A client who is developing a new company came to FirstTracks Marketing’s President Greg Connolly to get their brand plan in shape. Why? Isn’t it OK to hit the ground running with all the great tools like clever ads, social media buzz, spiffy new website and a catalog or two to hand out at the next trade show? All tactics that FirstTracks can supply?

A BIG LOUD “STOP” echoed across the phone line into the client’s ear. Let’s get your VP of Sales and any other key people in here and let’s really figure out who and what your company is what you’re going to do. Let’s do that first. What a great opportunity for them.  A new company in a high growth market ready to take off.

Here’s the first 3 things on my list that any company needs:

1. A solid product or service
2. A strong market for that product/service
3. A willingness to take advantage of that market

It’s amazing to guide business people through the process of really boiling down what it is they really are and what it is they really do. My role is to create an environment for this company’s executives to truly identify their product, market and will. This is not mission statement, vision statement fluff (run away when someone starts in on that stuff). This is the heavy lifting of the brand planning business. It’s hard. It’s long and when done right you wake up from the fog of the million things to do and a clear course is set. NOW it’s time to get to work. From my side of the room I see clear focused heads nodding “I get it. Let’s go” And the really cool part they got here themselves. As the Wizard of OZ said, “you had it in you all the time”.

Now all the tactics have a guide, a linking mechanism and a reason to exist. There is order in the marketing world. Budgets will be managed properly, consistency will reign and most importantly SALES WILL COME. Customers will buy and the willingness of the purse string managers will soar.

Phew! Want to be in this world too? Want to work hard? I do. Give me a call, 603-924-1978. Fill out our contact form if that’s easier and I’ll call you. Remember, nothing should start until you have a plan. Let’s get planning together.

Sitting in the Wal-Mart buying office lobby is the Star Wars Bar scene of mass market distribution. You can’t believe the array of products and hopeful Willie/Willimina Lomans. Smiles and shoe shines all around and the most powerful of all…the receptionists. If you’re not on their screen you’re not gettin in. No way No how. This is the inner sanctum of EDLP (every day low prices). Most will never experience this but for those product schlepers, yes, those haulers of samples, those weary airport refugees, those lusters after the giant PO, this is the mass market product distribution big time. Better have your game face on, your pitch refined, your packaging perfect and a don’t waste a minute because they’re all precious and you don’t get many. You’ve got a 8′ x 10′ room with no door and a buyer that has heard it all. Speak their language and respect their time.

Pre-Meeting  Mass Market Distribution Check List:

• Make sure you can make a decision
• Product(s) done and ready to go
• Packaging Perfect
• Know your competition
• Know your numbers
• Know your logistics

Like a lot of things, not all the best make it to the show and the real heavy lifting is prior to the actual meet. I’ve been there many times and every time things worked out well it was good preparation that made the difference.

Need help?

At FTMG we know preparation. We know retail. We know design and we know packaging. Let’s get together and plan your next visit to Bentonville. Dial 603-924-1978 or fill out this form. We can help.

This past weekend I (MatthewTNelson) spent my time with technology professionals from all over the New England region to meet, discuss and learn more about one of our favorite pieces Website technology, WordPress. The simple control and elegant ways we can manage and leverage data online make it a great content management solution (CMS) for just about any size/scope website project.

Today WordPress is used by 54.6% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 14.5% of all websites on the internet, the next closest content management system platform is Joomla at a paltry 10.1% (thanks @ryanprogramming) of all websites. The proof as they say is in the pudding, which you can find in this article if you are interested. What I have prepared here is a brief review of the sessions that I attended at the conference, what my impressions were and what I learned from each session and what I thought about the presentations themselves. I hope you enjoy my point of view and also offer you a small glimpse into the vast amount of incredible information I obtained at WordCamp Boston 2011 this weekend, if you are on twitter and are looking for comments from the event simply search the hashtag #wcbos. Enjoy!

I will definitely be back to WordCamp Boston in 2012

WordCamp 2011 is exactly what I was hoping it would be and even better than WordCamp 2010! It was a jam-packed day with a ton of useful information, tips and ideas that challenged my creativity and inspired me and got me excited to do more with the current projects I am building and the past projects I have currently live with my customers. My biggest take aways from this years conference were the custom post types tools and flexibility options, new ways to secure and protect our client sites better than we already are and finally new and exciting ways that we can customize our clients admin dashboards to make them easier and more seamless for them to use. It’s going to be a very exciting next few months as we wrap up and start a few more WordPress projects for our clients. I hope you enjoyed my overview and impressions of the conference and have supplied you with some great information that you will find interesting and useful. If you did enjoy this please leave a comment below and or share this post however you like, open source is all about sharing after all.

If you are interested in talking to us about building you a WordPress Website you can give us a call at 603-325-2429 or you can fill out our website development request form. We look forward to speaking with you soon.

Business Success Means… “We’re ALL in this”

Everyone and I mean every single body within a business, no matter what, is responsible for top line sales growth and profitability. Simply stated, easy to understand. The receptionist is “in sales”. The maintenance supervisor is “in sales”. The CFO is “in sales”. The driver delivering the product is “in sales”. The webmaster is “in sales”. Oh yes, and ya’ll in the marketing department, you’re most definitely in the sales and profit game. Every meeting with everyone in marketing should start and finish with “how is what we’re doing going to drive sales and increase profitability”. If there is no clear answer no one is allowed to leave the room. An agency that cannot and does not speak directly to sales and profits should be shown the door. Bye Bye.

That thing we do…

My job is to develop and guide a marketing plan based upon a company’s strategy backed with appropriate tactics/tools so they can sell more at higher profits. It’s always about sales and profit. Sometimes we back up and work on that corporate strategy thing first to makes sure there is a track that’s meaningful. A marketing plan without a strategy first is just, well, it just ain’t right and it won’t increase sales and profits.

We’re an idea box  full of website development, CMS implementation, SEO tactics, creative design, placement, direct mail etc., etc., BUT,  without a strategy we’re driving in reverse. We’re nothing if we’re not about helping our clients sell more, more often and at higher margins.

100% of us at FTMG believe we are responsible for top-line sales and profitability.

Give us a call 603-924-1978 or fill out our contact form and let’s focus on top-line sales and profitability.

Don’t we just love that hot new thing. Can I get a dot.com! Can I get a Social Media plan!  It wasn’t that “being on-line” in the 90′s wasn’t valid or just like being “social” in the 2010′s isn’t appropriate, its just that it isn’t the ONLY thing. We’re Social Media fans in a big way here at FTMG and we believe with all our marketing hearts that inbound strategies work but we also hold a deep core belief that no two clients are alike and our job is to be quiet, listen, probe and question and then think strategy with an open mind to the tactics that are required to bring home the sales and profits.

Believe it, and yes you heard it here. People still get snail mail and still read something that is on actual paper. We design and produce newsletters for a number of our clients. There, I’ve said it. For several of our hospital clients we produce clear, well written (way to go Laura), graphically well designed (thank you Bob)  and strategically focused newsletters that people/customers/patients/potential patients/donors/prospective donors want and DO read. Can I track open rates and click throughs, time on a page, bounce rates. No, but I can when I integrate them with their website.

There’s a place for old school on its own. But when you marry the old school with the new school then hey, that’s where the magic happens. Great design whether it’s on-line or on the pony express still moves and shakes. Start with a strategy, define the support, design with meaningful gusto and then you should be counting the $.

Is a newsletter right for your business?

Don’t know and won’t know until we talk. Call us 603-924-1978 or do the form thing. We’ll get right back to you and listen.