rightbackatyou » Verticals

TMA+Peritus Partners with Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association

Terri Parsons — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:16:33 +0000

Local interactive design and marketing agency to grow sales of state’s potatoes

The Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) has partnered with Thomas Marks & Associates and Peritus Design (TMA+Peritus) to increase awareness of the Wisconsin Potato and Healthy Grown® potato brand among consumers and retailers nationwide.

“We were impressed with the business-first approach that TMA+Peritus brings to their clients,” explains Tim Feit, Director of Promotions and Consumer Education for WPVGA. “The marketing plan they’ve developed for WPVGA will build momentum for the Wisconsin Potato brand, and at the same time ensures that new tactics will be implemented with authority and precision.”

Since completing the branding process with WPVGA, TMA+Peritus is embarking on a comprehensive campaign to spur product demand by educating and engaging consumers and produce buyers. Kathy Marks, Managing Partner of TMA+Peritus, explains, “The most effective campaigns incorporate public relations, print, web 2.0 and social media marketing. We are using all of these tools to launch an integrated campaign focused on growing sales of the Wisconsin Potato as well as the Healthy Grown® potato brand.”

Wisconsin is currently ranked third in the nation for potato production. In 2008, Wisconsin potatoes generated over $293,000,000 in product dollars for farmers and shippers, $51.5 billion in economic activity via agribusiness, and provided jobs for 420,000 people.

Now, more than ever, manufacturers need great Web site

Tom Marks — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:33:27 +0000

These are critical times for manufacturers and they demand critical and highly strategic thinking. And that goes for the Web sites of all manufacturing companies, regardless of their size or product mix. Here’s why: in a recent research study by BtoB Magazine, it was revealed that 90 percent of industrial buyers go to the Internet at some point in the buying cycle. While this is not exactly a head-scratcher, the fact that more than 50 percent of buyers actually begin the purchasing process online should be a wake-up call for companies to start taking their Web sites very seriously.

Here’s what this means. Buyers are gathering so much information online that they’re contacting manufacturers much later in the sales cycle. So, the buyer has extended the sales process without asking any questions. But when they do contact the manufacturer, it’s a much more qualified lead because they’ve done their homework, filtered out the has-beens and selected you — and perhaps a handful of others — as a possible resource. This is providing that your Web site is good and perhaps even great.

Consequently, the product information you provide on your site must be rich in content and specifications, and accessible with one click from your home page. As you update or reformulate products, you must update your product specs on your Web site as well. This is obviously critical for your customers and prospects, but also for general search engines like Google and vertical engines like ThomasNet.

In a 2008 Forrester Research study, 50 percent of the manufacturing companies interviewed indicated they would be using videos on their sites. Yes, it’s time to jump on the video bandwagon, but remember two minutes should be your target length. Feature product details or production processes in your videos, and make certain they, like your Web text, are written from the standpoint of being able to solve your customers’ problems.

And here’s a way all manufacturers can generate coveted “stickiness” — time spent visiting your site. Monthly podcasts or webcasts are as germane to the manufacturing sector as they are to the consumer or business service sectors. Use them for a product launch, an improved product line announcement, or how you resolved a certain customer’s problem when others could not. Podcasts and webcasts should be no more than 30 minutes long, and they’re a lot more credible if you host, but an actual customer delivers the message.

Gone are the days when a manufacturer’s Web site was nothing more than an online brochure. If you want to be the provider of choice, your site should incorporate the Web 2.0 strategies used in other industries. After all, your future prospects know more about you than ever before.

Tighten the Belt – Without Cutting Off Circulation

Pam Ouimette — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:05:40 +0000

The Eurozone was the first economy to slip into recession. On November 17th, Japan followed it. They say the U.S. is next. So, are they right? I have no idea. Too many opinions. Too many variables. But there’s one thing that we can all say with certainty — we’re definitely on the down side of a down turn. Down enough to cause stress, fear and more than a few sleepless nights. Down enough to make us pull in our belts. Really tight.

But, if we are about to enter into recession, that doesn’t mean we should recede as businesses. It doesn’t mean we withdraw from the market. Diminish our efforts to grow. Cut off interaction with customers and prospects. Hide our brands. The belts we’re tightening shouldn’t be around our necks. That would be economic suicide.

Instead of worrying about following Japan into recession, we should be following Japan’s lead in how they traditionally respond to a crisis like this — with action, not reaction. Focusing on new solutions, not problems. Creating strategies for growth, not survival.

And there’s no better time to mobilize for response than during the “down time” that comes with a down turn. These are the times when we are the most inspired. When we’re at our creative best. When people pull together for the common good. This is the time to be working on growth strategies — specifically four key strategies that will help us come out of the down turn with speed and precision:

Streamline our operation. This doesn’t always mean layoffs and cutbacks — not to say that “right-sizing” teams and budgets isn’t sometimes necessary. Streamlining in this case is more about deploying the talent we do have more efficiently and effectively — focusing our people on what matters most to our customers. It means finding ways to cut meaningless steps out of long-standing processes or eliminating some processes entirely. It requires redefinition of roles to create a lean and agile organization — one that has the flexibility to adapt quickly to new customer needs.

Seek out our customers. But seek them out to create interactions rather than transactions (although a few of those wouldn’t hurt either). Make dialogue with customers and prospective customers a priority. Understand how their needs are changing. How their priorities are shifting. Get the insight you need to innovate — to create new products and services, to improve what you offer now and to engineer new ways of doing business. If we generate that interaction now, we’ll be better prepared to compete when the market turns around. And it will.

Strengthen our culture. The culture of a company is its most powerful driving force — in fact a culture in itself is a strong value proposition for a company. This is the time to reinforce our corporate cultures. Demonstrating our value for knowledge and experience. Encouraging our team members to hone new skills. To embrace new ways of thinking. Good cultures attract and retain good people. And good people always rise to the occasion — improving their own productivity, eliminating waste, offering new approaches to business development and forging stronger relationships with their customers.

Sustain our brand. Now is not the time to be invisible. It’s the time to reposition ourselves in a new marketplace. Now is not the time to stop marketing. It’s the time to allocate marketing budgets wisely. Leveraging the most profitable and effective ways to maintain interaction with our customers. Replicating the value of face-to-face sales opportunities without the cost of those opportunities. Using the full potential of our websites to do just that.

Yes, we’re certainly in an economic down turn. And sure, we all need to tighten our belts. But not to the point where it stunts our development. We can’t be that uncomfortable now. Not when we need to make room for new ways to do business. Maybe we’ll have to leave our belts open a notch. Just to give us some room to grow. Maybe two notches.

Yes, two. Even better.

Aaaaaaah.