Communication Changes

Less than 30 years ago there were a lot fewer options for promoting one’s business. The choices included, direct mail, newspaper and magazine advertising, radio and television advertising, trade shows and good old-fashioned door to door and telephone soliciting. For those who had a product to sell locally, you could print out flyers and place them on cars in parking lots. You could also promote your products through sponsorships of golf tournaments or banners at sporting events. Finally, there were promotional items you could imprint your company name on and give away, such as pens, mugs, etc.

Today the choices include all of the above plus, websites, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, QR Codes, E-Mail, Blogs, Wikis, RSS Feeds, White Papers, Linked In and more. To keep up with it all would require a large marketing department and an extremely large budget. So how do you promote your company with limited resources?

The key to getting it right is to first research which of the promotional opportunities is best for your company based on your target audience. If your customer base is senior citizens, then you can probably cross off Twitter, QR Codes and Linked In. But, unless you do the research, you won’t know for sure. Many seniors have the time to spend surfing the internet and may find you there. So start with basic customer research and find out what they are reading and where they are looking for new products. Once you know where your customers are, you know where to place those limited resources.

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading packaging machinery manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.