Take Your Best Shot. A guide to presenting your ted magazine Best of the Best entry in its best, most competitive light

Transcription

1 Take Your Best Shot A guide to presenting your ted magazine Best of the Best entry in its best, most competitive light

2 What makes a winner?

3 Why entries win Clear goal, objectives, and strategy For campaigns, presents a consistent, unified, and focused message Materials are focused on the customer, not the company Copy is well-written, easy to read, and offers clear benefits Good execution, clean design, well organized, easy to follow

4 Why entries win Reinforces the company brand Includes call to action, contact info, way for customer to follow up Content is relevant and valuable to the target audience Includes value-added user tools and information Easy to navigate (websites only)

5 Why entries win Takes a less-than-glamorous product and markets it well Offers a unique approach to solving customers problems Uses resources well; capitalizes on strengths and opportunities Responsive to trends in our marketplace, industry, or world Effort is based on research

6 How do I choose the right category?

7 Our Categories 1. Brand Awareness 2. Digital/Social Media Campaign 3. Event 4. Integrated Promotional Campaign 5. Literature/Selling Tool 6. Print Ad Single 7. Print Ad Campaign 8. Product Launch 9. Public Relations Community Outreach 10. Public Relations Corporate 11. Publication 12. Video 13. Website

8 Brand Awareness An ad, direct mail piece, campaign, or other marketing effort focused primarily on introducing a new brand, announcing a rebranding, reinforcing an existing brand, or increasing awareness of the company in the marketplace. A Brand Awareness category entry should not be product-focused.

9 Digital/Social Media Campaign A marketing activity that uses digital or social media such as video, , blogs, an electronic newsletter, podcast, Twitter, Facebook, or another digital platform to educate customers or potential customers, or to market the organization, its products, and/or its services.

10 Event Marketing for a single activity such as a customer appreciation event, special event, hosted trade show, or counter day promotion. Include the pieces used to market the event such as invitations, press releases, advertisements, or display materials. Generally, simply attending a trade show is not considered an event!

11 Integrated Promotional Campaign Three to eight complementary yet different marketing pieces with a single, unified theme or purpose promoting one product, service, event, or activity. May include a postcard, advertisement, dedicated website or mini-site, product display, etc. Different campaigns should be entered separately so each is judged on its own merit. (Campaigns that are all-electronic should be entered in the Digital/Social Media Campaign category.)

12 Literature/Selling Tool Sales/marketing literature, brochure, website/minisite, video, flash drive or other medium created to promote a company, group of products/services, or individual product or service. Be sure to include a visual representation of disks or CDs such as screen shots or PDFs.

13 Print Ad Single A single newspaper, magazine, or billboard advertisements promoting a product, service, event, or activity.

14 Print Campaign A series of newspaper, magazine, or billboard advertisements with a single, unified theme or purpose promoting a product, service, event, or activity. Individual ads may be entered in the Print Ad Single category as well and be judged on their individual merit.

15 Product Launch Marketing materials developed and used in 2015 to introduce a new product including direct mail, advertisements, marketing videos, dedicated websites or individual pages of an existing site (provide images or active links), brochures, displays, or other media.

16 Company Website Event Photos Newspaper Coverage Facebook Page TV Coverage Blog Coverage Public Relations Community Outreach An effort to establish/maintain relationships with key stakeholders/audiences by connecting the company s mission, philosophies, or practices to the efforts of other (usually non-profit) organizations, groups, or the general public thus enhancing the organization s good citizen/neighbor reputation. May include articles in publications, press kits, press releases, newspaper placements, radio/tv stories, and coverage in digital media.

17 TV Coverage Industry Coverage Newspaper Coverage Radio Coverage Blog Coverage Public Relations Corporate A program to build/maintain mutually beneficial relationships with key publics that provides information, education, or interaction; develops mutual understanding, goodwill, support, and trust with key publics; and/or changes attitudes or behaviors. May include employee communication programs, government/public affairs programs, marketing support, publicity, media/community relations, articles in publications, press kits, press releases, newspaper placements, radio/tv stories, and coverage in digital media.

18 Publication A planned communication created for the purpose of educating, informing, or communicating with customers or prospective customers about the company, or its products, services, or activities. Examples include newsletters and magazines in print or digital formats.

19 Video A single video or related series of videos created for a specific marketing or pubic relations purpose to promote a company, its products or services. May include company or customer profiles, new product introduction, specific branding effort, product-focused how-to video or public relations video. (No internal or external training videos, please.)

20 Website A new company website, dedicated minisite, or redesign of an existing site used to market the company or its products, services, or activities.

21 Tips for Your Best Entry

22 Tip #1: Write a good purpose statement Especially in a digital setting, this is the first place the judges are going to look. The statement should be kept to one page. It should outline your marketing strategy. Primarily discuss the marketing effort discuss the product only as it relates to that effort. Promotional copy is not a strategy statement your statement outlines the thinking behind the marketing pieces and the media you chose to deliver that content.

23 How Not To Write A Purpose Statement Marketing/promotional copy Self-promotion Overly dramatic Back-slapping Fluff, bombast, or superlatives Lack of measurable or quantifiable results

24 How Not To Write A Statement of Purpose Our company is committed to being on the forefront of green technology with energy-efficient products that address today s environmental challenges. We are demonstrating our leadership in this arena by being the first to introduce energy-efficient fluorescent lighting to the commercial market. These hard-hitting ads ran in trade publications across a broad array of industries offering customers revolutionary electrical solutions to address their most pressing electrical energy conservation challenges. Our marketing effort underscores our leadership while highlighting our position as the experts in energy conserving lighting technology. The featured products are designed to significantly reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions while limiting the amount of hazardous substances being released into the environment. The online lighting guide, retrofit calculator and energy saving calculator round out this highly effective campaign, providing a hands-on tool for customers and potential customers to virtually illustrate their potential cost and energy savings. This campaign generated amazing results for our company and established our dominance as a leader in commercial lighting. This effort was backed by our top-of-the-line, high quality products and supported by outstanding customer service from our first-rate sales and customer service personnel.

25 How To Write A Good Statement of Purpose Be concise, direct, and to-the-point. Don t brag. Support your claims. Provide details/specifics. Include all components of your campaign such as images, screen shots, and pictures. Write primarily about the marketing/ promotion aspects; don t sell the product.

26 Template for a Good Statement of Purpose Target audience Background/situation Strategy Objective Details of execution Outcome/results Customer comments (useful for efforts without quantifiable metrics)

27 Good Statement of Purpose Example #1 Target Audience: Our target audience was heavy users of electricity such as industrial, government and healthcare clients who maintained facilities of 50,000 square feet or larger. These clients could benefit greatly from even the smallest change in products such as motion sensors or LED lights. Background/Situation: In 2011, we launched our new Energy Services department which specializes in energy-saving products and services. Since this was a new area for us, we needed to inform our existing customers about the new service, establish our position as experts in the area of energy-saving solutions, and gain credibility for our consultants. Strategy: We direct mailed industry-specific brochures to existing and potential customers with a personal invitation from an energy consultant to schedule a consultation. Recipients were directed to a mini-url (website) for more information. Objective: Our goal was to schedule 100 consultations, garner 2,000 mini-url (website) hits and generate $5,000 in sales as a result of this effort. Details of Execution: We developed three brochures one for each market segment to introduce our five-person team. The copy emphasized their intensive training and experience in the electrical and lighting industries and outlined case studies of existing clients and specific cost savings we garnered for them. To stimulate response, we offered a free, one-hour energy consultation and provided an 800 number for scheduling. For those who weren t ready to schedule a consultation, we created a mini-url with an online calculator they could use to estimate their potential savings based on their square footage, current energy usage, and minor product installations. The URL included buttons for users for Twitter, Digg, and Reddit so users could easily share the tool with others; this also enhanced our search engine optimizationwe divided up our mailing list and had an energy consultant attach a handwritten note offering a free one-hour consultation to every client or potential client who received the brochure. Two weeks after the brochures were mailed, the energy consultants called recipients to schedule their free consultation. Outcomes/Results: This effort helped establish us as a company committed to energy-saving technology and created awareness for our brand in energy solutions. The mini-url received 1,500 hits in the first two weeks and 2,500 in the next two weeks for a total of 4,000 hits within one month of the mailing. As a result of this marketing effort, we scheduled 120 free consultations; 50% of those led to sales of $7,500 or more in energy-saving products. Customer Comments: I was surprised by how much I could save by making just a minor change in my lighting; I would have never believed it if I hadn t seen it for myself by using the online energy savings calculator.

28 Good Statement of Purpose Example #2 Target Audience: electrical distributors and end users of fuse blocks Background/Situation: This product is an enhancement of a traditional product, but offers new and improved benefits to users including reduced troubleshooting time, universal mounting holes for easy replacement, and time-saving mounting options. Strategy: The launch was designed to create awareness with both distributors and end users to generate distributor push and end-user pull for the new product. Outcome/Results 15% increase in fuse block sales 649 dedicated website hits 275 webinar attendees Customer Comments Feedback from dedicated website: Thank you for offering a product that saves me time, and my customers money! Plus the downloadable specs and videos made it easy to spec the product for project quotes. Objectives: Increase fuse block sales by 10% Garner 500 web hits on the dedicated website page Register 250 attendees to online webinars for sales reps and distributors Details of Execution: 16-page brochure dedicated web page live webinars for sales reps/distributors direct mail piece sales brochures for distributors data sheets/technical information target market flyers online calculators promotional videos new catalog copy

29 Tip #2: Choose the right category. Is it primarily a digital/social media campaign, or is it an event that happens to be delivered using social media? Consider the primary purpose of your effort. Consider entering the same effort into more than one category, when applicable. Ask, Is this truly a marketing effort? A seminar or workshop alone is not marketing; but if it s part of a well promoted, larger effort it might be.

30 Tip #3: Include only one effort per entry. Don t enter a full year of product launches as one entry; instead, choose one that was particularly effective. Or, enter several, separately. If you have more than one product launch to enter, enter each individually. Don t enter a year of PR activities; choose one that was particularly successful. Or, enter several, separately.

31 Tip #4: Enter campaign elements in individual categories. Enter one element that s particularly strong. Allows each element to be judged on its own merit. Gives you more opportunities to compete.

32 Tip #5: Tell the whole story. Use the Template for a Good Statement of Purpose Statement provided earlier. If it s a new, unique, or complicated product, briefly and concisely explain it. What insight or idea prompted this marketing effort? How did this effort address a need or solve a problem for the customer? What did you do differently that made this marketing effort successful?

33 Tip #6: Included copies of all (up to eight) pieces in a campaign. Copies of flyers Pictures of the event Copies of ads Audio of podcasts Pictures of signs Links to videos

34 Tip #7: Make it easy to view. Make it easy to open and read, well-organized, and attractively presented. Include URLs in your strategy statement. Provide a link to your video. If you re submitting several elements, combine them in one PDF document.

35 Tip #8: Keep it simple. Presentation matters! For catalogs, show the cover. Show representative sample pages. Highlight unique or customer-focused attributes.

36 Tip #9: Do great work. Do it not just to win awards, but to win loyalty, win customers, and win sales. Be a student of marketing, advertising, public relations, and promotions. Think about Best of the Best all year and challenge yourself and your company to raise the bar.

37 Got a question? Contact ted Editor Misty Byers at mbyers@naed.org or

38 Remember The competition runs 8AM (EST) Jan. 18 through 11:59 PM (EST) Feb. 26. (Late submissions accepted upon request by ing Save $25 per entry during the Early Bird window: Jan. 18-Feb. 1. Enter at