Planting Seeds of Future Sales – our Annual Gardening
Tip
It’s spring—we're thinking of gardening over here
at Tria Design & Marketing. You should be too! Marketing
preps the soil to make way for sales to happen, and understanding
your sales and marketing cycle is key for business success.
Here are some things you should be able to answer about your
sales and marketing cycle….more>
Notables:
Is that cover girl Tria partner Ann Siegle on the cover of
Regional Vision? And, is that REALLY $1.7 million bucks she’s
leaning on? Yes and yes! Check out the article on why we think
Chamber membership works for us in the current issue of Regional
Vision.
New tips are posted on the Tria website.
Read how companies who spend money on advertising during
a recession increase sales up to 275% in the following
expansion. Visit the tips page at www.triadesignfirm.com
We have also updated the Tria Interactive portfolio
with new projects.
If you haven’t been there lately to see our work, check
it out. It’s a really cool custom interface designed
by Tria flash genius and freelance designer Troy Miller. A
similar interface for showing gallery images is online for
one of our clients at http://www.cathychurch.com. Cathy, a
world-renowned underwater photographer, has her Tropical Pacific,
Caribbean and Black and White galleries online using a similar
technology created by Tria.
Can’t remember where you saw that great marketing tip?
You can find the archives of all of our 2003 e-mails
on our site in the Tips section.
Get inspiration in the mail monthly!
We’re sending monthly Inspirations to our top prospects
and all clients via snail mail. If you’re not receiving
our Inspiration inserts, please email Ann Siegle and let her
know you want them! Each month we feature a client, their project
and a brief case of how the design met their communication
goals.
If you prefer, log in to our site at www.triadesignfirm.com
and add your e-mail to the green box at the bottom.
Since you’re
already a subscriber, this will take you to your own unique
record, where you can add your company address, city, state
and zip. We’ll update our records and get you on our
next mailing!
Featured project of the month:
This month is the Capital Area Humane Society website,
which Tria recently completed. CAHS has already
reported good traffic,
and many animal adoptions as a result of the
revamped look. If you’re considering getting a pet, check out CAHS first.
There are many new wonderful, loveable pets in need of homes
there every week. Visit our site for the link to the CAHS site.
We’re all animal lovers here; Linda has a cat, Tina has
a bird and Ann has a dog.
More Customer Loyalty Tips:
Why do clients buy from you? According to several
sources, clients buy from us because they like
us. Here are
top reasons people buy from us and what we
can do to foster
that:
1) Develop a personal relationship with your
key customers
Being friendly and nice, easy to work with
and happy means your interaction with your
clients
feels good
for them.
2) Find out
their interests and respond to them. In Dr. James Eckert’s Relationship Marketing 101 seminar in October
at the Lansing Ad Club, he advocates making a point to write
down your client likes and dislikes and keep that with you.
Remembering that, and sending them an article, a small token
gift, or a conversation starter on a newsy topic on what they’re
interested in gives you an edge. If you want more info about
Dr. Eckert’s presentation, the notes, or Dr. Eckert’s
speaking schedule (so you can catch his next
program) please email us.
3) Be curious.
Understand their business, ask questions. According to Cam
Foote, author of
the Business
Side of Creativity and
the founder and editor of Creative Business,
a Boston-based consulting firm, taking an
interest is a sure way
to build trust and confidence. Pat Matson
Knapp writes in the December
2003 issue of HOW magazine, "know their business, including
their competitors, business climate and challenges. Demonstrate
that partnering with your firm can help them grow their bottom
line".
Ann’s Quick Tip of the Month:
Build Your ‘Big Picture Thinking’ 30 minutes
at a time.
Once a week, I like to schedule a lunch with myself. I grab
several industry publications or books on business, and I
have lunch and read a chapter or article or two with a notepad
by
my side. I write down three things I can put into action
in my business right away. When I get back to my desk, I
type
these things into my marketing planner and give them actionable
dates and outcomes. It takes just a few minutes.
Tony Alessandra, a noted business coach, recommends that
you leave your office and walk to a lunch location (walking
gives
you exercise, being out of the office gives you perspective).
But even if I can’t get out, I go to another room
in our office to eat, or sit on the comfortable chairs
in our
creative space to drink my tea.
Plan to start projects this month: we’re ALL
on vacation in April at some point!
Ann will be in Europe from April 1–14, Tina will be off
on spring break April 2-12 and Linda will be in Arizona April
12-20. As you can gather, that leaves just one of us in the
office during most of April, to handle the work of three people – so
we’re planning ahead and pre-scheduling clients and projects.
If YOU have a deadline and it’s in April or early May,
call us ASAP to get on that schedule.
FREE resource:
Why
Hire a Creative Supplier,
How
to get Great Work out of your Creative Supplier
========
If you like this newsletter
and think a colleague or friend would like it, just use the "send
to a friend" button at the bottom.
Don’t forget, every
month we give you great downloadable resources, like
"Why
Hire a Creative Supplier,"
"How
to get Great Work out of your Creative Supplier,"
and our famous "Marketing
Projects: Planning & Pricing Guide"
which helps you schedule and budget print and web projects.
The first two are from an independent Boston advisory company.
The third we've developed over a decade or more of working on
projects with clients.
Thinking of design & marketing night & day,
Your friends at Tria,
Linda, Ann and Tina
If you want more information on these articles or anything else
related to design or marketing, please e-mail us at info@triadesignfirm.com
