Five Steps To POS Marketing Dominance

Is your marketing limited to Yellow Pages ads? If so, this article is for you. If you think the website you created using a Microsoft Word template is good enough, you might want to continue reading. If you're struggling to implement a marketing campaign that is sustainable and productive, take a closer look at Krutman Point of Sale Solutions. The VAR's owner, Thomas Krutman, recently overhauled his marketing program by hiring a consultant, redesigning his website, implementing a marketing automation system, and embracing online advertising. Sound like a lot? Don't worry. Krutman's efforts can be boiled down to five steps, the combination of which led to 25% revenue growth in 2008.

Step 1: Hire A Marketing Consultant Who Knows POS
The first step of Krutman's marketing renaissance was to admit that he wasn't a marketing expert. In June 2006, the VAR hired marketing firm Marketing Operation Partners (MO Partners). "Many business owners are used to building their business on their own and don't think to hire outside people to help them," says Krutman. "However, my background is in electronics and programming. I'm not a marketing expert. It doesn't make sense for me to waste time doing something that someone else can do better." For that reason, Krutman elected to have MO Partners perform a website redesign, create case studies and special downloads for the VAR's website, run customer surveys, and create marketing letters and email blasts the VAR could use in the future. The consultant then helped Krutman create a multipronged marketing plan that included everything from ongoing website enhancements and telemarketing to email blasts and online advertising. The first-year work performed by the marketing firm cost Krutman $10,000.

Step 2: Market To POS Prospects With Frequency & Variety
To help Krutman with ongoing marketing campaigns, MO Partners recommended, installed, and configured (all of which were included in the initial $10,000 investment) Mastermind Activator for the VAR. The program runs with Krutman's Act! customer relationship management (CRM) software. "The goal was to implement a marketing plan that was as automated as possible," explains Krutman. "Activator hooked into our existing CRM database and is able to automatically carry out marketing tasks or remind us of what we need to do." Specifically, first thing each morning, Krutman opens the Activator program and clicks a 'follow-up' button. The program then works through the VAR's prospect database (which includes existing customers) and completes any actions Krutman scheduled in advance. For instance, a list of letters (the ones MO Partners helped to create) might be auto-populated and sent to the printer. Targeted email blasts might be sent out automatically. If Krutman needs to call customers, the program sends reminders to his email. Also, the program has a trickler system whereby it can take large numbers of prospects and split the marketing actions into multiple days. That is, rather than send hundreds of mailers in one day, they can be spread out over a week. In essence, the system performs drip marketing (hitting prospects with marketing collateral consistently, via different methods) while spreading out the work so as not to overburden Krutman or his employees on any given day.

In tracking the success of his various marketing methods (more on tracking later), Krutman has found drip marketing to his current customers to be very lucrative. Indeed, all of the VAR's customers get letters in the mail once a month publicizing new services or products the VAR offers. Customers also receive email with similar information. For example, Krutman has recently sent letters regarding the addition of video surveillance products to his line card, information on maintenance contracts, and price comparisons between his supply prices and those of other suppliers in the market. Additionally, Krutman uses telemarketing to spread marketing messages to existing customers. The VAR recently called all of its Keystroke POS customers to tell them about a new plug-in that was available. The result of marketing to existing customers has been compelling. In fact, Krutman estimates that 20% of his revenue comes from sales to existing customers.

As another benefit, Krutman says that even if existing customers don't need your products or services, there's a chance that being top of mind will help land a sale. For instance, the VAR can point to a recent sale he landed thanks to an inactive customer. By receiving the customer marketing collateral, the customer kept Krutman top of mind and recommended the VAR to a friend when that friend had a need. "One letter sent to a customer to whom I hadn't sold anything in five years turned into $30,000 in new business," says Krutman.

Step 3: Ensure Your Web Presence Touts Your POS Prowess
As mentioned, the goal of implementing Activator was to automate as much of Krutman's marketing process as possible. Therefore, once the program was implemented, the VAR shifted focus to its Web initiative, where it spends most of its time (and money) today. Krutman says that the problem with his old website — a problem many other VARs share — is that while the site looked good, it didn't do a good enough job of telling the VAR's story. That is, it didn't showcase what Krutman is good at and why partnering with Krutman is a good business decision. "MO Partners initially focused on a website redesign and helped us create information for just one facet of our business [the retail market]," says Krutman. "From there, we've been adding new information each month on such things as our quick service products, video surveillance, and electronic deli scale offering." In addition, MO Partners helped Krutman create case studies and a special downloadable report/white paper on the value of POS systems. Initially, Krutman was spending approximately $3,500 a month on its website enhancements. Today, the VAR spends approximately $1,500 a month making additions.

Step 4: Generate POS Leads Using Google AdWords
While having a proper website has proven to be beneficial, the improvements would be worthless without visitation by potential customers. Therefore, another part of Krutman's marketing campaign is investing in Google AdWords to help drive traffic to his site. The service, available from online search engine Google, includes the ability to pay for advertisements to appear when people are searching using keywords that match your predefined keywords. According to Google, approximately 80% of U.S. Web surfers use Google to browse the Internet. However, the California VAR wasn't interested in paying for ads to appear to someone searching for a POS reseller in Florida. Therefore, Krutman chose to use Google AdWords specifically with local and regional targeting. The VAR spends approximately $900 a month on Google AdWords and another $300 a month on similar Yahoo! advertising. According to Krutman, the key to seeing a return on such investments is to make adjustments. "You can't change an ad one day and check at the end of week to see how it went," explains Krutman. "Sometimes you need to let these things run for a couple months to collect enough information to make good decisions." Krutman has used a variety of different ads depending on the situation and market after which he's going. For instance, the VAR had a campaign aimed at customers who didn't want to tinker with setting up a system on their own. When prospects performed a search for retail POS in northern California, Krutman was running an ad with messaging to the effect of 'Tired of reading the manual? Give Krutman a call.' As the economy sours, Krutman says that he now believes people might be interested in bundled starter systems. "What worked at the beginning of the year might not work at the end of the year," he says. "Right now, everyone wants to save money, so we're pitching low-cost bundles." So far, the move is paying off. For instance, Krutman has one customer who was enticed by the entry-level advertising and ultimately was upsold for a couple thousand dollars more.

Step 5: Track Your POS Marketing Success (And Failure)
While incoming sales from marketing are great, they aren't always consistent. "When it comes to the payback from marketing, it's a work in progress," explains Krutman. "We look every month, see what's working and what's not, and make adjustments. Successful marketing is a moving target." Currently, the VAR breaks marketing leads down into 10 different categories (e.g. existing customers, Google AdWords, cold calls, etc.) to track which methods are working. That is, he calculates the cost, in marketing dollars, of each lead. At one point, Krutman found that he was spending more money trying to generate leads in the Los Angeles area than he was receiving in sales from the area. Therefore, he decided to turn off marketing campaigns for Los Angeles. It was also the monitoring of lead sources which led Krutman to realize he should spend more money marketing to his existing customers.

Regardless of the decisions you face, Krutman cautions against making rash decisions. "It's easy to get discouraged when you don't see immediate results," he says. "You send out a letter or email blast and it seems like nothing happens. Some VARs stop because they think they're throwing money away, but you need to continue with the system." In fact, Krutman says that it might take as long as six months to see a return on any marketing, so don't get discouraged and give up on your marketing. Alternatively, you also can't be inactive. "You can't just put up a website, run a GoogleAd word campaign, and sit back and wait for the leads to pour in," Krutman says. Finding the right balance between patience and aggressiveness is where every VAR is on his own. Indeed, Krutman has no voodoo-magic method for knowing what marketing approaches and target markets will and won't be successful. Nevertheless, by rebuilding his marketing plan to include the aforementioned Web enhancements and drip marketing campaigns, Krutman is growing while other VARs are fighting to survive.