North Coast Media, LLC

The perfect gift, in 3 easy questions

By Bethany Chambers | Digital Operations Manager

Everyone who knows me will tell you: I love to give gifts.

I like it even more than receiving them, which is really saying something when you consider that I keep a running Christmas wish list year-round, and I know exactly what remains from last year. (Yes, it’s cats. I’m a cat person, to paraphrase a Wal-Mart commercial.)

I’m not the kind of person who can squirrel away gifts for the holidays; that takes years of practice and is a skill that is mastered after you have to supplement Santa gifts (not that Santa needs your help). When I get to that point, I can only imagine I’ll master it as my mom has, with an entire room dedicated to gifts and gift-wrapping (and the ironing board, which no one else uses anyways).

I give gifts year-round—strange gifts, non-gift gifts, perfect gifts. These are little things I pick up because they remind me of someone and they always say more than words. I give them right away, because I have no patience for delaying the gratification of seeing the confused, surprised, concerned and/or impressed look on the recipient’s face.

That said, the holidays are when I look for the ideal gift for everyone on my list. The first thing you need to do is listen and know your target well. Applying tactical skill is the only way to succeed, especially if you’re just now starting.

Start by asking yourself:

What do they need?

This year I had this figured out early for my husband and was patting myself on the back. The road warrior, he needed a new winter coat that was lightweight enough to wear on a plane but warm enough to combat the Minneapolis cold. And then I saw it, at Macy’s on 34th Street no less, for all you Christmas movie fans: the packable puffer coat.

Of course, when I ordered it online with a pile of coupons from my super shopper mom, I should have known he’d open the package and start wearing it right away. Now we’re calling it a birthday gift, and I’m back to square one.

What do they want?

Did they ask you for something specifically? Did they say, “Get me Taylor Swift’s ’89’ on vinyl…standard LP not a 45”? Umm, done. No really.

Now if they aren’t so obvious as to hand you your assignment, you have some room for creativity. Last year, I really outdid myself on this with my coworkers, which led to both confused AND surprised faces. One wanted a hammock. Well, it was a hammock, all right, but it wasn’t people-sized! Another a snowmobile. This one was people-sized…Lego people, that is! Yep, those will live on in infamy. Also, in the corner of their cubicles.

What speaks from your heart?

This is the hardest to fulfill, because it means putting yourself out there in a way. If your family or friends aren’t touchy-feely, this can be challenging, but if Hallmark Christmas movies have taught me anything, it’s that ‘Tis the Season for Love.

With my mom re-entering retirement, she already knows we’ll be spending an afternoon at the spa as her gift, since we don’t get nearly enough time together these days.

Sometimes this comes together in a way that can only be described as kismet (or a Christmas movie plot) and one gift satisfies all of these needs. I’m a firm believer that it’s OK if one gift cannot fit into all these categories. Sometimes a multi-gift is an even better way to combine the serious and the whimsical. Nothing says “You are loved.” like a new pair of shoes…with socks that make it look like your feet are being bitten off by sharks.

Before you complain about breaking the bank on three gifts (while you’re reading this in line at Target), this isn’t as hard on your budget as you’d think, especially because some of these are things you already have or are things you can make.

And before you spend your last dollar this Black Friday, remember: Sometimes the perfect gifts aren’t things at all. A thoughtfully spoken word, a hug or just being there, that may be the perfect gift.

5 tips for event marketing

By Scott Gebler | Marketing Manager

1. Start early

It may sound simple, but promoting an event always seems to start later than intended. Way out in advance you might not have all the details — but as soon as the event’s date, time and place are set, it’s a good idea to get it on people’s agendas.

If your event is annual, this could (and probably should) mean promoting next year’s event this year. After all, your best and most loyal clients/customers will probably be right there in the booth, exhibit hall, presentation rooms and networking events.

If you’re the event host, there’s no harm having next year’s registration form on-hand at this year’s event. Some other ideas include:

Tiered, time-sensitive early-bird registration rates
“Frequent Flier” –style incentives for repeat attendees
Attendee-only discounts on your other products/services

2. Diversify your marketing.

For a number of years, I marketed an event with a registration charge close to $1,000 — a number that didn’t include hotel accommodations or airfare. Throw in the attendees’ indirect costs of time out-of-office and away from family/home, and you can really be asking a lot.

So how did that event’s very first registration come in? From a tweet.

They way people receive and process information is more diverse than ever, and your marketing plan should be too. It might otherwise be easy to discount the effectiveness of a tool like Twitter (or Facebook or LinkedIn or print or web ads, etc.) but it says here that they work when part of a comprehensive plan.

3. Remember what you’re asking for.

This really applies to all marketing in general, but it’s especially true in event marketing. Be mindful of exactly what each piece of your marketing communication is asking your audience to do, particularly your call-to-action. Do you ask them to register immediately — or should you direct them to the website for more info first? Or, is this a tougher sell that you want them to contact a rep?

And, as mentioned in #3, above, it’s also important to consider everything you’re asking of a potential event attendee. Registration fees are more obvious, but you might also be asking them to travel hundreds (if not thousands) of miles. You might be asking them to leave their family behind for a few days. You might be asking them to come to a new city that is completely unfamiliar. Acknowledging those things in both your marketing and your event plans can make a huge difference. You should address all these issues and provide solutions whenever possible.

4. Make hay while the sun shines.

While attending (or especially hosting) an event can be hectic, its important to take advantage of all the opportunities your face-time can present. Chances are, there will never be a better time for you to gather materials that can be invaluable in your advertisements and other promotions. Set up a video interview area. Go with a “man-on-the-street” approach. Hand out surveys to gather data and feedback. Bring a voice recorder. Take pictures. Efforts you make at the event could potentially provide you with a year’s worth of materials to use in marketing and advertising.

5. Don’t forget the follow-up.

From what I’ve seen, one of the easiest ways to NOT capitalize on your event is by forgetting the follow-up. Don’t forget about the return on your investment. Gather everything you can from colleagues and staff, compile it, and put it to work:

Compile all the lead information you can — especially the attendee list if you can get it — and enter everything into your CRM.
Keep up the communications, whether by email, mail, phone or on-site visits. Even something as simple as a “thank you” or “it was nice to see you” can be effective.
Encourage all staff members to take pictures and/or videos, then collect them all and store them centrally for future marketing.
Type up or transcribe all testimonials or quotes.

5 steps to a successful webinar

By Diane Sofranec | Managing Editor, Pest Management Professional

Webinars an effective way for you to connect with current and prospective customers because they provide you with valuable information, including each attendee’s contact information and feedback on the topic presented.

Here are five steps you can take to ensure you present a webinar your customers will attend until the end and share with colleagues.

1. Choose a Compelling Topic

Tailor your message to your audience. Think carefully about what you hope to achieve with your webinar. Do you want to spread the word about a new product or service, offer an in-depth look at new technology, or educate customers? Presenting a webinar on a topic that’s trending, unique, or useful will make it easier for you to attract attendees. It will also show customers your company is a valuable resource because it’s at the forefront of what’s happening in your industry.

2. Select a Captivating Speaker

Use someone who can enthusiastically speak about the subject. Your speaker should know enough about the subject to confidently answer attendees’ questions. You don’t want someone who will simply read words off a slide; your speaker should use interesting images and an enthusiastic voice to convey your message.

3. Practice; It Makes Presentations Better

Hold a practice session to make sure your speaker knows how to advance the slides, and can speak clearly and loud enough to be understood. Also, ask your speaker how long the presentation will take to give and adjust accordingly. Be sure to add an extra five minutes for questions from attendees.

4. Promote Your Webinar Often

Get the word out about your webinar at least three weeks in advance. Remind attendees they can sign up now and watch at their leisure if the live date is inconvenient for them. But don’t stop there; promote your webinar after it takes place, too, for those who may not have signed up the first time. Also, email the registration information to your customers more than once – and be sure the emails all have the same look – in case they forgot to sign up.

5. Engage Your Audience

During the webinar, make your presentation more interesting to attendees by adding polls, live chats and a question and answer session. The responses you get will reveal whether your topic is relevant for your target audience.

Use social media to extend your message to a wider audience. If your speaker says something interesting, attendees will want to tweet it.

Deliver a webinar your customers – and potential customers — will want to attend and keeps them engaged, and they will rely on you for valued information again and again. Let us help you get started.

Staff Movie Review: The Intern

By Heather Gooch | Editor, Pest Management Professional

I love Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway individually, so when I saw the trailer several months back about The Intern, a comedy with the two of them together, I knew I was in.

I’ve been an intern, and I’ve worked with several interns over the years — including our current professional, Hillary Morgan. I knew the concept could provide great comedic (and perhaps dramatic) material.

The movie did not disappoint. There were even a couple plotline surprises along the way, to shut down the naysayers that this was a by-the-numbers workplace comedy.

It’s not going to win these two fantastic actors another Academy Award, but it’s definitely an enjoyable popcorn movie.

Find out what’s trending now

Take advantage of web tools to up your trending game

By Bethany Chambers | Digital Operations Manager

Now that you’ve got your alliterative hashtags for each day of the week in mind, from #MotivationMonday to #FridayFunday, advancing your trending game requires a little research into your audience specifically.

The good news? This leverages our strengths in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, where we have robust data about our customers and know which demographic and behavioral niches contain our prospective customers.

The marketer’s arsenal of tools to find trending topics is vast and only limited by your time. You can do all the research you want, but if you don’t use it you won’t see noticeable improvement. Plan to carve out 10 minutes each day, morning and night, to scan the tools and see what’s hot now.

I’ve split the tools you can use into two groups, those that mine news and those that mine social.

Trending in the news

Buzzfeed Trending

You probably already see this daily on your personal social feeds. Keep an eye out for topics related to your field. For instance, NASA news is of interest to the engineer readers of GPS World, so this could, at the very least, warrant a retweet.

Google Trends

Like Buzzfeed Trending it will give you top stories. A nice bonus: It also lists the top keywords for each story so you know what to use in your own post for search engine optimization (SEO…or at least GO, Google optimization). It also gives you a handy dandy line graph to show whether that trend is rising or falling.

Trendsmap

You know where you have large pockets of customers, so be sure to use the hashtags relevant to those markets. For instance, if we know one of our magazines has a strong readership in Northeast Ohio and we see #hiring is trending, then we know we’ll want to offer tips to our business readers on how to find the best employees or where to look for seasonal help. (Perhaps on #TipTuesday.)

News Whip News App

This is the free service from the company that makes News Whip Spike, a social listening tool used by The Huffington Post and USA Today. It assigns scores to news items based on viral potential. This is perfect for the B2B marketer in that you can first sort by country (or view worldwide) and then see what’s hot by topic category, from the broad (Tech, Business, Life) to the specific (Wireless-Mobile, Oil & Gas, Agricultural).

Trending on social media

Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

For your daily usage, why not just check what’s trending within the native platforms themselves? This is the low hanging fruit, because you can check it out while you’re creeping on your own friends.

Topsy

This is the one you hear about the most because of the sentiment score it assigns to trending topics. Like News Whip it has granular sorting features that make finding your niche topic simple.

RiteTag

Log in with your Twitter or Facebook accounts and get a review of your social feeds, including rankings of the hashtags you’re using (evergreen, underused, overused) and tips on how to improve your writing for social. Where this really excels, though, is in providing you analytics on the hashtags you’re using so you can find social influencers and create linking relationships with them.

Hash

You can use the website or the app to see the top stories in a beautiful interface. This has become part of my evening, post-dinner scan when I’m looking to catch up on the day’s news.

Once you have these trending topics, you can use the hashtags and keywords that matter to your audience on social and let this knowledge inform your content strategy for your blog or Tumblr (or the new Facebook Notes, once its readily available), even embedding posts from your customers.

The one caveat I leave you with is that the free tools out there are frequently changing, much like the trends themselves, so once you’ve done this initial research, mark your calendar for 8 weeks from now and plan to do a quick follow-up to make sure your tools are still active, with a more extensive review annually.

Friday Favorites: Landscape Management

Best of 2015, as picked by the editors

As the end of the year grows near, the editors of our magazines choose their favorite issue of 2015. First up, Landscape Management Editor-in-chief Marisa Palmieri tells us her favorite issue of 2015 differs from her usual pick.

The issue: Landscape Management, July 2015

Selected by: Editor-in-chief Marisa Palmieri

“Pick ONE favorite issue?! That’s like picking my favorite child, sister, parent or college roommate. They’re all great for their own reasons.
I always love our October Business Planner because it offers page after page of awesome business advice. And the LM150 (June) and Industry Pulse (December) are also near and dear to my heart because of all the effort that goes into them and the research insights that come out of them.

But I think for 2015, I have to choose our July issue, which features a great company called Sun Valley Landscaping on the cover and also includes our NALP Community Stewardship Awards supplement. If you need a dose of inspiration, this is your go-to issue of LM.”