How do I launch a new product / service?

[Agri-Hire]

Hi everyone, been away for ages re-jigging my business.

I have decided to start a new b2b business on the back of my existing hire company, it will be aimed at bigger companies rather than the smaller one-man-bands that I have traditionally dealt with.

Not knowing much about marketing or pr, how do I generate awareness in this new business, and how can I get the message out to the right people?

Traditional advertising has never really worked for me, and I don't think it is much use for b2b marketing anyway, so how should I approach this?

Any suggestions happily and smilingly received

Andy

 

[GreatSEO]

Andy

I can help you with this FOC wonder if you would give me a call on 01344 707 356 or 07881 564718 so i can give you some food for thought.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest Regards,

Dave.

 

[10Yetis]

David is a good guy who I am sure will have sorted you out. Thought I would chuck in my two penneth based on years of taking new products and services to market for large companies.

First up, identify a niche for your business. E.g. Sheila's Wheels is just a bog standard insurance company (set up by a former Direct Line marketing manager) but it has a strong niche that gets attention. Could you do something like paint all your equipment an odd colour scheme to catch people's eye or something else noticeable, that could shake up the industry?

Have a really slick user interface. The old adage "easiest to do business with" works just as well for large companies as it does for SME's and one man bands. Try and have a unique system for booking the hire and maybe have a solution driven help line for free, to help big business find the best equipment for them, and at the most affordable price. Also consider making sure people can hire your equipment using any sales platform that they wish to use, i.e. phone, web, email, fax, smoke signals etc etc. People like to be able to use the sales channel they find most comfortable.

When it comes to marketing, identify a handful of the market leading, big name companies you want to win and really go after them. Do plenty of research into the right decision makers to target at each of these and then send in a top TM company such as MAD, and combine with very focussed eye catching Direct Mailing. once you have one or more of the top companies then the others will snowball, so you should consider loss leaders for winning those first few big names.

When you announce your launch, go big on the PR, using your niche as the media hook, and try and get as many positive reviews as possible from trade media. Also, have a bucket full of supportive case studies ready to give to media should they ask.

These are just my thoughts, hope this helps.

 

[GreatSEO]

Fully agree with Andy at 10 Yetis and would have sent you his way after i had helped with the direct aspect. Feel free to give either of us a bell as we have the ability to offer the 1 stop shop solution for you

Kindest Regards

Dave

 

[Words of Magic]

Google Adwords is a very effective marketing vehicle for testing out new product ideas and services which I recommend, especially if your trying to generate brand awareness for your new business.If the results obtained from this strategy is successful you are then in a poisiton to apply a similar message to other online and offline marketing vehicles.

Also theirs a excellent marketing website, which will definately be of help to you, I use it regularly, it provides real life case studies,practical know-how and bench mark data on what works in marketing today.Most of the information they provide is free for a limited time period.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/

Wishing you all the success in the world,

 

[Agri-Hire]

Wow,

some good feedback there, I can certainly see where I would need to get someone in to help with this as I am a bit out of my depth here it seems.

For example, I don't even know what andy was referring to when he wrote about 'getting in a good TM company'

(Is that tele-marketing?)

I will have a think about this over the weekend and probably give some of you guys a call next week.

This is a whole new world, need to sharpen up my act a bit

 

[Jayne]

Bet Claire will be up for painting your tractor...lol

Glad to see you Agri.

Jayne

 

[10Yetis]

sorry, my bad... t/m does mean tele marketing.

Sorry bud.

 

[Agri-Hire]

No worries.

Do you think that tele-marketing really works then?

I always imagined that the telephone calls like that are fielded by the receptionists and never get through to those who make the decisions, or maybe I have not understood the way it should be used.

Andy

 

[10Yetis]

nah, as part of a campaign they work a treat. You only get the receptionist if you have not done your research and warming up properly.

Plus, people like David at Marketing and Data specialise in getting your foot in the door and getting past the receptionist.