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Tag Archives: Marketing
An Event Proposal Template You Can Use
Every event needs an event proposal. Here’s how to build a great event proposal template that you can utilize time and time again, it’s great because it’s simple and because you can modify it to fit any of your event needs.
Whether you’re planning a small department party or a grand charity gala the most appropriate way to present your event to clients or management is by creating an event proposal. This is the most serious and professional way to go about planning your event and actually the most appropriate way to keep your own organizational sanity.
What is an Event Proposal?
An event proposal is basically the business plan of your event. It starts with an “executive summary” and goes on to cover every detail of the event.
Why do I need to have an event proposal?
You need an event proposal so that everyone on your team and everyone you’re working for are clear on what the event is about, know all the details of the event and can refer to it if any questions arise during your absence.
Imagine a situation when a venue calls to confirm the dates for an event you’re organizing and you’re out of the office and can’t be reached. The event proposal is something that your team can refer to for this vital information. Yes this seems unlikely however it has happened in the past especially for events that are happening far in advance or when multiple events are running at the same time.
Keep in mind that the event proposal will be viewed by many different stakeholders; marketers, finance, potential sponsors etc. Each with their own goals and targets, therefore the proposal should be general enough to paint the overall picture yet specific for each party to be able to make decisions based on the details provided in the proposal. Click here for an example of how your stakeholders will be reading and analyzing the event proposal.
Event Proposal Template in Detail:
I find it most useful to use my own custom made event template based on a number of templates I’ve used in the past and a number of non event planning templates. When you’re presenting your event idea listen and note the questions you are being asked, then incorporate them into the event proposal.
You’ll find a great event proposal sample here.
Introduction: In this section you are introducing your event, this is where you “write to impress.” Use this space to sell your event by introducing the event concept, the event title and outline the event program.
Venue/Entertainment/Food & Beverage: This section will expand on your introduction and cover the main questions about the event; this is where you answer the 4W’s [Who, What, Where and When.]
Event Logistics: This is one of the more complex parts of the event proposal template and I suggest using an event planning template to complete this section. In this section you will explain how exactly you are going to attain what you’re promising in the first two sections. For example: how much are tickets going to cost, how are the invitations/registrations going to be managed, will this be an evening or daytime event? Will you be purchasing event liability insurance or just event cancellation insurance? Provide a detailed description of all products, giveaways, brochures, flyers, etc. intended for distribution at the event.
Finance: Your budget proposal, your anticipated expenses and anticipated revenue from the event. This is the place to state how you are going to report on the finances and how often.
Marketing: Present a general marketing strategy for your event or how you are going to work with the marketing department to market the event. Talk about your target audience and what need you are fulfilling with your event and why you think it is going to be successful. In addition: list PR companies, media coverage, celebrities and sponsors that you are going to be working with. Note: depending on the size of the event you might need to create and use a sponsorship proposal template when working with event sponsors.
Additional Points to Mention:
Key people: Who is on your team?
What departments will you be working with and who is accountable for what. List all the key people who are going to be involved in producing this event and get approval for these names. You don’t want to be planning an event mid way and discovering that your marketing manager is tied up in two other events. Click here for more great tips on event proposals.
Important to Remember: The physical appearance of the proposal is important. Make it presentable, something that you wouldn’t be ashamed to show to a company CEO. It should be professional, appealing, exciting and to the point.
Source – Event Management Tales
How to Be a Good Public Relations Client
What Good PR Clients Do
Since public relations isn’t done “to” a company—it’s done “with” the management team or owners—there’s an essentially different nature to how this kind of professional service is successfully delivered. It’s much more akin to legal or medical services with the “defendants” or “patients” (read: management team members) having to be deeply and consistently involved in an ongoing process.
As the now-famous slogan coined by tech PR guru Regis McKenna goes, “PR is a process, not an event.”
Without recognition of that, PR generally goes nowhere—and the agency will not work with that client for long.
Two Business Cards, One Team
PR is most productive when the agency and client people work as a team. The ideal is a blurred distinction between the two organizations. The goals are nearly the same, only the paychecks and business cards are different. Efficient teamwork and friendships develop, with the clients relying on agencies for a full range of strategic as well as tactical communications values. The agency is free to ask all questions, including the hard or perhaps embarrassing ones, and offer help wherever and whenever needed while remembering its charter to client service.
Exactly when things can go really right or very wrong is typically at the outset. The client/agency relationship should be based on a high degree of trust and openness. You see this plea or expectation on agencies’ Web sites all the time: “We have strong relationships with our clients.” PR services need to be delivered like any other professional service, as typically required by lawyers or accountants. Public relations can truly add value to a business or organization only if the agency people have an intimate understanding of what’s going on, warts and all.
An arms-length relationship, when the agency is seen as a “vendor” (like office supplies or a delivery service!), isn’t going to yield effective long-term results because the agency won’t have been let into what strategically bears on the business. Without such insider knowledge, PR plans will likely be off the mark, short-term and not deliver desired results that matter.
Getting What You Pay for
To gain a better understanding of this perspective, consider that hiring an agency to just execute some tactics like a string of press releases would be like going to the doctor to have a band-aid applied. You can do it, and pay for it, but it certainly isn’t the best use of your money or the doctor’s talents.
You’ve got to tell the experts where it hurts and let them diagnose whether or how applying public relations practices may relieve the pain. So, if you want real agency value, share your business or marketing plans and explain your objectives. Mention what may or may not have worked in the PR area previously. Then let the pros prescribe ideas and strategies that address your business problems.
Valuable agency people want to understand the core challenges and bring their experience, imagination, and creativity to finding a solution. Remember, you’re investing in expertise to help with business problems that you can’t or don’t want to solve by yourself. So find an agency that will lead you toward desired goals and an effective market position. Let them become a strategic asset.
Just hiring some extra hands to perform work that you decide is valuable and which you yourself direct isn’t cost-effective. If that’s going to be the case, hire a junior employee.
Conversely, for the agency people reading this, if your client isn’t taking your advice or, worse, is dictating strategies and tactics, plan on replacing the account as soon as possible. You’re just an order-taker. You’ll be replaced very soon.
Invest the Time
If a client hands a completed document to its agency and expects the agency to use it as is, little is gained in client-derived value from the agency. Agencies offer far more value than mere errand runner for company messages. The often staggering aggregate communications expertise offered by PR agencies is totally wasted. Worse still, the mutual learning created by working together cooperatively in the creation of new information is also lost.
Agencies need and want to learn ever more about their clients’ business. You didn’t learn everything you know about your market and your company instantly. Dealing with the learning curve is worth the time. That’s why agencies ask for strong relationships.
Client and agency people get to know and work together most effectively in collaborative creation of communications strategies and tactics. The two-way explanation, give-and-take of such work helps people in both environments understand each other’s value and creates the best ways to expand client company or product awareness. It’s a simple case of two (different kinds of) heads are better than one. More importantly, for the client, it’s a case of getting all that you’re paying for.
Case in Point
Even with something as basic as press-release development, for example, being placed in the position of merely reacting to client-generated copy leaves the agency without access to other information that might lead it to make suggestions that increase newsworthiness and marketing effectiveness. But if they don’t get to ask the basic marketing or business communications questions up front, that value can’t be provided.
The Q&A around “so what?”—or news significance—is among the key things that agency pros are trained for. Without it, a big limitation is created. When agency personnel are removed from the origination of copywriting projects, clients lose. The agency team doesn’t learn about what’s not in the press release. And, often, what isn’t stated in the final press release copy, and why, is as important for the agency to know as what is.
The dialog preceding writing assignments may be more valuable to marketing than the finished written product—particularly so in business-news publicity.
Client-developed releases are often dismally off the mark and fail to answer the most basic questions that business reporters need answered. That’s often because of the inherent inside-out perspective common to those working within an organization. It takes an exceptional writer working inside a company to maintain the opposite “outside-in” perspective while pedaling the company’s key messages in a news or feature story.
Moreover, if you’ve hired a good PR agency, in the process you will have hired excellent writers. That’s a core public relations competency. So give them the opportunity to practice their art and let them write! The results will be better.
Clients should continuously get more from their agency as time passes. As the relationship and the agency team’s client knowledge grows, so should the service quality level.
Source – Ford Kanzler, Marketing Profs
Public Relations vs. Marketing
The agendas of public relations and marketing are different. Marketing is interested in the market — consumers and demand. Public relations is interested in relationships — reducing conflict and improving cooperation.
Good public relations will create a healthy environment for marketing. But simply providing technical support for marketing is not the same as good public relations.
An important study on excellence in communication management identified four major public relations models:
- Promotion and publicity (one-way communication/hype)
- Applied journalism (one-way communication/credible)
- Research, persuasion (two-way communication, win/neutral)
- Dialogue, mutual solutions (two-way communication, win/win)
(More than one model may be apparent in any public relations practice. Philosophy and vision will determine which one is dominant.)
The same study found that excellent organizations were associated with three factors:
- Effective organizations treat PR as a management function.
- The most effective model of PR involves dialogue and mutual solutions.
- The commitment of key leaders and asking the right questions are critical.
The two critical questions were:
- How do we manage our interdependence with the community?
- How do we develop excellence within our organization?
The bottom line is a balance of receivables and payables. Marketing adds value by increasing income. Public relations adds value by decreasing the expenses that are necessary when issues are ignored.
Consider the alternatives to these situations:
- Activist groups being satisfied with your performance
- Customers comfortable that they can count on you
- (or) Donors being loyal to you when money is tight
- Employees respecting you as a good and fair employer
- Fewer people feeling like suing you
- Journalists knowing you to be responsive and credible
- Legislators seeing you as ethical and having public support
- Neighbors not minding your presence on their street
- Shareholders regarding you as competent and competitive
- Your industry considering you a leader
Faking it doesn’t work. Not caring and then apologizing doesn’t work. An old adage is that the “P” and the “R” in public relations stand for performance and recognition. Good relationships are genuine.
Marketing and public relations both work best when they’re treated as distinct management functions. These two functions can pull together as equals on a team, and this works to integrate the business process.
Source – Top Story
Emailing with Permission
A truly ‘permission-based’ marketing program involves two very important and complimentary aspects. The first is the process by which you obtain your recipients’ permission to send email. There are some reasonably black-and-white means for how to gain this permission properly and how rigorous you choose to be in doing so.
The second aspect of permission-based marketing has less to do with the steps and processes you use to collect names and more to do with the relationship you have with your customers and how you communicate to and with them. For example, when you ask for a customer’s email address, how do you do it? What details do you give this person about why they should sign up for your email list and what they should expect from you as a result?
To Use Double Opt-In or Not to Use Double Opt-In – THAT is the question
One of the key leading practices to which all email marketers should adhere as part of their permission-based marketing involves the method in which they create and build their email lists. Permission-based marketing means mailing to recipients only after they’ve given their explicit permission to do so. However, different ways to obtain this permission from the very rigorous double opt-in process, to the less favored single (or ‘confirmed’) opt-in process.
The highest subscription standard today is referred to as ‘double opt-in’ and requires your prospective subscribers to actively confirm their inclusion on your list before receiving your next broadcast email. In this process, your prospective subscriber submits their email address and other information and then receives from you a confirmation request with which they must interact (such as clicking a link) to verify their subscription in order to be added to your list.
When you make your list double opt-in, be sure your prospective readers expect the confirmation email and understand that they must open it and follow the instructions to complete their opt-in process. Explain why this practice protects them and why you require this extra step.
This extra step in the subscription process offers many benefits:
- You’ll be remembered. Those who confirm their subscriptions are more likely to remember they did so when they receive your email thus making it less likely they will forget and report your email as spam.
- Eliminates email typos. At signup, if the prospective subscriber mistyped their email address, the bad email address can’t be added to your list without confirmation.
- Helps prevent spamming. Some folks find it funny to, as a joke, sign their friends up for all sorts of stuff on the web. Requiring a double opt-in prevents this.
- Builds an audience that wants to hear from you. These folks have joined your list because they believe you’re going to send them something of value.
- Increases email delivery rates. Since these lists are inherently comprised of valid, deliverable email addresses you should experience improved deliverability.
- Keeps your list(s) clean. Emails are delivered faster since the list server isn’t bogged down trying to resend to bad addresses.
- Helps keep you off blacklists. By maintaining a clean list, most of your email will be delivered successfully. If you send large quantities of email to bad addresses, email providers may blacklist you and block all of your email.
- Increases response rates. A double opt-in list not only confirms a recipient’s email address, but also confirms the recipient’s interest in what you have to offer.
So why wouldn’t you want to collect names in this manner? Well, some perspective readers will not confirm their subscriptions. Perhaps this isn’t all bad, though. If they can’t be bothered to complete their subscription with you, how likely are they to buy something from you? Another relatively small downside to the double opt-in technique – it may take longer than you’d like to grow your list. It can be very tempting to take a shortcut and rent or purchase a list of email addresses, however, in the long run, the double opt-in process will help you to develop a list of much more engaged readers than any other means.
A Less Rigorous Alternative: the ‘Single’ or ‘Confirmed Opt-In’ Process
The single opt-in method consists of one basic step: a subscriber proves his/her email address to you and then receives your next broadcast mailing with no further administrative steps. A slight variation on this is the confirmed opt-in method that sends the new subscriber a one-time confirmation email (such as ‘thank you for signing up¦’).
You must decide which method – double, single, or confirmed – is best for your organization. If the chances for abuse are remote, then a single or confirmed opt-in method may be sufficient for you.
KNOW that the ‘Opt-Out’ Subscription Process is a Real NO NO¦ This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Websites that make the user UNCHECK a box to ensure they don’t get added to various mailing lists is a terrible list-building practice. This subscription approach may lead to a larger list initially, but may also lead to complaints. If your recipients don’t remember asking to receive your email (because they DIDN’T), they may consider the receipt of your emails an intrusion into their inboxes and a breach of trust.
I’ve had more than a few clients that wanted to simply dump their entire list of contacts and prospects into their email list reasoning that anyone on the list should 1) still be interested in hearing from them or 2) they can always opt out if they don’t. We can’t ever assume that these folks wish to continue having contact with us in the future.
Keeping These Newly Opted-in Subscribers on Your List And now your email list is growing by the day with truly engaged subscribers, so let’s explore some techniques you can use to KEEP these new opt-ins on your list.
Communicate Expectations¦ and Then Meet (or Exceed) Them. One of the most prevalent mistakes list owners make is sending content that their readers aren’t expecting to receive from them. This happens most often when subscriber expectations aren’t well understood from the start. If the signup form doesn’t describe what type(s) of information you’ll be sending out, readers will jump to their own conclusions of what your emails will and won’t contain. When you don’t set expectations clearly or meet those that are set, marketers inadvertently cause people to delete their emails, unsubscribe from their lists, or report their emails as spam.
Spell out the Timeline, Topics, and Type of Email you’ll be Sending.The time to communicate the type of email or promotion you will be sharing with your prospective subscribers is when you ask for their opt-in. As part of the sign up form, consider including some brief text that describes the topics you’ll cover, the format(s) you offer, and frequency readers should expect.
If you are clear about what’s in it for your readers (and assuming this is value-added content of interest), your list should grow even faster. These days, you have to work even harder to get prospects to let you into their inboxes and being crystal clear on what they should expect to receive will help. Another technique that has proven to increase response rates is including copies of prior newsletters to SHOW readers what they can expect.
Engage your Readers by Giving them Options. Whether your email topics are very broad or more narrowly focused, your readers will welcome a choice of exactly what they receive from you, the format in which it is sent, as well as how often. As an example, perhaps you send out a short, quickly-read email with tips and techniques as well as a second, more in-depth monthly publication. Personal preference, free time, and level of interest will drive which of your publications (or both, perhaps) your readers will opt to receive from you. This technique goes a long way as you build a solid relationship with your readers and helps to prevent list fatigue and churn.
Deliver Only What is Expected. If your readers signed up to receive tips and techniques and all you send are advertisements, know that your readers will likely stop opening your emails, mark them as spam, or unsubscribe from your list altogether. Your ability to gain their trust is now gone.
Treat Your Readers as you’d Want to be Treated¦ and respect their privacy. Make your company’s privacy policy (and if you don’t have one, write one) readily available to both prospective as well as current readers. Be crystal clear about what you intend to do (and not do) with email addresses and other personal information your readers share with you. Do you intend to use these email addresses for internal use only, share them with trusted affiliates, or sell/rent them to 3rd parties (of course, I hope none of you do this last one!)? Whatever your policy is, do let readers know what they can expect.
Don’t Forget to Stay in Compliance with the Law. >According to the January 1, 2004 CAN-Spam Act, you must offer an unsubscribe mechanism and honor all unsubscribe requests within 10 business days. Today, even the most basic commercially-available email applications offer an automated unsubscribe mechanism (e.g., ‘click here to be removed from this list¦’), but if this isn’t available in the email system you’re using, offer your readers options for removal such as replying to the email with the word ‘REMOVE’ in the subject line¦ and then be sure to do so in a timely manner.
And in Closing¦
Naturally, the goal of most marketers is to get your company’s image and/or offerings in front of as many of the right prospects and customers as possible and as efficiently and effectively as you can. However, if you work to build relationships with your readers, provide the value you say you will, and respect them along the way, you’ll likely reach your goals in the long run.
Source -Deb Daufeldt, Advertising & Marketing Review
How to Make a Situation Analysis (SWAT) For Your BRAND
Before making any marketing strategy, whether advertising or public relations, you need to learn how to make situation analysis. Your analysis will become the very foundation of the strategies and tactics you will implement. This will show you exactly what problems you need to address and what situations you need to take advantage on.
The process of making a situation analysis includes the following:
Product and Position
Determine where your business is now and how you positioned it in the market. To do this, you must divide your business into your core products (the primary products you provide in the market) and the support products (those that enhance your core products). Other aspects you may want to look at include brand identity, pricing, distribution, and store location, among others.
Doing these should help you understand the objectives you need to achieve in and maintain for your business , as well as measure its performance.
Competition
Compile a list of your competitors and break them down according to level. Your primary competitors must consist of businesses that you feel share the same goals, strategies, and resources of your company, while secondary competitors are those that indirectly affect your sales. Also come up with businesses that may pose as a potential threat to your company in the future.
Once you’ve compiled your competitor list, come up with the advantages and disadvantages for each by figuring out where they are in the market, how the market perceives them, and how they compare to your business.
Market Related
Define your target market according to primary and secondary levels. Your market can be categorized according to their purchasing trends, power, and behavior. You also have to consider how your products and services measure up to their expectations and satisfy consumer needs. Furthermore, figure out how your market perceives not only your product in terms of what it has to offer, but also your business as a brand in relation to your competitors.
Environmental and Natural Factors
This is composed of two aspects – external and internal.
External could be natural phenomenon, economic situation, politics, culture and diversities that will or might affect your performance in the market.
Internal refers to company politics, your work force, production rate, manufacturing processes, business partnerships, tie-ups, administration and management expertise.
SWOT Analysis
After listing down the following and answering the specified questions, the next step is to cross examine each point and analyze how they are interrelated. By carefully studying each point and raw data, you will be able to derive the S-W-O-T of your business – this stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
• Strengths – These are the positive attributes, material and conceptual, internal to your brand. Such features are within your capacity to control. You could break this down into product/service, organization and administration, assets and valuable materials, and other features that may give you a competitive advantage in the market.
• Weaknesses – These are factors within your control that diminish your ability to gain or maintain a competitive advantage in the market. You can also categorize these into tangible and intangible. Under tangible, these could be poor packaging, inferior location, limited resources etc. Intangible weaknesses could be lack of expertise, lack of access to special skills and trainings, inferiors ambiance created by your store etc. These are all internal factors that render your business at a disadvantage in comparison to your competitor.
• Opportunities – These are external factors that may give you an edge in the market – these can also be current situations that you may find yourself attracted to take advantage on. Opportunities show the potential you can realize by the execution of your marketing strategies. Examples of these are economic situation advantageous for your business, lifestyle and trend change, positive perception of the market with regard to your brand and a more.
• Threats – These are external factors that are outside your realm of control that may negatively affect your business – threats are the reasons why contingency plans are usually developed. These can be situations such as decline of economic value of your stocks, inevitable price increase from suppliers, governmental regulations, a change in consumer behavior that reduces profit, etc.
Implications
After listing down and cross-examining all of these elements and factors, just before you made your SWOT analysis, you can now proceed to determine the implications of your analysis. Having defined your internal strengths and weaknesses and figuring out external opportunities and threats, how are you going to take advantage of your strengths to overshadow or improve on your weaknesses and wield it to seize opportunities in order to deflect threats in the case that they do materialize?
Here is an example of a SWOT Analysis of the print industry in the US. If you plan on starting a business on printing services, here’s a SWOT made ready for you. All you need to do is to fill in the necessary information.
Source – PrintRunner
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