 videos as the winner.

Even if you think your product can only be used in one way, you'll be surprised what people will come up with. If you take the product I work for, CanPages, its a phonebook, nothing special right? Well search - uses for a phone book - on google and you'll find lots of people coming up with different ideas. People are very creative and imaginative, use it to your products benefit.

For this to be successful you'd need to allow enough time to elapse, the prize would have to be very significant, and you have to have enough of a customer base to invite to participate. You could add other categories for other prizes like the best photo of your product, or the best photo of someone using your product in a unique way. You could utilize flicker as the host for this type of contest.

Whether or not you utilize video or photos the important thing is to find a way to engage people in the products experience. If you have a booth at a trade show, have the prospect use the product or write how he would use the product in his life before he can enter your draw. Use these ideas in your marketing. Get together with other people that sell your product and host a contest together.

Have your clients participate in a photo scavenger hunt, the person who submits the most pictures of your product being used in the world to flicker wins. Have other prizes for the most unique place, or the weirdest way your product has been used.

What other ways can you engage people to use your product and create interest?

Links:

Advertising and Marketing

Some articles on Saving Money as a Business in 2009

Thought I'd put together a small list of different articles that will help the small business owner plan to save money. In my opinion it is not smart to arbitrarily start cutting back, it is smarter to have a plan in place that will ensure that money is being focused into income earning areas and away from non income expenses like your electric bill.

From Canada One - Keeping Your Cash in an Economic Downturn

Canada's Economic Forecast looks Good!

Canadian Government is

poised to announce Major Spending to help economy
Tuesday's budget is expected to include more than $6 billion in new infrastructure spending, increased training money and possibly enhanced benefits through employment insurance, a major program of tax credits to encourage home renovations and support for forestry, manufacturing, aerospace, mining and other industries.

How are you preparing your business to ensure that you will be getting a piece of the pie. If you are a contractor how are you advertising to ensure your company will be called upon?

Although I don't agree with the idea of cutting back on advertising, the ideas in this lengthy list are a good way to save money and change up your advertising methods. 78 Ways to Save during an Economic Downturn

When looking to save money look to lower the costs that do not provide a return, like your energy bill. Here is a list of 10 ways to save money and become more Green in the process. 10 ways to Green your Business

10 ways to save money on fuel if you are a business.

I believe that the best way to survive a recession and grow your business stronger is to market and advertise, after all why shouldn't you get your competitors customers when they shut their doors or stop providing the service or quality their customers have come to expect. Ensure you are where prospects will look for you and your services, plus find unique and cost effective ways to build awareness. 10 Low Cost Marketing Ideas for Businesses to Save Money

Cut back your costs that don't bring in business - like your insurance costs. Ideas to decrease your business insurance costs.

I've met with lots of small business owners over the last few months and almost all are cutting back and finding ways to save money. Not all are making the right choices, but most are smart about how they plan on saving money and surviving.

Some though have a different attitude. One business owner, a very smart individual who was on top of everything going on in the marketplace, decided that he and his business were not going to participate in this recession. Considering the short span of time the Canadian recession is projected to be he will come out ahead of his competition that will need to restart their marketing and advertising campaigns. Most will have done so too late and potential customers will have already made their choice of a new provider.

Historically by the time the recession has been officially declared the bottom has been hit and the economy is already in recovery. The only time this isn't the rule is when the banks and financial institutions have collapsed and thereby inhibiting any cashflow and recovery. Without financial institutions, credit, and government investment there is no job creation which makes things slower to recover. In Canada that is not the case, our 5 major banks are still viable and our government is planning on a large spending and tax incentive to get the trades back to work.

Where do you buy Your Coffee? Tim Hortons, Starbucks or an independent shop?

Today I found a wonderfull little independent coffee shop in High River, Alberta. It was one of those places that is filled with character and unique items. Where there are comfy seats and board games to welcome you to stick around for awhile. There are differentt coffees from around the world full of different flavors, choices of specialty coffees and teas. While I sat there soaking up the atmosphere it got me thinking about the 15-20 minute lines to get a double double or the higher prices to get that Starbucks experience.

Why do so many people continue to choose the big brand name coffee houses instead of supporting the unique and special independent coffee shops? I have my own thoughts but I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Canadian Real Estate Market - Is it Really That Bad?

Is the Canadian Economy as bad off as the media says it is? Watching the news one would think Canada is in a melt down, but the media is skewing statistics to make things out to be worse then they are.

A Canadian TV News Media reported in January that in 2007 there were over 2500 foreclosures (sorry I didn't take notes) and in 2008 the rate of foreclosures was up over 9%. Wow 9% sounds terrible doesn't it, after all its close to 10% and that's horrible. But think about it, it means that there was an extra 2,000 foreclosures in 2008 over 2007 in Canada. Considering all the millions of mortgages that are out there 27,000 foreclosures isn't a huge amount. Notice they also didn't mention how many foreclosures there were during 2005 and 2006 when the market was inflating.

Finding the number of foreclosures in Canada isn't as easy as I thought it would be but I did find the bank associations data on mortgages in arrears. These are the % of mortgages in arrears taken from the monthly numbers as an example:

October 1991 0.57%
October 1994 0.49%
October 1996 0.24%
October 1999 0.43%
October 2001 0.44%
October 2005 0.26%
October 2006 0.24%
October 2007 0.26%
October 2008 0.29%

Graph of Canadian Vrs US

The numbers are from Canada's seven major banks, which together issue about 60 per cent of the country's mortgages.

In B.C., only 0.15 per cent of those mortgages were in arrears in April 2008, the last month for which data is available. That number has steadily declined from about 0.65 per cent in 2001.

Meanwhile, 0.26 per cent of mortgages nationally were in arrears in April, a number that has held fairly steady since 2004.

"And by implication, the foreclosure rate remains quite low - if not historically low - in Canada," Guatieri said. "And it's miles different from the U.S. situation."

Does knowing that mortgages in arrears in 2008 were lower then mortgages in arrears during the 1990's and early 2000s change your opinion on the health of Canadian Mortgages?

Everyone looks at housing prices as an indicator as to whether or not the real estate market is going good or bad, but is it as bad as we think it is? It was worse during the early 1990s - Check out the graph if you don't believe me. In 1991 my mother went into Real Estate and looking at the graph one would think that 1991 was the worse time to become a realtor. Many realtors at that time were quitting, closing up shop and changing careers. The Okanagan during the early 1990s was hit hard and their recovery was very slow due to lack of industry, yet she made a good solid career as a realtor during this time. The economy has little to do with whether or not a business will survive an economic downturn - it is up to the choices of the business owner.

Links:
Do Ads Work?
6 Survival Tips for Lean Times
Advertising Can People Find Your Business?
Is the Cost of Living Effecting Your Business?
Southern Alberta Real Estate Market is Steady.

Not all Phone Directories are Created Equal - A Phonebook can be "Carbon Neutral"

How many people think that a phonebook is a tree killer? According to Facebook a lot. Well the Canpages phonebook has been certified carbon neutral and is environmentally friendly.

• Canpages is the first directory publisher to be certified carbon neutral
• Canpages directories are completely recyclable and use the highest percentage of recycled paper fibres
• Canpages has added an eco‐choices section to each of our directories
• Canpages also generously donates to a variety of environmental groups whose purpose it to ensure a lasting legacy of wildlife and habitat in Canada.

So what does this mean for your business? If you are an advertiser with Canpages in Canada then you are part of an award winning environmentally friendly product which is gaining usership in Canada. As a phonebook user, you can be assured that you are helping the planet when you use a Canpagese Phonebook.

It's exciting because a company that traditionally is seen as a wasteful necessity is now a certified carbon neutral product and is still a useful tool for the marketplace. At some point everyone uses a phonebook directory to find a product or service; even if it used by a household once a year it has provided a benefit for both the advertisers and the consumer. Most of the marketplace is dulled to advertisements and feel that if they want something they will go and look for it. One tool every household will use at some point is a phonebook, another tool is the internet directories like Canpages.ca

Links:
How to survive a recession
Are You going to survive the recession
Have a Leaner Better Business
Do You Measure Advertising?
How is Your Business Special?
Ecoprint is proud of their CanPages ad.
Search for Businesses on your Mobile Phone with CanPages App

Do Ads Work? If you get Traffic from an Ad why Not Buy it?

I just read Seth Godin's latest blog, Do Ad's Work? - As long as it's working why wouldn't you? Good question, I'd like an answer.

If I told you that I have call tracking numbers to prove that 10 people a month on average were calling a business, would you be interested in finding out more about the ad? Really it depends, if you are a Chinese Restaurant this wouldn't be enough traffic to generate enough business to get excited about. What if I told you that the call tracking number was associated with a realtor in a smaller city? Even if he closed one sale out of the 10 calls his return the first month would be 200%. Would that not be a great investment for any realtor in that area?

Lots of businesses are cutting back due to the recession. Some are being smart about it and some are ignoring those that are still looking for them and cutting back on advertising. I wouldn't recommend any business cut back, I would recommend that they focus those dollars better. Funnel your advertising dollars into ads that have stats that prove they are working. Limit the amount of awareness and look at me ads and focus your dollars where you know your clientel look to find you.

How well do you track your advertising results? If you don't track the results but believe your ads aren't working how can you be sure you are right? I always hear that advertising doesn't work, but when I ask how they track their ads and what their return is, I always find they don't know.

I was talking with one insurance salesman in a larger city and mentioned that we have call tracking numbers that prove businesses like his get over 100 calls per month. I also had proof that over 200 people a month were looking on our online product for businesses like his. He choose not to advertise, the other day he told me his business was down 70% from last year. If you don't advertise how will anyone find you?

Have you choosen not to advertise? Why? Is Seth Godin's response (or mine for that matter) way off the mark or does the arguments make sense to you? Want to know more about advertising and why you should advertise? Contact me via skype - there on the left hand side is the skype contact or leave your contact info in the comments.

Links:
Wizard of Ads
6 Tips to Survive Lean Times - Vancouver Sun Article
Should you Cut Back on Advertising

What do you do? What makes Your Business Special? What's Your Elevator Pitch?

An elevator pitch is your 30 second commercial that creates interest in your company, product or service. An Elevator Pitch has to create interest through curiosity and be open enough to inspire questions. Are you trying to create an elevator pitch? Not sure if your elevator pitch is good enough? or Do you have an elevator pitch you like? Share it with us and provide a link to your business website or email.

If you want feedback and help list out what your business and product or service is, how it helps your customers and what makes it different from anything else on the market. What benefit does it give the customer? What features are different from your competition? What message do you want to get across? List out your elevator pitch and ask the community for feedback in the comments section.

Every small business person is a salesperson and has to have sales skills like the elevator pitch. This 30 second commercial will either create curiosity for the prospect to ask questions or will tell them too much and cause the prospect to make a decision at that point. Make sure your elevator pitch is consise, informative enough but doesn't provide too many details.

Easy? Depends on how well you know your market, prospects, and customers. Do you know why they buy from you? Knowing the reason your best clients choose to purchase from your company will help you understand what questions you want the prospect to ask and create curiosity from that.

As an example I will go through my process:

Benefits of what I do: Help the marketplace find the business, product or service they need when they need it. - The result is I help my clients increase the traffic to their businesses.

My product is different from indirect competitors: It has a longer shelf life. It is used by the marketplace to find what they need when they need it, as a result, they find the businesses that utilize my indirect competitors and thereby, increase the return on investment for the client when they use my indirect competition.

Message I want to get across: I help businesses differentiate themselves to the marketplace when the consumer needs them.

Why do my Customers Buy: They know that they need to be where the marketplace goes to find a business or service they need. They understand that the return on investment my product provides is better than any other media available. MOSTLY: they want to grow their business and understand how I can help them.

Notice I haven't mentioned the company or the product? It's because my product is unexciting but what it does for the business is exciting.

Elevator Pitches I can use with this information:

1. I help businesses get to the next level.

2. I help consumers find the business, service or product that they need when they need it.

3. I realize that you have a marketing and advertising program in place, I increase the return on investment of that program.

4. I'm a matchmaker between businesses and consumers.

5. I bring businesses customers.

Good luck creating your elevator pitch and ensure that you share it with us and how we can ask you more questions if we are interested.

Thinking About Franchising Your Business?

Do you want to take your business to the next level? Thinking about franchising your business? Want to know more about how to franchise a proven system?

Coming In Calgary on January 16th is a "How to Franchise Your Business" seminar. If you are interested in attending contact me at 403 816 3454 for further details. This free seminar will address the hows and why franchising may be in your best interest.

Christmas Spending Results and Economic Outlook for 2009 - Is it a Good Thing for Your Business?

Predictions regarding the decrease in consumer spending for the 2008 Christmas Season have started to hit the news wires. All agree there is a decrease in dollar spending, as a result of both less spending and deep discounts. So what does this mean for your business? That consumers are still spending money just less of it - will they choose to buy from your business?

According to the NY Times, ShopperTrak's earlier predictions were opptomistic when compared to the reality of both traffic and dollars spent:

Releasing interim data on Wednesday, ShopperTrak said the full report would most likely show that customer traffic for the full holiday season plummeted 16 percent, and that total retail sales sank 2.3 percent. Those are darker than previous estimates, of a 9.9 percent drop in traffic and a 0.1 percent increase in sales.

We won't know the concrete actual results of December spending until January 8th but as it stands it may be worse than expected. This is a result of people being cautious about their spending habits and starting to save more resulting in a worsening of the recession. So will you still be in business when these consumers start spending more money again?

In Canada the results were better and show that although we are in a recession as well, it isn't the recession to the south of us. Our recession is a result of both a slowing economy and consumer assumptions that the American numbers are the same as ours. The difference is that our nation didn't have the creative mortgages the States had and as a result we don't have the same credit crisis that caused this recession.

Canadian retail sales for the holidays have not been released yet – Statistics Canada typically has a two-month lag in reporting – but the figures from October show sales were 0.9 per cent less than September, standing at $35.9 billion. When compared with October 2007, however, sales were up 4.1 per cent.

Despite losses in furniture, home furnishings, electronics, cars and other big-ticket items, the agency said price reductions were the prime factor in the monthly decline. When taking price changes into account, sales volume actually rose by 0.1 per cent.

The prospects for 2009 are not looking good, even north of the 49th parrellel. However, I believe that these numbers are very pessamistic for the Canadian economy. Although our economy was inflated and needs to contract down to a healthier level of growth, I don't see it as a bad thing for anyone, business owners included.

"Never before, in December, have we been so pessimistic regarding economic growth for the upcoming year," says Dale Orr, chief economist at Global Insight, which is forecasting that the Canadian economy will contract by 0.4 per cent in 2009.

That's a relatively optimistic prediction.

Scotiabank, for one, sees the Canadian economy contracting by three times that amount in 2009, or 1.2 per cent, with employment falling by 170,000 jobs, or one per cent, and the jobless rate rising to an average of 7.7 per cent from 6.1 per cent in 2008.

Another forecast, this one from TD Bank, predicts an even greater 1.4 per cent contraction in 2009, with virtually all provinces in recession. The jobless rate, after reaching an average of 7.7 per cent in 2009, will rise to an average of 8.2 per cent in 2010, the bank said.

Why is a contraction in the economy a good thing? Because it cleans it up and weeds out the bad apples thereby strengthening the good apples and the economy at large. The reason for the US crisis was too many bad apples in the mortgage market, too many people who shouldn't be getting mortgages were getting mortgages. Too many people who shouldn't be buying new expensive cars were buying new expensive cars. The market was being inflated beyond healthy growth by credit and not healthy spending. When the credit ran out so did the spending and as a result the demand dried up and equity went bye bye.

The results have shown that healthy spending is continuing. The decrease in spending is a result of the credit spending or unhealthy spending not being there this year. People are still spending money, you just have to understand where the money is coming from, their actual pockets and not the banks.

How to survive a recession
Are You going to survive the recession
Have a Leaner Better Business

Marketing Predictions for 2009 - What Small Businesses NEED to Know from the GURUs of Marketing.

I wanted to quickly pass on a link to a site that has a list of what the guru's of marketing are saying about 2009 and how small businesses can take advantage of the slowing economy. I've said it before and I'll repeat it - the recession is a great opportunity for you to strengthen your business and realign yourself as a leader in your market. You have to be smart and you have to get your story out into the marketplace while the rest of your competition is cutting back on their marketing / advertising budgets.

Recession doesn't mean there are NO buyers, just LESS buyers - Are they going to be calling on you or your competition? That depends on who they see, remember, and can find easily.

Links:
Check out duct tape marketing's list of what the guru's are saying for 2009.

Do You Measure Advertising?
How is Your Business Special?
Can Your Business Survive a Recession?
6 Tips for Businesses to Survive a Recession.