B2B Marketing advice?

[tristantate]

Read Below,

 

[tristantate]

I manage a television advertising company In Bedfordshire, we are one of the largest introducers of new companies onto television in the UK and have run campaigns for anybody from small husband/wife teams up to big national corporations.

Anybody have any advice on how to market our services to other small-medium sized businesses looking for national/international exposure? We currently use a sales team to cold call as our primary way of getting new business, we also get a lot of business through recommendations between our clients and their associates. any other ideas?

And before anybody asks YES we have thought about advertising on television, however the campaigns we run are aimed more at consumers and we do not recommend television advertising for Business2Business marketing.

We also do Advert/DVD production etc etc.

 

[Cracking Media]

Hi Tristan - well a forum like this is as good a place as any to start. Another tip is to use networking groups in your local area.

I am intrigued that small husband/wife teams or businesses can afford the cost of television advertising?

Peter

 

[Esk247]

Television advertising starts at over £50,000 for a small campaign doesnt it?

I know that the radio advertising is expensive for what it is. Interesting information though I'll keep it in mind for customers.

 

[tristantate]

I am intrigued that small husband/wife teams or businesses can afford the cost of television advertising?

Peter

So were they when I first contacted them. What we did for them was produced their full television commercial (fantastic quality) aswell as getting them 150 advertising slots on Uktv Styke, Uktv food, Uktv Drama and Living. All for a cost of £14,250. 75 of their slots were peak (5.30-9.30pm) and 75 were daytime (9am-5.30pm).

You can look at their Ad on their website www.balmbalm.co.uk

roughly 7k of the 14.25k spend was on advert production, so now that the ad is already produced the campaign can be repeated for around 7-8k per 150 slots, stretched out over 1,2 or 3 months.

These are prices typical of T2 television, its not my company but I am the operations manager.

We are not an advertising agency, we dont like agencies because alot of them (I cant disclose their names) work through us, in which case they charge their client 25k for a 20k campaign, pocket some money and outsource everything else to us

 

[tristantate]

Television advertising starts at over £50,000 for a small campaign doesnt it?
.

Yes if done through an egency, they outsource the production, approvals and airtime. so including the agency itself there are 4 companies taking profit from the client. We do everything under 1 roof so costs do not run that high. For 50k We could put together quite a campaign! small campaigns shouldnt cost more than 20-25k

 

[tristantate]

Ill give you a call tomorrow sue! thanks

 

[tristantate]

We are not an advertising agency, we dont like agencies because alot of them (I cant disclose their names) work through us, in which case they charge their client 25k for a 20k campaign, pocket some money and outsource everything else to us

Quoting myself here! That doesnt mean we dont work through agencies, we are happy to work with them and provide them with 15% commision on any campaigns we run for their clients. But we dont like when they inflate the price by 30,40,50% because it just lowers the chance of the client getting a good return on investment.

 

[Reena06]

How about online social networking, such as LinkedIn or Xing?

 

[tristantate]

How does that work? Im not too computer savvy

 

[Reena06]

Have you got Facebook? They're kind of similar, but for professionals who are looking to network. I work in a recruitment consultancy, and the consultants find it really good for headhunting high-level people, so I thought it may be useful for you too

 

[tristantate]

Ok cool ill sign up and have a look. But im sure it is filled with advertising agents from specific channels trying to pitch sell everybody into going with them. Which isnt really how we work so im sure the voices with 'drown me out' so to speak . Ill let you know how it goes

 

[Reena06]

LinkedIn is still pretty new-ish, they're only just starting to get their advertising options and rates sorted. But I would suggest going for a networking approach rather than advertising/hard sell. You can search companies or individuals on there, maybe try to find some suitable companies and the right contact and go from there?

 

[tristantate]

Good Idea, I have a sales team that cold-call companies to inform them of what we do, maybe I can get some contacts from there. But I train them to take no for answer and not to bother people who dont want to listen (no former window salesmen here). Its more of an information call than a sales call, as im sure you can imagine alot of people think tv costs much more than we can do it for, so we dont need to hard sell once we tell people what we can offer them

 

[Reena06]

That sounds good, way back when I was a poor student I fell into the telesales/telemarketing trap and it wasn't like that at all. I think online networking would definately be a good way of finding out some contacts etc, it doesn't cost anything to sign up so you won't be losing out if it doesn't work. We find it a good way to market B2B as well as headhunt people

 

[Cracking Media]

A good ad Tristan. Very well produced. Complements to your team. I've no doubt that £7k for 30 seconds sounds a lot to a lot of people, but I appreciate the costs of putting something like this together with everything involved. Typically, this could cost a lot more. For 150 x 20 second TV slots (= 50 mins) that sounds a good deal too. Have the couple had a lot of feedback from it?

I see at the end it says "available at Boots" and shows Boots logo. Would a company like Boots typically subsidise an ad like this? I doubt it somehow. I expect if anything the couple have to pay for product placement in Boots.

 

[adam_uk]

I manage a television advertising company In Bedfordshire, we are one of the largest introducers of new companies onto television in the UK and have run campaigns for anybody from small husband/wife teams up to big national corporations.

We also do Advert/DVD production etc etc.

Hi

I will be definitely interest in future and I am sure, others I know will be because of what they are doing with DVDs, tv commercials in states and UK. I am thinking of commercials but for DVD or website, and oneday TV.

I'm more also concerned with quality but I seen the ad on that website, and it's brillaint quality for me.

Do you have a website that I can bookmark, or twitter please. So I can follow you by any chance. Or even facebook. Apologies if you gave it already in forum and I missed it by chance. That way I know where to get hold of you when it happens at my end.

Thanks

 

[tristantate]

Have the couple had a lot of feedback from it?
.

Yes, Sales of balm balm increased substntally everywhere they are sold in the months after the commercial aired. And no Boots did not subsidise the ad, however boots is their main retail outlet and they wanted to let people know where it was available, and yes they do pay to have the product in boots but managed to bargain a slight discount due to the fact they were doing some TV advertising.

All of the Ads we make are low budget and high quality, in the ad you have seen the couples daughter is the girl in the ad (at their request) but we did pay her and that was factored into the budget.

 

[tristantate]

Do you have a website that I can bookmark, or twitter please. So I can follow you by any chance. Or even facebook. Apologies if you gave it already in forum and I missed it by chance. That way I know where to get hold of you when it happens at my end.

Thanks

Yeah our website is www.t2television.co.uk there are a few examples of some of our productions on there and Ill be happy to tell you how much each one of them cost to produce, The site really needs updating but we do have a full showreel at our offices. Also all of my contact details are on there, just ask for Tristan. You know where we are if you need us

 

[tristantate]

I havent because if you type in "advertise on Tv" etc etc it comes up with millions of results which have nothing to do with what we do, rough cost on how to get to #1? money isnt too much of an issue. However if a marketing manager wants to advertise on TV i suspect he will consult and agency who will then in turn come to us, and not browse on google. Maybe im wrong?

 

[alphaseocompany]

to be honest there is very little chance of appearing on the first page of google under that phrase, what you might want to consider is a less competive phrase
i.e television adverts is searched for 5400 times a month, TV advert is searched for 60500 times a month, television advertising agency is searched for 1500 times a month. Our seo campaigns start from £149 for source code optimisation, let me know if you would like further information

 

[tristantate]

Sounds interesting, Ill consult the MD (when he finally decides to come into work!)

 

[adam_uk]

Yeah our website is www.t2television.co.uk there are a few examples of some of our productions on there and Ill be happy to tell you how much each one of them cost to produce, The site really needs updating but we do have a full showreel at our offices. Also all of my contact details are on there, just ask for Tristan. You know where we are if you need us

Thanks for your reply. I got it bookmarked and I am really impressed. I'll give you a call when ready, for definite.

Again, thanks for reply. Much appreciated.

 

[tristantate]

No problem Adam, so what industry are you in and what do you do out of curiosity?

 

[adam_uk]

No problem Adam, so what industry are you in and what do you do out of curiosity?

I create websites but now this is taken care of by the team I developed. I didn't want to do the work myself but get it to grow, then invest in people to run the business. I got a great team and great friends.

Now, I move traffic to websites, help build relationship with consumers which helped for repeat business. This part I enjoy as well because I can be creative, continue learning, I associate with entrepreneurs of diverse industries. Been in business now for I think 10-12 years.

How I want to use your service in future
Now, that I got a lot of time on my hand, I want to do things I have been thinking for years. Things I have put off because I had to make sure the businesses I have developed can run on their own using a system.

I write novels, and I want to promote my novels by taking a synopsis from each one, and create it into a Film intro for the books. Since I have seen your work, I see you have the quality, the means, to get this done.

I've nearly done thumb nail sketches and should be finished in two weeks. Then I'll send them to you. You can tell me how much it costs or ask me more questions. Then my job is to go and get the money for it.

Which is the best part.

tristantate, I'm 40 years old, been running business since I was a a young lad fortunatley, but I have to get this done. So by knowing how much it is, it will help me focus to get the money.

The trick is, how to then get on one of the programs that goes to a lot of asians. Maybe you can help there too with your experience.

Thanks

 

[Mark Nagurski]

Its more of an information call than a sales call, as im sure you can imagine alot of people think tv costs much more than we can do it for

My first instinct would be for you to create some really informative content - both written and video - that you can promote through your site (and likely via youtube).

If by educating customers you see good results, then informative articles or video tutorials about the benefits and costs related to TV advertising should pay dividends.

I'm sure there are plenty of SMEs who would be interested in knowing more about TV ads for small businesses and if you can feed that interest, you'll position yourself as a trusted resource and the place to go.

Promote that content online via forums, article directories and PPC (focusing on the less competitive keywords). The written content will also help improve your own seo. The additional traffic and interest in your content will result in new leads.

 

[greeneast]

Try contacting www.boudicca-marketing.co.uk they do all kinds of media and PR for small and large companies and do a fantastic job and may be able to put customers your way.

 

[tristantate]

Brilliant Idea mark, I dont know why we havent thought about that before, we own production studios and all the equipment required to do so. Ill consult the MDs and make it happen.

 

[Mark Nagurski]

Brilliant Idea mark, I dont know why we havent thought about that before, we own production studios and all the equipment required to do so. Ill consult the MDs and make it happen.

No problems - feel free to drop me a line if you think we can be of any help, specifically with any written materials

 

[Cracking Media]

My first instinct would be for you to create some really informative content - both written and video - that you can promote through your site (and likely via youtube).

If by educating customers you see good results, then informative articles or video tutorials about the benefits and costs related to TV advertising should pay dividends.

I'm sure there are plenty of SMEs who would be interested in knowing more about TV ads for small businesses and if you can feed that interest, you'll position yourself as a trusted resource and the place to go.

Promote that content online via forums, article directories and PPC (focusing on the less competitive keywords). The written content will also help improve your own seo. The additional traffic and interest in your content will result in new leads.

An excellent post Mark - thank you. I like your company name too. Very... well practical!

Peter