How do you gain exposure and recognition?
Our solutions (facial recognition, shopper studies, people tracking, etc) were born in Academia with a proud publication history. Now we seek to get them out of the lab. How do I get them in front of the businesses in need of them?
You must spread it through the social networks particularly through the client target db.
You need to plan a marketing strategy that is convergent to your client target's profile.
You need to develop your brand and present it as a value to acquire on behalf of the consumer's perspective.
Using social media to get your message to as many people as possible, this can be through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus and more, not forgetting word-of-mouth among contacts
Expand Your Exposure:
By writing on more blogs and websites you will reach different audiences and expand who sees your brand. By writing guest articles you are building a permanent brand that can bring you more traffic and sales.
Website Traffic – Many people don’t realize that social media can be a leading traffic generator. When you share blog posts, videos and other content from your website, you give your audience a reason to click through and visit your site. Once there, you have the opportunity to inspire those visitors to take action by inviting them to sign up for your mailing list, make a purchase, or call to schedule a free consultation. Install traffic monitoring service, such as Google Analytics, and if you are committed to your social media efforts, you will clearly see that social media brings traffic. Also, make sure that your visitors receive a clear call to action when they visit your site so that you can convert that extra traffic into business opportunities.
أHello Jason , Well I think you know your market , you understand it very well but you don"t know How to reach your clients , or you want to recognize your finger print , well I think you need to go for more details regarding your market & clients , understand them more , study all details a bout them , prepare your tools to tackle their keys , use different tools (media ) with comprehensive study during a particular period , I am sure you will reach them smoothly . Wish you all the best
Jason,
First, get out on LinkedIn with highlights of your offering. Second, create a website. Third, join any organization/s that subscribe to your line of work and, volunteer to help. Organizations such as APICS [the American Production & Inventory Control Society] which I have been a member of for several years are always looking for volunteers to help out with membership, conferences, dinner meetings, etc. Great way to network.
Hope this helps.
Gary
Jason I think I have a perfect way for you to Joint Venture into the market. I have a company with 10,000 clients who most of them would be a fit to introduce you to on some level. Lets get in touch and see if there is a fit.
Be a resource! If you have education classes, tips and white papers, articles, etc, you can build a brand. Look for hungry publication looking for outside articles and then provide factual and usable information that is not simply self-serving. If the clients you target already view you as a valuable source of general information, they may then be inclined to seek you out as a solution to project and challenges
Well, obviously you need a business development specialist.
What is your geographical focus? Are you aiming at the US and/or global markets?
I would use all the possible ammunition that is available, such as PR, publications etc.
The first thing, in my opinion, is working on a strategic marketing plan. You need to prepare a situation analysis, understand what is your unique position and come out with insights regarding your (product / solution) strength and potential markets / segments.
my captive audience are mostly local, so direct mail, a lot of local networking, joining association, local speaking engagement.
websites search engines are a must these days, good exposure with local and or wider audience.
Here are some things you can do to get started:
1. Create a company page on Linkedin with specific keywords in strategic locations on the page (like the title). This will help you get noticed and found if executives are searching for your solutions.
2. I also advise you to write an article about your solutions and publish it to Linkedin. They now offer analytics and keep track of the number of people who read and share your articles.
3. Posting to Google+ will rank you higher on Google when people are searching for your offer.
4. Make sure the keywords you use are actually words people are searching for. Use Google's free keyword tool to locate words that relate to what you're offering and the solutions people need.
5. Write an article about your solutions with tips and publish it on MosaicHub.
6. You must give before you receive. Offer something free as a way to give people a taste for what you do. If they like your offer, they'll want more.
Jason, there is one single truth when it comes to recognition. You must give the client what s/he needs. Period. This should be the main purpose of the marketing - to determine the needs of the clients and to build a product that would satisfy these needs. However, lots of people nowadays try to do things vice versa and trying to convince and then sell to the client something that he/she doesn't need.
Unfortunately, the latter practice is really widely spread in academia as well. I know plenty of scientists who have something they have worked on and trying to sell this to clients. It simply doesn't work like that. In order to succeed they need to go to the client, determine his/her needs and build the product according to these needs.
Now back to your question again. You need to find what your potential clients want and then try to adapt your product in the best possible way to these needs. It is as simple as that.
You have received lots of great answers. One added recommendation is to add speaking engagements and personal appearances. People to business with people they know, like and trust. Building trust takes time. And face-to-face networking tends to speed up the trust factor.
Think about submitting papers, presentations, and proposals to professional organizations, associations, conferences -- that YOUR TARGET CLIENTS are attending. Search for business and networking groups that your target clients attend. Go where your clients go.
I have a Marketing and Client Attraction worksheet that helps your find the right target client, narrow your niche market and focus on the places where you'll get ROI. If you are interested in subscribing to a complimentary worksheet, just use this link: http://eepurl.com/UOzuL
But I think you have lots off good suggestions at this point.
First determine if the businesses know if they need your services. If they do need your services, then you need to explain it in terms they understand. Focus on the problems. Why should these people choose you? Why do they need you? What will you help them achieve and how will that benefit them? If that piece of your marketing isn't clear, then nothing else you do will matter.
Go find out who needs your services the most, verify they have the resources to pay for them (and, hopefully execute a solution), and then you need to market.
"Show" them you know their pain, that you know the solution, that you are the best provider of that solution, and ask for thier business.
I looked at your website and it doesn't reflect copywriting from the market's perspective i.e. "what's in it for me?" benefits in their language. Your site is, well, academic or "clinical." You might consider creating a number of spin off divisions that could pitch to specific audiences.
BTW, lots of interesting info on your site, reminds me of the book "Emotionomics" and Dan Hill's work at Sensory Logic.
I am a brand builder and it starts with capturing your "unique value proposition" and developing a marketing campaign to broadcast your brand to the target markets that have the greatest propensity to engage your services. You may need a marketing expert to help you in this endeavor because unfortunately Academics do not have a reputation as great marketers. If I can help let me know.
Jason this all depends on exactly who your target audience is. For example, selling to governments (which I could see as having huge potential) is going to be an entirely different process than selling to an organization like Simon Properties.
1) First identify you target market(s).
2) Understand how they gather information to make their buying decisions (government entities are highly dependent on RFPs for example whereas Simon Properties will take a phone call).
3) Orchestrate your efforts around those decision making processes; i.e., participation in trade shows, scrubbing the internet for RFP's related to your product, filters for news feeds related to your industry targets, etc..
Think small at first. Don't try to sell the US government your idea. Too many organizations fail waiting for the whale account to be landed. Gather momentum with small very satisfied customers in just a few verticals. This conserves marketing resources and keeps you more focused in your efforts.
Ultimately you're going to want to land one or two big players who lend instant credibility to your product/services. To do so you may have to make huge price/service concessions but in the long run it will be worth it.
Good Luck - sounds like a great product grouping.
Contact NARMS National Association for Retail Marketing Services
www.narms.com
There are numerous trade publications/publishers & websites.
Chose target audience(s) where there they could benefit most from your solutions.
Write articles which can be published or encourage to be interviewed,
Call/write editors/publishers of media that could be interested.
Contact the mainstream business publications Fortune, Forbes & BusinessWeek, & WSJ.
Contact Yahoo your story could have an interesting video showing examples of your solutions.
Contact all the broadcast news for their news magazines.
Create your own video(s) for your web site showing your solutions.
Recognition should come from doing the right thing as opposed to doing things right.learn or ask what the right thing is or help create by asking questions.Always go the extra the extra mile.try to do something no one has done.